[nyanpasu64]

Amazon is now filled with pseudobrands (https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/11/style/amazon-trademark-co...), commingling legitimate sellers' inventory with counterfeit products, and outright fraudulent products (try searching for 2TB flash drives). AliExpress allows sellers to ship you fraudulent products like a "USB3 1080p 4k capture card" which is only USB2 with a blue cable and drops frames, then when you request a refund, sides with the seller when they insist "you're using it wrong". And Kickstarter campaigns have a reputation of failing to live up to their promises or deliver any product whatsoever.

[pigsty]

I remember in the 90s when Walmart was the death of the world because they only sold junk.

Turns out retailers just sell cheap stuff no matter the era and the world is still moving on.

[powersnail]

Oh, I see. I wasn’t thinking of low quality products when I read OP’s question. The mention of pyramid scheme makes me think more of the kind of scam that deals with money directly, for instance, IT support scams, bank scams, etc. I thought that OP was being surrounded by such nefarious actors.

Among the things you mentioned and addressed by the article you linked, I consider counterfeit and fake reviews to be scammy.

Pseudo brands themselves, to me, are just shit products. The fact that they use a unique, random letter combination means they aren’t trying to impersonate anyone else. Huge pain in the ass for real brands, though, having to compete with these flooding cheap goods.

And Amazon has never refused to issue a refund to me if the product is defective or of poor quality.

I’ve never used Aliexpress, so I can’t say anything about that.

Kickstarter I’ve also never used, but I feel like if they legitimately tried but failed, it’s not a scam. If they set out to take the cash and run, that’s certainly a scam.

(To be honest, I just don’t understand the idea of “backing” a kick starter campaign. If I want to back something, I’d want my share of profit when the project succeed, or at least my money back with interest. If there’s no share and no pay back, it’s not really “backing”, it’s just pre-buying something you haven’t seen, possibly at a discount. That feels to me like taking an unnecessary risk without much of a reward.)

[gambiting]

It honestly seems like American only problem though. So many commenters mention it but I have never experienced it here in UK(despite ordering a total of 500 items from Amazon in the last two years) nor do I know anyone who has.

I think one or two orders were late by a day, Amazon just gave me a month of prime as compensation each time.