Amazon’s quest for more, cheaper products has resulted in a flea market of fakes

Post by sligor » Sat, Nov 16, 2019, 9:13 AM UTC

cwp wrote: post #335

download13 wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's also a more subtle version of this, where the seller leaves the listing the same, but once enough positive reviews have accumulated they move production to a cheaper factory and use cheaper materials. So you might see older reviews for a pair of boots that say they're made from sturdy materials with good stitching, followed by later reviews saying that they didn't match the advertised sizing and pictures, or…

I wonder how much of this is because Amazon started out selling books and CDs. Those things don't really have quality issues, and are pretty much fungible. Now, decades into their "everything store" strategy, they're still trying to treat everything like books.

Post by perl4ever » Sat, Nov 16, 2019, 9:23 AM UTC

ycombinete wrote: post #320

mortenjorck wrote: post #50

There's a lot of emphasis in this article on counterfeits of luxury goods sold at obviously counterfeit prices (like the Hermès for 5% of genuine retail), but not much on the far more insidious (and seemingly pervasive, in my experience) general merchandise counterfeits sold for what is often not a suspiciously big discount. Categories like kitchen or yard tools are absolutely rife with counterfeits. As an example, s…

Tbh, at this point I don’t buy anything I that a value authenticity in from non-official distributors. I’ll go to the brands web page, and find their list of official resellers and buy from them only.

Post by perl4ever » Sat, Nov 16, 2019, 9:28 AM UTC

cr0sh wrote: post #143

izzydata wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've received many damaged books from Amazon. Whenever I report the items as being damaged I am prepared with photographs of the damaged goods as proof, but they always send me another one without caring. It just feels so wasteful to save money by mishandling everything to the point where it doesn't even matter if stuff breaks because it is cheaper to try a 2nd time.

> but they always send me another one without caring. Had something like that happen to me, and for the product, it was a shock. I had ordered the item, it said it was delivered, but it never made it to me. I contact CS (via chat) and they said they would send out another one. I said ok - what happens if the old one shows up in the meantime. They told me to keep it. A few days later I got the original item (it had be…

Post by phatfish » Sat, Nov 16, 2019, 9:59 AM UTC

noir_lord wrote: post #238

jarjoura wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yup, I use Best Buy for all electronic purchases now. They have a great return policy and I enjoy that most things I could want are available same day. I pretty much only rely on Amazon for Kindle purchases now or to read reviews on big ticket items that I'm curious about.

I went back to argos (UK retailer) for small stuff and ebuyer/aria for everything else tech related - they have the same range as amazon (in their domains), the same returns ease (better in the case of ebuyer in practive). I buy very little from Amazon, enough that I'm going to cancel prime since the only thing of theirs I still use is is Amazon Prime TV and well..its OK but not enough to justify it.

Post by usrusr » Sat, Nov 16, 2019, 11:07 AM UTC

dannyw wrote: post #273

tracker1 wrote: post #253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because amazon doesn't add seller stickers/labels it's nearly impossible for them to even determine the seller if it's "Fulfilled by Amazon" ... I tend to stick to the "Sold by Amazon" or "Sold and shipped by MFG" because at least with Amazon, returns become easy and/or I trust orders from MFG slightly more than otherwise.

Even when something by is sold by amazon, you could get something shipped to them by a third party seller. They keep all products with the same ID in one area, and pick whatever is on top. If I started using FBA and supplying an item, it’ll go in the same box and chances are more likely an “sold by amazon.com” will sell my product, and I’ll sell an “amazon.com” product. See the problem?