Which of these Amazon Prime purchases are real? • Hacker News Board

Re: Which of these Amazon Prime purchases are real?

#271

Post by mc3 » Mon, Feb 24, 2020, 4:16 AM UTC

ThePhysicist wrote: post #88

It's funny: I always thought the Internet and platforms like Amazon with the collaborative reviewing system would make brands more and more obsolete, because you could just pick high-quality products from smaller manufacturers by looking at user reviews. Now I find that I rely more and more on brands to decide which things I buy, because I simply cannot trust user reviews in most of the cases. Recently there are more…

Maybe this is what will save bricks and mortar? Guess where I buy any product I am going to ingest, put on my skin or plug into a wall?

A real store with some special online exceptions, but those exceptions are never going to be Amazon or Ebay.

There are some shady real stores selling shit too of course, so I have to be choosy, but I'm feeling pretty safe at a national supermarket chain, or Kmart.

Re: Which of these Amazon Prime purchases are real?

#272

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Feb 24, 2020, 4:17 AM UTC

reaperducer wrote: post #105

ThePhysicist wrote: post #88

It's funny: I always thought the Internet and platforms like Amazon with the collaborative reviewing system would make brands more and more obsolete, because you could just pick high-quality products from smaller manufacturers by looking at user reviews. Now I find that I rely more and more on brands to decide which things I buy, because I simply cannot trust user reviews in most of the cases. Recently there are more…

Now I find that I rely more and more on brands to decide which things I buy I do the same. I wish I didn't, but I don't know what the practical alternative is. I guess it's the whole reason that brands were created in the first place. I do source some of my stuff from smaller brands and shops, whenever I can. But that's not always an option. When it comes to software, I'm not entirely satisfied with Apple's "walled g…

[deleted]

Re: Which of these Amazon Prime purchases are real?

#273

Post by ebg13 » Mon, Feb 24, 2020, 4:18 AM UTC

toomuchtodo wrote: post #263

ebg13 wrote: post #258

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm saddened that you don't see any middle ground between linking to a site with a very long history of actively facilitating counterfeits through product commingling and not getting paid at all.

I’m sad you didn’t think I was genuinely asking for potential solutions.

I didn't mean to suggest otherwise. Only that a great deprivation has weighed heavily on us to the point that you need to ask what possible alternatives exist rather than knowing several already. I don't condemn you personally for it.

Re: Which of these Amazon Prime purchases are real?

#274

Post by creato » Mon, Feb 24, 2020, 4:27 AM UTC

deanCommie wrote: post #255

rubidium wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are standard ways in industry of dealing with this problem. You verify your suppliers. Amazon doesn’t do this, and so kids eat lead and we get shitty stuff. The real makers get pissed. The scammers and amazon profit.

not. at. amazon's. scale. Amazon's prices are too low to do this verifications per product. > The scammers and amazon profit. Is short term thinking and Amazon would never think like that. The problem is harder than you give it credit for. It's a constant arms race.

> Amazon's prices are too low to do this verifications per product.

Have you price compared when buying basic household goods recently? I haven't found Amazon to be significantly cheaper than local big box stores, who also happen to actually care even a little bit about their supply chain.

Re: Which of these Amazon Prime purchases are real?

#275

Post by ebg13 » Mon, Feb 24, 2020, 4:31 AM UTC

nl wrote: post #267

ebg13 wrote: post #254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These official sellers are using Amazon order fulfillment. Amazon is mixing counterfeits into their inventory. Linking to the official seller doesn't matter if Amazon treats the product as a fungible commodity behind the scenes like it does.

Amazon is mixing counterfeits into their inventory. Linking to the official seller doesn't matter if Amazon treats the product as a fungible commodity behind the scenes like it does. Do you have any evidence at all that this is the case? It's the opposite of what is said in the article - all the examples given are for non-official sellers. Notably the article say "encountered a few instances in which a _seller_ switc…

> Do you have any evidence at all that this is the case?

Do you accept this from Forbes? https://www.forbes.com/sites/wadeshepard/2017/12/13/how-to-p...

How about this from the LA Times? https://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-amazon-...

"The goods may look real online, but there is no guarantee of authenticity — whether sold by a brand, a third-party seller or Amazon’s direct-sales arm."

> It's the opposite of what is said in the article

In fact it is _not_ the opposite of what is said in the article! Read it again. Nowhere do they say that you're safe from counterfeits if you buy from the right links. The article steers well clear of even mentioning inventory commingling. The most insidious aspect is that you believe that they've exonerated Amazon, when they just neglected to mention the other half of the problem.

In the last example, they give their credulity away entirely.

"We compared a recently purchased set of Tweezerman tweezers...the seller had swapped in a model that was different from what was listed on the page"

Who was the seller, you ask? The page they link to says "sold by Amazon.com".

Re: Which of these Amazon Prime purchases are real?

#276

Post by AnthonyMouse » Mon, Feb 24, 2020, 4:37 AM UTC

j-c-hewitt wrote: post #216

rubidium wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are standard ways in industry of dealing with this problem. You verify your suppliers. Amazon doesn’t do this, and so kids eat lead and we get shitty stuff. The real makers get pissed. The scammers and amazon profit.

They do very frequently ask sellers to provide supplier documents. Amazon does very frequently do their own independent investigations into suppliers. There are probably hundreds if not thousands of Amazon employees and contractors requesting supplier documents and following up with investigations all day every day. However, Amazon also permits sellers to operate from countries that ignore US court orders. It is also…

> However, Amazon also permits sellers to operate from countries that ignore US court orders.

Something that would help here is if Amazon would display the seller's country more prominently (or at all). It's a lot more problematic if you're not even aware that you're buying something from a seller in country without a functioning legal system.

Re: Which of these Amazon Prime purchases are real?

#277

Post by v77 » Mon, Feb 24, 2020, 4:43 AM UTC

101008 wrote: post #34

Sorry if this is offtopic, I was planning to buy a Google Pixel 3A from Amazon in a week (It's cheaper than from Google Store). Are mobile phones also forgered on Amazon? or they don't aim to forger stuff like that? Thank you. (I am from a 3rd world country and travelling to USA next week)

I just bought a Pixel 2 from Amazon.ca and it seems fine.

Re: Which of these Amazon Prime purchases are real?

#278

Post by zeroonetwothree » Mon, Feb 24, 2020, 4:44 AM UTC

Polylactic_acid wrote: post #227

reaperducer wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I went from being an enthusiastic fan of Amazon Prime and a $50k spend one year [+] to closing my Amazon account I used to spend about as much as you. Now I almost never buy anything from amazon.com. The only value my Prime membership has to me now is discounts at Whole Foods, and Prime Video. Otherwise, I bet I spend less than $500 a year at amazon.com.

How on earth can you possibly spend so much on random consumer products sold on Amazon? Are people really buying so much junk that it costs more than most peoples yearly salaries?

I spend about $20k on personal items only (no business).

Re: Which of these Amazon Prime purchases are real?

#279

Post by AnthonyMouse » Mon, Feb 24, 2020, 4:47 AM UTC

cm2012 wrote: post #235

wincy wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I bought a $25 product recently on Amazon. In the box there was a “coupon” that I’d get $20 back if I left a 5-star review for the product on Amazon. Instead I left a 1-star review saying that they were trying to game the system, and my review got REMOVED! I give up.

Would it have upset you if they were asking for any review at all, instead of requiring a 5 star one?

> Would it have upset you if they were asking for any review at all, instead of requiring a 5 star one?

That has largely the same result. Most satisfied customers don't bother to leave a review, so real reviews tend to skew towards people who have had issues.

If you bribe satisfied customers into leaving a review then your reviews are no longer from the same sampling population as your competitors' reviews and you end up looking better than you really are by comparison. Plus, if the incentive isn't offered to everyone then people who get it (and then are disproportionately likely to leave a review) will tend to like the seller more because they liked receiving the incentive.

It would only be fair if the same incentive was provided to all buyers for leaving reviews of all sellers.

Re: Which of these Amazon Prime purchases are real?

#280

Post by myopenid » Mon, Feb 24, 2020, 4:49 AM UTC

ThePhysicist wrote: post #88

It's funny: I always thought the Internet and platforms like Amazon with the collaborative reviewing system would make brands more and more obsolete, because you could just pick high-quality products from smaller manufacturers by looking at user reviews. Now I find that I rely more and more on brands to decide which things I buy, because I simply cannot trust user reviews in most of the cases. Recently there are more…

You're right user reviews on Amazon are manipulated. Bought a bluetooth earphone on Amazon DE, was contacted by vendor to exchange a five star for a half refund.

Also came across Facebook ads that asks you to buy random crap and leave positive review in exchange for a full refund, and they call this "free samplimg".