Amazon Caught Selling Counterfeits of Publisher’s Computer Books

Re: Amazon Caught Selling Counterfeits of Publisher’s Computer Books–Again

#101

Post by Kevguy » Tue, Feb 19, 2019, 6:07 PM UTC

coldpie wrote: post #50

ckastner wrote: post #4

The counterfeit and review manipulation issues have rendered Amazon unpleasant enough for me that buying local is something I've started to enjoy again. I trust the merchant to have performed some kind of vetting for merchandise sold on premise, and the price is often good or (interestingly enough) even better than on Amazon. Often enough local is still more expensive, but it beats browsing Amazon for an hour, siftin…

The third party seller stuff has really killed my faith in Amazon. If I wanted to have to read reviews for the entity selling the good and have some expectation of getting a counterfeit/broken good, I would go to eBay. I used to go to Amazon because I could trust them, but that trust is lonnng gone. These days I'm shopping more and more locally, because I can actually see the thing I'm buying. Side note: I'm sad to s…

Newegg does at least have a 'Newegg only' checkbox so you can avoid the outside sellers. I will still buy electronics from Newegg for that reason. No longer trust Amazon for those.

Re: Amazon Caught Selling Counterfeits of Publisher’s Computer Books–Again

#102

Post by acd » Tue, Feb 19, 2019, 6:09 PM UTC

In Sweden BBS-lagen is applicable here. That is you run a community service where the users publish works.

5 § "Skyldighet att ta bort vissa meddelanden" The obligation to remove certain messages 2. It is obvious that the user has infringed copyright or rights protected by regulation in Chapter 5. the law (1960: 729) on copyright for literary and artistic works by submitting the message.

Here is the US law https://www.bu.edu/law/journals-archive/scitech/volume1/orou... "contributory infringement"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contributory_copyright_infring... Material contribution "second situation is when the means for facilitating the infringement such as machinery is provided by the defendant"

Providing printing press ability and the electronic means to upload/download without scanning via OCR for copyright infringement of known text and print service and the platform itself

Re: Amazon Caught Selling Counterfeits of Publisher’s Computer Books–Again

#103

Post by joshvm » Tue, Feb 19, 2019, 6:11 PM UTC

petilon wrote: post #45

I ordered a copy of Deep Learning [1] from Amazon last week. On Barnes & Noble [2] the book costs $76.80. On Amazon it is just $28.00. I received the book a couple of days ago. The pages look like it was printed using a low-resolution printer, and the ink color is uneven across pages. I am returning the book. Possible counterfeit, sold by a third party seller. On the other hand this book is also available free online…

Often these are low cost prints for students in developing countries, for example India. They're not counterfeit as such, but the quality is low to keep the price down. Not sure if that's what you got though, as they're all super cheap on Amazon.com. Normally if it's a marketplace seller it'll say where it ships from. Deep Learning RRPs about £50 in the UK.

I'm not sure what the print status of the book is. There seems to be an official MIT Press print, but my university library struggled to get a copy through the inter-library loan network because the eBook has the same ISBN.

Re: Amazon Caught Selling Counterfeits of Publisher’s Computer Books–Again

#104

Post by mnm1 » Tue, Feb 19, 2019, 6:12 PM UTC

90% of the stuff on Amazon is fake or counterfeit. Why would anyone expect the book division to be different? This is what Amazon has decided to be: a marketplace for garbage products, most fake or extremely low quality. Their strategy is based on the fact that consumers don't know better and if they do and start returning products, shutting those accounts off. Some copyright infringement is perfect for diversifying their business model of selling garbage.

Re: Amazon Caught Selling Counterfeits of Publisher’s Computer Books–Again

#105

Post by thaumasiotes » Tue, Feb 19, 2019, 6:12 PM UTC

tzs wrote: post #67

thaumasiotes wrote: post #59

These aren't counterfeit books. They're unlicensed books. You're getting exactly what you order.

They are pretty much the definition of counterfeit. The Oxford dictionary defines counterfeit as "Made in exact imitation of something valuable with the intention to deceive or defraud".

There's an implication that you're defrauding the person buying the counterfeit item. That's not true here; the person being "defrauded" is the copyright owner.

Re: Amazon Caught Selling Counterfeits of Publisher’s Computer Books–Again

#106

Post by the-pigeon » Tue, Feb 19, 2019, 6:18 PM UTC

ProAm wrote: post #79

mindcrime wrote: post #17

https://qz.com/1542839/amazon-has-finally-admitted-to-invest... Well, admitting you have a problem is the first step, so maybe now they'll finally get serious about fixing this shit.

Its hard to admit you have a problem when your problem still brings in buckets of money everyday. I dont think they care, how much can a publisher or author sue amazon for peddling counterfeit wares? That is when it will matter, when they start losing large settlements.

Why hasn't the US Consumer Protection Bureau stepped in at this point?

Isn't this exactly the sort of thing they are suppose to prevent?

Re: Amazon Caught Selling Counterfeits of Publisher’s Computer Books–Again

#107

Post by FakeComments » Tue, Feb 19, 2019, 6:20 PM UTC

pheeney wrote: post #83

I am currently caught up in an amazon scam. The third party seller listed items, put in fake shipping, item never arrived. It's been over a month and I am still fighting amazon to get my money back. They have an "A to Z guarantee" which doesn't work, at least not in my case. The seller didn't even need to sell counterfeit items without running off with my money. Amazon customer support has no idea what to do since th…

I’ve never had success with “A to Z” refunds, to the point it seems designed not to work — and instead, actively use Amazon’s brand loyalty to enable fraud.

I wonder, was my trust as a customer who spends thousands of dollars a year ever worth more than $20 to Amazon?

Because they sure were quick enough to throw it away over $20, when one of their business partners defrauded me via their website.

(PS — if you work at Amazon, and your internal metrics show that customer trust is worth more than 0.005 dollars per customer dollar spent, you have made business decisions WAY out of alignment with your metrics.)

Re: Amazon Caught Selling Counterfeits of Publisher’s Computer Books–Again

#108

Post by joshu » Tue, Feb 19, 2019, 6:23 PM UTC

crowbahr wrote: post #74

ckastner wrote: post #4

The counterfeit and review manipulation issues have rendered Amazon unpleasant enough for me that buying local is something I've started to enjoy again. I trust the merchant to have performed some kind of vetting for merchandise sold on premise, and the price is often good or (interestingly enough) even better than on Amazon. Often enough local is still more expensive, but it beats browsing Amazon for an hour, siftin…

I purchased some wire cutters a year or two ago from Amazon and they were fine for the speaker wire I was cutting... Until this year when I tried to cut a guitar string with them and found a perfect guitar gauged hole in my snips every time I tried to cut. I was irate, having paid $10 for these. So I go online to leave a review and warn people off... only to find that the seller "no longer existed". They absolutely d…

inexpensive wire snips are usually only good for cutting copper wire, though. they aren't made of hardened steel, which is necessary for cutting the steel guitar strings.

Re: Amazon Caught Selling Counterfeits of Publisher’s Computer Books–Again

#109

Post by crowbahr » Tue, Feb 19, 2019, 6:24 PM UTC

Kevguy wrote: post #101

coldpie wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The third party seller stuff has really killed my faith in Amazon. If I wanted to have to read reviews for the entity selling the good and have some expectation of getting a counterfeit/broken good, I would go to eBay. I used to go to Amazon because I could trust them, but that trust is lonnng gone. These days I'm shopping more and more locally, because I can actually see the thing I'm buying. Side note: I'm sad to s…

Newegg does at least have a 'Newegg only' checkbox so you can avoid the outside sellers. I will still buy electronics from Newegg for that reason. No longer trust Amazon for those.

Newegg is fine as long as you never have to return anything you've purchased.

Which means it's not fine for Electronics. Their returns policy seems to be assuming that everyone attempting a return is malicious and trying to cheat them.

Re: Amazon Caught Selling Counterfeits of Publisher’s Computer Books–Again

#110

Post by joshu » Tue, Feb 19, 2019, 6:25 PM UTC

kens wrote: post #88

Dylan16807 wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> A lot of what makes real (UL/ETL listed) chargers expensive is making sure that line voltage stays adequately separated from the low voltage side. Even a very cheap and simplified design can do that. I wouldn't say "a lot" at all, maybe a few percent of the cost at most. It's a corner that could possibly be cut, but it's not one of the bigger corners.

I've done a lot of charger teardowns, and very cheap chargers always violate UL safety rules. It's a combination of cost (e.g. triple-insulated transformers), it's hard to fit clearance distances into a small charger, sloppy manufacturing, and they don't seem to even try.

I need a bunch of chargers for a sensor network (Right now using Wemos D1 Mini boards). Any advice on optimizing for price without compromising on safety? I don't trust the sellers that sell $2 chargers...