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

I Fell Victim to a $1,500 Used Camera Lens Scam on Amazon

petapixel.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

131–140 of 447 posts

Re: I Fell Victim to a $1,500 Used Camera Lens Scam on Amazon

#131

Post by djrogers »

eutropia wrote: post #13

Maybe this sort of fraud becomes impossible if we had cryptographic ledger based delivery confirmation systems (keyed to sender, recipient, delivery address). Edit: Because apparently technological solutions aren't to be discussed if they involve recent, trendy tech?

That wouldn't make any difference here at all. The author already has proof, signed by the postmaster of his post office - that's a very very high bar legally speaking BTW, you'd have to get a judge to sign something to carry more weight - and Amazon is ignoring it.

A blockchain based delivery confirmation system could be ignored just as easily as this...

Re: I Fell Victim to a $1,500 Used Camera Lens Scam on Amazon

#132

Post by ben174 »

mikeash wrote: post #26

I'm wondering more and more why Amazon hosts third-party sellers at all. They dilute the Amazon brand to a tremendous degree. It used to be that buying from Amazon meant a certain level of quality and service. Now there are really two Amazons: the old one, and a new one that's basically a shitty version of eBay. I have to go out of my way to avoid these crappy third-party sellers when I'm searching for stuff on Amazo…

Also the incredible number of "new seller" listings with suspiciously low prices. And the seller description is * PLEASE EMAIL X Y Z (at) gmail dot com *. Which of course is an address which replies with instructions on how to finish the transaction off Amazon.

You figure they'd have filters for these things.

Re: I Fell Victim to a $1,500 Used Camera Lens Scam on Amazon

#133

Post by georgemcbay »

noncoml wrote: post #118
mikeash wrote: post #26

I'm wondering more and more why Amazon hosts third-party sellers at all. They dilute the Amazon brand to a tremendous degree. It used to be that buying from Amazon meant a certain level of quality and service. Now there are really two Amazons: the old one, and a new one that's basically a shitty version of eBay. I have to go out of my way to avoid these crappy third-party sellers when I'm searching for stuff on Amazo…

This 100 times. I never buy from third-party sellers in Amazon, but I am having such a hard time explaining to friends and family how to do the same. They keep buying from third-party sellers and keep wondering how it is not "Amazon". I wish there was an option to set it once and never see third-party seller items again.

"I wish there was an option to set it once and never see third-party seller items again."

This is my biggest issue by far as a customer of Amazon.

I have zero interest in buying anything off Amazon that isn't Amazon fulfilled with Prime shipping because virtually 100% of the reason I use Amazon is the quick, predictable shipping. While they do have various filters to show only prime-listed stuff in search results, the system is real fucky and you still end up getting into situations way too often where you are seeing items that can only really be bought through third parties (eg. the same SKU sells on Prime and via third party, so it makes it through the filter, but the prime option is sold out).

My enjoyment of using Amazon as a buyer would increase by like 100% if I could just tell it to act like anything not available through Prime just doesn't exist to me.

Re: I Fell Victim to a $1,500 Used Camera Lens Scam on Amazon

#134

Post by LoSboccacc »

lazyant wrote: post #117
dingaling wrote: post #3

Recap as I understand it, since the blog post isn't 0. Buyer purchased item from third-party seller on Amazon 1. Seller picked a name and address in buyer's town, from an obituary, and sent parcel containing two baking mats thereto ( instead of camera lens ) 2. Occupant of that address signed for it believing it to be for the deceased relative 3. USPS updated status to 'delivered' with signature and address recorded…

> I wonder how many items he had to sell before "The seller had one good review but didn’t appear to be selling anything else." so it looks like maybe just one item

Probably has many alts.

Re: I Fell Victim to a $1,500 Used Camera Lens Scam on Amazon

#135

Post by jeremy7600 »

sjoerger wrote: post #127

Be wary of Amazon closing your account due to the credit card charge back dispute. I had Amazon close my account several years ago due to a credit card number change right when I made a purchase. It was hell getting them to re-open my account and take my payment for the product I ordered and received.

They let you change payment methods now after you've ordered something, as well as have a number of different cards in their system at a time. Not sure this is a problem anymore.

Re: I Fell Victim to a $1,500 Used Camera Lens Scam on Amazon

#136

Post by kuschku »

sjoerger wrote: post #127

Be wary of Amazon closing your account due to the credit card charge back dispute. I had Amazon close my account several years ago due to a credit card number change right when I made a purchase. It was hell getting them to re-open my account and take my payment for the product I ordered and received.

I had a similar issue (account didn't authorize a SEPA ELV transfer, so it bounced), and I just had to send the payment + 6,50€ to amazon via SEPA wire transfer, and they reopened it.

Re: I Fell Victim to a $1,500 Used Camera Lens Scam on Amazon

#137

Post by gommm »

maxk42 wrote: post #119

In 2016 I made a couple hundred (yes hundred) purchases on Amazon. Of those, more than a dozen failed to ever arrive. All of the ones that failed were from third-party sellers. Amazon Customer Service is very willing to work with you if you call directly. (I've also had a $1500 item fail to arrive.) I wouldn't trust their email support though. Long story short: Pick up the phone.

I was going to say this. I bought a treadmill on Amazon, it arrived without the console. Dealing with customer support by email was an exercise in frustration with agents clearly not actually reading my emails and sending out form responses. Once I called, everything was solved very quickly.

Re: I Fell Victim to a $1,500 Used Camera Lens Scam on Amazon

#138

Post by didibus »

mikeash wrote: post #26

I'm wondering more and more why Amazon hosts third-party sellers at all. They dilute the Amazon brand to a tremendous degree. It used to be that buying from Amazon meant a certain level of quality and service. Now there are really two Amazons: the old one, and a new one that's basically a shitty version of eBay. I have to go out of my way to avoid these crappy third-party sellers when I'm searching for stuff on Amazo…

You're being persuaded by anecdotal evidence. At the volume of sales Amazon makes, fraud is but a tiny fraction. The probability of your next purchase to be a fraudulent one is minuscule.

Not saying fraud isn't an issue, and there's certainly room for Amazon to improve in that area and keep it at bay even more, but I think the reason they don't do what you say is probably that they k ow the numbers, if they see a million third party purchase, and only 1000 were fraud, its not really cause for killing the other 990000 sales.

Re: I Fell Victim to a $1,500 Used Camera Lens Scam on Amazon

#139

Post by matwood »

mikeash wrote: post #26

I'm wondering more and more why Amazon hosts third-party sellers at all. They dilute the Amazon brand to a tremendous degree. It used to be that buying from Amazon meant a certain level of quality and service. Now there are really two Amazons: the old one, and a new one that's basically a shitty version of eBay. I have to go out of my way to avoid these crappy third-party sellers when I'm searching for stuff on Amazo…

I agree. Amazon could also ban third-party for certain classes of items or make it harder to be a seller of those items. Camera equipment is notoriously fraud prone, and was before Amazon was even a thing.

I only buy used camera equipment from B&H or Adorama, and even with new equipment I am very cautious on Amazon. I tried getting used lenses a few times on Amazon and every single time the first order was the wrong, cheaper version of the lens I paid for. Amazon always quickly sent the right one, but I'd rather not deal with hassle. Particularly, since at that price point B&H or Adorama both have free shipping.

Re: I Fell Victim to a $1,500 Used Camera Lens Scam on Amazon

#140

Post by kuschku »

pjc50 wrote: post #48
ceejayoz wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not if you've got EC2 instances or Kindle books.

You're saying that disputing with Amazon will pull all your kindle books ? I don't think that would fly in countries with consumer rights. Bear in mind this is also a Marketplace seller and not the real Amazon.

It doesn't in the EU. If Amazon wants to ban you, they can ban you from buying new content or using online interaction functionality, but all existing content has to stay accessible.

In a recent court case https://openjur.de/u/879923.html this exact topic was discussed in the EU.

It turns out, Amazon can not do this. Neither can Steam, Sony or Microsoft.

The court ruled that Amazon has to unban the account of the user, and give him access to all media he ever purchased again.

If your account gets banned, you might want to take a lawyer and cite this case - OLG Köln Az 6 U 90/15.

Post reply on HN