[stickfigure]

Does Amazon test any other product in its marketplace? I mean, other than Amazon-branded products. That seems like an odd expectation. I don't expect Amazon, or Ebay, or Aliexpress, or even Walmart.com to physically test anything. Mostly I expect them to give me quick shipping, cheap prices, and hassle-free returns or refunds if I'm not satisfied.

[zopa]

I hope I wasn't unclear, I'm not stuck on testing per se. I want Amazon to stand behind what's sold on its site. I don't really care what goes into that: if it needs to physically test products to do that, then it should, but if there's a different/better/cheaper way of getting the confidence to take responsibility than that's fine too.

No argument that that's burdensome and makes it more expensive to run an online marketplace; of course it is. But what's the alternative? Pure buyer beware doesn't work when I can't physically inspect what I'm buying and there's often no way to know much of anything about the seller. Hassle-free returns are nice when you're only out money, but undisclosed drugs in supplements can be genuinely dangerous. A refund isn't going to fix things in the really bad cases.

This is how liability has worked in the American and British legal systems for at least three centuries: when there's been harm done, the person harmed can recover the full value of the damage from any party that helped cause the harm. Plaintiffs don't need to worry about who was most at fault; that's for the defendant to work out with the other parties afterwards. Similarly the FDA can't and shouldn't need to start a separate regulatory action for every seller on Amazon's platform. It's totally appropriate for them to lean on the large domestic company with the fixed address and known officers, and rely on Amazon to enforce compliance with the law down at the seller level.