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A comment on Amazon Is Complicit in Online Sales of Counterfeit Goods: Report. Parent comment

Re:Amazon Is Complicit in Online Sales of Counterfeit Goods:... by AJ007 on Saturday June 16, 2018 @12:29PM (#17328053)
It’s the dangerous products that concern me more than the counterfeit ones. I’m more lenient than you, but yes there are huge category groups I won’t even bother trying to buy on Amazon. That list has been increasing, not shrinking. I still buy a lot from Amazon, but it’s probably more attributable to not going to physical retailers.

This has made me more bullish about non-Amazon e-commerce.

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Re:Amazon Is Complicit in Online Sales of Counterfeit Goods:... by cm2187 on Saturday June 16, 2018 @01:48PM (#17328455)
And some of these categories are surprising. A lot of the intel 10gbe NIC are counterfeit. I wouldn't expect a niche and sophisticated product like that to be affected, but twice I received a counterfeit card and forums are full of comments of people with the same experience.
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Re:Amazon Is Complicit in Online Sales of Counterfeit Goods:... by extralego on Saturday June 16, 2018 @12:42PM (#17328110)
What examples of ‘dangerous items’ come to mind? (Not to suggest the list is short by any means. I’m just curious.)

As an American company, and with so much power, and with the issue being so dispersed and untraceable, I imagine safety is not sufficient cause for regulation.

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Re:Amazon Is Complicit in Online Sales of Counterfeit Goods:... by fernly on Saturday June 16, 2018 @01:00PM (#17328198)
In a well-known incident in 2016, Apple sued a company making fake "Apple" power adapters, and in the suit alleged that 90% of the "Apple" products on Amazon were fake.

That such adapters are literally dangerous is clearly documented in Ken Shirrif's teardown:

http://www.righto.com/2014/05/a-look-inside-ipad-chargers-pr...

http://www.patentlyapple.com/patently-apple/2016/10/apple-su...

http://www.businessinsider.com/majority-apple-accessories-am...

https://lifehacker.com/how-to-spot-a-counterfeit-apple-light...

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Re:Amazon Is Complicit in Online Sales of Counterfeit Goods:... by leephillips on Saturday June 16, 2018 @01:36PM (#17328392)
Surprised nobody else mentioned the possibly counterfeit eclipse glasses:

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/08/lawsuit-amazon-s...

Amazon did in fact try to avoid shipping fake glasses, but some may have gone out.

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Re:Amazon Is Complicit in Online Sales of Counterfeit Goods:... by astura on Saturday June 16, 2018 @01:47PM (#17328450)
Hoverboards were a big one a couple years ago - burned a few houses down and killed at least one kid. The vast majority of brands of hoverboards sold on Amazon, as far as I know, were private labels from the same handful of Chinese factories.

I would also especially worry about cosmetics and baby products/toys and I hope nobody's buying power tools from Amazon. There was an article here on hacker news a couple weeks ago that mentioned a lady who was (partially?) blinded by an unsafe dog leash she bought on Amazon.

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Re:Amazon Is Complicit in Online Sales of Counterfeit Goods:... by ridgeguy on Saturday June 16, 2018 @12:50PM (#17328144)
Counterfeit nutritional supplements. No way to tell what's really in them.

Edited for clarity

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Re:Amazon Is Complicit in Online Sales of Counterfeit Goods:... by Shikadi on Saturday June 16, 2018 @01:17PM (#17328274)
That's true in grocery stores too though
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Re:Amazon Is Complicit in Online Sales of Counterfeit Goods:... by woobar on Saturday June 16, 2018 @02:13PM (#17328591)
What grocery store let random people stock their shelves?
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Re:Amazon Is Complicit in Online Sales of Counterfeit Goods:... by zrobotics on Saturday June 16, 2018 @09:38PM (#17330478)
There is no oversight of supplements (at least in the US). You just have to trust the brand, because legally there's nothing stopping a supplement manufacturer from using entirely different ingredients from what is claimed.
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Re:Amazon Is Complicit in Online Sales of Counterfeit Goods:... by jjeaff on Saturday June 16, 2018 @09:50PM (#17330515)
Yes, but at least you can trust the brand or not at most brick and mortar stores.

On Amazon, you can buy your trusted brand and not actually be getting that brand.

Granted, this happens at brick and mortar on occasion, but they generally have a relationship with most of their suppliers and it would be unwise to allow counterfeits through.

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Re:Amazon Is Complicit in Online Sales of Counterfeit Goods:... by greglindahl on Saturday June 16, 2018 @02:01PM (#17328536)
Electronics which have a UL sticker but are nowhere near UL standards of design. It probably won't burn your house down, but it's a lot more likely than with a UL-approvable design.
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Re:Amazon Is Complicit in Online Sales of Counterfeit Goods:... by dawhizkid on Saturday June 16, 2018 @12:46PM (#17328129)
Baby formula is a classic one. Electronics with flammable batteries.
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Re:Amazon Is Complicit in Online Sales of Counterfeit Goods:... by inapis on Saturday June 16, 2018 @12:58PM (#17328186)
Cosmetics. Supplements. Medical devices. Bike helmets. Just to start the list.
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