Judge rules that Amazon isn't liable for damages caused by a hoverboard it sold • Hacker News Board

Re: Judge rules that Amazon isn't liable for damages caused by a hoverboard it sold

#101

Post by astura » Sun, Jun 03, 2018, 3:03 PM UTC

rasz wrote: post #84

wtvanhest wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IMNAL, My guess is that they can establish records of transactions they do with sellers and adhere to all transaction laws... but once they take possession of the good, they comingle it and can no longer tell where it came from.

That would be illegal. Imagine Pawn shop explaining to the cops they dont know which one of cameras/guns/rolex watches sold turned out to be stolen.

They fully admit to doing this:

https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/help/help.html?itemID=20...

Re: Judge rules that Amazon isn't liable for damages caused by a hoverboard it sold

#102

Post by astura » Sun, Jun 03, 2018, 3:31 PM UTC

throwaway59229 wrote: post #94

throwaway59928 wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reporting doesn’t work. I reported a counterfeit item and amazon apologized and refunded the money and promised to go after the seller. In the end they removed all of the seller’s negative feedback since it was “fulfilled by amazon”. What a joke.

Is this something that would be worth reporting/forwarding to the manufacturers of the soap (Johnson and Johnson?). It seems that they would have a stake in preventing counterfeits of their products being sold and Amazon might be less willing to blow off complaints that come from the legal team of a multinational. If you still have the counterfeit item and a copy of the correspondence between yourself and Amazon, it…

The already know...

What are they going to do?

Sue Amazon? All legal precedents indicate Amazon will win

Sue the fly-by-night Chinese company? How?

Re: Judge rules that Amazon isn't liable for damages caused by a hoverboard it sold

#103

Post by astura » Sun, Jun 03, 2018, 3:41 PM UTC

azinman2 wrote: post #78

guelo wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not worth it.

You should, or at least report it. That’s how it continues.

Reports on Amazon go straight to /dev/null

When I was a seller on Amazon I got a whole bunch of scam messages from scam buyers. I reported each one and marked the message "no response needed." The latter is important because you're judged on how quickly you respond to customer inquiries. The only thing that happened was my seller account got dinged for marking too many messages "no response needed."

Re: Judge rules that Amazon isn't liable for damages caused by a hoverboard it sold

#104

Post by andrewaylett » Sun, Jun 03, 2018, 5:14 PM UTC

rasz wrote: post #84

wtvanhest wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IMNAL, My guess is that they can establish records of transactions they do with sellers and adhere to all transaction laws... but once they take possession of the good, they comingle it and can no longer tell where it came from.

That would be illegal. Imagine Pawn shop explaining to the cops they dont know which one of cameras/guns/rolex watches sold turned out to be stolen.

Like what happened to this guy, for example? https://startupnation.com/start-your-business/plan-your-busi...

Re: Judge rules that Amazon isn't liable for damages caused by a hoverboard it sold

#105

Post by yardie » Sun, Jun 03, 2018, 8:59 PM UTC

Fjolsvith wrote: post #63

yardie wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let’s keep it simple. Whoever takes the money is the vendor. Amazon lists it, amazon fulfills it, and they get paid for it. Sounds like the vendor to me.

Except Amazon doesn’t list it. The vendor does.

I exclusively use Amazon and fulfilled by Amazon under the assumption they have some sort of QC in place since it's their warehouse, payment processor, and customer support that I have to deal with it. But no, doing that does not guarantee me that I won't be sent questionable goods.

Ebay on the other hand I am under no illusion that they are not the vendor. Same with Craigslist, Etsy, Tindie, etc.

Re: Judge rules that Amazon isn't liable for damages caused by a hoverboard it sold

#106

Post by coaxial » Mon, Jun 04, 2018, 3:22 AM UTC

baybal2 wrote: post #85

dd36 wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you’re a foreign company selling on Amazon, even through a shell, you should be bonded and insured or whatever the equivalent that home contractors are required to have. If an electrical contractor can burn down my home and so can your shoddy product, they should require the same minimum insurance. Edit: all companies, forget foreign.

>If an electrical contractor can burn down my home and so can your shoddy product, they should require the same minimum insurance. You think companies like Google and Amazon don't buy from the same cheapest deal manufacturers? At the very beginning of my career in 2008, I worked in a trade agency in Singapore, where I was an exchange student. Once, we came upon a client who was bragging to be the sourcing company wor…

Reading the book poorly made in China was eye opening.

Re: Judge rules that Amazon isn't liable for damages caused by a hoverboard it sold

#107

Post by baybal2 » Mon, Jun 04, 2018, 5:07 AM UTC

coaxial wrote: post #106

baybal2 wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>If an electrical contractor can burn down my home and so can your shoddy product, they should require the same minimum insurance. You think companies like Google and Amazon don't buy from the same cheapest deal manufacturers? At the very beginning of my career in 2008, I worked in a trade agency in Singapore, where I was an exchange student. Once, we came upon a client who was bragging to be the sourcing company wor…

Reading the book poorly made in China was eye opening.

The company I was talking about was an entirely American business.

Re: Judge rules that Amazon isn't liable for damages caused by a hoverboard it sold

#108

Post by SmellyGeekBoy » Mon, Jun 04, 2018, 9:12 AM UTC

nordsieck wrote: post #81

josho wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is why I bought from Amazon and not Chinese companies. little did I know Amazon is No better.

> That is why I bought from Amazon and not Chinese companies. little did I know Amazon is No better. There is a big difference between buying from Amazon and buying from company X, fulfilled by Amazon.

Not from a consumer point of view: same website, same listing, same cart, same checkout and payment process. "AMAZON" even appears on the bank statement.

Literally the only difference is a tiny icon on the product page saying "Marketplace".

Re: Judge rules that Amazon isn't liable for damages caused by a hoverboard it sold

#109

Post by SmellyGeekBoy » Mon, Jun 04, 2018, 9:14 AM UTC

mikestew wrote: post #4

I’ll be curious to see what happens when Amazon sells a fake Apple iPhone charger, which subsequently burns a house down. The difference here is that Amazon advertised it as Apple brand. Or is that going to be on the shoulders of the wholesaler^W”seller”, too?

Plenty of fake iPhone chargers bought on Amazon have caused fires and serious injuries. So far nothing of note has happened as a result.

Re: Judge rules that Amazon isn't liable for damages caused by a hoverboard it sold

#110

Post by coaxial » Mon, Jun 04, 2018, 2:57 PM UTC

baybal2 wrote: post #107

coaxial wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reading the book poorly made in China was eye opening.

The company I was talking about was an entirely American business.

You said the manufacturer was in SZ (so I assumed it means Shenzhen). The book is about international companies contracting with Chinese manufacturers, and talks about manufacturing in China. The resulting products are not sold in China but in the US.