[AmVess]

My last two orders from Amazon were counterfeits. One was a pack of Sandisk thumbdrives that were very obviously fakes.

I determined that Amazon simply doesn't care anymore. The value proposition was completely lost because I had to drive into town to return them. Twice in a row.

Further, their prices have gotten horrible on a lot of things. I looked at some of their lawncare items, and most of them were 2-3x more than local prices.

[thelittleone]

I'm just surprised that this hasn't become a big issue for Amazon. Is it that most people aren't aware? Isn't it a big enough story for some news outlet to investigate and report? If it became generally known that a large % of products on amazon are fakes, surely it would affect sales.

[patrick451]

I think it's not well known. I've mentioned the counterfeiting problem to several friends, and none of them had heard if it before. For some things, especially any sort of safety related equipment, it makes buying from Amazon a complete non-starter for me because the risk of getting a shoddy fake is literally life and death.

[ctchocula]

My experience as well. HN is one of the few places I heard people talking about the commingling problem. I wonder how Amazon is able to keep this information from being known by so few people.

[Larrikin]

In my life, I nor anyone I know has ever gotten a counterfeit product. I've gotten obviously opened, returned, and repacked shit, low quality AliExpress shit no one would buy if they inspected it in real life, but nothing actually fake.

I've used Amazon regularly, back even when it was just a place to get cheap books. I assume it happens but I think the comments on Hacker News are just not representative of the general public on this issue. Any Amazon thread on here is chock-full of people saying they constantly get fake products.

I avoid large purchases on Amazon when I can, but that's mostly because I want there to be competition for them.

[disgruntledphd2]

> In my life, I nor anyone I know has ever gotten a counterfeit product. I've gotten obviously opened, returned, and repacked shit, low quality AliExpress shit no one would buy if they inspected it in real life, but nothing actually fake.

I got a fake Google Pixel case for my wife. It looked identical to the real one, but didn't fit the phone.

[gilmore606]

I bet the Washington Post will get right on that.

[NBJack]

This rings true for my own experience.

While I have avoided most of the counterfeit dupes (of which I will broaden beyond just selling clones; there are plenty of shady products with questionable descriptions that don't match reality), they have been steadily increasing prices on many products to the point that I am often better off driving to a Lowes or Home Depot for faster service and better deals on things. I also can't emphasize enough that they haven't been that competitive in the laptop market or the home desktop PC market either for years now. Parts and DIY, sure, but I frequently find better deals elsewhere on what is usually the same hardware. I suspect the suppliers are the real root cause of this, but either way it ends up a bad deal. Additionally, finding things with targeted specs is surprisingly difficult at times, and can easily lead to choices that aren't even correct when search starts looking at adjacent products.

[code_duck]

Prices of some things on Amazon such as hot sauce or soap can be absurdly high, while other times it’s the same as I’d pay at a local store. Definitely not bargains any more. I can’t trust any of the prices I see without double checking them, plus they do that thing where prices fluctuate based on how much they think you might pay. One month some bandages were $9, then $7, then $10, then $13, then $5. Sometimes the hot sauce is a great deal at two large bottles for $12, other times, the same pack is $20 or $15. Dr Bronner’s soap is simply too expensive at twice the price as my local grocery store. I’d just like to know one real price for each of these items.

[sentientslug]

Unfortunately the real price is what someone is willing to pay. The same people that pay 2x as much for the same McDonald's via Uber Eats are the ones probably paying 2x as much for soap on Amazon for the "convenience" (laziness) factor.

[code_duck]

Sure, if they can sell as many as they want for twice the regular price,it makes Amazon less useful for me, but that’s up to them. My objection is mainly the sizable constant fluctuations.

[happycube]

(side-note: You can get Sandisk stuff directly from Western Digital.)

[mjcohen]

Of course Western Digital has been having its own problems with ssd drives dying.

[jjav]

> I determined that Amazon simply doesn't care anymore.

It's very messed up. About a year ago I ordered a nice camera from Amazon. What I received was an old beat up camera thrown carelessly into a box with most of the accessories missing.

Sure, they took it back and refunded me without much pain (but I had to take time of my day to repackage it and drive to a mailbox store to drop it off). But seriously, how is this even possible? Not even in the shadiest fleamarket would this kind of bait & switch happen. This is supposed to be one of the top companies?