4 ms·

This is almost impossible to control. The amount of staffing and expertise needed to do this at scale across all product styles and segments is just impossible

This is almost impossible to control. The amount of staffing and expertise needed to do this at scale across all product styles and segments is just impossible to maintain. There are no laws or any repercussions at all to allowing fake items on their stores, so Amazon and Walmart will not do anything about them. Problem is if someone does the right thing and weeds out all the scams from their site they will not have enough products and because of economies of scale they can’t offer the price Amazon or Walmart can offer. So essentially these scam items are giving them market pricing power. It’s almost impossible to beat, and I am sure that is why Walmart jumped into the game themselves.

ec109685 4y ago
Judging from the fact that the scams persist, you seem to be right. But anyone with sense can immediately spot the patterns that show these to be scams (e.g. prices that are too good to be true and recent reviews that say these are scams). Therefore, it seems like automated scanning could eventually be tuned to catch and ban these sellers. I think they also get away with this (and receive some good reviews) because the drives are too slow to ever fill up.
slivanes 4y ago
The old adage is "The only way to win is to not play the game". I wish these large retailers didn't allow these 3rd party sellers to pollute their listings.
amelius 4y ago
> This is almost impossible to control. I bet some Apple fans are giggling now.
- kemayo 4y ago
  Even Apple's walled garden does a so-so job of stopping scams. Given their app review process, they've got rather less of an excuse -- you'd really think they'd give close scrutiny to any app charging above-the-norm subscription prices, but apparently not... E.g. from this week: https://9to5mac.com/2022/08/22/app-store-review-process-authenticator-app-copycats/ https://9to5mac.com/2022/08/22/app-store-review-process-auth...
kwertyoowiyop 4y ago
> This is almost impossible to control. The amount of staffing and expertise needed to do this at scale across all product styles and segments is just impossible to maintain. I’ll try this excuse next time I break a law, and see how far it gets me. “Your honor, keeping track of so many laws is just impossible to maintain!”
- yalogin 4y ago
  Which law is Walmart or Amazon breaking here?
  - LegitShady 4y ago
    selling items not as described
  - kwertyoowiyop 4y ago
    Items have to do what they’re supposed to. So for example you can’t sell a “TV” that doesn’t do ‘TV stuff.’ Here’s one description of that law, from Investopedia: > The law automatically provides the second type of warranty, the implied warranty. Implied warranties are a part of all retail sales of new and used consumer goods. The retailer of an item implies that the item will work properly and be of average grade and quality, as long as it is used for the purpose it was sold. For example, a refrigerator will keep stuff cool as long as you are not trying to cool the entire room, and a blender will blend as long as you are not blending rocks. If you’re selling a “30 TB Portable SSD” it has to store 30 TB of data, be portable, actually be an SSD, etc.
anonymousab 4y ago
> The amount of staffing and expertise needed to do this at scale across all product styles and segments is just impossible to maintain. Stopping all comingling would be a good start. Known good products from known good sellers with known good supplier lines would allow buyers to drastically reduce the chance of getting a fake product.

ec109685 4y ago

Judging from the fact that the scams persist, you seem to be right. But anyone with sense can immediately spot the patterns that show these to be scams (e.g. prices that are too good to be true and recent reviews that say these are scams). Therefore, it seems like automated scanning could eventually be tuned to catch and ban these sellers. I think they also get away with this (and receive some good reviews) because the drives are too slow to ever fill up.

slivanes 4y ago

The old adage is "The only way to win is to not play the game". I wish these large retailers didn't allow these 3rd party sellers to pollute their listings.

amelius 4y ago

> This is almost impossible to control. I bet some Apple fans are giggling now.

kemayo 4y ago
Even Apple's walled garden does a so-so job of stopping scams. Given their app review process, they've got rather less of an excuse -- you'd really think they'd give close scrutiny to any app charging above-the-norm subscription prices, but apparently not... E.g. from this week: https://9to5mac.com/2022/08/22/app-store-review-process-authenticator-app-copycats/ https://9to5mac.com/2022/08/22/app-store-review-process-auth...

kwertyoowiyop 4y ago

> This is almost impossible to control. The amount of staffing and expertise needed to do this at scale across all product styles and segments is just impossible to maintain. I’ll try this excuse next time I break a law, and see how far it gets me. “Your honor, keeping track of so many laws is just impossible to maintain!”

yalogin 4y ago
Which law is Walmart or Amazon breaking here?
- LegitShady 4y ago
  selling items not as described
- kwertyoowiyop 4y ago
  Items have to do what they’re supposed to. So for example you can’t sell a “TV” that doesn’t do ‘TV stuff.’ Here’s one description of that law, from Investopedia: > The law automatically provides the second type of warranty, the implied warranty. Implied warranties are a part of all retail sales of new and used consumer goods. The retailer of an item implies that the item will work properly and be of average grade and quality, as long as it is used for the purpose it was sold. For example, a refrigerator will keep stuff cool as long as you are not trying to cool the entire room, and a blender will blend as long as you are not blending rocks. If you’re selling a “30 TB Portable SSD” it has to store 30 TB of data, be portable, actually be an SSD, etc.

anonymousab 4y ago

> The amount of staffing and expertise needed to do this at scale across all product styles and segments is just impossible to maintain. Stopping all comingling would be a good start. Known good products from known good sellers with known good supplier lines would allow buyers to drastically reduce the chance of getting a fake product.