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Sellers printing counterfeit books and selling under Amazon's brand

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Re: Sellers printing counterfeit books and selling under Amazon's brand

#281

Post by nommm-nommm »

jrnichols wrote: post #65
peterjlee wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I buy phone chargers from Amazon I intentionally avoid the manufacturer branded ones because I know it's going to be fake. I usually choose a well known 3rd party brand with good reviews.

poor experiences with cheap phone chargers/etc are the reason I've been sticking to the Amazon Basics line. and then Anker, because the cats won't chew through those.

There's a product called "Grannick's Bitter Apple" that you spray on cords to prevent the cats from chewing on them. It's labeled for dogs but it works on cats (in my experience).

Re: Sellers printing counterfeit books and selling under Amazon's brand

#282

Post by antisthenes »

thejosh wrote: post #92
OJFord wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> $1000 ... course Wow. Surely the best advice such a course could possibly give would be 'convince people you can teach them to make money, and charge a lot for it'.

Yeah a few years ago it was SEO courses , now Amazon selling courses which are way overpriced, next ... ? Who gets rich in a goldfish, the miners or the person selling the tools?

Historically, the people who got rich during the gold rush were the ones offering services and selling goods to the miners.

So the answer to your question is the latter.

Re: Sellers printing counterfeit books and selling under Amazon's brand

#283

Post by nommm-nommm »

chipperyman573 wrote: post #143
jessaustin wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

By the same process in which Amazon has sold counterfeit NoStarch books, Amazon could also sell counterfeit "Basics" products. At this point, we're pretty sure it has something to do with commingling...

Why would Amazon let anyone sell an Amazon Basics product? It's not a "Basics" category, it's the "Amazon Basics" brand. Nobody else could produce those.

They could create a well done fake listing.

Re: Sellers printing counterfeit books and selling under Amazon's brand

#284

Post by a3n »

SantiagoDraco wrote: post #268
a3n wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Crap, "fulfilled by Amazon" was my last line of defense against crap products, variable shipping, unacceptable state at arrival, etc etc. Even at that, I recently bought two books, both arrived damaged. Returned them (I really don't want to have to do that, and I thought "fulfilled by" would reduce that likelihood), and the replacements were damaged. I gave up.

Fulfilled by amazon is and always has been the red flag. If you thought it was a line of defense you were mistaken unfortunately. Shipped and Sold by Amazon is your last line of defense and I'm still convinced it's a trustworthy way to buy. What Amazon better do is assure that it remains that way AND give us an option to filter out EVERYTHING else.

Hmm. I wonder if I meant shipped and sold by. Those damaged books I mentioned were from December, and I haven't shopped there since; I might not be remembering correctly.

Regardless, it was a bad experience.

Re: Sellers printing counterfeit books and selling under Amazon's brand

#285

Post by nommm-nommm »

suvelx wrote: post #273
ams6110 wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder about that too. How do I really know that a pair of Levi jeans at Target is genuine?

They're almost guaranteed to be 'genuine' Levis. But you can't be sure Target hasn't asked Levis to counterfeit themselves.

What do you mean by "counterfeit themselves?"

Do you mean selling the same exact product made by Levis under the Target label?

Re: Sellers printing counterfeit books and selling under Amazon's brand

#286

Post by oostevo »

stagbeetle wrote: post #50
komali2 wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is go-to strategy for /r/entrepreneur's crowd. If I remember correctly, Tim Ferris even recommends it in "4 Hour Workweek."

It's the go to of the (small-business) entrepreneurs all over the web (TheFastlane, /r/entrepreneur, etc.). I'm fairly certain it started around 4 years ago with Matt Clark's "Amazon Selling Machine." A friend who paid the $1000 let me watch the course and it was a pretty simple (and old) tactic. Buy wholesale and sell at markup. Except this time you would have it under your own "private label" (i.e a Chinese factory…

The private labeling strategy is also getting to be a thing in the travel hacking crowd too.

See, for example, http://www.frugalhack.me/2017/02/23/private-labeling-101-int...

Re: Sellers printing counterfeit books and selling under Amazon's brand

#287

Post by danjoc »

dang wrote: post #194
danjoc wrote: post #87

Ohh, I get it now. HN hates Amazon. I wasn't aware of that. It's not Google defenders or Python for Kids people clicking down. It's people who have a visceral hate for Amazon. I knew HN basically hated Apple, but this is news to me. Thanks for the clarification guys :)

HN doesn't hate $what_you_like, it just feels that way when you find yourself in a defensive position for whatever reason. This sort of perception is largely in the eye of the beholder. We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13926022 and marked it off-topic.

Maybe off topic, but interesting discussion none the less. After I realized what was going on, I checked out the Amazon grocery thread and saw pretty much the same attitudes on display. Personally, I'm neutral on Amazon. My highest up voted submissions were pretty 'anti-Apple' in nature, so that is good evidence to me that HN hates Apple generally.

I'll keep this in mind when submitting articles in the future. HN wants "Amazon is bad" articles. Also, don't say anything that might be construed as defending Amazon, because they're "bad" on HN. Gotta get with the group think if I want to hang out in the echo chamber (^_^)d

Re: Sellers printing counterfeit books and selling under Amazon's brand

#288

Post by scorpion_farmer »

SantiagoDraco wrote: post #265
blobbers wrote: post #63

Counterfeits in comingled inventory has become pretty common on Amazon these days. "Fulfillment by amazon" has led them to comingle inventories on common products, meaning every seller's product gets jumbled together. I've gotten counterfeit huggies diapers from amazon (invalid serial number for huggies 'points' and different build quality), Mach 3 razor blades, GE MWF Water filters, even a counterfeit baby bath. The…

Inventories are not "commingled" they are completely separate in the warehouses. Just because multiple vendors sell the same product and use the "fulfilled by Amazon" service to fool you doesn't mean Amazon is accidentally sending you an item from the wrong seller. If you purchase from Amazon and don't check that it's "shipped and sold by Amazon" then you are asking for trouble. The biggest issue is that Amazon has a…

This is 100% untrue. What is your basis for this post?

If a seller chooses commingled inventory when setting up their account, they have no obligation to re-label the product, as amazon uses the existing barcode on the product. If you order a pack of pencils from XYZ_Pencilmart and they are using commingled inventory, amazon will just grab any old item from all the commingled sellers, then deduct an imaginary unit from XYZ_Pencilmart's account.

This is why commingled inventory is a nightmare for resellers - it's your reputation on the line, but someone else's inventory.

Re: Sellers printing counterfeit books and selling under Amazon's brand

#289

Post by parametrek »

nommm-nommm wrote: post #280
parametrek wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The other day, I wanted a super bright flashlight that ran on AAA batteries and was of decent quality and price. I had to pour over the millions of listed flashlights, most looking physically identical, with the exception of the brand name printed on the flashlight itself. Then I read about how these flashlights are all mass produced by the same manufacturer and re-branded You need a trusted third party to collate…

"trusted third party" Who can guarantee the third party is either trusted or impartial?

> guarantee

Of course that is not possible. At best you can grade someone's past behavior according to a set of criteria. Though in this case most of https://reddit.com/r/flashlight/ would probably say that I am trustworthy and impartial ^_^

Re: Sellers printing counterfeit books and selling under Amazon's brand

#290

Post by dunham »

SantiagoDraco wrote: post #265
blobbers wrote: post #63

Counterfeits in comingled inventory has become pretty common on Amazon these days. "Fulfillment by amazon" has led them to comingle inventories on common products, meaning every seller's product gets jumbled together. I've gotten counterfeit huggies diapers from amazon (invalid serial number for huggies 'points' and different build quality), Mach 3 razor blades, GE MWF Water filters, even a counterfeit baby bath. The…

Inventories are not "commingled" they are completely separate in the warehouses. Just because multiple vendors sell the same product and use the "fulfilled by Amazon" service to fool you doesn't mean Amazon is accidentally sending you an item from the wrong seller. If you purchase from Amazon and don't check that it's "shipped and sold by Amazon" then you are asking for trouble. The biggest issue is that Amazon has a…

Amazon says that by default they are comingled: "Important: Items in your inventory that are identified and tracked using manufacturer barcodes are commingled with items of the same products from other sellers who also use manufacturer barcodes for those items."

- https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=...

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