I Fell Victim to a $1,500 Used Camera Lens Scam on Amazon

Re:I Fell Victim to a $1,500 Used Camera Lens Scam on Amazon by opo on Friday August 11, 2017 @06:02PM (#14994721)

There have been a couple of previous hacker news discussions on the problem of counterfeit goods being sold by Amazon. The problem here is that if there are counterfeit goods being sold by a 3rd party, you might get them even if the product listing your ordered from says that it is sold and shipped by Amazon. Amazon co-mingles goods from Amazon and third party sellers unless the third party seller explicitly opts out of it (which costs more money for them and someone selling counterfeit goods has every incentive to co-mingle their goods with others). I don't think I have run into counterfeit goods, but others claim to have:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13924546

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13955981

I like the convenience and selection of Amazon, (and have been a customer since they started) but until they stop this comingling, I feel I have to be a little more careful what I buy from them.

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Re:I Fell Victim to a $1,500 Used Camera Lens Scam on Amazon by exco on Friday August 11, 2017 @09:43PM (#14995875)

I received a counterfeit item after paying more for the item that was "Sold my Amazon", thinking that way, I would get the real product. What's more frustrating is that Amazon didn't really care or do anything about it. They offered a return or an exchange but couldn't guarantee that that the exchanged item wouldn't be fake. I no longer trust them with items that are easily faked.

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Re:I Fell Victim to a $1,500 Used Camera Lens Scam on Amazon by noncoml on Friday August 11, 2017 @11:32PM (#14996316)

> Amazon didn't really care or do anything about it. They offered a return or an exchange

Sorry to sound like an Amazon fanboy, but what else could Amazon do for you?

They offered a return without even questioning you. I don’t know a lot of companies that would do that.

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Re:I Fell Victim to a $1,500 Used Camera Lens Scam on Amazon by x0x0 on Saturday August 12, 2017 @02:28AM (#14996724)

They could allow me to purchase only items sold by Amazon, not by third party sellers, with no inventory co-mingling.

Apple bought a bunch of chargers and found over 80% were fake iirc.

If you buy a charger/power brick on amazon, from any vendor, amazon's unethical inventory mingling and lack of care mean there's a very high chance you get a cheap chinese knockoff that wouldn't come close to passing UL.

ps -- I told amazon about a charger they had with a fake Intertek (a UL competitor) mark. Their response was to offer me a refund... and keep selling the device. Which (imo) should be illegal to sell.

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Re:I Fell Victim to a $1,500 Used Camera Lens Scam on Amazon by JangoSteve on Saturday August 12, 2017 @12:29AM (#14996479)

They could stop selling fakes. Or at least stop co-mingling their own inventory with unverified inventory sent to them by 3rd parties, so that it's even logistically possible for them to know what they are selling.

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Re:I Fell Victim to a $1,500 Used Camera Lens Scam on Amazon by noncoml on Saturday August 12, 2017 @03:01AM (#14996803)

Ok fair enough. I meant what more could it to to rectify the situation after he received the item and found out it was counterfeit.

Why they choose to mingle their inventory with 3rd party inventory is beyond me.

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Re:I Fell Victim to a $1,500 Used Camera Lens Scam on Amazon by Symbiote on Saturday August 12, 2017 @04:56AM (#14997129)

> They offered a return without even questioning you. I don’t know a lot of companies that would do that.

There's an automatic right to a refund within 14 days of delivery in the EU, so every company must offer that. I wonder if that means these frauds don't happen here?

http://europa.eu/youreurope/business/sell-abroad/on-line/ind...

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Re:I Fell Victim to a $1,500 Used Camera Lens Scam on Amazon by DanBC on Saturday August 12, 2017 @11:20AM (#14998172)

They could offer to check the stock bin the counterfeit item was sold from; they could check suppliers to that bin.

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