Fake Goods Sold by AliExpress, Amazon, eBay, Walmart and Wish • Hacker News Board

Re: Fake Goods Sold by AliExpress, Amazon, eBay, Walmart and Wish

#41

Post by matthewowen » Fri, Feb 21, 2020, 2:44 PM UTC

jsjddbbwj wrote: post #17

MichaelApproved wrote: post #6

> What's more, the product was found to contain 751 times the amount of lead Health Canada considers acceptable in cosmetics. How long are we going to let companies hide behind their "platform" bullshit? They know this happens but, because they're not the actual seller, they get to offload the liabilities to some fly-by-night company that'll close down and reopen under a different name. Lead in products is dangerous…

If you buy any health product, makeup, etc from AliExpress we should call this natural selection. Only half joking. I don't want to see AliExpress closed down just because some girl decided it was a good idea to buy lipstick there at an unbelievably low price.

i don't understand how you can hold these two beliefs at once.

if you believe that it is fundamentally unsafe to buy health products and makeup from aliexpress, then isn't it also reasonable to believe that aliexpress shouldn't sell it? there's a "people should be free to make bad decisions" counterargument, but as a society we've decided against that: it's the reason we have consumer protection laws.

put another way: if you made marketplaces accountable for selling dangerous items like this, you would push them out of the segments that are most dangerous.

Re: Fake Goods Sold by AliExpress, Amazon, eBay, Walmart and Wish

#42

Post by MichaelApproved » Fri, Feb 21, 2020, 2:45 PM UTC

jsjddbbwj wrote: post #17

MichaelApproved wrote: post #6

> What's more, the product was found to contain 751 times the amount of lead Health Canada considers acceptable in cosmetics. How long are we going to let companies hide behind their "platform" bullshit? They know this happens but, because they're not the actual seller, they get to offload the liabilities to some fly-by-night company that'll close down and reopen under a different name. Lead in products is dangerous…

If you buy any health product, makeup, etc from AliExpress we should call this natural selection. Only half joking. I don't want to see AliExpress closed down just because some girl decided it was a good idea to buy lipstick there at an unbelievably low price.

Who is asking for AliExpress to close down?

You think they have to sell products containing 700+ times the safe lead level to stay open?

Im fine with platforms but there have to be criminal penalties for selling harmful products. Start throwing people in jail.

Re: Fake Goods Sold by AliExpress, Amazon, eBay, Walmart and Wish

#43

Post by dd36 » Fri, Feb 21, 2020, 2:46 PM UTC

Spivak wrote: post #28

dd36 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They should have to buy liability insurance and if the insurer won’t insure them, they can’t list.

Offloading the work of law to insurance companies rather than retailers doesn't really sound like we're making any progress. Sidebar: this is super common btw, had more than one law professor go on a rant about how all the CS people in their courses just want to push everything to the actuaries and create a de-facto court system within insurance.

Insurers already do this... They don’t insure risky companies or they have to charge such a high premium that constantly failing and restarting is not cost effective. I think most complaints here are from people trying to buy legitimate products.

Re: Fake Goods Sold by AliExpress, Amazon, eBay, Walmart and Wish

#44

Post by MichaelApproved » Fri, Feb 21, 2020, 2:47 PM UTC

dd36 wrote: post #18

Spivak wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This frustration seems like it's just being directed at the closest entity you can shake your fist at rather than the actual cause. Suppose all those fly-by-night companies set up merchant accounts on Shopify or just bought cheap Wordpress template and hosted it themselves and did the exact same thing. The world of boutique men's watches is absolutely rampant with this. Would you be demanding that Shopify or Tim Bern…

They should have to buy liability insurance and if the insurer won’t insure them, they can’t list.

Nah, fines are just a cost of doing business.

Anyone selling harmful products, like lead lipstick, should be thrown in jail.

Re: Fake Goods Sold by AliExpress, Amazon, eBay, Walmart and Wish

#45

Post by dsfyu404ed » Fri, Feb 21, 2020, 2:47 PM UTC

MichaelApproved wrote: post #11

mdszy wrote: post #2

If you're buying from AliExpress/Wish (aka: direct from china) I don't think there's much room for being surprised when you get fakes. eBay in many cases too. Amazon especially needs to get its shit together, though. I unsubscribed from Prime and have all but stopped using Amazon because of how it's turned into basically "eBay with marginally faster shipping" at this point given all the absolute offbrand crap that's…

AliExpress=eBay=Amazon. They all sell the same stuff, it's only the shipping speed that's different. They all hide behind the "Platform" laws and get to offload liability to some no-name fly by night company.

>AliExpress=eBay=Amazon. They all sell the same stuff, it's only the shipping speed that's different.

One of these companies does the warehousing, shipping and delivery as well as does a significant amount of promoting certain products, selling products itself and even has a house brand. The other two do not.

Re: Fake Goods Sold by AliExpress, Amazon, eBay, Walmart and Wish

#46

Post by nimajneb » Fri, Feb 21, 2020, 2:50 PM UTC

2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote: post #26

mdszy wrote: post #2

If you're buying from AliExpress/Wish (aka: direct from china) I don't think there's much room for being surprised when you get fakes. eBay in many cases too. Amazon especially needs to get its shit together, though. I unsubscribed from Prime and have all but stopped using Amazon because of how it's turned into basically "eBay with marginally faster shipping" at this point given all the absolute offbrand crap that's…

Same. My partner and I have both let our Prime subscriptions lapse because of this shit. We no longer buy from Amazon.

I let mine lapse a couple years ago because I realized I don't actually care that much if a package comes in 2 days or 3-5. I then noticed a lot of my Amazon shipments were coming in 3 days anyways.

Re: Fake Goods Sold by AliExpress, Amazon, eBay, Walmart and Wish

#47

Post by friendly_fren » Fri, Feb 21, 2020, 2:50 PM UTC

MichaelApproved wrote: post #35

shadowgovt wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We shouldn't have to be investigative reporters in order to buy products that won't harm us. There are other marketplaces that offer a much higher quality guarantee than Amazon. Shop there instead.

Why do you accept that it’s ok to sell harmful products? Amazon is a $1 trillion dollar company. It’s not some guy selling things out of the trunk of his car. It should be reasonable for me to assume buying something there is safe.

individual freedom. I hate nanny government regulation. The government's role isn't to protect people from making bad decisions.

Harmful is subjective. Don't ban my plastic bags or straws.

Re: Fake Goods Sold by AliExpress, Amazon, eBay, Walmart and Wish

#48

Post by julianlam » Fri, Feb 21, 2020, 2:51 PM UTC

My wife and I purchase a lot of things from Amazon. We're taking a more critical look at what we buy ever since we had a baby.

We bought our car seat and stroller from Amazon, and we were honestly not sure whether it was certified for use in Canada. I shouldn't have to doubt any purchase I make online from a reputable retailer, but it seems Amazon no longer makes the cut for me.

For what it's worth, the car seat _did_ have the right stickers, but stickers can be faked too...

Re: Fake Goods Sold by AliExpress, Amazon, eBay, Walmart and Wish

#49

Post by dd36 » Fri, Feb 21, 2020, 2:54 PM UTC

MichaelApproved wrote: post #44

dd36 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They should have to buy liability insurance and if the insurer won’t insure them, they can’t list.

Nah, fines are just a cost of doing business. Anyone selling harmful products, like lead lipstick, should be thrown in jail.

I agree. How do you jail a foreigner? You can’t even class action against sellers nowadays to protect the other buyers because of forced arbitration agreements. But if they had to be insured, the insurance available would be non-existent.

Re: Fake Goods Sold by AliExpress, Amazon, eBay, Walmart and Wish

#50

Post by julianlam » Fri, Feb 21, 2020, 2:57 PM UTC

karl11 wrote: post #5

I have basically stopped buying anything from Amazon that I can just buy direct from the manufacturer. Especially clothes, kids toys, etc. Most online stores now have shipping that is almost as fast, and 9 times out of 10 an extra couple of days shipping is not a big deal.

That 1 time in 10 is still a factor, though...

Many retailers still operate on the old expectation that when you order something, you'll get it in "6-8 weeks", which nowadays, is frankly ridiculous!

I ordered a crib from a local Canadian retailer, and the thing arrived after THREE MONTHS, and I had to pick up the box from the warehouse myself!

You have to give Amazon props for their logistics systems, they've gotten it down to an art. If I were to order the same crib from Amazon, it would've been at my door in 2 days' time.

Might've been a fake crib, though heh.