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Amazon's Tepid Response to Counterfeiters Frustrates Sellers

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Re: Amazon's Tepid Response to Counterfeiters Frustrates Sellers

#251

Post by noir_lord »

dreamcompiler wrote: post #202
SomeStupidPoint wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amazon is likely stats blinded: their internal metrics say "all good", so they ignore the stories people are telling as anecdotes without ever doing the analysis on how often those "anecdotes" happen. Further, that their stats are ungrounded (not tied to any hard-to-attack real world tests) and fail to capture data which would demonstrate the issue. I believe the FBA and FMA teams are a fundamental blunder opposed to…

This is one of the most insightful comments I've read on HN and it explains the factors at play when a big company won't respond to issues the outside world can plainly see are problems: The stats are good, the stats measure the wrong things, and whoever inside the company first suggests that a change is needed will probably limit their career. It's also a good explanation of Apple's non-response to their increasingl…

It's a good comment but anyone who has worked for really large retailers has experience of been on the side of "This policy is really stupid, you are pissing customers off!" and head office standing with it's fingers in it's ears going NerNerNer can't hear you, figures all look good from here.

Re: Amazon's Tepid Response to Counterfeiters Frustrates Sellers

#252

Post by cookiecaper »

mdp wrote: post #86
Lasher wrote: post #4

I purchased Quickbooks Pro 2017 (PC) on Amazon last week, said it was "sold by Intuit" so wasn't even supposed to be an FBA (fulfilled by Amazon). Figured if it costs no more I might as well get the physical disk. What showed up was a DVD case with a very clearly photocopied cover for a Mac version with a Verbatim CDR inside and a hacked version of the software. Amazon processed the refund just fine but didn't seem p…

Try buying any Apple accessories. I wanted to buy the genuine Apple headphones, but it's absolutely impossible to on Amazon. "Sold by Apple" product shows up from a seller in Boston, clearly counterfeit. Report it to Amazon and they suggest mailing it back for a refund. Zero concern that the seller is labeling their goods as genuine Apple and then sending knock-offs. Prior to this I got a set of grey market Gillette…

Amazon gets those reports all the time, and they have very low-skill people reviewing them. FBA sellers have many horror stories in the opposite direction: they're falsely reported as counterfeit and they don't commingle, but some Amazon lackey is just clicking through the cases and assuming that suspensions are justified, probably without even reading them.

The long and short is that Amazon is not popular with anyone these days. They're not responsive to complaints about products from either buyers or sellers. You have to learn how to play their game. They're acting very monopolistically despite the fact that there are many well-qualified and well-capitalized wolves looking to poach their marketshare.

FBA is just so obscenely profitable for Amazon (the fees alone are huge, usually ending up to be 35-50% of the sale price, depending on the product). I think they are trying to straddle and put off anything that will cut into that margin as long as they can.

Sellers are punished for returns, buyers are stuck with an inferior product and either never notice or send in a return, which hurts the seller, not Amazon. They obviously don't need to carefully tend their reputation as they're already the default for a huge number of people, as long as they do enough to prevent a mass exodus. There's not a lot of incentive for them to aggressively pursue counterfeit sellers or put an overnight stop to it, because they're profiting handsomely in the meantime.

Re: Amazon's Tepid Response to Counterfeiters Frustrates Sellers

#253

Post by noir_lord »

shawn-furyan wrote: post #113
ymerej wrote: post #24

Four or five times in a row, I bought what were supposed to be genuine Samsung batteries for my SGS4, and every single one was a counterfeit. Each time I had a chat conversation with Amazon, explaining the situation and each time I was told "an investigation" would be done. Ex: https://www.amazon.com/review/R1OV6G6YE4TXFZ/ref=cm_cr_rdp_p...

Similar story, but with 3 consecutive large capacity HGST hdds that were sold as new (SMART told a different story), switching sellers each time. Ultimately just went to Newegg.

Yep, I buy from Aria in the UK, the prices are always in the ballpark of Amazon's give or take (and occasionally a lot cheaper), they have genuinely knowledgeable about computer gear staff and I've never had an issue with a single aspect of them as a company (bar a postcode problem with a shipping address which wasn't their fault and they did get sorted).

It's not an entirely fair comparison since aria specialises in technology but when they do that and match price then Amazon has no competitive edge.

Re: Amazon's Tepid Response to Counterfeiters Frustrates Sellers

#254

Post by mikeash »

mynameisvlad wrote: post #218
mikeash wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1,000 jobs is about what the American economy creates every two hours. Politicians tout these deals because they know that most voters are clueless about the magnitudes involved.

You can't​ directly compare 1000 jobs in the entirety of the US and 1000 jobs in a small town with nothing else going on.

I can when national-level politicians are devoting time to them and then bragging about it.

Re: Amazon's Tepid Response to Counterfeiters Frustrates Sellers

#255

Post by ikeboy »

Bjartr wrote: post #203
crazygringo wrote: post #114

Is there anyone here who can shed some light as to why ? It's impossible for me to believe that it's part of Amazon's strategy to encourage, or even allow, counterfeits -- it might be fine for a smaller company, but it appears to be doing real brand damage at this point. Yet Amazon shows no signs of stopping it -- this has been going on for years. Is it just a really hard problem for some reason that isn't obvious? (…

My thinking is that it's a lot easier on the logistics of fast delivery times. When someone comingles inventory with Amazon it means someone else paid the initial shipping cost from manufacturer to Amazon warehouse. It could even be in Amazon's best interest (on paper only, thus the quality issues) to preferentially ship the commingled inventory before dipping into their direct purchases to maximize profit per sale b…

If Amazon ships commingled goods, their own products get virtually transferred to that seller, and Amazon's stock still goes down. I don't think what you're saying makes sense.

Re: Amazon's Tepid Response to Counterfeiters Frustrates Sellers

#256

Post by nommm-nommm »

mdp wrote: post #86
Lasher wrote: post #4

I purchased Quickbooks Pro 2017 (PC) on Amazon last week, said it was "sold by Intuit" so wasn't even supposed to be an FBA (fulfilled by Amazon). Figured if it costs no more I might as well get the physical disk. What showed up was a DVD case with a very clearly photocopied cover for a Mac version with a Verbatim CDR inside and a hacked version of the software. Amazon processed the refund just fine but didn't seem p…

Try buying any Apple accessories. I wanted to buy the genuine Apple headphones, but it's absolutely impossible to on Amazon. "Sold by Apple" product shows up from a seller in Boston, clearly counterfeit. Report it to Amazon and they suggest mailing it back for a refund. Zero concern that the seller is labeling their goods as genuine Apple and then sending knock-offs. Prior to this I got a set of grey market Gillette…

How do you know the razor you got was grey market?

Re: Amazon's Tepid Response to Counterfeiters Frustrates Sellers

#257

Post by emodendroket »

dogma1138 wrote: post #228
Apocryphon wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Makes me wonder if political deals to bring in military-industrial complex jobs at military bases and arms manufacturing plants and the like are any better. They at least provide better compensation to the workers, right?

Towns like to attract military bases because they bring in a large population that is employed requires no loca services (since it's handled by the armed forces), usually well behaved which spends its income locally. Bases also bring 100s of civilian jobs and support local businesses.

Yeah, but military Keynesianism also involves a lot of the taxpayer dollars lining the pockets of arms manufacturers and contributes to belligerent foreign policy. It's worth asking whether the same money could be used to employ people to do something other than building more F-35s.

Re: Amazon's Tepid Response to Counterfeiters Frustrates Sellers

#258

Post by AdamJacobMuller »

cookiecaper wrote: post #248
AdamJacobMuller wrote: post #243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amazon credits you when someone buys your item, but the item Amazon ships the buyer might not be yours, but an equal equivalent. And, before you ask: Yes, this results in situations where 100% legitimate sellers on Amazon can sometimes ship (via Amazon/FBA) their buyers counterfeit goods. Shitty situation to be in as a seller.

Sellers can opt-out of commingling, but many don't because a) they don't understand the implications, as Amazon doesn't really make it clear; and b) because it requires them to individually add a separate sticker/identifier to each unit of their product, adding significantly to preparation and packaging costs.

I think Amazon charges more for storage fees if you disable commingling too.

Re: Amazon's Tepid Response to Counterfeiters Frustrates Sellers

#259

Post by koolba »

closeparen wrote: post #223
amsilprotag wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was a great Bloomberg Decrypted podcast a couple weeks ago weighing the costs and benefits for a small town in offering a multi-million dollar subsidy for thousands of low-skill Amazon warehouse jobs. Is it really worth subsidizing at all when the government will have to fund various welfare programs to cover the difference between the ~$10.00/hr paid and a livable wage? But since towns compete and prestige is…

But they already have to pay welfare for those people, right? Or is Amazon bringing new low income residents?

Exactly. It's $10/hr less that has to be covered than before. Plus the ware house drives local commercial traffic, workers have to eat, etc.

Re: Amazon's Tepid Response to Counterfeiters Frustrates Sellers

#260

Post by M_Grey »

AdamJacobMuller wrote: post #242
sk5t wrote: post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amazon might care when entire warehouses are locked down for investigation. It's systemic after all.

I find it unlikely to believe that they would lock down entire warehouses for any significant period. I think this is the equivalent of shutting down an entire port because of a (or a few) containers of cargo are counterfit.

...That sounds like the FBI we know and "love". They do so love to make a point.
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