4 ms·

It's simple: You should never buy anything from Amazon unless the buyer is recognized or trusted. The definition of "recognized or trusted" is up to you, of co

It's simple: You should never buy anything from Amazon unless the buyer is recognized or trusted. The definition of "recognized or trusted" is up to you, of course, Amazon will not really help mush with this. I try to filter for major brands or brands that I have purchased from in the past. Sold and shipped-by Amazon also applies.

jcalvinowens 10mo ago
If you pick "I longer need this item" as the return reason, you are pretty much 100% guaranteed to get a full refund from amazon scammers in my experience. If you pick any reason suggesting the product is deficient, they'll fight you and waste your time, even if it's demonstrably true. Given that, I take the risk, it saves me money when the thing turns out to work.
- zahlman 10mo ago
  > If you pick any reason suggesting the product is deficient, they'll fight you and waste your time, even if it's demonstrably true. Presumably because if those returns were processed, it would give Amazon cause to take action against them.
  - jcalvinowens 10mo ago
    Exactly. If amazon wants buyers to actually report scammers, they need to make it easier. I gave up on it long ago, it's not worth my time.
zahlman 10mo ago
Unfortunately, your trusted buyer can also get scammed. And you might not even get your trusted buyer's stock; you might select a buyer, and get someone else's stock from a fulfillment center closer to you. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5ZmGDW43g0?t=15m30s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5ZmGDW43g0?t=15m30s
- robomartin 10mo ago
  Yes, of course. This depends on the kind of product. If the inventory is comingled you don't really know what you are getting and from whom. Context: My wife was selling products through Amazon about ten year ago, so we know quite a bit about the reality of being an Amazon seller. It should come as no surprise that she got out of there as soon as possible. Between the mafia-like competition you can encounter and Amazon's almost complete lack of interest in driving quality and honesty of their sellers, it just was not worth the pain and aggravation.
throw-12-16 10mo ago
Don't buy anything from amazon at all, and don't use their services either. They have 0 quality control, and at a professional level are a complete pain in the ass to work with.
- gambiting 10mo ago
  As a consumer - I've had literally thousands of orders from Amazon over the years,with my total spend being north of £30k at this point. I've never had a single fake or even broken item - I think I had a prime delivery be late by one day, and when I contacted Amazon they just extended my prime by a month each time. With returns they usually just tell me to keep the item and refund me anyway. Honestly, the whole "just buy from someone else" argument maybe would hold water if everyone else wasn't so incredibly shit at least here in the UK. Currys? It's a "buy an item, we will dispatch it at some point sometime, if you need to return it go through our chat where the agent will lie to you about your return options and then it will take a month to actually refund you". Amazon is painless both in ordering and in customer service(in my experience, YMMV)
  - throw-12-16 10mo ago
    The plural of anecdote is not data.
    - gambiting 10mo ago
      Obviously correct, but I assumed that OP was also talking from experience.
    - xyzzy123 10mo ago
      Amazon is the second largest retailer in the world, 250 billion dollars of revenue is a lot of anecdotes and IMHO does kinda add up to being data.

jcalvinowens 10mo ago

If you pick "I longer need this item" as the return reason, you are pretty much 100% guaranteed to get a full refund from amazon scammers in my experience. If you pick any reason suggesting the product is deficient, they'll fight you and waste your time, even if it's demonstrably true. Given that, I take the risk, it saves me money when the thing turns out to work.

zahlman 10mo ago
> If you pick any reason suggesting the product is deficient, they'll fight you and waste your time, even if it's demonstrably true. Presumably because if those returns were processed, it would give Amazon cause to take action against them.
- jcalvinowens 10mo ago
  Exactly. If amazon wants buyers to actually report scammers, they need to make it easier. I gave up on it long ago, it's not worth my time.

zahlman 10mo ago

Unfortunately, your trusted buyer can also get scammed. And you might not even get your trusted buyer's stock; you might select a buyer, and get someone else's stock from a fulfillment center closer to you. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5ZmGDW43g0?t=15m30s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5ZmGDW43g0?t=15m30s

robomartin 10mo ago
Yes, of course. This depends on the kind of product. If the inventory is comingled you don't really know what you are getting and from whom. Context: My wife was selling products through Amazon about ten year ago, so we know quite a bit about the reality of being an Amazon seller. It should come as no surprise that she got out of there as soon as possible. Between the mafia-like competition you can encounter and Amazon's almost complete lack of interest in driving quality and honesty of their sellers, it just was not worth the pain and aggravation.

throw-12-16 10mo ago

Don't buy anything from amazon at all, and don't use their services either. They have 0 quality control, and at a professional level are a complete pain in the ass to work with.

gambiting 10mo ago
As a consumer - I've had literally thousands of orders from Amazon over the years,with my total spend being north of £30k at this point. I've never had a single fake or even broken item - I think I had a prime delivery be late by one day, and when I contacted Amazon they just extended my prime by a month each time. With returns they usually just tell me to keep the item and refund me anyway. Honestly, the whole "just buy from someone else" argument maybe would hold water if everyone else wasn't so incredibly shit at least here in the UK. Currys? It's a "buy an item, we will dispatch it at some point sometime, if you need to return it go through our chat where the agent will lie to you about your return options and then it will take a month to actually refund you". Amazon is painless both in ordering and in customer service(in my experience, YMMV)
- throw-12-16 10mo ago
  The plural of anecdote is not data.
  - gambiting 10mo ago
    Obviously correct, but I assumed that OP was also talking from experience.
  - xyzzy123 10mo ago
    Amazon is the second largest retailer in the world, 250 billion dollars of revenue is a lot of anecdotes and IMHO does kinda add up to being data.