Amazon selling fake cycling gear

#1

Post by labaraka » Sun, Oct 20, 2013, 4:21 PM UTC

Amazon selling fake cycling gear
cyclingsailor.tumblr.com

Re: Amazon selling fake cycling gear

#2

Post by uslic001 » Sun, Oct 20, 2013, 5:34 PM UTC

This is my biggest gripe with Amazon. You never know if you are going to get a cheap Chinese knockoff or the real thing from the 3rd party sellers on the site. At least one third of my purchases from the site from 3rd party sellers now end up being fakes. Sometimes you know it is going to be a fake just by the low price and just live with it if it is not a critical item. All the other times I have to send it back. Amazon does nothing to the third party sellers that are selling fakes. They let them keep selling on the site.

Re: Amazon selling fake cycling gear

#3

Post by labaraka » Sun, Oct 20, 2013, 5:40 PM UTC

uslic001 wrote: post #2

This is my biggest gripe with Amazon. You never know if you are going to get a cheap Chinese knockoff or the real thing from the 3rd party sellers on the site. At least one third of my purchases from the site from 3rd party sellers now end up being fakes. Sometimes you know it is going to be a fake just by the low price and just live with it if it is not a critical item. All the other times I have to send it back. Am…

1/3 fake? That is shocking. Didn't know this was an issue until a couple of weeks ago.

Re: Amazon selling fake cycling gear

#4

Post by ciclista » Sun, Oct 20, 2013, 5:40 PM UTC

Some more details would be nice. Assos is one of the most expensive cycling brands out there, so it could very easily be a case of "obviously too good to be true".

I for one tend to buy Prime items only. No hassle and fast delivery.

Re: Amazon selling fake cycling gear

#5

Post by potatolicious » Sun, Oct 20, 2013, 5:46 PM UTC

ciclista wrote: post #4

Some more details would be nice. Assos is one of the most expensive cycling brands out there, so it could very easily be a case of "obviously too good to be true". I for one tend to buy Prime items only. No hassle and fast delivery.

Prime items aren't immune from inventory contamination. Via Fulfillment by Amazon third party sellers can qualify for Prime also, and there's no guarantee that that inventory is any good.

Worse yet, when I worked at Amazon a fair whiles back FBA 3rd party merchants had their inventory mixed into the general Amazon pool, creating a hell of a inventory contamination problem. This was particularly egregious in products where just about everything sold by a third party was a knockoff (see: memory cards). You could buy directly from Amazon and receive knockoff goods by virtue of a third party contaminating the supply by storing their inventory at Amazon's warehouses.

I'm not sure if this has been fixed. I sure as hell hope so.

Re: Amazon selling fake cycling gear

#6

Post by Raphmedia » Sun, Oct 20, 2013, 5:46 PM UTC

At least, in my experience at least, Amazon is always there to help out in the end. This is good enough in my book. They can't possibly keep track of all the bad apples, but at least they can make sure you get the right product (or money back) in the end.

Re: Amazon selling fake cycling gear

#7

Post by bcl » Sun, Oct 20, 2013, 5:55 PM UTC

Raphmedia wrote: post #6

At least, in my experience at least, Amazon is always there to help out in the end. This is good enough in my book. They can't possibly keep track of all the bad apples, but at least they can make sure you get the right product (or money back) in the end.

Same experience here. In one case where there were missing components from a 3rd party order the Amazon rep. sat on the phone with me as I picked out individual replacements which they shipped to me at no extra cost.

Re: Amazon selling fake cycling gear

#8

Post by ciclista » Sun, Oct 20, 2013, 5:55 PM UTC

potatolicious wrote: post #5

ciclista wrote: post #4

Some more details would be nice. Assos is one of the most expensive cycling brands out there, so it could very easily be a case of "obviously too good to be true". I for one tend to buy Prime items only. No hassle and fast delivery.

Prime items aren't immune from inventory contamination. Via Fulfillment by Amazon third party sellers can qualify for Prime also, and there's no guarantee that that inventory is any good. Worse yet, when I worked at Amazon a fair whiles back FBA 3rd party merchants had their inventory mixed into the general Amazon pool, creating a hell of a inventory contamination problem. This was particularly egregious in products…

Good to know. I actually ran into that with a flashlight the other day. Prime product, but a lot of the recent reviews complaining it was a chinese knockoff. Caveat emptor.

Re: Amazon selling fake cycling gear

#9

Post by mturmon » Sun, Oct 20, 2013, 5:59 PM UTC

ciclista wrote: post #4

Some more details would be nice. Assos is one of the most expensive cycling brands out there, so it could very easily be a case of "obviously too good to be true". I for one tend to buy Prime items only. No hassle and fast delivery.

Some Assos clothing prices at Amazon include $32 for a long jersey, and $62 for a long jersey/long tights pair.

How cheap is that? I'm not even seeing Nashbar jerseys for those prices...so yeah, that's fishy.

Re: Amazon selling fake cycling gear

#10

Post by antr » Sun, Oct 20, 2013, 6:08 PM UTC

I am sure Amazon is going to find a solution to this customer's problem. I don't think they'll find a solution to fake brands sold by third party vendors problem though. I've had other issues with Amazon purchases in the past (not fake goods per se) and they did send new products at no additional cost.