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Amazon Caught Selling Counterfeits of Publisher’s Computer Books–Again

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Re: Amazon Caught Selling Counterfeits of Publisher’s Computer Books–Again

#91

Post by paulgb »

crowbahr wrote: post #74
ckastner wrote: post #4

The counterfeit and review manipulation issues have rendered Amazon unpleasant enough for me that buying local is something I've started to enjoy again. I trust the merchant to have performed some kind of vetting for merchandise sold on premise, and the price is often good or (interestingly enough) even better than on Amazon. Often enough local is still more expensive, but it beats browsing Amazon for an hour, siftin…

I purchased some wire cutters a year or two ago from Amazon and they were fine for the speaker wire I was cutting... Until this year when I tried to cut a guitar string with them and found a perfect guitar gauged hole in my snips every time I tried to cut. I was irate, having paid $10 for these. So I go online to leave a review and warn people off... only to find that the seller "no longer existed". They absolutely d…

I had a similar experience with a cookbook I was gifted that turned out to be fake: the author had impressive credentials (top culinary schools, etc.) but when I went to find more information about her I couldn't - all I could find was the same "author photo" for sale on a stock photo site. The book was a cobbled-together collection of recipes, some incomplete, apparently collected haphazardly from around the web.

I left a review saying this on the book, and Amazon deleted it because they thought my review was fraudulent. Of course, the book at the time had a 5-star rating from fake accounts.

Re: Amazon Caught Selling Counterfeits of Publisher’s Computer Books–Again

#92

Post by ghaff »

dspillett wrote: post #56
petilon wrote: post #45

I ordered a copy of Deep Learning [1] from Amazon last week. On Barnes & Noble [2] the book costs $76.80. On Amazon it is just $28.00. I received the book a couple of days ago. The pages look like it was printed using a low-resolution printer, and the ink color is uneven across pages. I am returning the book. Possible counterfeit, sold by a third party seller. On the other hand this book is also available free online…

> Maybe it is legal to print it and sell it? The first entry in the FAQ doesn't directly address that issue but strongly suggests an answer, morally if not legally: Q: Can I get a PDF of this book? A: No, our contract with MIT Press forbids distribution of too easily copied electronic formats of the book. I don't seen any obvious link to a licence that might confirm or contradict this impression, so if you need/want…

It's likely not really about licensing. They have a contract with the publisher that presumably allows them to do certain things and doesn't allow them to do others. (I know that's been the case when I've signed a book contract.) Presumably, in this case, they're allowed to publish the full contents in web form on their site but not to publish them in a form that would allow someone to easily print the entire contents in book form.

Re: Amazon Caught Selling Counterfeits of Publisher’s Computer Books–Again

#93

Post by busyant »

bleriot wrote: post #85
rubyfan wrote: post #72

Isn’t it more accurate that a seller is using Amazon’s publishing platform to counterfeit and sell other publishers books? The title suggests Amazon has wrongdoing here. You could make the case that they need more policing and review but it’s not like Amazon is knowingly selling counterfeit here.

Considering that Amazon fulfills orders using counterfeit items from suppliers that they know have previously provided fakes to customers, and then removes reviews that point out counterfeits, I’d say they’re complicit in it. I’ve personally had a review removed that called out an obviously counterfeit item I received. That was two years ago and the seller is still on Amazon, and Amazon is still removing other review…

This seems like a long-term recipe for disaster for Amazon.

Why do it? Or am I being naive? Or is it too difficult to clamp down on fakes?

Re: Amazon Caught Selling Counterfeits of Publisher’s Computer Books–Again

#94

Post by BucketSort »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #54
BucketSort wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, Jeff Bezos needs more money. Don't touch his profits with regulations.

If you damage his profits we won't benefit from the trickle down. /s

Those warehouse workers will not only need piss jugs, but also poop jars now. Damn government and their regulations. Future headline: "Amazon is now the largest purchaser of Depends."

Re: Amazon Caught Selling Counterfeits of Publisher’s Computer Books–Again

#95

Post by thefrostytruth »

tzs wrote: post #75

In the Tweet about one of the counterfeits, Bill Pollock says: > Images of counterfeit copies of Python for Kids being sold on Amazon. Legit copies are thicker, color, layflat binding, nicer paper I've noticed on occasion my local Barnes & Noble will have two copies of a book and one will be noticeably thicker than the other. Same edition, same cover art, same number of pages, but one just seems to be on thicker pape…

No, it's likely to be different legitimate print runs. Sometimes the same paper is unavailable, sometimes a book moves to a different manufacturing method based on demand (e.g., offset to short run to print-on-demand).

The source of Amazon's problem is their third-party marketplace and their practice of "co mingling" third-party stock with their "regular" stock -- this is unlikely to be the case with Barnes & Noble

Re: Amazon Caught Selling Counterfeits of Publisher’s Computer Books–Again

#96

Post by jahewson »

crowbahr wrote: post #74
ckastner wrote: post #4

The counterfeit and review manipulation issues have rendered Amazon unpleasant enough for me that buying local is something I've started to enjoy again. I trust the merchant to have performed some kind of vetting for merchandise sold on premise, and the price is often good or (interestingly enough) even better than on Amazon. Often enough local is still more expensive, but it beats browsing Amazon for an hour, siftin…

I purchased some wire cutters a year or two ago from Amazon and they were fine for the speaker wire I was cutting... Until this year when I tried to cut a guitar string with them and found a perfect guitar gauged hole in my snips every time I tried to cut. I was irate, having paid $10 for these. So I go online to leave a review and warn people off... only to find that the seller "no longer existed". They absolutely d…

Ha ha, I had the exact same experience cutting guitar string with wire cutters from my local dollar store.

Re: Amazon Caught Selling Counterfeits of Publisher’s Computer Books–Again

#97

Post by microtherion »

kens wrote: post #88
Dylan16807 wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> A lot of what makes real (UL/ETL listed) chargers expensive is making sure that line voltage stays adequately separated from the low voltage side. Even a very cheap and simplified design can do that. I wouldn't say "a lot" at all, maybe a few percent of the cost at most. It's a corner that could possibly be cut, but it's not one of the bigger corners.

I've done a lot of charger teardowns, and very cheap chargers always violate UL safety rules. It's a combination of cost (e.g. triple-insulated transformers), it's hard to fit clearance distances into a small charger, sloppy manufacturing, and they don't seem to even try.

I respect your superior expertise, of course, but looking through another site that has done systematic teardowns and measurements (https://lygte-info.dk/info/ChargerIndex%20UK.html), it appears to me that this might be too categorical a statement. While counterfeit chargers almost always seem to be dangerous, there seem to be some Chinese brands which produce quite respectable chargers, while still being fairly inexpensive.

Re: Amazon Caught Selling Counterfeits of Publisher’s Computer Books–Again

#98

Post by ericnyamu »

ckastner wrote: post #4

The counterfeit and review manipulation issues have rendered Amazon unpleasant enough for me that buying local is something I've started to enjoy again. I trust the merchant to have performed some kind of vetting for merchandise sold on premise, and the price is often good or (interestingly enough) even better than on Amazon. Often enough local is still more expensive, but it beats browsing Amazon for an hour, siftin…

If you buy best sellers you cannot buy fakes. The first page full of bestsellers gives you enough choices. So do amazon search like bestselling

Re: Amazon Caught Selling Counterfeits of Publisher’s Computer Books–Again

#100

Post by WaltPurvis »

petilon wrote: post #45

I ordered a copy of Deep Learning [1] from Amazon last week. On Barnes & Noble [2] the book costs $76.80. On Amazon it is just $28.00. I received the book a couple of days ago. The pages look like it was printed using a low-resolution printer, and the ink color is uneven across pages. I am returning the book. Possible counterfeit, sold by a third party seller. On the other hand this book is also available free online…

>On the other hand this book is also available free online [3]. Maybe it is legal to print it and sell it?

No, it's not legal.

I found that Amazon sells what is presumably a genuine edition of the book for $67.

I did not realize that Amazon had started displaying other sellers as the default seller for brand new books that Amazon itself sells. It used to be that Amazon was always the default seller if they carried a book, and the only way you would see other sellers was to click on the link for other sellers. Which is the way it should be. It's insane that they've changed this.

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