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

petapixel.com

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

#221

Post by mikeash »

nwellnhof wrote: post #209
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…

> It is really worth it for Amazon to have them? I struggle to see how. I think the main reason is that it gives Amazon huge amounts of market data essentially for free. For example, they can easily identify best-selling new products even if they're not sold directly by Amazon. If you're successful selling stuff on Amazon, it's only a matter of time until Amazon will compete with you and possibly destroy your busines…

That is a really interesting angle on it.

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

#222

Post by Spooky23 »

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

eBay fraudsters mastered this. They would buy and sell bullshit items like old postcards that would be shippable via first class mail, then wait a few months for the auction listings to expire, than sell a fake laptop or camera.

I was almost defrauded like this but refused the shipment and was able to claw the money back via chargeback at the cost of my PayPal account. With about 15 minutes of searching I was able to find networks of these phony sellers building up eBay points and running these scams.

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

#223

Post by kristianc »

emodendroket wrote: post #113
niftich wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Newegg went through the same bifurcation when it introduced third-party sellers in 2010. It turned a largely hassle-free shopping experience into one where extra care had to be taken to filter out results that weren't sold by Newegg itself. I'd argue that Newegg was more hurt by this than Amazon, because customers were trusting Newegg to deliver a consistent experience at the expense of fewer categories of inventory,…

Didn't I read that Prime loses them money most of the time? I don't think the membership fee is a real replacement for regular revenue streams; it seems to me like the point is more to encourage people to "get their money's worth" by buying from Amazon more.

People do really get their money's worth from Prime: "40% of Amazon Prime members spend over $1,000 a year on Amazon, while only 8% of non-Prime shoppers do so."

I'd be really interested to see what Amazon's numbers as a whole would look like if Prime didn't exist, clearly it is profitable enough for Amazon to be able to keep bundling "free" stuff into the package like video / music, file storage etc.

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

#224

Post by opo »

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.

There have been a couple of previous hacker news discussions on the problem of counterfeit goods being sold by Amazon. The problem here is that if there are counterfeit goods being sold by a 3rd party, you might get them even if the product listing your ordered from says that it is sold and shipped by Amazon. Amazon co-mingles goods from Amazon and third party sellers unless the third party seller explicitly opts out of it (which costs more money for them and someone selling counterfeit goods has every incentive to co-mingle their goods with others). I don't think I have run into counterfeit goods, but others claim to have:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13924546

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13955981

I like the convenience and selection of Amazon, (and have been a customer since they started) but until they stop this comingling, I feel I have to be a little more careful what I buy from them.

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

#225

Post by matwood »

derekp7 wrote: post #103
mikeash wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wouldn't surprise me. Superficial reading is an ongoing danger of text-based support. The other day, my wife used Amazon's chat support to ask a question about what would happen if she canceled her free Prime trial. The rep said: give me two minutes to look into this. And then came back with: I've canceled your Prime as you requested, thanks, gtfo. She managed to unwind this after a great deal of effort, but man.

Reminds me of when I called my cell phone carrier, to have an unused line dropped from my account. Had to give them my phone number, and the number for the line to remove. "Ok, hold on one second..." [click]. Phone didn't work any more -- they removed the wrong line. Had to go to a land line, and hang on hold for 30 minutes to get someone to start restoring my account (and to make sure I didn't lose my grandfathered…

> Phone didn't work any more -- they removed the wrong line. Had to go to a land line, and hang on hold for 30 minutes to get someone to start restoring my account

Haha. I have a similar story where I needed help from Comcast. I was on the my cell with them and they wanted to verify it was me, and hung up to call my home number. Well, I only have a home line for a fax machine and do not have a normal phone in the house. I heard the fax ring a few times so I called back. It took over a 1/2 hour to convince them to use a different authentication method. They kept insisting to call my home phone. Sigh.

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

#226

Post by inetknght »

ransom1538 wrote: post #207
inetknght wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Put your money where your mouth is. Go provide your legal services to article's author. I expect to see an article on Monday, from you, which bemoans exactly how easy it is to track thieves like this. Show us the face of the accused, too.

So become a federal officer by monday? I need an extension.

It sounded to me like you already had all of this figured out. Why do you suddenly need to be a federal officer?

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

#227

Post by leakybit »

poke111 wrote: post #22

I don't get why he kept hammering on them for the fact that it was delivered to the wrong address. The bigger problem here, and a better basis for a refund, is the fact that they sent the wrong item. If they sent the wrong item to the correct address it should be eligible, right?

That would of been easier since the seller must accept returns within 30 days of purchase.

This is also how buyer-side fraud works, say you got the wrong item, and return a block of dry ice of the same weight. By the time the sellers gets it, the box will be empty and you can just blame it on the shipping courier, since it had xx pounds when they weighted it.

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

#229

Post by cr0sh »

pdq wrote: post #62

The correct solution to this is a 3rd party escrow service for these expensive items prone to fraud. Amazon could physically validate the lens with pictures/weight, and verify they shipped it directly. This blocks fraud by both the customer and the seller/shipper.

Exactly this.

If I'm buying something off of Ebay from a private seller (particularly used gear and such) that is going to cost more than I feel I can possibly comfortably lose ($200.00 is the upper end there), then I ask the seller first (before doing a buy-it-now or bidding) if they'll do escrow (usually via escrow.com, since that used to be an ebay thing).

If they won't, I don't bid or buy - because it is likely a scam of some sort. Usually, I explain that the protection is both for seller and buyer, and that I will pay all fees involved (so they aren't out anything). If they still balk, then forget it. Not worth it, no way.

I've never used Amazon Marketplace to buy used goods or anything like that (everything I buy from Amazon is prime stuff; rarely do I do third-party seller unless its from a place that has a real website too - and even then I exercise caution).

For large cash transactions via Craigslist? Take a friend with a gun, in case things don't go the way they should. My last purchase from CL was a car, and I swear I thought at one point I was going to be rolled for cash I didn't have with me. It was in the vehicle my friend was driving; I was riding with the owner in the vehicle being sold - we were trying to find a place to transfer the title - I know that doesn't sound like it should be difficult, but the story is much more complex. In the end everything went fine, the guy got the cash, I got the car, and we parted amicably.

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

#230

Post by zeep »

vgprice wrote: post #36

I don't even buy anything that is not sold via Prime. I assume anything non-prime is of the lowest possible quality or a scam. For some reason I feel comfortable with prime thinking that the items have had some sort of quality approval. (at least getting my item as described and expected.)

I've had issues with Amazon Essential products (keyboard and mouse).... they are probably sold via Prime but I refuse to get Prime. The replacement was easy to get but the quality was low.
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