3 ms·

This was what I was thinking as well, the whole freight forwarded "fulfilled by amazon" thing where a "company" is none existent so that liability is not a prob

This was what I was thinking as well, the whole freight forwarded "fulfilled by amazon" thing where a "company" is none existent so that liability is not a problem (if anyone gets serious in their complaints the company goes "poof" and a new version shows up).

crote 4y ago
How could the company be nonexistent? Does Amazon not check that the company you claim to be actually exists?
- Animats 4y ago
  No, they don't. In the Pennsylvania case, Amazon claimed they were unable to find the seller. That's why they couldn't pass the buck to the seller.
- ChuckMcM 4y ago
  Animats is correct, ask yourself the other question "Do I need to be an 'official' company to do business as one on Amazon?" The answer is no, very little data has traditionally been required to be presented as a business on Amazon and that practice has been copied to Walmart, Newegg, and elsewhere. All Amazon needed was for you to ship product to their warehouses, and a place for them to send payments. In the US there is something called a "DBA" which are initials for "Doing Business As" and you can register it with the county and then use that name to create a bank account. There were a number of tutorials out there about how to create a "company" where you wired money to some factory in China that would then drop ship your "product" to Amazon, set up a DBA and a checking account, and then create a bunch of ads for AdWords/Twitter/Facebook etc to sell your gizmo for 5 - 10x what you paid for it. Amazon handled all the logistics, you collected cash, and when your stock ran low you wired some more cash to the factory to send more product. Instant side hustle that brought in revenue. There are literally thousands of these companies out there. Because Amazon wasn't required legally to validate you were officially a business, they don't. This tries to plug some of that loophole with the trick that when you buy your product they have to tell you to whom the money is going. With that, a private investigator, and $10K you can often get to the individual involved. Now whether you can recover any money from them? That isn't really answered. It just ups the risk for the "fly by night" vendors.
  - Animats 4y ago
    Do these vendors file a proper D/B/A name? A D/B/A name is not anonymous. I have "Animats" as a D/B/A name. Filed the notarized statement with the county, published the required notices in a local newspaper, and paid the fee. The county publishes my name and address. Online lookup is available. That's California, though. Some states let you use a D/B/A name without registering it.[1] [1] https://dbafilingonline.com/dba-by-state/ https://dbafilingonline.com/dba-by-state/

crote 4y ago

How could the company be nonexistent? Does Amazon not check that the company you claim to be actually exists?

Animats 4y ago
No, they don't. In the Pennsylvania case, Amazon claimed they were unable to find the seller. That's why they couldn't pass the buck to the seller.
ChuckMcM 4y ago
Animats is correct, ask yourself the other question "Do I need to be an 'official' company to do business as one on Amazon?" The answer is no, very little data has traditionally been required to be presented as a business on Amazon and that practice has been copied to Walmart, Newegg, and elsewhere. All Amazon needed was for you to ship product to their warehouses, and a place for them to send payments. In the US there is something called a "DBA" which are initials for "Doing Business As" and you can register it with the county and then use that name to create a bank account. There were a number of tutorials out there about how to create a "company" where you wired money to some factory in China that would then drop ship your "product" to Amazon, set up a DBA and a checking account, and then create a bunch of ads for AdWords/Twitter/Facebook etc to sell your gizmo for 5 - 10x what you paid for it. Amazon handled all the logistics, you collected cash, and when your stock ran low you wired some more cash to the factory to send more product. Instant side hustle that brought in revenue. There are literally thousands of these companies out there. Because Amazon wasn't required legally to validate you were officially a business, they don't. This tries to plug some of that loophole with the trick that when you buy your product they have to tell you to whom the money is going. With that, a private investigator, and $10K you can often get to the individual involved. Now whether you can recover any money from them? That isn't really answered. It just ups the risk for the "fly by night" vendors.
- Animats 4y ago
  Do these vendors file a proper D/B/A name? A D/B/A name is not anonymous. I have "Animats" as a D/B/A name. Filed the notarized statement with the county, published the required notices in a local newspaper, and paid the fee. The county publishes my name and address. Online lookup is available. That's California, though. Some states let you use a D/B/A name without registering it.[1] [1] https://dbafilingonline.com/dba-by-state/ https://dbafilingonline.com/dba-by-state/