Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Amazon establishes new Counterfeit Crimes Unit

blog.aboutamazon.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

241–247 of 247 posts

Re: Amazon establishes new Counterfeit Crimes Unit

#241

Post by wombat-man »

boring_twenties wrote: post #234
wombat-man wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is one of the reasons I don't buy a lot of stuff from amazon anymore. I don't have a printer to make return labels and easy returns are cold comfort. At the end of the day I just prefer to go in person to a store or order from a big box store. As long as you stay away from their weird 3rd party sellers, I feel pretty sure I'm getting real cereal or whatever.

Recently you can just bring items to your choice of businesses near you like UPS Store or Whole Foods, they handle the packing and shipping for you.

That's great! And if I order a defective product then I'm happy to do that. But I can't always tell the difference between real and fake items. It took me a long time to realize I was using likely fake shaving soap.

This just seems like a problem I can sidestep entirely by just going to Target or Walmart or whatever.

Re: Amazon establishes new Counterfeit Crimes Unit

#242

Post by Izkata »

danielecook wrote: post #232
ac29 wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> if I buy a Bose product "Sold By" Bose, it could be a counterfeit? Yes, because Amazon co-mingles item of the same SKU. A legit item could be shipped to someone who buys from a scammer, and a counterfeit could be shipped to someone who buys from a legit seller.

I don’t get it. So when you see a listing on amazon it’s not as though one seller created it?

My understanding:

* Seller A creates Listing Q with Sku U (real)

* Seller B creates Listing W with Sku U (counterfeit)

* Amazon organizes stock by Sku

* Ordering from Listing Q or W will pay to the appropriate Seller A or B, but get a random product with Sku U

Re: Amazon establishes new Counterfeit Crimes Unit

#243

Post by rfwhyte »

And absolutely nothing will change. In fact the volume of counterfeit goods, fake reviews and scams on Amazon and other marketplaces will only increase. Its honestly not even really Amazon's problem at this point, its more that there is an entire Chinese industry devoted to counterfeiting and scamming, with literally hundreds of thousands of intelligent, capable people spending their lives looking for ways to make a dishonest buck. Amazon is essentially putting a band-aid on a leaking damn at this point. Until China actually puts strong IP protections in place (They never will) there's really not much western companies can do about it beyond paying lip service to a problem they know they can't actually solve.

Re: Amazon establishes new Counterfeit Crimes Unit

#244

Post by user5994461 »

jtbayly wrote: post #181
chrischen wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amazon is a direct beneficiary though. I’m not sure why they are not the seller. In that case can’t they just setup shell companies to sell shoddy, fake, or illegal items, take 99% of the profit, and claim they are not the seller?

No. The primary beneficiary is the seller. If you want to sue somebody you have to sue the seller. That’s what precedent says, anyway. Yes, Amazon could setup shell corporations, but if they got tracked back to Amazon, that would be the end of the company. Why not just setup a bunch of side businesses producing and selling legal things (like their batteries, clothes, etc. brands) and collect all the profit there, whi…

>>> No. The primary beneficiary is the seller.

New angle for the next trial: Amazon started taking double digits percentages of every sale and doing FBA in the past few years.

For physical products (consider thin margins after manufacturing costs), that means Amazon earns more money than the seller, thus they are the primary beneficiary of the sale.

Re: Amazon establishes new Counterfeit Crimes Unit

#245

Post by salawat »

throwaway_jobs wrote: post #139
hitpointdrew wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> One day Amazon is going to get smacked with such a lawsuit resulting in billions in punitive damages, then and only then will you see real effort on their part to curb this behavior. IIRC at least one person (probably more) has died already from counterfeits on Amazon. I read one where I guy died in a motorcycle crash, it was found that his helmet (which he bought off Amazon) was a fraud and wasn't/didn't meet DOT…

I recall stories of counterfeit child car seats that failed safety standards (don’t think there was a lawsuit) just “undercover purchases” and actual safety testing of the fakes. As I understand it Amazon isn’t liable which to me makes no sense as it relates to defective products (everyone in the supply chain of a defective product should be jointly and severely liable). I don’t care if it’s a 3rd party seller, Amazo…

The issue is Amazon doesn't know. All they have to go on is whatever UPC/SKU you enter to tell them which bin to put something in and that's it. That is the extent of their inventory management. This is why you should not utilize FBA if your major concern is people actually getting the product you are selling.

Re: Amazon establishes new Counterfeit Crimes Unit

#246

Post by heavyset_go »

ericd wrote: post #171
heavyset_go wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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. Cereal is cheap, like really cheap, and name brand cereals like Raisin Bran go for nearly $9 a box. If you've ever been in a discount store, or a liquidator with a consumer facing outlet, tons of counterfeit food, toiletrie…

In what area do they go for $9/box? I've never seen them for more than $5, and you can frequently get them on sale for $2...

I misread a 2-for-1 listing as being the price for a single box. Still, when you look at the cost of cereal and the mark up, there's a significant margin. Grains, sugar, etc are practically free in bulk.

When I was living in Manhattan boxes of cereal were regularly north of $7, but I know that doesn't reflect most of the market.

Re: Amazon establishes new Counterfeit Crimes Unit

#247

Post by bcassedy »

cjsawyer wrote: post #70
bcassedy wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Yeah I've had good luck with Best Buy.
Post reply on HN