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Re:Amazon, the Brand Buster by jasongill on Saturday June 23, 2018 @11:30PM (#17384784)
Commingled inventory is an option for FBA sellers. You can disable it easily from your FBA account; I think at this point the "problem" is only for beginning sellers who aren't aware that it's on by default
Re:Amazon, the Brand Buster by mmt on Sunday June 24, 2018 @04:10AM (#17385547)
As sibling comments pointed out, the main problem is for the manufacturer/brand and for the buyer.

An unscrupulous seller (of, for example, couterfeits) would benefit significantly and so would not disable the option.

That Amazon themselves don't disable this option (for "shipped and sold by Amazon.com"), except, effectively, for their own brand, is the suspect anti-competitive practice.

Re:Amazon, the Brand Buster by something2 on Sunday June 24, 2018 @12:22PM (#17387097)
Amazon also has something called Brand Registry. Essentially, if you can prove you own a brand, you can prevent other sellers from selling the same item. That's how most larger brands protect their listings.
Re:Amazon, the Brand Buster by yjftsjthsd-h on Sunday June 24, 2018 @12:37PM (#17387151)
If that works, then why hasn't Apple done it and ended the scrounge of fake chargers?

EDIT: Or Anker for that matter. Anker is a better example because their main business is chargers/batteries, so the should care a lot about branding and making sure there are no fake chargers under their name.

Re:Amazon, the Brand Buster by C7H8N4O2 on Sunday June 24, 2018 @02:17PM (#17387640)
Amazon's brand registry enables a verified brand to take control of a listing page (edit photos/text/title).

That's pretty much it – no power to limit other sellers.

Re:Amazon, the Brand Buster by ikeboy on Sunday June 24, 2018 @02:05PM (#17387560)
This is false, speaking from direct experience. Brand registry does NOT let you gate the brand.
Re:Amazon, the Brand Buster by mjcl on Sunday June 24, 2018 @12:36AM (#17384951)
Until it's an option for buyers, I'm going to be quite reluctant to buy from Amazon.
Re:Amazon, the Brand Buster by jasongill on Sunday June 24, 2018 @08:06AM (#17386226)
Why? Commingled inventory means that some common, standardized items don't need a seller-specific barcode on them, and are just added to a "pool" of that identical product. It's better for consumers because you're getting the closest one of the item you ordered, faster - and at the (lower) price from the seller you selected.

Aside from a couple high profile cases of sellers getting in trouble for inventory they never sent in being associated with them, it's a great benefit to consumers.

Re:Amazon, the Brand Buster by opencl on Sunday June 24, 2018 @08:25AM (#17386268)
It most definitely is not "a couple" of cases, it appears to be a thoroughly rampant problem that has destroyed any trust I have in buying items from Amazon. I personally received about 5 counterfeit/bootleg items before giving up on buying from Amazon entirely.

The US GAO recently did an investigation (admittedly not specific to Amazon, but it included them) and 20 of 47 items they purchased were counterfeit!

https://www.gao.gov/assets/690/689713.pdf

Re:Amazon, the Brand Buster by nsnick on Sunday June 24, 2018 @08:13AM (#17386238)
It is not good for consumers. You buy from a particular seller because you know based on reviews that their item is not counterfeit and then amazon sends you the item from someone else and it is.
Re:Amazon, the Brand Buster by jasongill on Sunday June 24, 2018 @08:23AM (#17386265)
Receiving a counterfeit item must happen so very rarely, considering the (millions?) huge volume of these sales per day, and Amazon is obviously swift to fix the issue (much to the chagrin of sellers swept up by the zero tolerance rule) that I really doubt most consumers would ever receive a counterfeit item in this way. It seems more likely that consumers would buy the "cheaper" option from an FBA seller (perhaps unknowingly) and receive a knock off.

The major logistical advantages outweigh the very low possibility of abuse. If you asked the average consumer if they would like to receive their item 2 days faster, but risk a 1 in 1000 chance that they get a bogus item they will need to exchange with Amazon at no cost, I think the former would win by a mile.

Re:Amazon, the Brand Buster by CPLX on Sunday June 24, 2018 @09:26AM (#17386468)
You're wildly off base here.

The chances of getting a counterfeit item in some product categories is basically 100%. Go ahead, try to buy a real pair of Apple iPhone corded headphones on Amazon. That assignment is quite literally impossible.

Re:Amazon, the Brand Buster by ikeboy on Sunday June 24, 2018 @02:12PM (#17387603)
Or buy https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/ol/B01M0GB8CC/ref=olp_tab_new?i... from datavision self fulfilled, they're the only seller on a ton of apple stuff and I assume they're authorized
Re:Amazon, the Brand Buster by ikeboy on Sunday June 24, 2018 @02:10PM (#17387597)
https://www.amazon.com/Apple-MMEF2AM-AirPods-Wireless-Blueto...

Here, buy from Amazon direct and you'll get a real one.

Re:Amazon, the Brand Buster by empath75 on Sunday June 24, 2018 @08:42AM (#17386326)
Or it’s a counterfeit charger that fries their $2500 laptop.
Re:Amazon, the Brand Buster by yjftsjthsd-h on Sunday June 24, 2018 @12:39PM (#17387163)
Or burns down the house. (This may be worse with batteries than chargers, but both can be a fire hazard)
Re:Amazon, the Brand Buster by glup on Sunday June 24, 2018 @10:28AM (#17386681)
1 in 1000? isn't it like 4/10 for "genuine" Mac chargers?
Re:Amazon, the Brand Buster by JohnTHaller on Sunday June 24, 2018 @10:30AM (#17386688)
As someone who just got counterfeit tea from Amazon and Amazon refused to post the review pointing out that it's fake, it's rampant across all products and all SKUs. You can't even usually return the items if they're in certain categories like "food". You just have to suck up that you lost money on Amazon again.
Re:Amazon, the Brand Buster by ggg9990 on Sunday June 24, 2018 @11:43PM (#17389759)
1) It’s not a low risk, it’s happened to me at least a few times

2) It’s not a risk that exists at competitors like Walmart and Target

3) For some categories like baby food, even a low risk of counterfeit product is unacceptable

Re:Amazon, the Brand Buster by traek on Saturday June 23, 2018 @11:37PM (#17384801)
Sure, but it’s not an option for brands, which is the more relevant comparison here.
Re:Amazon, the Brand Buster by jasongill on Sunday June 24, 2018 @08:14AM (#17386243)
How would commingled inventory have anything to do with brands? Brands can already protect their listings from 3rd party seller issues using Brand Registry / Brand Gating
Re:Amazon, the Brand Buster by mmt on Sunday June 24, 2018 @01:44PM (#17387452)
Possibly this option is too new or too poorly publicized to have had enough of an effect yet.

It certainly hasn't been well-publicized as to how it works in practice, especially for a large brand. Do they opt-in or opt-out the sellers? Do they have to choose just one of those two models?

For large brands, this brings up yet another antitrust concern. If they suppress the grey market (or even create too much friction for their authorized resellers), big brand manufacturers run the risk of running afoul of even the modern, more lenient antitrust law interpretation by pushing up consumer prices.

Re:Amazon, the Brand Buster by ikeboy on Sunday June 24, 2018 @02:07PM (#17387571)
They don't actually honor it though. I know plenty of sellers who have gotten back inventory they didn't send in even though they do not choose commingling.