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A real reason to avoid Amazon is fake merchandise. I'd been buying a vitamin supplement from them for years. Then they sent me a notice that it was being recall

A real reason to avoid Amazon is fake merchandise. I'd been buying a vitamin supplement from them for years. Then they sent me a notice that it was being recalled as a fake.[1] (Archive [2]) They paid a refund for the last purchase. But that's all. Amazon won't respond to questions about what was in it or who the real seller is. I no longer buy anything from Amazon that could be faked. [1] https://www.amazon.com/ask/questions/Tx2Q5O0C84HF1GU/ https://www.amazon.com/ask/questions/Tx2Q5O0C84HF1GU/ [2] https://archive.is/rN8B9 https://archive.is/rN8B9

apt-apt-apt-apt 1y ago
How do you know what cannot be faked? Is shipped and sold by Amazon enough?
- nurettin 1y ago
  I understood fake as physically harmful.
- qgin 1y ago
  It is, people are being ridiculous. The third party stuff is where the fraud is.
  - onli 1y ago
    No, that is not correct or at least it has not been. Amazon was said to intermingle the inventory in the warehouses, mixing third party products with those shipped and sold by Amazon. So that gave you zero protection. I read that they made internal changes to tag shippings properly to reduce the risk of that behaviour, but am not sure it is true or has been effective.
    - phil21 1y ago
      Has this co-mingling of sold by Amazon ever actually been documented at any scale beyond “extremely rare stock/pick” mistake? I am of course aware of the option for manufacturers to enable this for their registered products on FBA - and it may not have been optional at one point in time. When I researched this a while ago I was unable to come up with much compelling evidence that it was an actual thing. It certainly has not happened to me over thousands of purchases - or anyone I know for that matter. Of course a fake could have been so good none of us could tell, but I do actually attempt to inspect carefully. I have found counterfeit items from other web stores not on Amazon so it’s not like my detection skills are zero. Third party marketplace of course is different. Heck, even Costco sent me an unsolicited refund for a counterfeit item they unknowingly sold me - so supply chain issues are bound to happen. I don’t want to defend Amazon too much here, but this one is almost at urban legend status to me. Likely happened at limited scale some time ago, but it’s strange everyone says it’s endemic but no one IRL I know across probably tens of thousands of purchases has noticed it.
      - khuey 1y ago
        I don't think Amazon has ever outright admitted that they do, but Amazon's own terms give them the right to commingle their inventory with those of third party sellers. F-4 Storage We will provide storage services as described in these FBA Service Terms once we confirm receipt of delivery. We will keep electronic records that track inventory of Units by identifying the number of Units stored in any fulfillment center. We will not be required to physically mark or segregate Units from other inventory units (e.g., products with the same Amazon standard identification number) owned by us, our Affiliates or third parties in the applicable fulfillment center(s). https://sellercentral.amazon.com/help/hub/reference/external/G1791?locale=en-US https://sellercentral.amazon.com/help/hub/reference/external... That combined with years and years of anecdotal reports of this happening certainly suggests a "where there's smoke there's fire" situation to me.
        phil21 1y ago
        Right, that’s FBA. I’m talking about sold by Amazon. I’m specifically talking about a case where a sold by Amazon item came from co-mingled inventory from a FBA seller. I also know from direct second party experience (I also personally saw the terms) that at least at a certain level of “brand” you can decline this option with Amazon for your registered product skus/ASIN even for FBA. I don’t know if this is offered to everyone though - I know it went through some sort of “deal reg” process in the one case I saw. I imagine this came through some sort of lawsuit or threats of one for a major brand at some point - but that is speculation on my part.
        khuey 1y ago
        > I’m specifically talking about a case where a sold by Amazon item came from co-mingled inventory from a FBA seller. The FBA terms I quoted specifically say that Amazon can co-mingle FBA inventory with their own (if the FBA seller doesn't opt out of "virtual tracking").
        lr1970 1y ago
        > The FBA terms I quoted specifically say that Amazon can co-mingle FBA inventory with their own (if the FBA seller doesn't opt out of "virtual tracking"). The wording in the quote explicitly states that an FBA unit can be substituted by owned by Amazon unit or other FBA units. But the wording is not clear whether SBA (Sold By Amazon) unit can be substituted by an FBA inventory. The terms covering Amazon's "first party inventory" (SBA, a.k.a. Amazon retail) are internal to Amazon and are not shared, AFAIK. But i can be wrong :-)
  - ranger_danger 1y ago
    I have absolutely bought multiple hard drives that were "shipped & sold by amazon" which turned out to be fake/counterfeit in some way. The serial numbers did not verify on the manufacturer's website either and they were completely DOA.
- GuB-42 1y ago
  All products can be faked, but I thing that GP means "cannot be faked without being obvious". Obvious fakes are not as much of a problem since Amazon has a pretty good return policy. In the "cannot be faked" category, you can have: - products so cheap that making a fake wouldn't make sense. for example an unbranded glass jar won't be faked because anything that looks like a glass jar but isn't a glass jar will be more expensive than a glass jar. - products too complex and/or too low margin to be worth faking. For example, you will probably never find a fake desktop printer, as even the most simple printers are hard to make and sold at a low margin, maybe even at a loss. However, consumables are (very) high margin and you will find fakes, lots of them. - products that have effective anti-counterfeiting systems. For example, Nintendo Switch games.
davidw 1y ago
I know it's not a very popular cause these days, but "Democracy" seems like a real reason too.
- UberFly 1y ago
  You mean the system of government in which political power is vested in the people who freely elect representatives? Not sure how it applies.
  - lanfeust6 1y ago
    Not sure either. Even Bezos' Washington Post has been pretty critical of the current administration.
    - davkan 1y ago
      Bezos personally blocked the WaPo editorial board from endorsing Kamala resulting in multiple resignations and a 10% loss in subscribers. A paper that adopted the tag line “Democracy Dies in Darkness” bending the knee to an authoritarian who committed election fraud would be hilarious if it weren’t so depressing. But we shouldn’t be surprised that these liberal journalism outfits consistently fail the public. The same thing happened in Germany in the 20s and 30s with Ullstein. And in Italy with their liberal papers. And with the Times running cover for Hitler’s regime under Ochs.
      - lanfeust6 1y ago
        It's his paper. Not great, but by definition still not anti-democratic.
        davkan 1y ago
        I would consider the capture of journalist outfits by billionaire capitalists who kowtow to authoritarians to be an erosion of our democracy. They call it the fourth estate for a reason.
SoftTalker 1y ago
Good rule of thumb is that if it goes on or in your body do not buy it from Amazon.
- recursive 1y ago
  Or if it's electronic. Fire risk.
  - blibble 1y ago
    the fact legitimate electricians buy fuses/wiring/circuit breakers/crimps off amazon thinking they're as advertised is actually terrifying all the buildings you enter: houses of friends/family, supermarkets, hospitals, transport, restaurants, offices, all with potentially fatal fake electrics hopefully the fire door and extinguishers weren't bought from amazon
    - SoftTalker 1y ago
      I recall reading about some counterfeit circuit breakers that were basically just toggle switches. They had no "trip" mechanism at all. The few tradespeople I know don't even shop at Lowes. They have accounts at supply houses that don't even offer public retail sales.
    - quickthrowman 1y ago
      It’s usually homeowners buying and installing crappy electrical products off Amazon, or ‘handyman’ types who don’t have a license. I sell and run commercial electrical work at a union shop and we buy electrical material from supply houses, not Amazon. You certainly could buy material off Amazon but if you’re passing the cost onto the customer, why not just buy the real thing?
  - _DeadFred_ 1y ago
    People buy fuses from Amazon for the cars/motorcycles not understanding it can kill them. They are actually evil at this point for doing nothing about any of these ongoing issues. They can't be unaware if us rando consumers are aware (or if they are doing recalls for fake products). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B90_SNNbcoU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B90_SNNbcoU
bilsbie 1y ago
I’m having trouble finding alternatives. Do I really have to go to four or five different websites to buy my supplements.
- immibis 1y ago
  have you tried a physical pharmacy
- deleted 1y ago
  [deleted]
- wredcoll 1y ago
  Um. Exactly how many supplements do you need?
  - junon 1y ago
    Why is that any of your business?
    - grantith 1y ago
      What makes anything another person's business? They asked a question out of curiosity and were replied to.
    - margalabargala 1y ago
      I think the earlier person made it everyone's business, when they posted on a discussion forum about it.
  - bilsbie 1y ago
    I don’t mind sharing in the interest of discussion: 600mg tongkat Move free advanced 3 pills 1700mcg l-5 methyltetrahydrofolate Zinc picolinate 22mg Taurine 3g Copper 2 mg Selenium K2 mk7 45 mcg Creatine monohydrate Magnesium as needed Sunbathing for vitamin d Going for general health/longevity, joint health, and fighting high homocysteine (mthfr homozygous)
- goshacmd 1y ago
PenguinCoder 1y ago
My rule is anything that goes on or in my body, I don't buy form Amazon for that reason.
- sokoloff 1y ago
  Is clothing really that big of a risk?
  - ttoinou 1y ago
    Dangerous material being in contact of your skin all day and night long does seem risky
  - dolebirchwood 1y ago
    I ordered replacement earpads from Amazon for one of my headphones. Ended up developing a rash around my ears. So it's not just about clothing, and, yes, you should be concerned.
  - margalabargala 1y ago
    Depends how much confidence you have that it wasn't soaked in something nasty that doesn't easily wash out.
mandeepj 1y ago
> https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DJUK8HS/ref=ask_ql_qh_dp_hza https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DJUK8HS/ref=ask_ql_qh_d... PreserVision -> I've never heard about that brand, so I would have never bought it. What was the reason behind your purchase decision?
freeone3000 1y ago
I bought a book. A literal book. And it was wrong size, wrong paper, printed on a 5 degree skew including the cover. It should have been from Simon and Schulster, but despite Sold and Shipped, it just wasn’t. It’s all fake. Every bit of it.
- wafflebot 1y ago
  [dead]
sheepscreek 1y ago
Was it “Sold by Amazon” or a third party marketplace seller?
- zargon 1y ago
  It doesn't matter. Amazon co-mingles product they sourced themselves with product from all the marketplace sellers. They also resell returns, which could have been swapped with something else.

apt-apt-apt-apt 1y ago

How do you know what cannot be faked? Is shipped and sold by Amazon enough?

nurettin 1y ago
I understood fake as physically harmful.
qgin 1y ago
It is, people are being ridiculous. The third party stuff is where the fraud is.
- onli 1y ago
  No, that is not correct or at least it has not been. Amazon was said to intermingle the inventory in the warehouses, mixing third party products with those shipped and sold by Amazon. So that gave you zero protection. I read that they made internal changes to tag shippings properly to reduce the risk of that behaviour, but am not sure it is true or has been effective.
  - phil21 1y ago
    Has this co-mingling of sold by Amazon ever actually been documented at any scale beyond “extremely rare stock/pick” mistake? I am of course aware of the option for manufacturers to enable this for their registered products on FBA - and it may not have been optional at one point in time. When I researched this a while ago I was unable to come up with much compelling evidence that it was an actual thing. It certainly has not happened to me over thousands of purchases - or anyone I know for that matter. Of course a fake could have been so good none of us could tell, but I do actually attempt to inspect carefully. I have found counterfeit items from other web stores not on Amazon so it’s not like my detection skills are zero. Third party marketplace of course is different. Heck, even Costco sent me an unsolicited refund for a counterfeit item they unknowingly sold me - so supply chain issues are bound to happen. I don’t want to defend Amazon too much here, but this one is almost at urban legend status to me. Likely happened at limited scale some time ago, but it’s strange everyone says it’s endemic but no one IRL I know across probably tens of thousands of purchases has noticed it.
    - khuey 1y ago
      I don't think Amazon has ever outright admitted that they do, but Amazon's own terms give them the right to commingle their inventory with those of third party sellers. F-4 Storage We will provide storage services as described in these FBA Service Terms once we confirm receipt of delivery. We will keep electronic records that track inventory of Units by identifying the number of Units stored in any fulfillment center. We will not be required to physically mark or segregate Units from other inventory units (e.g., products with the same Amazon standard identification number) owned by us, our Affiliates or third parties in the applicable fulfillment center(s). https://sellercentral.amazon.com/help/hub/reference/external/G1791?locale=en-US https://sellercentral.amazon.com/help/hub/reference/external... That combined with years and years of anecdotal reports of this happening certainly suggests a "where there's smoke there's fire" situation to me.
      - phil21 1y ago
        Right, that’s FBA. I’m talking about sold by Amazon. I’m specifically talking about a case where a sold by Amazon item came from co-mingled inventory from a FBA seller. I also know from direct second party experience (I also personally saw the terms) that at least at a certain level of “brand” you can decline this option with Amazon for your registered product skus/ASIN even for FBA. I don’t know if this is offered to everyone though - I know it went through some sort of “deal reg” process in the one case I saw. I imagine this came through some sort of lawsuit or threats of one for a major brand at some point - but that is speculation on my part.
        khuey 1y ago
        > I’m specifically talking about a case where a sold by Amazon item came from co-mingled inventory from a FBA seller. The FBA terms I quoted specifically say that Amazon can co-mingle FBA inventory with their own (if the FBA seller doesn't opt out of "virtual tracking").
        lr1970 1y ago
        > The FBA terms I quoted specifically say that Amazon can co-mingle FBA inventory with their own (if the FBA seller doesn't opt out of "virtual tracking"). The wording in the quote explicitly states that an FBA unit can be substituted by owned by Amazon unit or other FBA units. But the wording is not clear whether SBA (Sold By Amazon) unit can be substituted by an FBA inventory. The terms covering Amazon's "first party inventory" (SBA, a.k.a. Amazon retail) are internal to Amazon and are not shared, AFAIK. But i can be wrong :-)
- ranger_danger 1y ago
  I have absolutely bought multiple hard drives that were "shipped & sold by amazon" which turned out to be fake/counterfeit in some way. The serial numbers did not verify on the manufacturer's website either and they were completely DOA.
GuB-42 1y ago
All products can be faked, but I thing that GP means "cannot be faked without being obvious". Obvious fakes are not as much of a problem since Amazon has a pretty good return policy. In the "cannot be faked" category, you can have: - products so cheap that making a fake wouldn't make sense. for example an unbranded glass jar won't be faked because anything that looks like a glass jar but isn't a glass jar will be more expensive than a glass jar. - products too complex and/or too low margin to be worth faking. For example, you will probably never find a fake desktop printer, as even the most simple printers are hard to make and sold at a low margin, maybe even at a loss. However, consumables are (very) high margin and you will find fakes, lots of them. - products that have effective anti-counterfeiting systems. For example, Nintendo Switch games.

davidw 1y ago

I know it's not a very popular cause these days, but "Democracy" seems like a real reason too.

UberFly 1y ago
You mean the system of government in which political power is vested in the people who freely elect representatives? Not sure how it applies.
- lanfeust6 1y ago
  Not sure either. Even Bezos' Washington Post has been pretty critical of the current administration.
  - davkan 1y ago
    Bezos personally blocked the WaPo editorial board from endorsing Kamala resulting in multiple resignations and a 10% loss in subscribers. A paper that adopted the tag line “Democracy Dies in Darkness” bending the knee to an authoritarian who committed election fraud would be hilarious if it weren’t so depressing. But we shouldn’t be surprised that these liberal journalism outfits consistently fail the public. The same thing happened in Germany in the 20s and 30s with Ullstein. And in Italy with their liberal papers. And with the Times running cover for Hitler’s regime under Ochs.
    - lanfeust6 1y ago
      It's his paper. Not great, but by definition still not anti-democratic.
      - davkan 1y ago
        I would consider the capture of journalist outfits by billionaire capitalists who kowtow to authoritarians to be an erosion of our democracy. They call it the fourth estate for a reason.

SoftTalker 1y ago

Good rule of thumb is that if it goes on or in your body do not buy it from Amazon.

recursive 1y ago
Or if it's electronic. Fire risk.
- blibble 1y ago
  the fact legitimate electricians buy fuses/wiring/circuit breakers/crimps off amazon thinking they're as advertised is actually terrifying all the buildings you enter: houses of friends/family, supermarkets, hospitals, transport, restaurants, offices, all with potentially fatal fake electrics hopefully the fire door and extinguishers weren't bought from amazon
  - SoftTalker 1y ago
    I recall reading about some counterfeit circuit breakers that were basically just toggle switches. They had no "trip" mechanism at all. The few tradespeople I know don't even shop at Lowes. They have accounts at supply houses that don't even offer public retail sales.
  - quickthrowman 1y ago
    It’s usually homeowners buying and installing crappy electrical products off Amazon, or ‘handyman’ types who don’t have a license. I sell and run commercial electrical work at a union shop and we buy electrical material from supply houses, not Amazon. You certainly could buy material off Amazon but if you’re passing the cost onto the customer, why not just buy the real thing?
- _DeadFred_ 1y ago
  People buy fuses from Amazon for the cars/motorcycles not understanding it can kill them. They are actually evil at this point for doing nothing about any of these ongoing issues. They can't be unaware if us rando consumers are aware (or if they are doing recalls for fake products). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B90_SNNbcoU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B90_SNNbcoU

bilsbie 1y ago

I’m having trouble finding alternatives. Do I really have to go to four or five different websites to buy my supplements.

immibis 1y ago
have you tried a physical pharmacy
deleted 1y ago
[deleted]
wredcoll 1y ago
Um. Exactly how many supplements do you need?
- junon 1y ago
  Why is that any of your business?
  - grantith 1y ago
    What makes anything another person's business? They asked a question out of curiosity and were replied to.
  - margalabargala 1y ago
    I think the earlier person made it everyone's business, when they posted on a discussion forum about it.
- bilsbie 1y ago
  I don’t mind sharing in the interest of discussion: 600mg tongkat Move free advanced 3 pills 1700mcg l-5 methyltetrahydrofolate Zinc picolinate 22mg Taurine 3g Copper 2 mg Selenium K2 mk7 45 mcg Creatine monohydrate Magnesium as needed Sunbathing for vitamin d Going for general health/longevity, joint health, and fighting high homocysteine (mthfr homozygous)
goshacmd 1y ago

PenguinCoder 1y ago

My rule is anything that goes on or in my body, I don't buy form Amazon for that reason.

sokoloff 1y ago
Is clothing really that big of a risk?
- ttoinou 1y ago
  Dangerous material being in contact of your skin all day and night long does seem risky
- dolebirchwood 1y ago
  I ordered replacement earpads from Amazon for one of my headphones. Ended up developing a rash around my ears. So it's not just about clothing, and, yes, you should be concerned.
- margalabargala 1y ago
  Depends how much confidence you have that it wasn't soaked in something nasty that doesn't easily wash out.

mandeepj 1y ago

> https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DJUK8HS/ref=ask_ql_qh_dp_hza https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DJUK8HS/ref=ask_ql_qh_d... PreserVision -> I've never heard about that brand, so I would have never bought it. What was the reason behind your purchase decision?

freeone3000 1y ago

I bought a book. A literal book. And it was wrong size, wrong paper, printed on a 5 degree skew including the cover. It should have been from Simon and Schulster, but despite Sold and Shipped, it just wasn’t. It’s all fake. Every bit of it.

wafflebot 1y ago
[dead]

sheepscreek 1y ago

Was it “Sold by Amazon” or a third party marketplace seller?

zargon 1y ago
It doesn't matter. Amazon co-mingles product they sourced themselves with product from all the marketplace sellers. They also resell returns, which could have been swapped with something else.