Cheap junk flooding Amazon has brand names like MOFFBUZW • Hacker News Board

Re: Cheap junk flooding Amazon has brand names like MOFFBUZW

#351

Post by Marsymars » Sat, Jul 23, 2022, 4:17 AM UTC

spfzero wrote: post #289

makeitdouble wrote: post #281

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Either way, it seems like finding that entity, and preventing it from interacting with Amazon, would stop a majority of this in its tracks. From the comments I was expecting a flood of knock-offs or really problematic products, but it seems the main argument is they’re cheap and delivery takes a boat trip across the globe. Is there any solid reasons these vendors shouldn’t be on Amazon ? The knock-offs on AliExpres…

The OA mentioned someone who lost an eye due to improper product design and the vendor was safely hidden behind several layers of false-front entities. I don't know how common that is, but buyers should be aware that many Amazon sellers, including domestic ones, operate in the way the OA explains. Biggest annoyance IMO is that they clog up the search results and make it harder to find products you'd actually buy. Man…

> Biggest annoyance IMO is that they clog up the search results and make it harder to find products you'd actually buy.

And Amazon not letting you filter out third-party sellers is effectively a dark pattern.

bestbuy.ca has search results primarily comprised of third-party sellers, but has a prominent “Best Buy Only” filter at the top of the results.

Re: Cheap junk flooding Amazon has brand names like MOFFBUZW

#352

Post by pishpash » Sat, Jul 23, 2022, 4:18 AM UTC

samstave wrote: post #175

MerelyMortal wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure what the family's religion has to do with anything, but I was curious about the spelling and put it in my search bar and it's spelled, 'Hasidic'.

I KNEW people would ask this ; it was a major aspect of the story for some reason. They kept making reference to how these "ultra orthodox jews in brooklyn" were doing some revolutionary marketing/profiteering on the interenet/amazon specifically and how they were making a fortune doing so... It was _fundamental_ to whomever wrote the piece... So I mentioned it here. Sorry I failed your "anti-semetic triggers" - FFS.

I am pretty sure I remember the article was about Adorama and B&H selling gray-market import photography goods over mail order and having racist practices or something, not about selling on Amazon.

Re: Cheap junk flooding Amazon has brand names like MOFFBUZW

#353

Post by pishpash » Sat, Jul 23, 2022, 4:21 AM UTC

discardable_dan wrote: post #333

spicymaki wrote: post #188

The scam is enormously profitable for Amazon and the Chinese black hats. You can tell it is really profitable because Amazon will compensate you for up to $1000 for damages caused by this junk. https://www.bbc.com/news/business-58163915 I believe that Amazon probably could not turn the screws on these companies even if it wanted to. It would be a massive loss to their revenue and share holders would revolt. It would…

I've stopped buying huge swaths of things from Amazon for this reason. I'm basically down to buying four categories of things: 1. Items whose brand absolutely don't matter so long as they work as intended (e.g., books, home goods like hangers). 2. Home goods it wouldn't be worthwhile to knock off (e.g., KIND bars, toilet paper). 3. Smaller brands whose market share and item appeal are not worth cloning (e.g., a mecha…

For 4 it's always a better value proposition to get from eBay, when cost with shipping is all accounted. And you'd be surprised about 3, e.g. check out the standing desks.

I posit that we're sliding back to the 1990's Amazon: only good for books. But it doesn't matter because they are interested in being a Google with customer service and making a profit that way.

Re: Cheap junk flooding Amazon has brand names like MOFFBUZW

#354

Post by eljimmy » Sat, Jul 23, 2022, 4:24 AM UTC

I've stopped shopping on Amazon because of the hundreds of Chinese brands for the exact same product.

Re: Cheap junk flooding Amazon has brand names like MOFFBUZW

#355

Post by dawnerd » Sat, Jul 23, 2022, 4:32 AM UTC

speakfreely wrote: post #290

wtallis wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And quite often when ordering from an eBay seller with US stock, the package that arrives has an Amazon logo on the box.

That's just someone doing retail arbitrage: they take your eBay order and immediately have a bot (i.e. https://zincapi.com/ ) place an Amazon gift order to your address. Amazon does shut down buyer accounts for this but it's so rampant that it's more or less whack-a-mole.

eBay doesn’t let sellers do this either so report them. You’ll probably get refunded and the seller hit with whatever punishment eBay does these days.

Re: Cheap junk flooding Amazon has brand names like MOFFBUZW

#356

Post by Marsymars » Sat, Jul 23, 2022, 4:35 AM UTC

qqqwerty wrote: post #129

alangibson wrote: post #112

I wonder if theres a business idea in here. Set up a site that looks better than Amazon (not hard) and only list reputable listings on Amazon. Collect affiliate revenue. Basically just filter out the crap and profit

That is basically what WireCutter is, among many others.

If you’re buying something that Lee Valley sells, and you typically go for the higher-end rather than the budget pick, you can basically skip the Wirecutter guide and just buy whatever Lee Valley stocks. (Not much in the way of electronics, but lots of tools and home stuff.) Extra benefit if you’re Canadian; lots of Wirecutter stuff isn’t available in Canada, and Lee Valley is Canadian. The Lee Valley curation is incredible, probably the best of any store I’m aware of.

Re: Cheap junk flooding Amazon has brand names like MOFFBUZW

#357

Post by notsapiensatall » Sat, Jul 23, 2022, 5:12 AM UTC

jtolmar wrote: post #304

dreamcompiler wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You've answered a question I've been asking myself for the past couple of years: Why is Amazon trying to become AliExpress? AliExpress already does a good job of being AliExpress. The answer is that Amazon has quietly pivoted: Their new business model is 1. Buy stuff from AliExpress. 2. Mark it up 5x-10x. 3. Profit! Amazon probably hopes their customers don't notice they can get the same stuff from AliExpress much ch…

> 2. Mark it up 5x-10x. From the limited searching I did when I first noticed this, it seems to actually be a more or less flat $10 markup, regardless of whether that works out to 10x or 10%. Maybe some sort of fixed cost is involved?

It's basically the cost to list, store, sell, and ship a small item on Amazon, plus $1-2.

You pay the markup to get the item quickly, and for easy returns.

Re: Cheap junk flooding Amazon has brand names like MOFFBUZW

#358

Post by mkl » Sat, Jul 23, 2022, 5:47 AM UTC

breakingcups wrote: post #96

lph wrote: post #10

Pro tip: If you absolutely must buy the junk being sold by MOFFBUZW and other randomly generated drop-shipper brands, the exact same product is usually available on AliExpress for 10% the price.

I don't like having to give AliExpress my phone number.

Do you need to? I told AliExpress my phone number is the country code followed by 12345, and it's never been a problem.

Re: Cheap junk flooding Amazon has brand names like MOFFBUZW

#359

Post by Dylan16807 » Sat, Jul 23, 2022, 5:50 AM UTC

pishpash wrote: post #353

discardable_dan wrote: post #333

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've stopped buying huge swaths of things from Amazon for this reason. I'm basically down to buying four categories of things: 1. Items whose brand absolutely don't matter so long as they work as intended (e.g., books, home goods like hangers). 2. Home goods it wouldn't be worthwhile to knock off (e.g., KIND bars, toilet paper). 3. Smaller brands whose market share and item appeal are not worth cloning (e.g., a mecha…

For 4 it's always a better value proposition to get from eBay, when cost with shipping is all accounted. And you'd be surprised about 3, e.g. check out the standing desks. I posit that we're sliding back to the 1990's Amazon: only good for books. But it doesn't matter because they are interested in being a Google with customer service and making a profit that way.

You also have to make sure the books aren't a print-on-demand counterfeit.

Re: Cheap junk flooding Amazon has brand names like MOFFBUZW

#360

Post by 99_00 » Sat, Jul 23, 2022, 6:16 AM UTC

trasz wrote: post #256

99_00 wrote: post #117

Decoupling from China can't happen fast enough.

As an European I'd prefer decoupling from US: https://unsafeproducts.com/childrens-products/toy-elmo-recal...

Next time you can just link to this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Chinese_export_recalls

It has all the info on the incident.