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Because Amazon is an online store that makes money when things are being sold through it. Including fake things. And since Amazon has no real competition and l

by p-e-w 4y ago

Because Amazon is an online store that makes money when things are being sold through it. Including fake things. And since Amazon has no real competition and lawmakers are asleep at the wheel (if not outright bought), there is zero incentive for Amazon to do anything about this.

fxtentacle 4y ago
John Oliver claims that the 2022 antitrust bills are being blocked by Schumer, whose daughters work as Lobbyists for Amazon. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXf04bhcjbg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXf04bhcjbg
charlieyu1 4y ago
I’m annoyed that this could be sorted by a simple ordering of positive reviews, yet these scams still pop up all the time
- p-e-w 4y ago
  That would be true if reviews weren't fake themselves. And just like fake products, Amazon has no incentive to fight fake reviews either. To Amazon, these aren't "scams", they're good business.
- blowski 4y ago
  Some of them are "sponsored", so Amazon is being paid to list them first.
Al-Khwarizmi 4y ago
But is that a good long-term strategy to make money? After being bitten by crap products (one of which literally broke in 5 minutes), I don't buy electronics in Amazon anymore. They would get more money from me if they hadn't turned into a flea market of bad products.
- p-e-w 4y ago
  Amazon is making more money than the entire economy of most countries. Their long term plan, like other tech giants, will be to become a sovereign entity. In some ways, they already are. Then they can effectively outlaw the competition, so outcompeting them won't matter anymore.
  - ciphol 4y ago
    You can't become a sovereign entity without territory on which you can enforce your norms. Amazon doesn't and (for the foreseeable future) won't have sovereign territory.
    - shapefrog 4y ago
      >without territory on which you can enforce your norms They seem to be doing pretty well at enforcing their norms in the good ole United States of Amazon.
      - para_parolu 4y ago
        What is United States of Amazon?
    - fmajid 4y ago
      You don't need territory, the Sovereign Order of Malta doesn't have any either. If you are in a locale where you can use the legal system to forestall any action against you, it's pretty much the same thing.
- flandish 4y ago
  “Long term” is not a problem when one makes so much profit in so little time and controls so much market/labor share that they are a tacit monopoly. Bezos’s primary goal is Bezos. Amazon’s is “shareholders”. Meteoric rise in profit is great and a hedge against “long term”/eventual downfall is easily done when that rise is part of an industry so dependent on amazon’s existence. IE: before amazon “falls” there will be a lot of “community loses x thousand jobs if we don't keep amazon her discussion to serve as the hedge.
deng 4y ago
> Because Amazon is an online store that makes money when things are being sold through it. Including fake things. Yep, and it uses this money to pay reviewgeek.com for their affiliate links on this article, and the circle is closed (to be fair, at least they did not post an affiliate link to one of these fake drives).
herbst 4y ago
Thing is in all places I know that have competition Amazon is basically irrelevant because it's such a poor choice comparingly. Like all of Asia, Switzerland, Netherlands apparently.
- Fnoord 4y ago
  Amazon is not irrelevant in The Netherlands. They just are not the dominant #1 because of a previously existing competitor (Bol.com). Which has a large enough company backing it up (Ahold Delhaize) after they got acquired and had a foothold before Amazon had (Bol.com started with books and wasn't profitable for a long time). They're doing the same shit as Amazon (third party sellers, including drop shippers and such), but more fair. See this article about Amazon possibly being accountable for fake articles being sold [1]. Interestingly, the article also describes Bol.com is way more fair about it selling via a third party than Amazon. [1] https://blog.iusmentis.com/2023/01/10/amazon-mogelijk-aansprakelijk-voor-nepproducten-van-verkopers https://blog.iusmentis.com/2023/01/10/amazon-mogelijk-aanspr...

by p-e-w 4y ago

fxtentacle 4y ago

John Oliver claims that the 2022 antitrust bills are being blocked by Schumer, whose daughters work as Lobbyists for Amazon. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXf04bhcjbg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXf04bhcjbg

charlieyu1 4y ago

I’m annoyed that this could be sorted by a simple ordering of positive reviews, yet these scams still pop up all the time

p-e-w 4y ago
That would be true if reviews weren't fake themselves. And just like fake products, Amazon has no incentive to fight fake reviews either. To Amazon, these aren't "scams", they're good business.
blowski 4y ago
Some of them are "sponsored", so Amazon is being paid to list them first.

Al-Khwarizmi 4y ago

But is that a good long-term strategy to make money? After being bitten by crap products (one of which literally broke in 5 minutes), I don't buy electronics in Amazon anymore. They would get more money from me if they hadn't turned into a flea market of bad products.

p-e-w 4y ago
Amazon is making more money than the entire economy of most countries. Their long term plan, like other tech giants, will be to become a sovereign entity. In some ways, they already are. Then they can effectively outlaw the competition, so outcompeting them won't matter anymore.
- ciphol 4y ago
  You can't become a sovereign entity without territory on which you can enforce your norms. Amazon doesn't and (for the foreseeable future) won't have sovereign territory.
  - shapefrog 4y ago
    >without territory on which you can enforce your norms They seem to be doing pretty well at enforcing their norms in the good ole United States of Amazon.
    - para_parolu 4y ago
      What is United States of Amazon?
  - fmajid 4y ago
    You don't need territory, the Sovereign Order of Malta doesn't have any either. If you are in a locale where you can use the legal system to forestall any action against you, it's pretty much the same thing.
flandish 4y ago
“Long term” is not a problem when one makes so much profit in so little time and controls so much market/labor share that they are a tacit monopoly. Bezos’s primary goal is Bezos. Amazon’s is “shareholders”. Meteoric rise in profit is great and a hedge against “long term”/eventual downfall is easily done when that rise is part of an industry so dependent on amazon’s existence. IE: before amazon “falls” there will be a lot of “community loses x thousand jobs if we don't keep amazon her discussion to serve as the hedge.

deng 4y ago

> Because Amazon is an online store that makes money when things are being sold through it. Including fake things. Yep, and it uses this money to pay reviewgeek.com for their affiliate links on this article, and the circle is closed (to be fair, at least they did not post an affiliate link to one of these fake drives).

herbst 4y ago

Thing is in all places I know that have competition Amazon is basically irrelevant because it's such a poor choice comparingly. Like all of Asia, Switzerland, Netherlands apparently.

Fnoord 4y ago
Amazon is not irrelevant in The Netherlands. They just are not the dominant #1 because of a previously existing competitor (Bol.com). Which has a large enough company backing it up (Ahold Delhaize) after they got acquired and had a foothold before Amazon had (Bol.com started with books and wasn't profitable for a long time). They're doing the same shit as Amazon (third party sellers, including drop shippers and such), but more fair. See this article about Amazon possibly being accountable for fake articles being sold [1]. Interestingly, the article also describes Bol.com is way more fair about it selling via a third party than Amazon. [1] https://blog.iusmentis.com/2023/01/10/amazon-mogelijk-aansprakelijk-voor-nepproducten-van-verkopers https://blog.iusmentis.com/2023/01/10/amazon-mogelijk-aanspr...