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Top USB Drives on Amazon are a Scam

kurtisknodel.com

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Re: Top USB Drives on Amazon are a Scam

#161

Post by RDaneel0livaw »

frognumber wrote: post #158
RobertRies wrote: post #32

While I agree this is a problem - one which I have been the victim of as well - Amazon accepts the return with no questions and/or charges. This, of course, is not a great consolidation, especially for a novice who doesn't understand or encounters it too late. But I strongly disagree with "Amazon runs little to no risk selling the fraudulent products, but still makes money off of them." In the next paragraph the auth…

I don't find returns to be helpful at all. - If I buy medicine, and it's fake, that's a serious problem. - If I buy a bottle of vanilla, and it's tainted, that's a serious problem. - If I buy a piece of electronics, and it's a piece which was returned for working intermittently, that's a problem too. - If I buy clothing from brands I trust, and I get a knock-off which falls apart in 6 months, that's a problem. Unless…

Because of all these reasons I have stopped purchasing almost anything at all on amazon. Also, it's been like this for YEARS, they clearly don't have any interest at all in fixing it. They make more money the way it is. Nowadays, I try mostly just to buy direct from the company selling the product. Usually the cost is the same. It's slower, yes, and returns are more difficult, yes, but at least I know I'm getting the actual product and not a cheap ripoff that'll either fall apart or poison me.

Re: Top USB Drives on Amazon are a Scam

#163

Post by thatguy0900 »

magic_hamster wrote: post #99
dkjaudyeqooe wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amazon tracks your returns, but if you're within their model, which is not particularly tight, you don't have anything to worry about. It's mostly targeted toward people who are egregious, and more importantly, lose Amazon money. If you return a few too many DSLRs, Apple laptops or other high end gear you'll quickly find yourself on the rocks, or decide you're going to start a drop-shipping business from your Prime a…

I mean, she could just download pirated books at this point. It doesn't matter if she got it through the store or not if she's going to exploit the system to read it without paying. The author won't see any money either way, so she can drop the pretense.

I would imagine the author would rather you just pirate the book than do this. Returns on a book can't be great for recomendation algorithms.

Re: Top USB Drives on Amazon are a Scam

#165

Post by thih9 »

nottorp wrote: post #121
thih9 wrote: post #110

It reminds me of Apple’s broken laptop keyboards that would also stop working after heavy use.

That's not a scam, it's stupidity. It would be a scam if half of the keys did nothing from the start. As it is it's design in California inside an air conditioned and purified office. You're using the laptop wrong if you take it outside ;) Source: I own one of those unusuable keyboards.

> You're using the laptop wrong if you take it outside ;)

Same-ish with the USB drives, i.e. "You're using the usb drive wrong if you fill it to the max.". Both devices work for casual use, both look like they could handle more heavy use, both break sooner than expected.

And sure, it's not a serious comparison, but I still see a surprising amount of similarities.

Re: Top USB Drives on Amazon are a Scam

#166

Post by stevenwoo »

odysseus wrote: post #123
dkjaudyeqooe wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amazon tracks your returns, but if you're within their model, which is not particularly tight, you don't have anything to worry about. It's mostly targeted toward people who are egregious, and more importantly, lose Amazon money. If you return a few too many DSLRs, Apple laptops or other high end gear you'll quickly find yourself on the rocks, or decide you're going to start a drop-shipping business from your Prime a…

She could have just gotten those Kindle books from the library. I recently dug into my property taxes and found I’m paying over $200/year (!) for the library. A lot more than the cost of Amazon Prime. Since I found this out, I’ve been using the library a lot more .. As for our Amazon “customer score”, wish we could see it. I bet they have merchant scores too - would be interesting to see the number of returns per pro…

Don't forget the online portion of your local library system, mine uses the mobile app Libby but other methods are available for ebooks/videos/audiobooks to loan, though the selection through each method is slightly different.

Re: Top USB Drives on Amazon are a Scam

#167

Post by the_real_sparky »

jaclaz wrote: post #116
fasthands9 wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do not believe this is normal consumer behavior. The previous commenter claimed Amazon had a social score system that penalized people for concerns and you should be worried about making returns on things like USB drives. My point is that if someone like me can return almost half their items and Amazon doesn't care at all - then it's extremely unlikely the people are being banned from Amazon services for returning…

Yep, I understood your point, and it is good to know that this presumed social score system is not particularly strict, but I asked out of curiosity on the reasons why you have such a high (IMHO) return rate. As well another question is what is actually doing (or not doing) Amazon about the USB sticks/drives issues, the return rate of that should be something like 90% assuming that 5% of buyers fail to realize that t…

And here I am thinking that 287 Amazon returns translates into $1435 in Kohls Cash… if you make the returns on the weekend anyway.

Re: Top USB Drives on Amazon are a Scam

#168

Post by orev »

RobertRies wrote: post #32

While I agree this is a problem - one which I have been the victim of as well - Amazon accepts the return with no questions and/or charges. This, of course, is not a great consolidation, especially for a novice who doesn't understand or encounters it too late. But I strongly disagree with "Amazon runs little to no risk selling the fraudulent products, but still makes money off of them." In the next paragraph the auth…

The issue is that Amazon is not incurring the costs that other retailers do to try to prevent these issues, so they can keep prices low and seemingly sustain their fast shipping model while their competitors who are trying to do something about it lose out on business. Eventually those competitors are forced out of business, or have to reduce themselves to the same lack of controls and everybody loses.

Viewed on that way, there’s actually consumer harm, and maybe there’s an opening for an anti-trust case (which in the US requires proof of consumer harm).

Re: Top USB Drives on Amazon are a Scam

#169

Post by jdhendrickson »

dkjaudyeqooe wrote: post #64
josephcsible wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Amazon accepts the return with no questions and/or charges But remember that Amazon keeps what's basically a social credit score on you that drops every time you return something, and then they permanently ban you (including from non-retail things like AWS and Prime Video) if it ever gets too low.

Amazon tracks your returns, but if you're within their model, which is not particularly tight, you don't have anything to worry about. It's mostly targeted toward people who are egregious, and more importantly, lose Amazon money. If you return a few too many DSLRs, Apple laptops or other high end gear you'll quickly find yourself on the rocks, or decide you're going to start a drop-shipping business from your Prime a…

As an author you need a better class of friend, she is frankly a thief.

Re: Top USB Drives on Amazon are a Scam

#170

Post by kennend3 »

dkjaudyeqooe wrote: post #64
josephcsible wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Amazon accepts the return with no questions and/or charges But remember that Amazon keeps what's basically a social credit score on you that drops every time you return something, and then they permanently ban you (including from non-retail things like AWS and Prime Video) if it ever gets too low.

Amazon tracks your returns, but if you're within their model, which is not particularly tight, you don't have anything to worry about. It's mostly targeted toward people who are egregious, and more importantly, lose Amazon money. If you return a few too many DSLRs, Apple laptops or other high end gear you'll quickly find yourself on the rocks, or decide you're going to start a drop-shipping business from your Prime a…

> Instead, she spent 2+ years returning every since book she purchased for her Kindle, well over 100, when she realized she could buy a book and immediately return it, but turn off the Kindle internet connection while she finished reading it, before it was removed. They banned her from ever doing another Kindle return but she otherwise uses her Kindle normally.

Out of curiosity what goes through someones mind to think this is remotely acceptable?

Obviously by sharing this with you she sees nothing wrong/feels no remorse for what she does?

Blatant theft like this costs everyone money, why not just go to the library or something?

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