Amazon's counterfeit problem has ruined it for me. Like eBay before it, it's mostly a place to window shop for me now. Despite the massive amount of work they put into their logistics, they seem to have no trusted supply chain.
Amazon Ruined Online Shopping
121–130 of 222 posts
Re: Amazon Ruined Online Shopping
#122I was never a Prime member, but I have bought stuff from Amazon in the past. As of about 2 years ago, I've basically quit Amazon for all the reasons listed in the article: confusing selection of products that I might want to buy (are those widgets the same as those other widgets or not?), the decreasing reliability of reviews, and the co-mingling of stock from different sellers. Admittedly, I'm buying "weird" stuff o…
On the other side, a $15 chisel set is essentially fungible as well.
Re: Amazon Ruined Online Shopping
#123Amazon made online shopping feel safe and comfortable, at least mechanically, where once the risk of being scammed by bad actors felt huge Maybe this was true once, but now Amazon has brought back that fear and confusion of getting scammed. You used to be able to count on reviews for some idea of the quality of the product, but now you need to do research at someplace like www.fakespot.com to see if the reviews are f…
legally every Amazon warehouse should be seized by the Feds for knowingly helping to ship counterfeit goods across state lines. That's what happens to other retailers who do this[1]. Luckily, Bezos owns the Washington Post, has a 600 million dollar contract with the CIA, and is close to signing a 10 billion dollar contract with the Department of Defense. The new HQ in DC probably helps grease those hands as well 1. h…
Its interesting that they can just get away with this so easily and make it the consumers problem. im also wondering how often consumers dont know nor realize they bought something counterfeit.
Re: Amazon Ruined Online Shopping
#124Earlier quoted context omitted.
Amazon's counterfeit problem seems like something they're not taking seriously enough. For a laser printer or a lamp, sure -- I'll buy from Amazon and deal with the return if I ever get screwed. But for climbing gear, of which I've bought quite a bit of, I simply won't touch Amazon. I haven't heard of counterfeit (versus obvious trash, which exists but is different) climbing goods on Amazon, but I simply can't risk i…
Yup. For pretty much all outdoor gear I go to Backcountry or REI. Can't risk counterfeits for technical products where specs matter.
It's getting so out of hand to the point where most products have all fake reviews.
Re: Amazon Ruined Online Shopping
#125Earlier quoted context omitted.
In the small business dominated world of 40 years ago trust was a fundamental economic asset. A bad seller would immediately get a bad reputation and it would be known around the community. People trusted each other because that's how society has worked for millennia, to the point of tribalism, we are never allowed to scam "our" people for we might be ostracized and literally be in mortal peril outside the tribe. A h…
> In the small business dominated world of 40 years ago trust was a fundamental economic asset. A bad seller would immediately get a bad reputation and it would be known around the community. Sorry, this is bogus. Salesmen for electronic goods have been terrible at least since the 70s - my father, who designed ICs used in TVs, used to rant about their incompetence and bald-faced lies... My assumption is that they've…
bigger point is that communities and tribes have gotten larger at least in the US, breaking down once strong barriers of trust (people becoming more numbers than neighbors)
Re: Amazon Ruined Online Shopping
#126Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's because each of the 50 states administrates its own sales tax (or lack thereof).
Yes, but some cities and counties also have their own sales taxes, though this isn't why sellers don't charge sales taxes. They don't charge them because they can get away with (or believe it is legal to) not charge sales tax for customers not in the state or area from which they operate.
It was until very recently.
Re: Amazon Ruined Online Shopping
#127"Birkenstock quits Amazon in US after counterfeit surge" (2016)https://www.cnbc.com/2016/07/20/birkenstock-quits-amazon-in-...
Re: Amazon Ruined Online Shopping
#128Amazon's counterfeit problem has ruined it for me. Like eBay before it, it's mostly a place to window shop for me now. Despite the massive amount of work they put into their logistics, they seem to have no trusted supply chain.
eBay is actually easier to use for me, now.
With eBay, you can sort by 'used' items, and there is some focus on the seller history- and by combining them you can form a reasonable expectation of whats going on.
With Amazon, you're buying a lottery ticket, every time.
Re: Amazon Ruined Online Shopping
#129Earlier quoted context omitted.
Amazon's counterfeit problem seems like something they're not taking seriously enough. For a laser printer or a lamp, sure -- I'll buy from Amazon and deal with the return if I ever get screwed. But for climbing gear, of which I've bought quite a bit of, I simply won't touch Amazon. I haven't heard of counterfeit (versus obvious trash, which exists but is different) climbing goods on Amazon, but I simply can't risk i…
Yup. For pretty much all outdoor gear I go to Backcountry or REI. Can't risk counterfeits for technical products where specs matter.
Plus REI's ~~lifetime~~ one-year return policy is much more generous than Amazon's. Not to mention the annual member dividend.
Re: Amazon Ruined Online Shopping
#130Earlier quoted context omitted.
Is there any way to determine if they've paid for no commingling?
Is that even a thing? I’ve never heard that being possible before. I would be willing to pay a premium for guaranteed non-commingled products. But Amazon commingles to make their own internal logistics easier.
If they offered this option it would be an admission on Amazon's part that they know about the issues with co-mingling (which of course they must do by now, but they wouldn't be dumb enough to publicly admit it).