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Cheap junk flooding Amazon has brand names like MOFFBUZW

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Re: Cheap junk flooding Amazon has brand names like MOFFBUZW

#361

Post by MandieD »

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…

> 3. Smaller brands whose market share and item appeal are not worth cloning (e.g., a mechanical keyboard breadboard kit).

Even things you might think are niche enough not to attract copycats (ham radio DIY kits requiring soldering and multimeter use) absolutely do, and a lot of it ends up on Amazon, though eBay is by far a worse offender.

Re: Cheap junk flooding Amazon has brand names like MOFFBUZW

#363

Post by klipt »

discardable_dan wrote: post #331
gerdesj wrote: post #292

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amazon isn't eBay. In theory, for us punters: we should be flogged goods by Amazon that conform to local standards. Beyond that all bets are off. eBay doesn't even bother with ... anything - it's all caveat emptor. So even in the wild west of Amazon at least there are a few standards. Sorry if you feel aggrieved but I'd rather buy stuff that had to follow a few standards that I nominally trust. By registering a trade…

I doubt many Amazon goods from those sellers legitimately adhere to local standards. For example, I outright refuse to purchase silicone for food use from Amazon.

Probably best not to buy anything food related from Amazon 3rd party sellers.

I assume their Whole Foods division is at least FDA regulated.

Re: Cheap junk flooding Amazon has brand names like MOFFBUZW

#364

Post by avereveard »

discardable_dan wrote: post #331
gerdesj wrote: post #292

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amazon isn't eBay. In theory, for us punters: we should be flogged goods by Amazon that conform to local standards. Beyond that all bets are off. eBay doesn't even bother with ... anything - it's all caveat emptor. So even in the wild west of Amazon at least there are a few standards. Sorry if you feel aggrieved but I'd rather buy stuff that had to follow a few standards that I nominally trust. By registering a trade…

I doubt many Amazon goods from those sellers legitimately adhere to local standards. For example, I outright refuse to purchase silicone for food use from Amazon.

Same, I also avoid stuff with embedded batteries.

Re: Cheap junk flooding Amazon has brand names like MOFFBUZW

#365

Post by NonNefarious »

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…

I went out of my way to buy direct from a small vendor, Sewell Direct, instead of buying their product through Amazon.

When it turned out that I couldn't use the product in my application, I canceled my order before it was shipped. They ignored that and shipped it anyway. Then I had to pay return shipping. If I had bought through Amazon, I could have returned it free.

Moral: When customers seek you out to help you out, don't be assholes.

Re: Cheap junk flooding Amazon has brand names like MOFFBUZW

#366

Post by numpad0 »

derefr wrote: post #278
jonas21 wrote: post #243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah, but if you both learned to write from the same person, then you would expect the handwriting to look similar (even if you didn't let them see your notes). And I think that might be going on here. Take a look at a Chinese-language web site, like http://news.baidu.com You'll see that it has the "niche" punctuation you mentioned, lots of point form descriptions with emoji bullets, and nearly all the latin script on…

That's certainly an alternative possibility; more likely, IMHO, than sellers copying one-another perfectly. However... > You'll see that it has the "niche" punctuation you mentioned It does, but there are only two examples of it on the page right now. (It is a thing common to Chinese text generally, but it's not the first thing you'd reach for.)【】gets used on this page as a sort of "tag" or "section" for a story. In…

Can't believe "【Title tags】body text" notation is washing up here. This has to be, to describe in a William-Gibsonian description, an old Japanese practice in email titles heavily used in 2ch/5ch later became popular in Rakuten listings mimicked by Chinese listings on Amazon JP that ultimately leaked into Amazon US via machine translations.

I have never seen it done in anything other than in Japanese text, and translations of. Not sure about double bullet points, but this usage of 【】 is distinctly Japanese.

1: https://imgur.com/uKb9XI5

2: https://imgur.com/1zsxDAF

Re: Cheap junk flooding Amazon has brand names like MOFFBUZW

#367

Post by undersuit »

Dylan16807 wrote: post #359
pishpash wrote: post #353

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I was looking for a copy of "Just So Stories" by Rudyard Kipling. Knew I wasn't going to get anything like the original publication of a 115 year old book, but the counterfeiter exceeded my expectations and sent me a badly photocopied, horribly cropped, freshly printed, piece of crap.

Re: Cheap junk flooding Amazon has brand names like MOFFBUZW

#368

Post by dimator »

NonNefarious wrote: post #365
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…

I went out of my way to buy direct from a small vendor, Sewell Direct, instead of buying their product through Amazon. When it turned out that I couldn't use the product in my application, I canceled my order before it was shipped. They ignored that and shipped it anyway. Then I had to pay return shipping. If I had bought through Amazon, I could have returned it free. Moral: When customers seek you out to help you ou…

Amazon's one click, customer service, shipping infrastructure, and return policy simply embarrass all their competition. Decades of investing in these things is paying off. No wonder it's physically painful to visit a new site: forms, typing, janky shipping, janky returns...

These things seem so easy once you see them all working, but companies don't have the resources or the interest in catching up.

Re: Cheap junk flooding Amazon has brand names like MOFFBUZW

#369

Post by mkhpalm »

gerdesj wrote: post #292
alangibson wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've listed a few things on Amazon. This is very much true. If you don't have a registered trademark youre a second class citizen. You can't upload a video, for example.

Amazon isn't eBay. In theory, for us punters: we should be flogged goods by Amazon that conform to local standards. Beyond that all bets are off. eBay doesn't even bother with ... anything - it's all caveat emptor. So even in the wild west of Amazon at least there are a few standards. Sorry if you feel aggrieved but I'd rather buy stuff that had to follow a few standards that I nominally trust. By registering a trade…

It depends, for parts the only place to reliably find name brand is on eBay. Parts on amazon is mainly just a domestic arm of of Aliexpress and Alibaba.

Re: Cheap junk flooding Amazon has brand names like MOFFBUZW

#370

Post by makeitdouble »

Marsymars wrote: post #351
spfzero wrote: post #289

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I wonder if it wouldn’t put them in a problematic position as a marketplace operator, especially as they’re already abusing their position with their “Amazon basics” lineup.

“We listened to customer demand” wouldn’t as a defense for filtering for goods that go through their warehouse (which also doesn’t guarantee you get what you expected)

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