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Counterfeit books “shipped and sold by Amazon”?

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

#181

Post by ikeboy »

billpollock wrote: post #180
ikeboy wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd be fascinated to know why he didn't sue Amazon, if they're refusing to process DMCA takedowns. My experience is that if anything, it's too easy to file a case and brands abuse this to get rid of grey market sellers that are selling authentic products.

No one wants to sue their major unless they're pushed to the wall.

I've sued Amazon (privately in arbitration) and I have friends who've sued them in court. Nothing wrong with suing to prevent infringement. It'll just get them to fix the problem, and you'll get nice money out of it if it's as clear cut as you say.

I very much doubt Amazon is rejecting DMCA notices, and suspect the story is more complicated than that. I've heard from many sellers that it's easy to file complaints, and I know many sellers who have gotten false complaints, which is also what you'd expect if it's super easy to file complaints.

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

#182

Post by ikeboy »

billpollock wrote: post #179
dbcurtis wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>1. Amazon takes action when a brand complains, even with only a single complaint. The owner of No Starch Press shows up at a lot of CS shows and other shows. Next time you are at one, seek him out for a chat. Tell him Anazon takes action after a single complaint. Be prepared for him to disabuse you of your misconceptions. Source: I heard his story first-hand at PyCon.

It it has taken us months to get Amazon to respond to a counterfeit claim. I hope that they will respond quickly to this one.

How are you submitting your claim? You can do both counterfeit and DMCA reports, but DMCA reports have a deadline of two weeks where it must be processed and delisted by then. I've never heard of anyone having a legitimate DMCA report rejected by Amazon.

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

#183

Post by buildbot »

buckminster wrote: post #39
kadoban wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Add most electronics, IMO, especially things like memory cards and hard drives.

I bought a hard drive from Amazon about four years ago. It came in a large cardboard box half full of packing paper. The unprotected drive was rattling round in the empty half of the box. Never again. That's the last thing I bought there.

They ship everything like that, including 30k cameras

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

#184

Post by newnewpdro »

sgustard wrote: post #170
newnewpdro wrote: post #8

I wanted to buy an authentic copy of the Ashley Book of Knots. When I searched Amazon it became so obvious that most the matches were deliberately of ambiguous provenance and authenticity that I simply abandoned the whole idea and haven't bought a thing on Amazon since. This was over a year ago.

So I just did that search and the first hit is this; can you explain what I should be looking for? https://www.amazon.com/Ashley-Book-Knots-Clifford-W/dp/03850...

While that isn't the one I recall looking at when I searched, which was over a year ago, there are multiple low-scoring comments stating that this is a low-quality reproduction of the original. Some speculate it's just being reprinted from the "bootleg" PDF based on what they've received.

> "Unfortunately, this printing is really poor quality. The cover color is off (has a pink hue to every color on the cover), the binding is lumpy, and the pages of the book are so thin the other side shows through. The publishers have obviously skimped on quality materials."

> "Although the book appeared to be new and the dust cover was new, the binding was loose and the paper it was printed on was substandard….my impression was this book was reprinted as in a bootleg copy or something similar. I rated it 2 stars because of the ease of returning the item."

Etc.

I actually ended up just finding the PDF online, I think it was on archive.org, and that's that.

The problem with Amazon is they just throw them all in the same coarse-grained bucket. If I click on "13 new from $53.88" under hardcover, there's just a list of prices with no photos of the actual book I'm buying from the various sources. They're NOT equal, only "new" and "hardcover", it's a total diceroll what you're going to get. If you were to buy every one of the new hardcovers sold there, they'd all be different. I'm sure they'd all be reproductions of the Ashley Book of Knots, but of varying quality.

The copyright is expired on this book, so the market is flooded with random repros of varying quality. And Amazon makes no effort to help the customer assess the provenance and quality of what they're actually getting.

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

#186

Post by GetOutOfBed »

stephencanon wrote: post #125
mariomariomario wrote: post #24

This happens because Amazon allows inventory commingling. For example Amazon has their own, legitimate inventory in a West Coast warehouse, and a third party seller has the same inventory with the original UPC manufacturer bar code on it, sitting in an East Coast warehouse. Amazon considers this 1:1 inventory. Amazon will debit their inventory on the West Coast, and credit the inventory that belongs to the third part…

Certainly makes for a convenient excuse for Amazon.

I don't see how it's an excuse. I don't care how they handle their processes internally. If they sell me counterfeit items I will report them to the police.

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

#187

Post by crooked-v »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #168
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.

> I suspect that would ruin their whole 2-day/1-day shipping bit. They are no longer offering 1-day shipping. When I signed up for prime, one of the benefits was discounted 1-day shipping on items for which the free 2-day shipping wasn't fast enough. I recently had need of that, and learned that the options are now (1) "prime shipping", with no particular service guarantee. There is no second option. I contacted cust…

I've seen 1-day and even same-day shipping on a variety of items, so I suspect it's determined by some arcane combination of user location and item logistics.

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

#188

Post by MRPockets »

my_first_acct wrote: post #21
onfe wrote: post #7

Amazon leans heavily on convenience to sell lots of stuff. If I have to read a handful of reviews and cross my fingers whenever getting a legitimate product is important, is it really so convenient? So far the market says yes, but I sure would move elsewhere if there was an elsewhere.

There is an elsewhere. The OP suggests bn.com (Barnes and Noble) for books. I haven't tried them myself. Yet. For household goods I like walmart.com (the sold-by-Walmart items, not the ones from 3rd-party sellers). Free 2-day shipping (in the US) for orders over $35. A supply chain that (I hope and assume) does not allow 3rd party sellers to introduce counterfeits, unlike the so-called "sold by Amazon" items that are…

I have been using Alibris.com for most of my book purchases for almost a year now. They are usually cheaper than anyone else (Amazon, B&N, Abebooks, etc) and have fast enough shipping for my needs.

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

#189

Post by freyir »

ohgreatwtf wrote: post #94

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07B452QQS/ Check this product out. It's made in a chinese guy's garage in northern california using equipment he imported in 2014. It doesn't have legitimate GMP or FDA licensing. This is the kind of problem we are talking about. And the issue is worse than it appears, just as toast0 mentioned, because the same exact product with same product page and AMAZON barcode, NO UPC, is also…

I had turned to Target for online shopping, and recommended it to others, but now they’re opening their site to third-party sellers too. They’re claiming they’ll be more selective about who they allow on their platform, but it’s still a worrying development.
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