7 ms·

Amazon is rapidly turning into eBay at its worst. It's very hard to buy things there. I used to send my 85 year old mom to Amazon to buy things, but she has tro

Amazon is rapidly turning into eBay at its worst. It's very hard to buy things there. I used to send my 85 year old mom to Amazon to buy things, but she has trouble distinguishing name-brand items sold and fulfilled by Amazon from scammy clones. (And those pop-ups for extended warranties aren't good either.) The fact that they let fake customer support numbers appear in Amazon hosted forums is reprehensible. And facilitating identity theft and money laundering seems downright criminal. I hope this victim can get the attention of a prosecutor.

wlesieutre 9y ago
It's worse than that, the authentic name-brand listing can still ship scammy clones instead because Amazon aggregates the listing from multiple sellers and pretends they're all the same thing Previous discussion including some firsthand experience from sellers: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13926015 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13926015
- camus2 9y ago
  > It's worse than that, the authentic name-brand listing can still ship scammy clones instead because Amazon aggregates the listing from multiple sellers and pretends they're all the same thing It's called fraud. Some people here call it "scaling" but it's just good old fraud at scale.
- dabernathy89 9y ago
  Yep. Just a couple weeks ago we bought Chemex coffee filters - the "Amazon's Choice" ones! We got a counterfeit that didn't even try to replicate the actual product (it was just sheets of tissue paper in the completely wrong shape). Looking at the reviews, we weren't the only ones who got these either. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B017OFOP68/ref=cm_sw_r_em_api_c_YofHAb9294KX5 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B017OFOP68/ref=cm_sw_r_em_api_c_Yo... They've apparently since taken off the "Amazon's Choice" label here.
KarenSatantsby 9y ago
I know i dont trust Amazon. I go to the product website if I can then Newegg then Walmart.com - Amazon is last. Newegg is actually a great place for lots of different stuff. Amazon is ikky Because of what you say its not worth it. - But my dad loves it because he lives in a rural area and has free shipping and reads his kindle and has lots and lots of money - not me I need to look after my resources and I have not had a wonderful experience with Amazon - I mean why get a board game from Amazon if you can get it from the publisher or another site that is not as creepy. There are amazing German web sites. it really is a crappy USA company.. There are less crappy companies
wil421 9y ago
It’s really terrible lately. When Wal-Mart has better quality products you know something’s up. I’ve been using Fake Spot to get any non name brand item[1]. The only issue is now there are straight counterfeits instead of reply cheap knock offs. I recently learned of the all the counterfeit SD cards when I bought some for my Pis. A google search brings up examples on many forums and blogs. [1]https://www.fakespot.com https://www.fakespot.com
nkrisc 9y ago
I've stopped purchasing from Amazon nearly entirely now directly because of the decline in quality of their products and issues with counterfeits. When there's something I want, I might research it on Amazon, then I go to the manufacturer's site and find an authorized reseller to buy it from.
jxramos 9y ago
Me and the wife had this conversation last night about whether or not buying things online is really saving time since the means of evaluation is all mental/reading. Confronted with a product in the physical world one can mobilize all sorts of senses at once to evaluate quality simultaneously. Online we're stuck reading reviews and gauging authenticity/quality. The sad part that's become the reality too is that once the thing arrives we're spending extra time scrutinizing the product for signs of being a counterfeit, even when sold directly from Amazon.
- rootsudo 9y ago
  It depends, amazon quality is still good when compared to third world. I travel frequntly to China/Philippines/SG and you need to go in person to buy random crap. I hate it. Lazada is the Asian Amazon and it is a total crapshoot. I never complained about Amazon, whenever I have a issue it's always remedied correctly, returns are absolute and money is refunded. Lazada tries to play games, tries to say "change of mind is not a valid reason of excuse" or worse it's bait and switch. A picture of a bookshelf with pictures by a palm tree, what's delivered is a doll house toy. I hate online shopping in Asia. Japan is the only exception because of Amazon and Japan commitment to customer service.
- Slansitartop 9y ago
  Yeah, I've drastically scaled back my Amazon shopping and scaled up my shopping at physical retailers like Best Buy and Barnes and Noble or specialized competitors like Newegg. My reasoning is: 1. Amazon Logistics delivery sucks and I hate them so much. 2. When you actually look, Amazon is no longer price competitive with big box retailers on a lot of products in a lot of areas. 3. I can get my stuff today rather than in ??? + 2 days. 4. I can actually see the stuff in person, and assess quality and size. 5. Much smaller counterfeit problem. 6. I'm afraid of Amazon getting too dominant in the retail space, so I feel good about sending business to its competitors. I try to only go to Amazon when I'm buying something weird that I don't know how to buy elsewhere.
  - sincerely 9y ago
    Interestingly enough, I find Amazon often has worse prices for the relatively-niche books I used to swear by Amazon for - art and critical theory, mainly. They used to have the convenience aspect as well, but now I generally feel like I can get better service by buying from the publisher and I feel better about it for the anti-monopoly reason you touched on

wlesieutre 9y ago

It's worse than that, the authentic name-brand listing can still ship scammy clones instead because Amazon aggregates the listing from multiple sellers and pretends they're all the same thing Previous discussion including some firsthand experience from sellers: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13926015 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13926015

camus2 9y ago
> It's worse than that, the authentic name-brand listing can still ship scammy clones instead because Amazon aggregates the listing from multiple sellers and pretends they're all the same thing It's called fraud. Some people here call it "scaling" but it's just good old fraud at scale.
dabernathy89 9y ago
Yep. Just a couple weeks ago we bought Chemex coffee filters - the "Amazon's Choice" ones! We got a counterfeit that didn't even try to replicate the actual product (it was just sheets of tissue paper in the completely wrong shape). Looking at the reviews, we weren't the only ones who got these either. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B017OFOP68/ref=cm_sw_r_em_api_c_YofHAb9294KX5 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B017OFOP68/ref=cm_sw_r_em_api_c_Yo... They've apparently since taken off the "Amazon's Choice" label here.

KarenSatantsby 9y ago

I know i dont trust Amazon. I go to the product website if I can then Newegg then Walmart.com - Amazon is last. Newegg is actually a great place for lots of different stuff. Amazon is ikky Because of what you say its not worth it. - But my dad loves it because he lives in a rural area and has free shipping and reads his kindle and has lots and lots of money - not me I need to look after my resources and I have not had a wonderful experience with Amazon - I mean why get a board game from Amazon if you can get it from the publisher or another site that is not as creepy. There are amazing German web sites. it really is a crappy USA company.. There are less crappy companies

wil421 9y ago

It’s really terrible lately. When Wal-Mart has better quality products you know something’s up. I’ve been using Fake Spot to get any non name brand item[1]. The only issue is now there are straight counterfeits instead of reply cheap knock offs. I recently learned of the all the counterfeit SD cards when I bought some for my Pis. A google search brings up examples on many forums and blogs. [1]https://www.fakespot.com https://www.fakespot.com

nkrisc 9y ago

I've stopped purchasing from Amazon nearly entirely now directly because of the decline in quality of their products and issues with counterfeits. When there's something I want, I might research it on Amazon, then I go to the manufacturer's site and find an authorized reseller to buy it from.

jxramos 9y ago

Me and the wife had this conversation last night about whether or not buying things online is really saving time since the means of evaluation is all mental/reading. Confronted with a product in the physical world one can mobilize all sorts of senses at once to evaluate quality simultaneously. Online we're stuck reading reviews and gauging authenticity/quality. The sad part that's become the reality too is that once the thing arrives we're spending extra time scrutinizing the product for signs of being a counterfeit, even when sold directly from Amazon.

rootsudo 9y ago
It depends, amazon quality is still good when compared to third world. I travel frequntly to China/Philippines/SG and you need to go in person to buy random crap. I hate it. Lazada is the Asian Amazon and it is a total crapshoot. I never complained about Amazon, whenever I have a issue it's always remedied correctly, returns are absolute and money is refunded. Lazada tries to play games, tries to say "change of mind is not a valid reason of excuse" or worse it's bait and switch. A picture of a bookshelf with pictures by a palm tree, what's delivered is a doll house toy. I hate online shopping in Asia. Japan is the only exception because of Amazon and Japan commitment to customer service.
Slansitartop 9y ago
Yeah, I've drastically scaled back my Amazon shopping and scaled up my shopping at physical retailers like Best Buy and Barnes and Noble or specialized competitors like Newegg. My reasoning is: 1. Amazon Logistics delivery sucks and I hate them so much. 2. When you actually look, Amazon is no longer price competitive with big box retailers on a lot of products in a lot of areas. 3. I can get my stuff today rather than in ??? + 2 days. 4. I can actually see the stuff in person, and assess quality and size. 5. Much smaller counterfeit problem. 6. I'm afraid of Amazon getting too dominant in the retail space, so I feel good about sending business to its competitors. I try to only go to Amazon when I'm buying something weird that I don't know how to buy elsewhere.
- sincerely 9y ago
  Interestingly enough, I find Amazon often has worse prices for the relatively-niche books I used to swear by Amazon for - art and critical theory, mainly. They used to have the convenience aspect as well, but now I generally feel like I can get better service by buying from the publisher and I feel better about it for the anti-monopoly reason you touched on