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Another one: inventory pooling. When a product is “fulfilled by Amazon,” it comes from warehouse stock. However this stock can be contributed to by all sorts of
by Qi_ 5y ago
Another one: inventory pooling. When a product is “fulfilled by Amazon,” it comes from warehouse stock. However this stock can be contributed to by all sorts of sellers, legit or counterfeit. So sometimes buyers will receive a knockoff when they purchased a legitimate product. I have a relative who designs and sells electronics accessories, and he said this is a serious problem he runs into when selling on Amazon.
- bisby 5y agoThis is one of the things they do that could be spun as "pro seller". As a consumer, I don't like buying from vendors that I can't verify how much I trust them. So "fulfilled by Amazon" convinces consumers to buy with confidence, and even a no-name seller can get sales without having to compete on reputation. This means that consumers actually can't trust where they are buying from. I very much don't like this as a consumer.
- Johnny555 5y agoIt's also pro-consumer since it means that you get your order faster. Instead of sending you the widget that was warehoused across the country by your seller, they can sell you the one that was warehoused near your house by a different seller. (in theory they could always just ship it across the country, but then they'll have to raise shipping prices) Mingling counterfeit products with genuine products is a problem, but since I rarely know Amazon merchants, I'm not sure that's considerably worse than not mingling at all, I could just as likely try to buy from a merchant that's selling counterfeits.
- amznthrwaway 5y agoInventory commingling is a choice that can be made by the seller.
- withinrafael 5y agoSellers can opt in/out of the inventory commingling you describe. But perhaps there are restrictions/conditions that make this harder than it sounds.