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Amazon's Tepid Response to Counterfeiters Frustrates Sellers

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Re: Amazon's Tepid Response to Counterfeiters Frustrates Sellers

#341

Post by kalleboo »

mdp wrote: post #176
tiglionabbit wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple does not sell any products through Amazon. All Apple products listed on Amazon are through third parties.

This isn't very clear when you see pages like this - https://www.amazon.com/Apple/b/ref=w_bl_hsx_s_wi_web_2528944... Also, some Apple products are shipped and sold by Amazon, not third parties - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00W5Q06VU/ref=s9_dcacsd_b... I'm surprised Apple hasn't taken any action against them for this.

Apple is certainly aware of it at least, they've sued one of the sellers on Amazon http://www.computerworld.com/article/3133627/technology-law-...

Re: Amazon's Tepid Response to Counterfeiters Frustrates Sellers

#342

Post by nommm-nommm »

0xcde4c3db wrote: post #109

Is this a big opportunity for a class-action lawsuit by sellers whose reputations were damaged by Amazon fulfilling their orders with counterfeit goods, or is there some kind of genuinely binding "shit happens" clause in the FBA contract?

Cant, Amazon has forced arbitration with their sellers.

Re: Amazon's Tepid Response to Counterfeiters Frustrates Sellers

#344

Post by kalleboo »

ceejayoz wrote: post #170
dforrestwilson wrote: post #32

Amazon itself copies its sellers and customers with imitation products constantly. The irony should not be lost here.

That's an absurd comparison. Amazon clearly brands theirs as AmazonBasics. They don't go claiming it's an Apple charger.

And a some of them are even just rebranded OEM products - e.g. their long-life rechargeable NiMHs are actual eneloops with different labels.

Re: Amazon's Tepid Response to Counterfeiters Frustrates Sellers

#345

Post by dalfonso »

crazygringo wrote: post #114

Is there anyone here who can shed some light as to why ? It's impossible for me to believe that it's part of Amazon's strategy to encourage, or even allow, counterfeits -- it might be fine for a smaller company, but it appears to be doing real brand damage at this point. Yet Amazon shows no signs of stopping it -- this has been going on for years. Is it just a really hard problem for some reason that isn't obvious? (…

A combination of wanting 1) the best price 2) fastest shipping times 3) the world's largest catalog and 4) profit.

You're buying some item. You're in New York City. Other websites sell it for $20. You go on Amazon.com and see that it's $14.99, here's where #1 comes in. Why is it so low?? In our scenario, let's assume "Fugazi FBA seller" just shipped in a bunch of counterfeit merchandise into Amazon's warehouse in Tennessee that cost them $5.00, $14.99 is a major win for the seller.

Now, Amazon matches the price at $14.99 and you buy it "ships and sold by Amazon". This is where #2 comes in. You're a Prime member. You expect to get it in 2 days. You're all the way out in NYC. The closest warehouse that has Amazon's legit inventory is in California.

Amazon says, "Hey we need to get this customer his/her item in 2 days. It's way FASTER and CHEAPER, if we just pick one unit from Fugazi FBA seller's stock that's in Tennessee and ship that out." - #2 and #4.

Once this product is end-of-life or Amazon can't source it, #3 comes into play and Amazon stops selling it "ships and sold by Amazon" and sellers (legit and illegitimate) are left to fight it out.

Re: Amazon's Tepid Response to Counterfeiters Frustrates Sellers

#346

Post by nkrisc »

SomeStupidPoint wrote: post #120
crazygringo wrote: post #114

Is there anyone here who can shed some light as to why ? It's impossible for me to believe that it's part of Amazon's strategy to encourage, or even allow, counterfeits -- it might be fine for a smaller company, but it appears to be doing real brand damage at this point. Yet Amazon shows no signs of stopping it -- this has been going on for years. Is it just a really hard problem for some reason that isn't obvious? (…

Amazon is likely stats blinded: their internal metrics say "all good", so they ignore the stories people are telling as anecdotes without ever doing the analysis on how often those "anecdotes" happen. Further, that their stats are ungrounded (not tied to any hard-to-attack real world tests) and fail to capture data which would demonstrate the issue. I believe the FBA and FMA teams are a fundamental blunder opposed to…

Or perhaps they do know exactly how bad the problem is and have decided that fixing it isn't worth it.

Re: Amazon's Tepid Response to Counterfeiters Frustrates Sellers

#348

Post by nommm-nommm »

rsync wrote: post #334
nommm-nommm wrote: post #331

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This may be a really ignorant question but can I ask why you continue to use Amazon to source hard drives then? Is there really no other place to buy hard drives? If you are a bulk buyer I would think you'd be able to buy directly from the manufacturer or something.

We continue to buy drives on amazon because of extremely fast and easy sourcing, checkout, and return policy. Basically the same reason everyone uses amazon, for everything. If we get a really wacko batch, the return is very, very simple. The practice of selling "new pulls" (supposedly new drives that are removed from new servers by end users that wanted different drives installed all along) is rampant everywhere - n…

Do you think you are in danger of being banned from Amazon for too many returns? They have been known to do that to other buyers.

Re: Amazon's Tepid Response to Counterfeiters Frustrates Sellers

#349

Post by breakingcups »

joniT wrote: post #338
bonestamp2 wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amazon isn't going to take this seriously until a major company gets burned and the FBI gets involved. Then Amazon will experience what every other company does that gets burned for selling counterfeit goods... the FBI will raid their warehouse and hold all the inventory as evidence until they complete their investigation. Like you said, Amazon doesn't seem concerned that they're selling counterfeit goods -- probably…

From my experience working at Amazon, they do take it very seriously. They've got multiple teams working on automated detection of counterfeit using rules, machine learning, etc., and hundreds of investigators looking into cases. They allow return of counterfeit and will reimburse you fully, and they'll have the item return to them for inspection. If they know you've frauded before, they try and block you from the pl…

It's not hard to solve.

It's hard to solve under Amazons business model whilst retaining Amazons profit margins.

It's a problem they chose to ignore for a long time because they could.

Re: Amazon's Tepid Response to Counterfeiters Frustrates Sellers

#350

Post by rwmj »

remlov wrote: post #318
rwmj wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But my Thinkpad does say 80% full, because I've (deliberately) capped the battery charging at 80% to prolong the life of the battery.

So you're charging only to approximately 64% of the actual battery capacity?

No, I'm charging to 80% of the battery capacity.
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