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A comment on An Amazon Order Might Lock You Out of Trusted Traveler Programs. Parent comment

Re:An Amazon Order Might Lock You Out of Trusted Traveler Pr... by nkrisc on Friday January 19, 2018 @08:38AM (#16186082)
This is exactly why I no longer buy from Amazon unless it's something that's pretty much already junk.

I was shopping for a Hario coffee grinder on Amazon and noticed about 10% of the reviews were 1-star as opposed to the usual 5-star reviews. Turns out about 10% of people who bought this item on Amazon received a counterfeit even though it was apparently the manufacturer's own page and listing (if it wasn't I couldn't tell nor figure out how to determine that).

So after researching on Amazon I went to the manufacturer's site, found their list of authorized resellers, and bought it from Williams-Sonoma. I've since bought more items from WS. They should send a thank you card to Jeff Bezos.

I'm a new father now too. Guess where we don't buy any baby stuff from.

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Re:An Amazon Order Might Lock You Out of Trusted Traveler Pr... by ascagnel_ on Friday January 19, 2018 @09:20AM (#16186339)
The problem with Amazon listings is that any seller (official reseller or not) can put a product up for sale. Amazon defaults to the cheapest seller listed as new (if you have Prime, sellers that offer Prime shipping will chosen over a cheaper seller that charges separately for shipping).

The problem here is that when you buy from Amazon, you expect that you're buying it from Amazon. But with they way they have it set up, it's also very likely that you'll buy from another seller that's a few pennies cheaper than Amazon, with Amazon facilitating the sale.

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Re:An Amazon Order Might Lock You Out of Trusted Traveler Pr... by ValentineC on Friday January 19, 2018 @09:24AM (#16186374)
From what I understand, Amazon also commingles its own "Sold by Amazon" inventory with other sellers who use the Fulfilled By Amazon programme, without checking for counterfeits. [1][2][3][4]

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16003872

[2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15944675

[3] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15774793

[4] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15589274

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Re:An Amazon Order Might Lock You Out of Trusted Traveler Pr... by brewdad on Friday January 19, 2018 @11:21AM (#16187351)
Right. It's this commingling that makes the whole exercise futile. I can check and double check that I am buying from Amazon directly, but if fake goods are mixed in the same bin as real ones it becomes a game of roulette to see what I'll actually receive.
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Re:An Amazon Order Might Lock You Out of Trusted Traveler Pr... by Bartweiss on Friday January 19, 2018 @12:31PM (#16188006)
Yep. I note that the LifeHacker article here gives tips on avoiding fakes, but none of those tips apply to the very guy in the article!

I'm plenty willing to be a diligent buyer, it's not much different than avoiding phishing attacks, but at this point any item with Amazon as the seller may be compromised, and there's no way to tell in advance.

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Re:An Amazon Order Might Lock You Out of Trusted Traveler Pr... by tux1968 on Friday January 19, 2018 @12:13PM (#16187831)
This is so obviously problematic and yet Amazon fails to correct it -- leaves me feeling very suspicious of their motivations and erodes the goodwill i had for them.
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Re:An Amazon Order Might Lock You Out of Trusted Traveler Pr... by AJ007 on Friday January 19, 2018 @02:38PM (#16189066)
If someone really didn’t like amazon (Walmart) they would spend a lot of money testing products for dangerous materials and chemicals. Anyone want to bet counterfeit products and food from China has no lead or other contaminants in them? I don’t.
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