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Amazon let’s the same thing happen in their store: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=1+tb+flash+drive&crid=1XK7KPUOQ4XJ7&sprefix=%2Caps%2C119&ref=nb_sb_ss_recent_1_0_r

Amazon let’s the same thing happen in their store: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=1+tb+flash+drive&crid=1XK7KPUOQ4XJ7&sprefix=%2Caps%2C119&ref=nb_sb_ss_recent_1_0_recent https://www.amazon.com/s?k=1+tb+flash+drive&crid=1XK7KPUOQ4X... It’s horrible and they won’t do anything about it despite contacting them via help requests and Twitter. 3 of the top 5 listings are total scams. And Amazon’s choice for 1TB flash drive is a scam: USB Flash Drive 1TB, Flash Memory Stick for PC/Laptop, Ultra Large Storage USB Drive, Portable Thumb Drives (Black) https://a.co/d/cTi7XqZ https://a.co/d/cTi7XqZ

bsharitt 4y ago
I've had Amazon take down reviews that point out that a drive is a scam.
- Alex3917 4y ago
  Amazon doesn't even take down products that give kids lead poisoning. If a foreign nation had imposed Amazon upon us, we'd consider it an act of war.
- badpun 4y ago
  Sounds like it's a semi-legit area for blockchain applicability- a website/app which stores all reviews on blockchain so that people are 100% certain no one has tampered with them.
  - NortySpock 4y ago
    Step 2: Spam the blockchain with marketing, false stories, and smears against your competitors products. If the blockchain requires a fee to write to (most do), you win because you have a marketing budget and the average consumer does not.
antiterra 4y ago
I don’t think Amazon’s choice is the same for every one. I would guess it adjusts for shipping time and result relevance weighted by previous usage. For me, the choice 1TB flash drive is a PNY thumb drive. At the very least, it seems brave to assign your company’s endorsement automatically based on an algorithm.
- tedmiston 4y ago
  > I don’t think Amazon’s choice is the same for every one. I believe it is the same for all users for a given keyword search, but it is also dynamically changing. From [1], the algorithm itself is a black box though: > One innovation the company devised is “Amazon’s Choice,” a distinctive black badge typically bestowed on a single product per search term. The company says the award is given to “highly rated, well-priced products available to ship immediately.” But for many categories, dozens of options fit that description. How does Amazon choose its choices? Do humans have a hand in the decisions, or are they governed by an algorithm? > The company won’t say. “Amazon’s Choice is just our recommendation, and customers can always ask for specific brands or products if they choose,” an Amazon spokesperson said in a statement. [1]: https://www.wired.com/story/what-does-amazons-choice-mean/ https://www.wired.com/story/what-does-amazons-choice-mean/
  - antiterra 4y ago
    It definitely was different logged-in vs not, and I suspect shipping time to a known address to be the most likely reason.
Liquix 4y ago
The "Amazon's Choice" label seems to be almost as gameable as reviews - sellers somehow have a way of creating categories it would take very little work to be #1 in, such as "Amazon's Choice for <company name> flash drive"
- numpad0 4y ago
  Amazon’s Choice seems like a dynamic labeling to me. The impression of it that there must be a list of Choice products is likely just a deliberate impression.
  - gardenfelder 4y ago
    Visit amazon in your usual browser, then visit it in a different one with a private window (no cookies). They give different messages.
cmeacham98 4y ago
For what it's worth, the "Amazon's Choice" for me is a legitimately 1TB USB Drive (from PNY).
- tyingq 4y ago
  Click the "shop by price" tab in that Amazon's Choice area. There will probably be a fake product there.
NelsonMinar 4y ago
Why would they do anything? They're still making their buck on every sale.
- kelp 4y ago
  Because if the problem is bad enough, people will start looking for alternative places to buy things. It's like how people will avoid the bad neighborhoods in a city.
  - NelsonMinar 4y ago
    Oh right; if Amazon doesn't have what I want I'll get it on Walmart, the trustworthy online store!
    - kelp 4y ago
      Or BestBuy that doesn't have the marketplace problem.
  - 0134340 4y ago
    But the once good, now bad neighborhoods can't buy the now good neighborhoods in monopolistic fashion; the analogy doesn't hold up with economics.
rolph 4y ago
i think it needs to talk to FTC ?
kennend3 4y ago
Amazon is on a gradual decline and what is shocking is that people dont see it. I stopped using amazon around 2 years ago. If i want to buy "Chinesium" i use aliexpress and save a lot of middlemen in return for a long shipping time. I've been burned by fake products a few times and learned my lesson long ago. Sure, amazon does make it easy to return them, but going to a real store avoids it all-together. If you shop around for prices, it is rare that amazon's prices are even competitive vs an actual physical store these days. this makes little sense, the store has employees and high rents, what are amazon's reasons?
- MangoCoffee 4y ago
  Amazon seem to pivot into a cloud giant with e-commerce as side biz.
  - Kye 4y ago
    AWS is their biggest profit center, so it makes sense.
  - fragmede 4y ago
    That just excuses their poor behavior on their own marketplace. Where they're making untold amounts of money. No, just like Comcast's customer support isn't worth spending more of Comcast's money on, so, too Amazon doesn't have the incentives to improve on the status quo. and why shouldn't they? they're making money hand over fist
- jsjohnst 4y ago
  > Sure, amazon does make it easy to return them, but going to a real store avoids it all-together. Genuine question, what store is this that: 1) has inventory in store of items like this 2) doesn’t also ever have fake merchandise on their shelves The problem isn’t just Amazon, Walmart, or other large online retailers, it’s issues throughout the supply chain because of the lack of enforcement by all actors (retailers, distributors, shippers, manufacturers, customs agents, government agencies, etc).
  - 4y ago
chmod600 4y ago
Are you saying the SanDisk listings are scams, or are those the two non-scam listings?
- mattm 4y ago
  Pretty sure the SanDisk one would be legit. Look at the price difference between that one and the other ones to tell.
  - ec109685 4y ago
    Yeah, SanDisk seem fine. It's the $19.99 for 1TB or $39.99 for 2TB ones that aren't. I originally got alerted to this when I was boasting about how cheap flash disks had gotten and some person here pointed out I was linking to something totally scammy, which I had no idea about.
hot_gril 4y ago
Wow, they're even Prime.

bsharitt 4y ago

I've had Amazon take down reviews that point out that a drive is a scam.

Alex3917 4y ago
Amazon doesn't even take down products that give kids lead poisoning. If a foreign nation had imposed Amazon upon us, we'd consider it an act of war.
badpun 4y ago
Sounds like it's a semi-legit area for blockchain applicability- a website/app which stores all reviews on blockchain so that people are 100% certain no one has tampered with them.
- NortySpock 4y ago
  Step 2: Spam the blockchain with marketing, false stories, and smears against your competitors products. If the blockchain requires a fee to write to (most do), you win because you have a marketing budget and the average consumer does not.

antiterra 4y ago

I don’t think Amazon’s choice is the same for every one. I would guess it adjusts for shipping time and result relevance weighted by previous usage. For me, the choice 1TB flash drive is a PNY thumb drive. At the very least, it seems brave to assign your company’s endorsement automatically based on an algorithm.

tedmiston 4y ago
> I don’t think Amazon’s choice is the same for every one. I believe it is the same for all users for a given keyword search, but it is also dynamically changing. From [1], the algorithm itself is a black box though: > One innovation the company devised is “Amazon’s Choice,” a distinctive black badge typically bestowed on a single product per search term. The company says the award is given to “highly rated, well-priced products available to ship immediately.” But for many categories, dozens of options fit that description. How does Amazon choose its choices? Do humans have a hand in the decisions, or are they governed by an algorithm? > The company won’t say. “Amazon’s Choice is just our recommendation, and customers can always ask for specific brands or products if they choose,” an Amazon spokesperson said in a statement. [1]: https://www.wired.com/story/what-does-amazons-choice-mean/ https://www.wired.com/story/what-does-amazons-choice-mean/
- antiterra 4y ago
  It definitely was different logged-in vs not, and I suspect shipping time to a known address to be the most likely reason.

Liquix 4y ago

The "Amazon's Choice" label seems to be almost as gameable as reviews - sellers somehow have a way of creating categories it would take very little work to be #1 in, such as "Amazon's Choice for <company name> flash drive"

numpad0 4y ago
Amazon’s Choice seems like a dynamic labeling to me. The impression of it that there must be a list of Choice products is likely just a deliberate impression.
- gardenfelder 4y ago
  Visit amazon in your usual browser, then visit it in a different one with a private window (no cookies). They give different messages.

cmeacham98 4y ago

For what it's worth, the "Amazon's Choice" for me is a legitimately 1TB USB Drive (from PNY).

tyingq 4y ago
Click the "shop by price" tab in that Amazon's Choice area. There will probably be a fake product there.

NelsonMinar 4y ago

Why would they do anything? They're still making their buck on every sale.

kelp 4y ago
Because if the problem is bad enough, people will start looking for alternative places to buy things. It's like how people will avoid the bad neighborhoods in a city.
- NelsonMinar 4y ago
  Oh right; if Amazon doesn't have what I want I'll get it on Walmart, the trustworthy online store!
  - kelp 4y ago
    Or BestBuy that doesn't have the marketplace problem.
- 0134340 4y ago
  But the once good, now bad neighborhoods can't buy the now good neighborhoods in monopolistic fashion; the analogy doesn't hold up with economics.

rolph 4y ago

i think it needs to talk to FTC ?

kennend3 4y ago

Amazon is on a gradual decline and what is shocking is that people dont see it. I stopped using amazon around 2 years ago. If i want to buy "Chinesium" i use aliexpress and save a lot of middlemen in return for a long shipping time. I've been burned by fake products a few times and learned my lesson long ago. Sure, amazon does make it easy to return them, but going to a real store avoids it all-together. If you shop around for prices, it is rare that amazon's prices are even competitive vs an actual physical store these days. this makes little sense, the store has employees and high rents, what are amazon's reasons?

MangoCoffee 4y ago
Amazon seem to pivot into a cloud giant with e-commerce as side biz.
- Kye 4y ago
  AWS is their biggest profit center, so it makes sense.
- fragmede 4y ago
  That just excuses their poor behavior on their own marketplace. Where they're making untold amounts of money. No, just like Comcast's customer support isn't worth spending more of Comcast's money on, so, too Amazon doesn't have the incentives to improve on the status quo. and why shouldn't they? they're making money hand over fist
jsjohnst 4y ago
> Sure, amazon does make it easy to return them, but going to a real store avoids it all-together. Genuine question, what store is this that: 1) has inventory in store of items like this 2) doesn’t also ever have fake merchandise on their shelves The problem isn’t just Amazon, Walmart, or other large online retailers, it’s issues throughout the supply chain because of the lack of enforcement by all actors (retailers, distributors, shippers, manufacturers, customs agents, government agencies, etc).
- 4y ago

chmod600 4y ago

Are you saying the SanDisk listings are scams, or are those the two non-scam listings?

mattm 4y ago
Pretty sure the SanDisk one would be legit. Look at the price difference between that one and the other ones to tell.
- ec109685 4y ago
  Yeah, SanDisk seem fine. It's the $19.99 for 1TB or $39.99 for 2TB ones that aren't. I originally got alerted to this when I was boasting about how cheap flash disks had gotten and some person here pointed out I was linking to something totally scammy, which I had no idea about.

hot_gril 4y ago

Wow, they're even Prime.