
Amazon has finally admitted to investors that it has a counterfeit problem - strict9
https://qz.com/1542839/amazon-has-finally-admitted-to-investors-that-it-has-a-counterfeit-problem/
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xfitm3
Amazon admitting this is a business risk to shareholders is a great start but
what I really want to see is a commitment to solving this problem. I can't
help but be a bit pessimistic here and think that Amazon will do the bare
minimum to protect their business.

I was talking with a friend about Amazon the other day and anecdata is the
customer experience is on the decline. Bad experiences with counterfeit
products just compounds this problem.

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pytyper2
They can't solve it because in many cases you are not buying from amazon, you
are buying from some rando merchant who posted an ad. Unless it is sold by
amazon (not FBA or seller fulfilled) the relationship is no different than Buy
It Now on Ebay. The actual risk is that people realize this and generally stop
thinking of amazon as premium and realize it is pretty much another eBay style
marketplace in disguise. The only possible solution is to run a process like
StockX, but good luck training seasonal workers to spot some fake Yeezy
sneakers... I guess they could buy StockX and outsource authentication of
Luxury brand items that are not received from an official supply chain. I'm
with you though, it needs to be solved, not just accounted for.

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uponcoffee
You don't need to train floor employees to spot counter fits, they just need
to fix ratings to enable customers to make an informed choice. Counterfeit
items work because counterfeit ratings keep them promoted in search results.

Ebay works on a trust system, feedback is good/bad/neutral with a short
dialogue and rolling seller ratings over a few timescales to help users guage
product/seller quality. It works reasonably well.

With Amazon you need to use third party tools to filter out the bots get a
similar level of information, but you have to manually wade through a bunch of
bad results.

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CaptainZapp
How about buying either at the stores of branded goods manufacturers, or their
certified outlets?

Buying very expensive brands from Amazon is an invite to get a fake since no
reputable brand (in the very expensive segment) will use Amazon as a retail
channel.

Even with lesser brands you run a super high risk of not getting the real
thing.

This story[1] is a reminder of what you're likely wind up with. Upon reading
it I was just shaking my head and thinking "I could have told you so"

[1]
[https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2019/01/count...](https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2019/01/counterfeit-
canada-goose-amazon/581041/)

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pytyper2
This is what I do, my opinions on e-commerce have changed over the years, I
source following this priority: locally boutique or small stores, boutique or
brand websites, local big box, online big box.

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baybal2
I find it funny that there are way, way more counterfeit stuff on Amazon than
Alibaba, and despite of that it is Alibaba who is placed on the US "1000
notorious marketplaces list" and not Amazon

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bdibs
It also appears they’re making some changes as well.

I sell on FBA and recently had to create new listings that force the Amazon
barcode instead of the manufacturers, which is where the commingling happens.

I’m sure this isn’t all products (large brands are probably still using
manufacturing barcodes), but it should help nonetheless.

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chmaynard
Companies like Amazon have created huge, useful online marketplaces for new
and used products and services. The companies act as facilitators but they
don't want to do serious curation or customer support. For example, ever tried
to call Amazon or eBay to discuss a problem or report possible fraud? As far
as I can tell, these companies don't provide phone support. Their attitude
seems to be "Why bother? We're not really interested in doing these things,
our customers don't demand it, and it would be way too costly."

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CamelCaseName
Amazon path:

Customer Service > Contact Us > Call Customer Service > Something Else > Issue
with Items from a 3rd Party Seller

Or, Toll free: 1-888-280-4331

