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Counterfeit books “shipped and sold by Amazon”?

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Re: Counterfeit books “shipped and sold by Amazon”?

#111

Post by ikeboy »

mariomariomario wrote: post #107
ikeboy wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I link to it every single thread like this, but here goes: https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/help/external/200141480?... "For inventory tracked with the manufacturer barcode, each seller’s sourced inventory of the same ASIN is stored separately in our fulfillment centers. We can also track the original seller of each unit." Previous discussions: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20549623 , https://news.ycombinat…

This is true, except it doesn't help the problem at hand. The problem at hand being that people are still receiving counterfeit products in the meantime. Knowing how Seller Performance works, they aren't about to close off a listing that is doing $nn-K revenue per month because of a couple of copyright reports. The economics simply don't make sense for Amazon to poison the inventory of a seller because of a couple of…

Yes, but that's a problem with or without commingling. My point was that commingling doesn't contribute significantly to the counterfeit problem.

Regarding your points:

1. Amazon takes action when a brand complains, even with only a single complaint. Sellers have to prove the complaint is wrong to be allowed to continue to sell the product, or in some cases to be reinstated. Usually this is done by providing an invoice which Amazon verifies.

2. The enforcement is usually at the seller level, not the listing level.

Re: Counterfeit books “shipped and sold by Amazon”?

#112

Post by ikeboy »

jhbadger wrote: post #110
ikeboy wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Product reviews are meant to be of the product, so it shouldn't matter which seller it is if you're all selling the same product.

Even for non-counterfeit books, Amazon defines "product" too broadly -- reviews for a book tend to combine both the printed and Kindle versions and you'll see people complaining about the formatting of the Kindle version on the page for the printed copy.

That's a fair point, although people should read the reviews and can tell if it's content or formatting.

The alternative of separating Kindle reviews seems wrong. Most reviews are useful to buyers of both formats.

Re: Counterfeit books “shipped and sold by Amazon”?

#113

Post by noodlesUK »

ikeboy wrote: post #58
lkschubert8 wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But without Amazon doing their own QC there is no way to say it is the same product. You should at least be able to see reviews based on the supplier and pick the supplier you will be fulfilled by. But I suspect that would ruin their whole 2-day/1-day shipping bit.

They do QC: sellers that have too many complaints get kicked off.

But you can’t identify which seller your product came from. That’s the whole problem here.

Re: Counterfeit books “shipped and sold by Amazon”?

#114

Post by kevin_thibedeau »

beerandt wrote: post #70
toast0 wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately, Walmart has integrated a 3rd party marketplace onto their site too; so who knows when they will start fulfilled by Walmart and comingling. There's also persistent stories of Walmart demanding lower priced items and being ok with the lower quality, not always with different UPCs.

The funny thing about Walmart 3rd party, is it always seems to be drop shipped by a competitor, and comes in a clearly branded box. I've gotten boxes from Newegg, Target, Wayfair, and even Sam's Club. Still a better option than Amazon (for now, at least).

I opened a Wal-Mart account for a product that was "reserved for Prime" and I couldn't buy from Amazon. It came from the same third party supplier.

Re: Counterfeit books “shipped and sold by Amazon”?

#115

Post by jxramos »

I hate to see the trajectory of scammers incorporating into our global economies and blur the lines so much that online shopping becomes dubious. As far as I can tell eBay used to be under assault by bad characters, they probably still are to some greatly lesser extent but it seems to have at least exited the wild west phase they were being dragged into. Amazon should not allow their platform to be abused even with their A-Z policy because the unsuspecting would still be cheated.

Makes this recent ad hold more appeal about "offline shopping" https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5c_Br-mO7Po

Re: Counterfeit books “shipped and sold by Amazon”?

#116

Post by toomanybeersies »

newnewpdro wrote: post #69
beerandt wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is why, IMHO, Walmart will eventually win this aspect of the online shopping war. Supply chain control. Amazon may continue to dominate AWS and even the 3rd party marketplace, but they've already ruined their brand reputation as a supplier. Edit: Sold and shipped 3rd party marketplace may survive.

It's not like shopping at Wal-Mart isn't without its own kinds of bait and switch practices. There was a time when I went to Wal-Mart to buy a new package of cheap cotton ankle socks every month or so, incrementally replenishing my cache, over the period of about a year. The exact same brand, make, and size of socks, what were ostensibly identical , would vary in their constituent materials at what seemed to be rando…

There's quite a good book I read a while ago about store-brand supply chains called Where the Underpants Come From [1]. It's a travelogue where the author travels through Asia tracing the entire logistical chain for a pair of underpants. It's a fun read and covers a lot of this stuff.

> There's basically no persistence to what the SKU actually represents.

I disagree. The SKU represents generic ankle socks. They're a commodity.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3322867-where-underpants...

Re: Counterfeit books “shipped and sold by Amazon”?

#117

Post by beerandt »

ikeboy wrote: post #106
beerandt wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know they claim that, and it may be their official policy, but it obviously is not working in practice. Either that, or it's become direct fraud in their part. And it may work to benefit Amazon in finding problematic sellers, and it may scare most legit sellers to never supply fake products. But it doesn't seem to do anything to actually benefit sellers or buyers, at this point. For one, I suspect resold returned i…

You don't see the counterfactual where Amazon didn't enforce much and counterfeiting was much more prevalent. Without knowing how much counterfeiting would take place without enforcement, you can't say enforcement is useless. I see the other side: I was suspended after false counterfeit complaints from tp-link, and was forced to sue them in federal court. In my case, Amazon suspended me despite having provided extens…

I agree, we may not know the extent of the problem. But if they are tracking sources as well as they claim to be, the problem wouldn't keep growing like it is. There's a major disconnect somewhere...

And you kinda make my point. The practice is for the benefit of Amazon, not us.

(It still benefits Amazon to sell fakes already within their inventory.)

>Multiple quantity from different sellers shouldn't be combined

Yet it's happening. I don't claim to know all the whys, but I've ordered enough to know that it's happening. And a lot.

Re: Counterfeit books “shipped and sold by Amazon”?

#118

Post by shawnz »

noodlesUK wrote: post #113
ikeboy wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They do QC: sellers that have too many complaints get kicked off.

But you can’t identify which seller your product came from. That’s the whole problem here.

But when you return the defective product, Amazon can see what seller it came from.

Re: Counterfeit books “shipped and sold by Amazon”?

#119

Post by beerandt »

shawnz wrote: post #118
noodlesUK wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But you can’t identify which seller your product came from. That’s the whole problem here.

But when you return the defective product, Amazon can see what seller it came from.

Only if they only purchased one.

Re: Counterfeit books “shipped and sold by Amazon”?

#120

Post by ikeboy »

beerandt wrote: post #117
ikeboy wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't see the counterfactual where Amazon didn't enforce much and counterfeiting was much more prevalent. Without knowing how much counterfeiting would take place without enforcement, you can't say enforcement is useless. I see the other side: I was suspended after false counterfeit complaints from tp-link, and was forced to sue them in federal court. In my case, Amazon suspended me despite having provided extens…

I agree, we may not know the extent of the problem. But if they are tracking sources as well as they claim to be, the problem wouldn't keep growing like it is. There's a major disconnect somewhere... And you kinda make my point. The practice is for the benefit of Amazon, not us. (It still benefits Amazon to sell fakes already within their inventory.) >Multiple quantity from different sellers shouldn't be combined Yet…

Why do you think the problem is growing, and that it has to do with commingling?

Re multiple quantity: have you gotten counterfeit and authentic product in the same box?

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