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Amazon establishes new Counterfeit Crimes Unit

blog.aboutamazon.com

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Re: Amazon establishes new Counterfeit Crimes Unit

#61

Post by tqi »

rckoepke wrote: post #50
julianozen wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really interested to hear how you figured out the breakfast was fake

Yeah, great question. Basically wrong flavor and texture. Visually looked quite similar but just had a cardboard consistency. Repeatedly compared vs. grocery store bought over a few months span of alternating purchases to confirm. It was somehow both immediately obvious and also subtle. My girlfriend eventually confirmed that something didn't seem right with it, so we started buying back-to-back orders alternating fr…

> Or at least diverted from another global region where the recipe/ingredients are somewhat different.

Did you happen to check for differences in the packaging?

Re: Amazon establishes new Counterfeit Crimes Unit

#62

Post by ConcernedCoder »

jacques_chester wrote: post #39
boulos wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Target of all places seems more curated than Amazon. Isn’t this going to be true of any “pure” retailer? The nature of FBA and third-party sellers just means there will always be at least some percentage of fraud and so on that’s higher than “trick various people in the retailer to sell fake goods”. Particularly as it’s much easier for insiders at a retailer to steal from their employer (and then resell via whateve…

> Isn’t this going to be true of any “pure” retailer? No. First-party retailers don't generally commingle stock with other third-party retailers. They typically have few suppliers, often one supplier, for each good. That's for many reasons, but it also makes it easy for them to identify who sent them counterfeits. Amazon is discovering what old-fashioned retailers learned long ago: customers do not give a fuck who, u…

yes! and have you thought about working in politics?

Re: Amazon establishes new Counterfeit Crimes Unit

#63

Post by ericd »

rckoepke wrote: post #50
julianozen wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really interested to hear how you figured out the breakfast was fake

Yeah, great question. Basically wrong flavor and texture. Visually looked quite similar but just had a cardboard consistency. Repeatedly compared vs. grocery store bought over a few months span of alternating purchases to confirm. It was somehow both immediately obvious and also subtle. My girlfriend eventually confirmed that something didn't seem right with it, so we started buying back-to-back orders alternating fr…

You're sure it was not a storage condition or age issue?

I think you might be right in your theory that it was made by the correct company but intended for a different market and was made with a different formulation. Perhaps there's some arbitrage opportunity there.

I guess I don't understand why someone would try to counterfeit something like cereal. Seems like it would be hard to get enough scale to make it worth the effort, given the low per-unit profit.

Re: Amazon establishes new Counterfeit Crimes Unit

#64

Post by thatguy0900 »

rckoepke wrote: post #50
julianozen wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really interested to hear how you figured out the breakfast was fake

Yeah, great question. Basically wrong flavor and texture. Visually looked quite similar but just had a cardboard consistency. Repeatedly compared vs. grocery store bought over a few months span of alternating purchases to confirm. It was somehow both immediately obvious and also subtle. My girlfriend eventually confirmed that something didn't seem right with it, so we started buying back-to-back orders alternating fr…

I wonder if the cereals customer support would have been interested enough to try to help you confirm it wasn't legitimate

Re: Amazon establishes new Counterfeit Crimes Unit

#65

Post by ikeboy »

gwittel wrote: post #27

Are fake listings a problem? Absolutely. But is it the primary issue? I'm not so sure. It seems like Amazon is doing all sorts of things but not actually addressing the root -- inventory co-mingling + sketchy 3rd party sellers that can come back overnight. Simply ending inventory co-mingling would likely handle a substantial portion of counterfeits since Amazon is sourcing their stock through standard channels. Amazo…

>Amazon is sourcing their stock through standard channels.

This just isn't true. There's been plenty of lawsuits alleging that Amazon themselves sourced counterfeit product. Their supply chain for many products is not necessarily better than third party sellers.

Re: Amazon establishes new Counterfeit Crimes Unit

#66

Post by wincy »

CobrastanJorji wrote: post #20
jbay808 wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My company got a counterfeit textbook. On the cover was the book we had ordered, about control theory. The printed pages were a veterinary textbook by a different publisher.

I'm curious about the incentive that leads to this. If you're going to print and sell counterfeit textbooks, why not use the actual content? Surely nearly every copy with a random other book will be returned. Is it possible that they meant to include the right content, but they counterfeit lots of books and have low quality control? My best guess is that they can easily grab a copy of a book's cover online, but actua…

Weird, you could print off Library Genesis and get better results than that.

Re: Amazon establishes new Counterfeit Crimes Unit

#67

Post by 29athrowaway »

rckoepke wrote: post #11

The categories of things that I've received counterfeit versions of on Amazon have been truly mind-blowing. It's been replacement HEPA filters, cat toys, even breakfast cereal. It's not just earphones/mics, batteries, usb cables, flash drives, extension cords, and other electronics. Who counterfeits breakfast cereal??? I've had this issue with both Quaker Oats and Raisin Bran. The scale of fraud is magnificent. And i…

There's fraud in clothing too.

They reuse product photos from higher quality products to sell you a lower quality product.

Re: Amazon establishes new Counterfeit Crimes Unit

#68

Post by ABeeSea »

gwittel wrote: post #27

Are fake listings a problem? Absolutely. But is it the primary issue? I'm not so sure. It seems like Amazon is doing all sorts of things but not actually addressing the root -- inventory co-mingling + sketchy 3rd party sellers that can come back overnight. Simply ending inventory co-mingling would likely handle a substantial portion of counterfeits since Amazon is sourcing their stock through standard channels. Amazo…

I’m not sure commingling is as big a problem as you imply. Amazon’s inventory system is random so every item can essentially be tracked by location. Even with commingling, if there is a counterfeit all the inventory from the original sourcer can be tracked and pulled. It’s not like they are randomly tossing all of the same item into a random bin and doesn’t know whose is whose.

Also Amazon buys from many distributors just like every other retailer. Even their own inventory for the same item could come from many different suppliers. Many of those distributors/suppliers are now sellers themselves and all that’s changed is who sets the price and who decides when to send in more inventory (and who takes on the working capital risk.)

As for sellers coming back overnignt, one of the largest complaints on the seller forums is how onorous the KYC process is for new sellers. (Bank documents, passports, business license, etc).

Also you a manufacturer can become a brand owner which prevents commingling and other sellers from listing on their items. Notice that Ankara highest volume power banks pretty much only have offers from Anker and amazon warehouse / woot (an amazon subsidiary).

Re: Amazon establishes new Counterfeit Crimes Unit

#69

Post by HereBeBeasties »

throwawayiionqz wrote: post #29

I ordered a well-known baby-bottom cream. The product gave her never-expanding rashes for a few days. Then I realized the color slightly differs from the same cream bought at the local pharmacy, and that many 1 star reviews also report knockoffs version of the cream. In some cases review pictures show that the packaging itself is clearly fake. I write a 1-star review explaining the above, and saying that the anxious…

I wrote a detailed, solid, accurate 1 star review of a child's digital camera which clearly didn't contravene their guidelines. Didn't meet their guidelines, wouldn't publish it.

Amazon used to be great. Nowadays it's full of fake reviews and dodgy secondhand stuff being sold as new.

Re: Amazon establishes new Counterfeit Crimes Unit

#70

Post by cjsawyer »

bcassedy wrote: post #47
jacques_chester wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Isn’t this going to be true of any “pure” retailer? No. First-party retailers don't generally commingle stock with other third-party retailers. They typically have few suppliers, often one supplier, for each good. That's for many reasons, but it also makes it easy for them to identify who sent them counterfeits. Amazon is discovering what old-fashioned retailers learned long ago: customers do not give a fuck who, u…

Walmart's online store is a mess of 3rd party options now too. I went looking for hair clippers at the start of the pandemic and all I could find were no-name brands offered by third party vendors on their website.

What’s left? Target and Best Buy?
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