

Amazon selling fake cycling gear - labaraka
http://cyclingsailor.tumblr.com/post/64585961390/amazon-selling-fake-cycling-gear

======
uslic001
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.

~~~
mpclark
In some categories it is almost impossible to buy genuine items; Apple Dock
cables and Samsung phone chargers are two that spring to mind.

------
bollockitis
I bought a pair of Sennheiser earbuds through a third party vendor only to
find that they were knock-offs. I paid the full retail price -- no "too good
to be true" deals here -- and the purchase was Prime eligible. I lost my money
and never recieved so much as an apology. I do my best to avoid all third
party sellers now, but Amazon makes this difficult. The introduction of third
party sellers has made Amazon far more difficult than it should be. You're
never really sure what you're buying and from whom.

~~~
farski
How did you ID them as fakes?

~~~
bollockitis
They broke within a few weeks of purchase and I sent them to Sennheiser for
warranty repair. I should have known they were fake from the start, because
they didn't sound nearly as good as my old ones, but I figured I just needed
to break them in.

------
Raphmedia
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.

~~~
AJ007
Amazon sold fake iPhone chargers for years (and I'm calling them fake because
they said "by Apple", now they are labeled "by Generic" etc.) I took
screenshots, that's not from memory.

Amazon has a big fake product problem. Make or source a knock off of anything
that is relatively interchangeable, such as a replacement filter, then list it
as being the real product.

Even when Amazon lists an alternative "by Generic" you can still list under
the real item (e.g. "Dirt Devil F1 HEPA Filter by Dirt Devil"
[http://www.amazon.com/Dirt-Devil-F1-HEPA-
Filter/dp/B00022NGI...](http://www.amazon.com/Dirt-Devil-F1-HEPA-
Filter/dp/B00022NGIE/) ) review less than 20 hours ago says its fake. What do
you think it costs to make a knock off filter? If you under price it, then
consumers know for sure its a knock off, so you take the market price, in this
case $8.50 - the 50 cents it took to make and ship across the ocean, and add
Amazon's overpriced per item shipping for third party sellers to make another
few dollars on top of it. This is happening to a lot of other products.

What are the risks? Manufacturers don't care. I've emailed complaints myself,
without response. At worst you get kicked off Amazon.

------
ciclista
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.

~~~
potatolicious
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.

~~~
ciclista
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.

------
outworlder
Not suprising and not restricted to cycling gear.

Search for "macbook battery" and order by price, lowest to highest. You'll
find _a lot_ of counterfeits.

------
otterley
I think the title is misleading - as the article states, the gear is not being
sold by Amazon itself but rather through its marketplace. The latter is more
like eBay and less like Safeway.

With that being said, I wonder what the seller's reputation rating was. Much
like eBay, you can (and should) always check the seller's feedback before
committing to a purchase.

------
antr
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.

------
TYPE_FASTER
I had a similar experience. Got an unauthorized/clone product from an
independent shop that sells on Amazon. Amazon refunded the full price.

