[eeeeeeeeeeeee]

I don't even buy from any third party sellers, including fulfilled by Amazon, for this reason.

Amazons response has been wholly inadequate thus far. Brands are destroyed because people get counterfeit crap and review the entire product/brand.

Why can't Amazon show the merchant used for every review and let people aggregate the reviews of each product by the merchant and product? Right now you have to check the overall merchant and hope you can trust it. This would be a good data point to watch too (if reviews for one merchant are significantly different than others for the same product). That should trigger a review of the merchant by Amazon.

Instead, Amazon conflates all product reviews as if they all came from the same place. Which is another reason reviews are hit or miss -- people reviewing how the seller got it to them, how fast, or in what condition.

[JangoSteve]

> I don't even buy from any third party sellers, including fulfilled by Amazon, for this reason.

Except, according from the information in the article, this doesn't matter:

> Shipped and sold by Amazon.com means that the product is shipped and sold by Amazon Retail (via Vendor Central or Vendor Express) directly. Basically, the manufacturer sends product to Amazon.com at a set price through a traditional PO process. This inventory is commingled with all other FBA inventory.

Even if you buy only items that are shipped and sold by Amazon, if those items are also _available_ from other retailers on Amazon via FBA, then the product you get as the consumer, could have come from one of those retailers, because they're all mixed together at the Amazon warehouse. In other words, you could still be getting counterfeit items when you purchase products that are shipped and sold by Amazon.

This is the same reason that, as far as I can tell, with their current logistics, tying reviews to merchant wouldn't work. They'd actually have to keep each merchant's products separate in the warehouse and _they'd_ have to know which merchant's product they sent you (which they don't currently unless the merchant opts out of commingled inventory, which costs the merchant extra).

This is all assuming I'm interpreting the info in the article correctly. One thing I don't understand is why Amazon would not keep all of their own "shipped and sold by Amazon" inventory from the manufacturers separate from ones that come from 3rd-party merchants. I.e. why wouldn't Amazon opt all of their own direct-from-manufacturer inventory out of commingling? That's the part I'm wondering if I'm understanding incorrectly.

EDIT: To further clarify my last question, it seems unwise to willingly mix products sent to you by a 3rd-party in with your own trusted inventory, such that you don't know what's trusted and what isn't. This seems analogous to allowing a SQL injection or XHR attack by not sanitizing user data on input, and then displaying it in the site, trusted as your own content without any sort of escaping.

[bambax]

You're right, but that would be easy to fix for Amazon: don't let new vendors commingle.

New vendors should have a probation period of, say, a year, where they can only sell their own inventory (through FBA if they so choose, of course); then the reviews would reflect their real quality.

Amazon is extremely strict on vendor identity: you can't have multiple accounts tied to the same business or bank account or credit card -- but they don't mind if you sell utter crap or counterfeit goods. That's strange.

[erichurkman]

You still run into vendors selling a legit product (or high quality product) during the initial period, only to drop to crap quality after they've gotten plenty of reviews.

I bought a set of wire cooking racks that were highly rated, and the product used by America's Test Kitchen (highly rated there, too). I should have sorted reviews by 'recent', as every recent review was 1 star. The racks completely rusted over after a single use. The manufacturer had changed the metal or stopped coating the racks, presumably to make a cheaper product, and coast by on a 4+ star review from the 100s of prior, but old, ratings.

[emodendroket]

I don't think that means that buying direct from Amazon can get you third party inventory.

[BeetleB]

>I don't think that means that buying direct from Amazon can get you third party inventory.

I've sold on Amazon via FBA. Yes, it does. If you are selling a new item, you ship it to Amazon warehouses. Amazon informs you, the seller, that your item is not distinct from that of Amazon's or other sellers' FBA items. Inside their warehouse, it is just an item with no seller attached to it. If someone buys it, they just find any that match the SKU (or whatever it is called) and ship it.

[grandalf]

Wow! I do a lot of shopping on amazon but this gives me pause.

[zyxzkz]

Same here. I always assumed buying direct from Amazon I was buying products sourced directly by them.

[lozaning]

That's why you specify that you don't want your inventory comingled.

[emodendroket]

"You" the consumer don't seem to be able to do that.

[emodendroket]

Oh. Well then I was misled by the wording of the article.

[JohnTHaller]

Buying direct from Amazon can get you third party inventory. Amazon mixes their inventory for many product verticals with third party vendors and will ship out counterfeit goods "sold by Amazon" according to numerous product reviews on their own site.

[Spooky23]

It does. Many commodities are comingled. That's a big reason why DVD and Software piracy is a huge issue.

[emodendroket]

It sounded like they were saying that "fulfilled by Amazon" inventory is mingled with other inventory in the same category, rather than that it is mingled with "sold and shipped by Amazon" stock.

[tlrobinson]

"This inventory is commingled with all other FBA inventory"

[rincebrain]

Yes, I think the person's assertion was that FBA inventory != "Shipped and sold by Amazon" inventory.

[emodendroket]

That how I understood what the article was saying, yes.

[Lasher]

Right, I make a point of avoiding 'FBA' sellers on Amazon, this one was listed 'Sold by Intuit' but what I received was (I hope) a co-mingled inventory item that was counterfeit and, in the case of software, possibly downright dangerous had I tried to install it.