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by gsuppy 2309 days ago
Why is anyone shocked AliExpress products are fake? I only go there if I want a knock off version of something (shirts, AirPod cases, etc.). Ebay and Amazon are also not surprising either, but both retailers often have the "official merchants" of products that are being sold. As long as you buy through the official storefronts, then you're good to go.
3 comments

We shouldn't have to be investigative reporters in order to buy products that won't harm us.

Even the merchant name is bullshit on Amazon.

Try finding Apple headphones and see how many are sold by merchants named "Apple".

Amazon has to know that product is not actually being sold by Apple, yet they allow the counterfeiting to continue.

> We shouldn't have to be investigative reporters in order to buy products that won't harm us.

There are other marketplaces that offer a much higher quality guarantee than Amazon. Shop there instead.

Why do you accept that it’s ok to sell harmful products?

Amazon is a $1 trillion dollar company. It’s not some guy selling things out of the trunk of his car. It should be reasonable for me to assume buying something there is safe.

> It should be reasonable for me to assume buying something there is safe.

The only thing we should ever assume is that a company has policies and will honor those policies as required by law.

Here's Amazon's policy on guarantee. https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=... There is no mention of safety.

Here's Amazon's policy on safety. https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=... There is no guarantee associated with it.

They are a trillion-dollar company, but what we're observing is that the market isn't hyper-thirsty for safety guarantees and is willing to accept their current climate for service convenience. Other stores will let you make a different safety-convenience tradeoff.

individual freedom. I hate nanny government regulation. The government's role isn't to protect people from making bad decisions.

Harmful is subjective. Don't ban my plastic bags or straws.

Fire risk batteries being harmful, for but one example, is hardly "subjective".

Apparently in your world, it's perfectly okay for Joe Johnson to create an Amazon merchant account called "Apple" and sell me and sell me defective products under the Apple label.

Allowing corporations to lie to you is not most people's idea of freedom.
The nearest Target to me is 130 miles away. Non-coastal states exist.
Target is HQ'd in Minnesota. I'm pretty sure they recognize non-coastal states.
Don't go to Target then.
You're thinking of the old Amazon interface. New Amazon displays the brand but combines the fulfillment behind the scenes (mixed sku's). Let's say you are making and selling your own "gsuppys hair cream", 5 boxes a day. I can send 1000 boxes to Amazon and take over your sales without being shown as the seller. Complaints and bad reviews go under your product name too.
I thought they mixed skus?