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Amazon Cuts Dozens of House Brands as It Battles Costs, Regulators

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Re: Amazon Cuts Dozens of House Brands as It Battles Costs, Regulators

#41

Post by jfim »

gamblor956 wrote: post #33
salad-tycoon wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve seen them air ship my cheap crap from China to USA for “free.” I thought I read it was a national subsidy/strategy but can’t find article now. Maybe economic warfare? Can’t see how flying my $10 order of giant plastic balls is economic. Not the one I was looking for but somewhat related: https://www.charlotteobserver.com/contributor-content/articl...

Note that the linked piece is just an opinion piece from a professional writer who doesn't actually know what he's talking about and appears to just be making things up. It may even be paid for by Temu. Chinese shipping is cheap because the Chinese government subsidies it for exported goods, and because due to a postal treaty the U.S. government was forced to honor those rates for goods shipped to U.S. addresses. Thi…

Temu is basically using the de minimis import rule to avoid import taxes. There's a longer report linked at the bottom of this page that goes into more detail: https://selectcommitteeontheccp.house.gov/media/press-releas...

Re: Amazon Cuts Dozens of House Brands as It Battles Costs, Regulators

#42

Post by jeron »

vasco wrote: post #15
glonq wrote: post #9

Once upon a time you could choose to buy good products from good brands on Amazon, or import cheap crap from China via Aliexpress or whatnot. But now that nearly every category on Amazon is dominated by cheap crap from dodgy brands in China, I'm feeling less reason to buy things from them (unless I need it tomorrow ). I suppose that's what's fuelling the popularity of new marketplaces like Temu?

To be honest Temu sounds like someone was watching the Wish.com saga and decided it was a great idea to burn a bunch of billions. It can grow a lot while it's new but I have my doubts about longevity of this type "we only sell crap" platforms.

there's an unsubstantiated rumor that Temu is a Chinese money laundering operation - burning a bunch of billions to legitimize a lot of other billions

Re: Amazon Cuts Dozens of House Brands as It Battles Costs, Regulators

#43

Post by AmVess »

glonq wrote: post #9

Once upon a time you could choose to buy good products from good brands on Amazon, or import cheap crap from China via Aliexpress or whatnot. But now that nearly every category on Amazon is dominated by cheap crap from dodgy brands in China, I'm feeling less reason to buy things from them (unless I need it tomorrow ). I suppose that's what's fuelling the popularity of new marketplaces like Temu?

My last two orders from Amazon were counterfeits. One was a pack of Sandisk thumbdrives that were very obviously fakes.

I determined that Amazon simply doesn't care anymore. The value proposition was completely lost because I had to drive into town to return them. Twice in a row.

Further, their prices have gotten horrible on a lot of things. I looked at some of their lawncare items, and most of them were 2-3x more than local prices.

Re: Amazon Cuts Dozens of House Brands as It Battles Costs, Regulators

#44

Post by jareklupinski »

sokoloff wrote: post #20
jareklupinski wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

my last hack before i completely jump platforms is to make sure that when im buying something, I click into the link right below the item name itself so i get to the brand's actual amazon page, then i click the item again 50% of the time it'll be cheaper and have a better prime ship date (and say Sold By BrandName or Amazon instead of a random seller name), and no counterfeits at all this way yet

Do you have an example originally searched for ASIN* and brand-linked ASIN that this works on? I've not seen this personally, and checking my last 10 ordered items (some 6-7 character made up brand imported items and some recognizable brand items), following this process landed me on the same ASIN/same PDP each time, but it's definitely intriguing enough for me to want to find out more. * The alphanumeric Amazon Stoc…

i'll take a look next time i go, but if it helps for now I've specifically done this two-step with success for Tide and Charmin goods

Re: Amazon Cuts Dozens of House Brands as It Battles Costs, Regulators

#45

Post by 1-more »

vasco wrote: post #15
glonq wrote: post #9

Once upon a time you could choose to buy good products from good brands on Amazon, or import cheap crap from China via Aliexpress or whatnot. But now that nearly every category on Amazon is dominated by cheap crap from dodgy brands in China, I'm feeling less reason to buy things from them (unless I need it tomorrow ). I suppose that's what's fuelling the popularity of new marketplaces like Temu?

To be honest Temu sounds like someone was watching the Wish.com saga and decided it was a great idea to burn a bunch of billions. It can grow a lot while it's new but I have my doubts about longevity of this type "we only sell crap" platforms.

I've been getting ads on social media to buy silencers on Temu. Ok not silencers, but adapters where one end has the female thread of a soda bottle on it, and the other has the female thread to match the external thread available on a Ruger 10/22. While silencers are federally legal in the U.S., they are illegal in many states and subject to a federal transfer tax. I could see this being a problem for Temu, and I could also see this never being any kind of problem for Temu.

There may be settled case law that says these aren't silencers legally, idk. The whole discipline is hilariously talmudic and full of the heap problem (is a billet of metal a gun? What about with one hole in it? Two holes and a chamfer here and a routed channel there? etc.)

Re: Amazon Cuts Dozens of House Brands as It Battles Costs, Regulators

#46

Post by cjbgkagh »

pessimizer wrote: post #19
Drblessing wrote: post #11

This is so sad. I live off of Amazon brands, because they're so cheap, convenient, and relatively good quality. I've NEVER had a quality issue from them. Call me a corporate stooge if you want, but their mattresses, clothing, drugs, etc. have been a lifesaver.

I bought their bluetooth speaker that turns itself off when you haven't sent music through it for five minutes, and that you have to get up to turn back on. edit: The physical quality seemed fine, but it's obvious that they never tested it or even thought about it much.

I think that may be due to European energy savings regulation.

Re: Amazon Cuts Dozens of House Brands as It Battles Costs, Regulators

#48

Post by [deleted] »

salad-tycoon wrote: post #31
sct202 wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Temu and Shein are at least improved versions of Wish. Idk how both companies did it but my last few orders have gotten to me in 8 days. Amazon for me is taking like 3-5 days without Prime, so the speed difference is not as big as it used to be when ordering from China would be a 1-2 month wait with everything showing up in a different package.

I’ve seen them air ship my cheap crap from China to USA for “free.” I thought I read it was a national subsidy/strategy but can’t find article now. Maybe economic warfare? Can’t see how flying my $10 order of giant plastic balls is economic. Not the one I was looking for but somewhat related: https://www.charlotteobserver.com/contributor-content/articl...

[deleted]

Re: Amazon Cuts Dozens of House Brands as It Battles Costs, Regulators

#49

Post by sudosysgen »

vasco wrote: post #15
glonq wrote: post #9

Once upon a time you could choose to buy good products from good brands on Amazon, or import cheap crap from China via Aliexpress or whatnot. But now that nearly every category on Amazon is dominated by cheap crap from dodgy brands in China, I'm feeling less reason to buy things from them (unless I need it tomorrow ). I suppose that's what's fuelling the popularity of new marketplaces like Temu?

To be honest Temu sounds like someone was watching the Wish.com saga and decided it was a great idea to burn a bunch of billions. It can grow a lot while it's new but I have my doubts about longevity of this type "we only sell crap" platforms.

Temu is fundamentally different than Wish - it has local warehouses and therefore much faster delivery. It's a competitor to Amazon, not Wish/AliExpress. It trades this off by having a much smaller selection of goods.

Re: Amazon Cuts Dozens of House Brands as It Battles Costs, Regulators

#50

Post by thelittleone »

AmVess wrote: post #43
glonq wrote: post #9

Once upon a time you could choose to buy good products from good brands on Amazon, or import cheap crap from China via Aliexpress or whatnot. But now that nearly every category on Amazon is dominated by cheap crap from dodgy brands in China, I'm feeling less reason to buy things from them (unless I need it tomorrow ). I suppose that's what's fuelling the popularity of new marketplaces like Temu?

My last two orders from Amazon were counterfeits. One was a pack of Sandisk thumbdrives that were very obviously fakes. I determined that Amazon simply doesn't care anymore. The value proposition was completely lost because I had to drive into town to return them. Twice in a row. Further, their prices have gotten horrible on a lot of things. I looked at some of their lawncare items, and most of them were 2-3x more th…

I'm just surprised that this hasn't become a big issue for Amazon. Is it that most people aren't aware? Isn't it a big enough story for some news outlet to investigate and report? If it became generally known that a large % of products on amazon are fakes, surely it would affect sales.
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