I rarely, like once every 6 months, look for some obscure thing on Amazon. First thing I do after finding products, I research which one of the listing has any chance of not being a fake/dud/scam.
I can't imagine buying anything of value on Amazon.
Well, I'd probably shop at Amazon before Temu, but yeah, Amazon is the option of last resort. I do wonder how common that sentiment is, probably not very, even if it seems like at least the people around me never really use Amazon anymore.
It varieres from region to region obviously, but here there's no point in ordering from Amazon. Everyone else is cheaper, have faster shipping and don't have a ridicules number of scamming sellers with fake, defective and dangerous products. It seems like Amazon should be failing, but I don't think they are.
The Amazon store really have become an absolute shitshow.
I don’t buy anything over $50, on Amazon. Been burned by fakes and gray-market stuff (sold as legit brand).
Amazon definitely explicitly supports this.
What I do, is go directly to the product Web site (not the Amazon page for the manufacturer), and order from there. Sometimes, the fulfillment is via Amazon, but I know I’m getting the real thing. The difference in price is often smaller than you might think. Amazon prices aren’t that good, anymore.
I would think that it would only take one or two incidents, to destroy that whole business model.
Vendors can be flexible, if the malfeasance is under the Amazon imprimatur, but it's a completely different story, if they act as fulfillment for a separate company, and substitute fake stuff.
If the fulfillment is by Amazon, how do you know what you are getting? I thought Amazon commingled all their stock in one bin no matter where it came from.
Vendors using FBA have some control over whether commingling happens but I don't know if consumers have any way to know the current status of whether its commingled or not.
Honestly, I'm surprised authorities haven't come down hard on these 'marketplaces' for neglience given how often they seem to completely ignore both safety and IP laws.
I guarantee a smaller company would probably be sued into oblivion if they were as relaxed about what they stocked as Amazon is. Same with an app store that was as willing to stock knockoffs and fakes as the iOS App Store and Google Play.
The fact these companies seem to be able to just stock anything and everything without any sort of oversight or quality control, and can just basically say "buyer beware" boggles the mind, especially compared to traditional retail and offline equivalents.
Yes I hated parallel imports so much. Some sellers are open about it but many would include fake receipts along fake products to show they were purchased in USA or whatnot. What’s shocking is in Japan this is pretty new / rare (not Amazon fucking up supply chain /comingling) but generally ordering A and getting a fake itself.
There is a lot of ecomm change happening now in Japan with the rise of Mercari, junk items selling more than new / real (makes no sense) etc.
Pre pandemic, it was a dream to order online in Japan. No fakes, low prices, great quality.
Looks like it's damages and not a fine. Also, I don't know the Japanese system but lots of jurisdictions don't have a US-style concept of punitive damages. So the sum is probably what it is because it's intended to compensate those particular plaintiffs for demonstrable damages rather than to deter Amazon.
The companies suing Amazon Japan requested damages of approximately 280M JPY, or approximately 2M USD. Of course, this is not a lot of money given Amazon's scale, but the companies tried to recuperate lost profits.
With that said, the discussion on Yahoo News is mostly in agreement with the opinions shared in this thread: given Amazon's scale, a fine of 35M yen is equivalent to no penalty.
> Excel Plan reported the situation and requested Amazon take appropriate action, but the page listing the genuine oximeter was deleted and the company was unable to sell it, according to the suit.
I stopped using Amazon around 2015. I don't want to buy goods from AliExpress with extra steps so I just directly buy from there. And if I need something urgently I go to a local store.
I dropped prime this year. Free shipping is over 2 weeks. Aliexpress ships to my door in 10 days. I think US tariffs freed up logistics for shipping RoW. Even less of no brainer.
I wish this was more common.
I rarely, like once every 6 months, look for some obscure thing on Amazon. First thing I do after finding products, I research which one of the listing has any chance of not being a fake/dud/scam.
I can't imagine buying anything of value on Amazon.
Yeah Amazon is my last stop these days.
Well, I'd probably shop at Amazon before Temu, but yeah, Amazon is the option of last resort. I do wonder how common that sentiment is, probably not very, even if it seems like at least the people around me never really use Amazon anymore.
It varieres from region to region obviously, but here there's no point in ordering from Amazon. Everyone else is cheaper, have faster shipping and don't have a ridicules number of scamming sellers with fake, defective and dangerous products. It seems like Amazon should be failing, but I don't think they are.
The Amazon store really have become an absolute shitshow.
I don’t buy anything over $50, on Amazon. Been burned by fakes and gray-market stuff (sold as legit brand).
Amazon definitely explicitly supports this.
What I do, is go directly to the product Web site (not the Amazon page for the manufacturer), and order from there. Sometimes, the fulfillment is via Amazon, but I know I’m getting the real thing. The difference in price is often smaller than you might think. Amazon prices aren’t that good, anymore.
If the fulfilment is by Amazon, how do you know you aren't getting a fake? Is there a way to see if a seller is using commingled inventory or not?
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20499808
I would think that it would only take one or two incidents, to destroy that whole business model.
Vendors can be flexible, if the malfeasance is under the Amazon imprimatur, but it's a completely different story, if they act as fulfillment for a separate company, and substitute fake stuff.
If the fulfillment is by Amazon, how do you know what you are getting? I thought Amazon commingled all their stock in one bin no matter where it came from.
Vendors using FBA have some control over whether commingling happens but I don't know if consumers have any way to know the current status of whether its commingled or not.
At least with Temu I know I’m getting cheap Chinese crap, and they sometimes slip me $130 in my PayPal account after ordering $200.
You wish paltry fines of the equivalent of $250k USD were more common for infractions like this?
Not GP, but yeah, more frequent fines, e.g $250k USD per fake listing would likely motivate Amazon to do something about it.
Exactly. I wish fines for selling fakes were more common.
Honestly, I'm surprised authorities haven't come down hard on these 'marketplaces' for neglience given how often they seem to completely ignore both safety and IP laws.
I guarantee a smaller company would probably be sued into oblivion if they were as relaxed about what they stocked as Amazon is. Same with an app store that was as willing to stock knockoffs and fakes as the iOS App Store and Google Play.
The fact these companies seem to be able to just stock anything and everything without any sort of oversight or quality control, and can just basically say "buyer beware" boggles the mind, especially compared to traditional retail and offline equivalents.
I have one use only from amazon. Since basically all books in print are listed there, I use the shopping cart as as a wish list.
Yes I hated parallel imports so much. Some sellers are open about it but many would include fake receipts along fake products to show they were purchased in USA or whatnot. What’s shocking is in Japan this is pretty new / rare (not Amazon fucking up supply chain /comingling) but generally ordering A and getting a fake itself.
There is a lot of ecomm change happening now in Japan with the rise of Mercari, junk items selling more than new / real (makes no sense) etc.
Pre pandemic, it was a dream to order online in Japan. No fakes, low prices, great quality.
Less than a quarter million dollars. That might be enough to motivate your local car wash, but Amazon Japan?
Looks like it's damages and not a fine. Also, I don't know the Japanese system but lots of jurisdictions don't have a US-style concept of punitive damages. So the sum is probably what it is because it's intended to compensate those particular plaintiffs for demonstrable damages rather than to deter Amazon.
The companies suing Amazon Japan requested damages of approximately 280M JPY, or approximately 2M USD. Of course, this is not a lot of money given Amazon's scale, but the companies tried to recuperate lost profits.
With that said, the discussion on Yahoo News is mostly in agreement with the opinions shared in this thread: given Amazon's scale, a fine of 35M yen is equivalent to no penalty.
Hey, it’s a start. Maybe other suchs fines crop up allover.
If it continues to happen the Japanese government can force them to cease business for a set number of days.
> Excel Plan reported the situation and requested Amazon take appropriate action, but the page listing the genuine oximeter was deleted and the company was unable to sell it, according to the suit.
How very nice and kind of Amazon.
It's not uncommon to see pirated, uncensored anime character dakimakura covers and books being sold on Amazon Japan.
That’s not very much money. It probably cost Amazon more to cut the check.
They're out a measly $250K but some expensive, shitty PR.
I stopped using Amazon around 2015. I don't want to buy goods from AliExpress with extra steps so I just directly buy from there. And if I need something urgently I go to a local store.
I dropped prime this year. Free shipping is over 2 weeks. Aliexpress ships to my door in 10 days. I think US tariffs freed up logistics for shipping RoW. Even less of no brainer.
Amazon is often the most reliable shipping for me though. I just generally never get anything of real value from Amazon.
Where do you buy instead?
244 thousand dollars is really nothing though for Amazon JP