6 ms·

To add to your point, one can't even pick out a brand-name product directly from Amazon's website and be sure of getting the real thing.

by jprete 2y ago

wnc3141 2y ago
That's been an issue with ordering consumer electronics. I don't know if the item is refurbished, returned,or endorsed by the manufacturer warranty. I basically only order through the manufacturer or best buy these days.
- sambaumann 2y ago
  Even when amazon shows that you're on the manufacturer store, it still may not be genuine. I bought an intel wifi card off what looked like the official intel store on amazon, but it turns out that it was an out of production model sold by a third party, but amazon showed that it was "Intel". Very confusing and frustrating if you don't know what to look for beforehand.
- dghlsakjg 2y ago
  Does Best Buy not resell returns?
  - qingcharles 2y ago
    Yes, they do. Plenty of horror stories on r/datahoarders of fake resealed HDDs.
- mystified5016 2y ago
  I once bought a "new" hard drive from Amazon. It was an enterprise datacenter drive with thousands of hours. Someone had scrubbed the SMART statistics, but did not wipe the drive. They deleted the partition table, but it was still chock full of data. Mostly encrypted, but there was plenty of cleartext logs including runtime statistics for the rack the drive was in. I'm about 85% sure it was a decommissioned Backblaze drive based on the logs I could see. This was probably 10 years ago, though.
gortok 2y ago
I ordered automated cat feeders and had bought the “honey guaridan [sic]” which is a Chinese knockoff when I thought I was buying “HoneyGuardian” brand automated cat feeders. This is blatant behavior on the part of sellers and Amazon turns a blind-eye to it. I didn’t learn my lesson either. I ordered seat covers, and what came was a misspelled Chinese knockoff brand instead of the name brand I thought I was ordering. I can’t trust purchases made on Amazon and I have an eye for detail. They got me twice. I don’t know how non-detail oriented folks keep from it happening.
- aragonite 2y ago
  > I ordered automated cat feeders and had bought the “honey guaridan [sic]” which is a Chinese knockoff when I thought I was buying “HoneyGuardian” brand automated cat feeders. I have to admit that's hilarious, but I'm pretty sure HoneyGuarDIan (correct spelling) too is a Chinese company, based in Shenzhen.[1] Edit: Actually I'm increasingly convinced HoneyGuarDIan and HoneyGuarIDan are the exact same company: take a closer look at the URL https://www.honeyguardian.com/pages/honeyguaridan-app https://www.honeyguardian.com/pages/honeyguaridan-app and compare the second-level domain name with the last part of the URL pathname! Maybe it wasn't a knockoff after all :-D [1] Go to https://www.honeyguardian.com/pages/honeyguaridan-app https://www.honeyguardian.com/pages/honeyguaridan-app and click either of the appstore links to see the company name (Shenzhen Hailong Zhizao, whose corporate website is at https://www.pdpets.com/ https://www.pdpets.com/)
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
- smcin 2y ago
  "typosquatting"
derefr 2y ago
These days, you can't even pick out a brand-name product from a brick and mortar store and be sure of getting the real thing. People will buy something from a store, buy a fake version of that thing on AliExpress, swap the fake into the box, re-shrinkwrap the box, return the shrinkwrapped fake to the store, and sell the real one on eBay. The store will often put the thing back on the shelf, because it's still shrinkwrapped, weighs the same, and even looks the same under an x-ray. And then someone buys it and gets a dud. This is why, except for a few high-margin categories, Amazon itself will never put returned stock back into inventory, instead always selling it off through bulk channels. It's effectively impossible to authenticate a return as legitimate these days, without converting the "BNIB" device into a "NIB" device.
- ta1243 2y ago
  > People will buy something from a store, buy a fake version of that thing on AliExpress, swap the fake into the box, re-shrinkwrap the box, return the shrinkwrapped fake to the store, and sell the real one on eBay. Why not just sell the AliExpress one on ebay?
  - bombcar 2y ago
    Because eBay will respond very angrily when people report getting the fake piece of junk. Walmart doesn’t care if you are intelligent work hard at it. You don’t even have to give them your drivers license and they never know.
- bombcar 2y ago
  https://toolguyd.com/amazon-sent-me-used-broken-knipex-pliers/ https://toolguyd.com/amazon-sent-me-used-broken-knipex-plier... Amazon put tons of stuff back on the shelf. It’s not quite as bad as Fry’s Electronics where every single thing they sold had obviously been opened and shrink up, but it’s getting close.

To add to your point, one can't even pick out a brand-name product directly from Amazon's website and be sure of getting the real thing.

by jprete 2y ago

To add to your point, one can't even pick out a brand-name product directly from Amazon's website and be sure of getting the real thing.

wnc3141 2y ago

That's been an issue with ordering consumer electronics. I don't know if the item is refurbished, returned,or endorsed by the manufacturer warranty. I basically only order through the manufacturer or best buy these days.

sambaumann 2y ago
Even when amazon shows that you're on the manufacturer store, it still may not be genuine. I bought an intel wifi card off what looked like the official intel store on amazon, but it turns out that it was an out of production model sold by a third party, but amazon showed that it was "Intel". Very confusing and frustrating if you don't know what to look for beforehand.
dghlsakjg 2y ago
Does Best Buy not resell returns?
- qingcharles 2y ago
  Yes, they do. Plenty of horror stories on r/datahoarders of fake resealed HDDs.
mystified5016 2y ago
I once bought a "new" hard drive from Amazon. It was an enterprise datacenter drive with thousands of hours. Someone had scrubbed the SMART statistics, but did not wipe the drive. They deleted the partition table, but it was still chock full of data. Mostly encrypted, but there was plenty of cleartext logs including runtime statistics for the rack the drive was in. I'm about 85% sure it was a decommissioned Backblaze drive based on the logs I could see. This was probably 10 years ago, though.

gortok 2y ago

I ordered automated cat feeders and had bought the “honey guaridan [sic]” which is a Chinese knockoff when I thought I was buying “HoneyGuardian” brand automated cat feeders. This is blatant behavior on the part of sellers and Amazon turns a blind-eye to it. I didn’t learn my lesson either. I ordered seat covers, and what came was a misspelled Chinese knockoff brand instead of the name brand I thought I was ordering. I can’t trust purchases made on Amazon and I have an eye for detail. They got me twice. I don’t know how non-detail oriented folks keep from it happening.

aragonite 2y ago
> I ordered automated cat feeders and had bought the “honey guaridan [sic]” which is a Chinese knockoff when I thought I was buying “HoneyGuardian” brand automated cat feeders. I have to admit that's hilarious, but I'm pretty sure HoneyGuarDIan (correct spelling) too is a Chinese company, based in Shenzhen.[1] Edit: Actually I'm increasingly convinced HoneyGuarDIan and HoneyGuarIDan are the exact same company: take a closer look at the URL https://www.honeyguardian.com/pages/honeyguaridan-app https://www.honeyguardian.com/pages/honeyguaridan-app and compare the second-level domain name with the last part of the URL pathname! Maybe it wasn't a knockoff after all :-D [1] Go to https://www.honeyguardian.com/pages/honeyguaridan-app https://www.honeyguardian.com/pages/honeyguaridan-app and click either of the appstore links to see the company name (Shenzhen Hailong Zhizao, whose corporate website is at https://www.pdpets.com/ https://www.pdpets.com/)
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
smcin 2y ago
"typosquatting"

derefr 2y ago

These days, you can't even pick out a brand-name product from a brick and mortar store and be sure of getting the real thing. People will buy something from a store, buy a fake version of that thing on AliExpress, swap the fake into the box, re-shrinkwrap the box, return the shrinkwrapped fake to the store, and sell the real one on eBay. The store will often put the thing back on the shelf, because it's still shrinkwrapped, weighs the same, and even looks the same under an x-ray. And then someone buys it and gets a dud. This is why, except for a few high-margin categories, Amazon itself will never put returned stock back into inventory, instead always selling it off through bulk channels. It's effectively impossible to authenticate a return as legitimate these days, without converting the "BNIB" device into a "NIB" device.

ta1243 2y ago
> People will buy something from a store, buy a fake version of that thing on AliExpress, swap the fake into the box, re-shrinkwrap the box, return the shrinkwrapped fake to the store, and sell the real one on eBay. Why not just sell the AliExpress one on ebay?
- bombcar 2y ago
  Because eBay will respond very angrily when people report getting the fake piece of junk. Walmart doesn’t care if you are intelligent work hard at it. You don’t even have to give them your drivers license and they never know.
bombcar 2y ago
https://toolguyd.com/amazon-sent-me-used-broken-knipex-pliers/ https://toolguyd.com/amazon-sent-me-used-broken-knipex-plier... Amazon put tons of stuff back on the shelf. It’s not quite as bad as Fry’s Electronics where every single thing they sold had obviously been opened and shrink up, but it’s getting close.