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Yes, for a lot of classes of products I simply do not buy from Amazon any more. The counterfeiting and inventory co-mingling (such that you can't even filter fo

Yes, for a lot of classes of products I simply do not buy from Amazon any more. The counterfeiting and inventory co-mingling (such that you can't even filter for trustworthy sellers) has destroyed a lot of Amazon's usefulness. IMO Amazon's foray into 3P market-making will ultimately be seen as an attempt to grow the product that ends up killing the product. Even besides the counterfeiting, there's just so much crappy junk. Want lightbulbs? Wade through page after page of crappy no-name brands who all have fake/gamed reviews, so you can't tell the good from the bad. Want a name-brand lightbulb? Well, then we're back to the counterfeiting problem. Even when I do buy from Amazon there's at least a 50% chance what I buy will be some cheap bullshit with faked reviews that will fall apart in under a month of use. Amazon is worse than the Walmart discount bin. Amazon has weirdly given me a newfound appreciation for traditional retailers. There is value in the curation - in filtering bad products so that as a customer I can shop with confidence, and that even if I don't do too much research the product I buy will be good enough - or at least authentic and safe. The complete laissez-faire free-for-all model just results in me Googling for product reviews for the most mundane things I buy. It is a massive time-sink.

yftsui 4y ago
inventory “co-mingling” is a myth invented by fantasist. If that’s true, then any merchant could send in fake items to Amazon Warehouse then request them returned so there will be legitimate items exchanged in.
- jolux 4y ago
  I bought a Blu-Ray on Amazon recently, shipped from and sold by Amazon.com, and instead received a box of commemorative quarters. Of course they replaced it but I'm still baffled how this happened.
  - lukas099 4y ago
    That to me sounds like something just got labeled with the wrong barcode or something.
    - jolux 4y ago
      I assume so, but still in the 15 years I've been ordering stuff from Amazon, it's never happened to me before.
- CommieBobDole 4y ago
  A search for 'amazon inventory commingling' brings up a bunch of articles about it; apparently it's something that you can turn on or off in your seller account. One of the articles specifically noted that if you choose to do this, and you request your items returned, you will just get that number of items from the shared inventory, which will probably include items of the same type from other sellers.
- TMWNN 4y ago
  >inventory “co-mingling” is a myth invented by fantasist. If that’s true, then any merchant could send in fake items to Amazon Warehouse then request them returned so there will be legitimate items exchanged in. It is true, and it does happen. This is why any wise Amazon seller will use Amazon labeling (an Amazon-generated barcode specific to that item and that seller).
- jjeaff 4y ago
  You are wrong. Though I'm not sure how common it is. You can get a free Amazon seller account and see for yourself. Many common items that you might want to sell have the option to commingle inventory. The benefit to the seller is that you can print out multiple copies of a single barcode and stick it on all of your items and just send them in. Whereas non-commingled will need a unique barcode on each item.
onepointsixC 4y ago
The wild thing with amazon is that it just overwhelmingly appears that they do not care about all of the fake products and fake reviews. I looked for a screen protector and half way into reading reviews see that the seller had taken over a listening for... kettle bells. Or when a fake product I had unintentionally bought set their address to be that of an Amazon warehouse. Surely detecting such blatant lying and fakery shouldn't be difficult.
Fatnino 4y ago
And if you do feel like getting cheap crap from the roulette wheel, Chinese sites like aliexpress have a much wider selection of interesting looking stuff. Only thing Amazon has going for it is faster shipping.

yftsui 4y ago

inventory “co-mingling” is a myth invented by fantasist. If that’s true, then any merchant could send in fake items to Amazon Warehouse then request them returned so there will be legitimate items exchanged in.

jolux 4y ago
I bought a Blu-Ray on Amazon recently, shipped from and sold by Amazon.com, and instead received a box of commemorative quarters. Of course they replaced it but I'm still baffled how this happened.
- lukas099 4y ago
  That to me sounds like something just got labeled with the wrong barcode or something.
  - jolux 4y ago
    I assume so, but still in the 15 years I've been ordering stuff from Amazon, it's never happened to me before.
CommieBobDole 4y ago
A search for 'amazon inventory commingling' brings up a bunch of articles about it; apparently it's something that you can turn on or off in your seller account. One of the articles specifically noted that if you choose to do this, and you request your items returned, you will just get that number of items from the shared inventory, which will probably include items of the same type from other sellers.
TMWNN 4y ago
>inventory “co-mingling” is a myth invented by fantasist. If that’s true, then any merchant could send in fake items to Amazon Warehouse then request them returned so there will be legitimate items exchanged in. It is true, and it does happen. This is why any wise Amazon seller will use Amazon labeling (an Amazon-generated barcode specific to that item and that seller).
jjeaff 4y ago
You are wrong. Though I'm not sure how common it is. You can get a free Amazon seller account and see for yourself. Many common items that you might want to sell have the option to commingle inventory. The benefit to the seller is that you can print out multiple copies of a single barcode and stick it on all of your items and just send them in. Whereas non-commingled will need a unique barcode on each item.

onepointsixC 4y ago

The wild thing with amazon is that it just overwhelmingly appears that they do not care about all of the fake products and fake reviews. I looked for a screen protector and half way into reading reviews see that the seller had taken over a listening for... kettle bells. Or when a fake product I had unintentionally bought set their address to be that of an Amazon warehouse. Surely detecting such blatant lying and fakery shouldn't be difficult.

Fatnino 4y ago

And if you do feel like getting cheap crap from the roulette wheel, Chinese sites like aliexpress have a much wider selection of interesting looking stuff. Only thing Amazon has going for it is faster shipping.