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Amazon establishes new Counterfeit Crimes Unit

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Re: Amazon establishes new Counterfeit Crimes Unit

#161

Post by syshum »

soulofmischief wrote: post #149
throwaway_jobs wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I recall stories of counterfeit child car seats that failed safety standards (don’t think there was a lawsuit) just “undercover purchases” and actual safety testing of the fakes. As I understand it Amazon isn’t liable which to me makes no sense as it relates to defective products (everyone in the supply chain of a defective product should be jointly and severely liable). I don’t care if it’s a 3rd party seller, Amazo…

The alternative is an online marketplace with no accountability. That doesn't sound safe.

The Alternative is going back to eCommerce where individual shops put up their own web site, market their own website and are liable for their own website (and have control over their supply chain)

Today since the build of consumers are on Amazon if you are a retailer you need to be one Amazon, and if you want access to Prime Customer you need to use Fulfillment by amazon, Where now you loose control over your supply chain due to co-mingled inventory

So even if I have a stellar reputation as A+AcmeMerchant, and customers look for my store on amazon they are not guaranteed to get the product that I sent to amazon, no they could get JoeBobScammers Product even though it was sold "by me" and fulfilled by amazon

So I will not go as far as to say amazon should be liable for ALL sales, but I do agree that any Sale that is shipped from an Amazon Warehouse they should be liable for. They choose to comingle all of their inventory they should face the liability

Re: Amazon establishes new Counterfeit Crimes Unit

#162

Post by JMTQp8lwXL »

dylan604 wrote: post #128
rckoepke wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure that level of snark is appropriate for HN. Not that I explicitly disagree with you, of course. It's just we gotta have a higher bar around here. I'd love to see substantial elaboration on the topic that adds to the discussion. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html > Be kind. Don't be snarky. Have curious conversation; don't cross-examine. Comments should be more thoughtful and substantive, not les…

You're assuming snark was implied. I honestly do not believe that Amazon feels that this is a problem that needs to be solved. Before Amazon bans sellers/buyers, it needs to have total control of the market. At that point, it can decide what it wants to do. I've seen you post this reply several times lately (even today alone). Maybe you should attempt to contribute more to the conversation yourself rather than being…

Including supporting facts in the original comment would make it read more in the spirit of the guidelines, in my humble view as a non-moderator. It's reasonable to say Amazon may have no reason to change problem X due to Y and Z. But seeing the problem alone makes it read in a somewhat emotionally charged manner.

Re: Amazon establishes new Counterfeit Crimes Unit

#163

Post by bllguo »

I have never had counterfeit issues on amazon and always find these threads bewildering. I buy almost everything I can't get from my local grocery store from them. I can't tell whether I'm improbably lucky or if I'm part of a silent majority. Claims of things like counterfeit cereal (come on, really want to see some actual proof here) tilt me towards the latter, though.

Re: Amazon establishes new Counterfeit Crimes Unit

#164

Post by phaus »

bllguo wrote: post #163

I have never had counterfeit issues on amazon and always find these threads bewildering. I buy almost everything I can't get from my local grocery store from them. I can't tell whether I'm improbably lucky or if I'm part of a silent majority. Claims of things like counterfeit cereal (come on, really want to see some actual proof here) tilt me towards the latter, though.

I bought a "Lenovo" USB hub that was a shitty knockoff, the manufacturer claimed they had licensed the Lenovo brand. The listing never mentioned that it wasn't an authentic Lenovo device, but the packaging did. The device was poorly made and just flat out didn't work.

I think electronics and luxury items have a higher chance of being counterfeit. Obviously most people are getting legitimate goods, otherwise Amazon wouldn't exist.

I read reviews before I purchase anything expensive though, if I see several people claiming the same product from the same vendor is a counterfeit, I find another vendor or another item.

Re: Amazon establishes new Counterfeit Crimes Unit

#165

Post by ac29 »

alexpetralia wrote: post #156
rckoepke wrote: post #11

The categories of things that I've received counterfeit versions of on Amazon have been truly mind-blowing. It's been replacement HEPA filters, cat toys, even breakfast cereal. It's not just earphones/mics, batteries, usb cables, flash drives, extension cords, and other electronics. Who counterfeits breakfast cereal??? I've had this issue with both Quaker Oats and Raisin Bran. The scale of fraud is magnificent. And i…

Can anyone clarify how they found out their purchases were counterfeit (e.g. if I buy a Bose product "Sold By" Bose, it could be a counterfeit?)? As someone who purchases things from Amazon and only care about if they work or not, I haven't had much an issue. If I've been loading up on counterfeits, it doesn't seem to have been a problem.

> if I buy a Bose product "Sold By" Bose, it could be a counterfeit?

Yes, because Amazon co-mingles item of the same SKU. A legit item could be shipped to someone who buys from a scammer, and a counterfeit could be shipped to someone who buys from a legit seller.

Re: Amazon establishes new Counterfeit Crimes Unit

#166

Post by mabbo »

the_pwner224 wrote: post #81
ikeboy wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Amazon is sourcing their stock through standard channels. This just isn't true. There's been plenty of lawsuits alleging that Amazon themselves sourced counterfeit product. Their supply chain for many products is not necessarily better than third party sellers.

About 6 years ago I ordered a $150 graphing calculator from Amazon, 'Shipped and sold by Amazon' or whatever the actual phrase was, and iirc there were no 3rd-party sellers for the item. The calculator came in two versions with software differences as well as a different accent color on the hardware to differentiate. I ordered the one with the extra software but instead got the one with the cheaper color and firmware…

I can suggest another likely culprit for your wrong calculator: its barcode got broken/lost.

Everything is tracked by barcode. If it doesn't have a barcode matching what's expected, it doesn't exist anymore. Scratch a barcode the wrong way or mark it wrong, it loses it's ability to be scanned. It gets found, but what is it, inventory-wise?

The folks solving these problems, they're trained but some are better than others and it's not easy. There's 100s of millions of different ASINs. So they search by name and brand and say "looks like that's it" and voila, you have virtual inventory tracking this item as ASIN X, while it's actually ASIN Y.

No maliciousness needed. Just a complex system failing on the edge cases.

(Bias note: I work for another branch of Amazon. I do not speak for the company in any way. These are my own opinions.)

Re: Amazon establishes new Counterfeit Crimes Unit

#167

Post by everdrive »

hitpointdrew wrote: post #115
throwaway_jobs wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here is one (plus the story of a defective product lawsuit behind it). A water slide. The type that bolts down into concrete for use with pools. If the first thing in your mind is...isn’t that something from the 70’s/80’s...yes it is. So the counterfeiter must have molded the entire slide (complete with the company logo that was embossed into the slide itself) thing is that company was dissolved back in the 80’s. So…

> One day Amazon is going to get smacked with such a lawsuit resulting in billions in punitive damages, then and only then will you see real effort on their part to curb this behavior. IIRC at least one person (probably more) has died already from counterfeits on Amazon. I read one where I guy died in a motorcycle crash, it was found that his helmet (which he bought off Amazon) was a fraud and wasn't/didn't meet DOT…

I definitely had a ladder I bought on Amazon collapse when I was using it. It’s dumb luck that I didn’t fall off.

Re: Amazon establishes new Counterfeit Crimes Unit

#168

Post by Amezarak »

bllguo wrote: post #163

I have never had counterfeit issues on amazon and always find these threads bewildering. I buy almost everything I can't get from my local grocery store from them. I can't tell whether I'm improbably lucky or if I'm part of a silent majority. Claims of things like counterfeit cereal (come on, really want to see some actual proof here) tilt me towards the latter, though.

I was reselling Monster energy drinks in my office. I tried ordering some from Amazon, since the bigger packs are more readily available, and for lower prices, allowing me to sell cans for a cheaper per-unit price.

The very first pack I got was clearly counterfeit. The cans were subtly different both in appearance and etching. A brave volunteer who tried some also reported it tasted off.

If they're counterfeiting energy drinks, I fully believe they're doing cereal too.

Re: Amazon establishes new Counterfeit Crimes Unit

#169

Post by [deleted] »

kube-system wrote: post #118
snarf21 wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The issue is so simple to solve and they don't have to have a crimes unit to do it. Simply segment reviews and ratings based on seller. All you have to do is have each seller put a scannable sticker on each product based each batch going through intake. You can even still colocate. Then all the returns and bad reviews go to the right person and they can just get banned. This is not rocket surgery.

Amazon has a program for this: https://brandservices.amazon.com/transparency

[deleted]

Re: Amazon establishes new Counterfeit Crimes Unit

#170

Post by ericd »

rckoepke wrote: post #72
ericd wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're sure it was not a storage condition or age issue? I think you might be right in your theory that it was made by the correct company but intended for a different market and was made with a different formulation. Perhaps there's some arbitrage opportunity there. I guess I don't understand why someone would try to counterfeit something like cereal. Seems like it would be hard to get enough scale to make it worth…

Checked expiration dates, they were comparable to store-bought. I store my cereal in pretty abhorrent conditions sometimes (like leaving it in the back of my car during Texas summer for a few days) and never noticed degradation leading to flavor/texure like this, but storage issues are still a possible cause. Maybe I'll do a real experiment sometime involving storing grocery cereal outdoors in the Houston summer and…

Yeah, fair, not sure what conditions could cause that kind of degradation if your experiments haven't yielded it. Maybe counterfeiting cereal is just more lucrative than I would've guessed.
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