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Inside the Unrelenting Scams of the Amazon Marketplace (theverge.com)

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the dirty-dealings dept.

Fascinating article on The Verge on the many ways Amazon Marketplace, the ecommerce giant's the company's third-party platform, sellers sabotage each other and defraud customers, and how Amazon is run its own government, so to speak -- with its own rules that its suppliers have no choice but to follow. And, of course, sellers have little choice but to continue with Amazon. The story starts with this anecdote: framing a seller for false advertising by buying fake five-star reviews for their products. Select excerpts from the report: For sellers, Amazon is a quasi-state. They rely on its infrastructure -- its warehouses, shipping network, financial systems, and portal to millions of customers -- and pay taxes in the form of fees. They also live in terror of its rules, which often change and are harshly enforced. A cryptic email like the one Plansky received can send a seller's business into bankruptcy, with few avenues for appeal. Sellers are more worried about a case being opened on Amazon than in actual court, says Dave Bryant, an Amazon seller and blogger. Amazon's judgment is swifter and less predictable, and now that the company controls nearly half of the online retail market in the US, its rulings can instantly determine the success or failure of your business, he says. "Amazon is the judge, the jury, and the executioner."

76 comments

  1. You basically can't buy a PS3 gamepad by rsilvergun · · Score: 3, Interesting

    from Amazon or Ebay. They're all cheap bootlegs. They work and they're playable, but have terrible battery life.

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
    1. Re:You basically can't buy a PS3 gamepad by Gilgaron · · Score: 1

      Or button cell batteries... it is starting to increase my brick and mortar spending...

    2. Re:You basically can't buy a PS3 gamepad by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      Are they copies or are they just old? If they have been sitting on a shelf for years the lithium batteries might be quite badly degraded.

      All batteries self-discharge slowly over time. If lithium cells get over-discharged they are damaged. So if you leave one sitting around for long enough it will kill itself with self-discharge.

      A lot of phone batteries have this problem. Even if you manage to find a genuine battery for an older model it might be a dud by now anyway.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    3. Re:You basically can't buy a PS3 gamepad by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Creimer left /. after 20 years and posted 100+ videos in 2018. His trolls are still butthurt that he left them behind with APK.

    4. Re:You basically can't buy a PS3 gamepad by ArchieBunker · · Score: 1

      Buy those from DigiKey. They sell CR2032 for like 30 cents each.

      --
      Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
    5. Re:You basically can't buy a PS3 gamepad by desdinova+216 · · Score: 1

      the only difference is occasionally Creimer made on topic posts.

    6. Re:You basically can't buy a PS3 gamepad by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Counterfeit products on FBA has been a plague now for years, and they turn a blind eye because no regulators are forcing them to deal with it.

      Best part? The guy playing by the rules is easily screwed by the guy counterfeiting -- because Amazon considers all the inventory "the same" -- you can buy from Honest Guy A and get Cheater B's counterfeit product. You give bad feedback and get a refund, Honest Guy A not only loses money, but can't even get the *fake product* back without paying for it to be sent to him. He's got no way to ensure only his genuine inventory is used.

    7. Re:You basically can't buy a PS3 gamepad by hairyfeet · · Score: 1

      Actually I've found its a HELL of a lot easier to pick the good sellers from the crap on eBay which is why I switched back to using it over Amazon. After all with eBay you are only dealing with one seller, not a warehouse that has a shitload of the "same" product in a bin so whether you get a real of fake is a literally crapshoot and its really not hard to do a little reading of the seller feedback on eBay to see which are legit and who isn't.

      If you see a seller who has tons of honest reviews of their sales and the only real downvotes are from morons who don't read the description, IE "I wanted a red one and got a black one" or "this won't fit my PC" (well no shit you just bought a socket 775 cooler for an i7 dumbass) then odds are they are legit. I've had too many cases where the seller is legit on Amazon but you buy 3 of the same product and they pulled 1 fake and 2 legit from the bin, Amazon has become a total roulette spin on a lot of stuff.

      So if given the choice I'm going eBay, as with a little due diligence its not hard to find great sellers but thanks to Amazon's warehouse buying from them is like a box of chocolates where a third of them are turdballs, not only do you not know what you are gonna get but you have a chance to get nothing but shit.

      --
      ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
    8. Re: You basically can't buy a PS3 gamepad by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What you said makes no sense... You basically said Amazon itself buys and sells counterfiet stuff. I don't think you understand how inventory systems work.

      Maybe you mean: People search for Good Guy stuff, see the "cheaper" alternative sellers, and buy counterfeit stuff. Then go complain against the Good Guy. But then this won't be a "verified purchase" won't it?

    9. Re: You basically can't buy a PS3 gamepad by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You're wrong. GP is right. Amazon sells counterfeit goods in a widespread way. I'm sure we'll learn about how it was known about all the way at the top in a few years but no punishment will ever come.

  2. Re:No I won't work for you. Get lost Amazon. Die. by Patent+Lover · · Score: 4, Funny

    How shall we fuck off oh Lord?

  3. Real court includes rights by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Of course they're more worried about Amazon than actual court. In actual court, you have rights. In the private sector, you don't. It's neofeudalism.

    1. Re:Real court includes rights by jellomizer · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It is more rule of the Mob. I have never worked for a business where all the customers were happy, no matter how hard you try, there is always going to be that group of customers who will buy a product with their preceded notions, even if you explain your full intention as truthfully as possible, people will just not read it and get what they think they are getting.

      That iPhone X case will not fit on your iPhone 4 or your Samsung Galaxy. But that doesn't stop them from buying it, then hitting your company hard for selling them something that doesn't work with their product. Sometimes you find some one who is both stupid and influential, so in their rage they spur a mob to complain about you. .

      Amazon will just follow the mob, and not due process.

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    2. Re:Real court includes rights by Can'tNot · · Score: 1

      The thing is, this bit here: "Amazon will just follow the mob, and not due process." this is the only part of your comment that matters. You seem to be blaming the mob, but it's Amazon doing it. If I start going around and punching people because my invisible unicorn friend told me to, it's not my invisible unicorn friend who you should blame for that.

      The point that the parent was making was that Amazon is not being governed, they are doing the governing.

  4. When is it a monopoly? What can be done about it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    When can a company be obligated to follow reasonable laws and stop this crazy arbitrary rule making and enforcement?
    Being able to just kick a company off and causing dozens of people losing their jobs without a genuine appeals process is ridiculous.

  5. Re: No I won't work for you. Get lost Amazon. Die. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So stop bothering them. I agree, there are a lot of people who never listen when told to fuck off. Or they think it means come here big boy

  6. Re:No I won't work for you. Get lost Amazon. Die. by jellomizer · · Score: 1, Insightful

    I am sure such professionalism will make the company pay attention to you and thrive to change their ways.

    --
    If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
  7. eCommie by Tablizer · · Score: 1, Interesting

    "Your slimy company can go F off! I'm leaving and taking my business to your competitor, which is ... um ... well ... I'm SORRY, Ama! Let me back, please??"

    --
    Table-ized A.I.
    1. Re:eCommie by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 1

      your competitor, which is ... um ... well ...

      Ebay.
      Jet
      Buy.com
      Walmart.com
      Target.com
      Maybe Etsy, BestBuy, Newegg depending on type of product.

      Clearly you're right though, that Amazon is by far the biggest online retailer and the one that you, as an independent retailer, would probably prefer to sell your products on for the fact of sheer numbers of customers. There are alternatives though- although it may mean fewer pairs of eyes.

      If Amazon is so bad, surely eventually some of the larger independent sellers might consider co-operating, or perhaps, and independent developer might get the idea to create a seller-neutral system where the sellers police themselves. Each seller gets a buy in-into the system and pays a little towards the maintenance (perhaps based on how much they sell), and they all have a say in what policies are made and how they are inforced.

      Kinda like an HOA for online stores but with fewer whiny letters about how you can't park your car on your back lawn.

      --
      "That's the way to do it" - Punch
    2. Re:eCommie by Seven+Spirals · · Score: 1

      Being a computer nerd, it's hard for me to hate Ebay, though many do. Plus, I don't hear stories about them working people to pain and ruin. HOA.... just the acronym inspires horror and rage. However, I guess that's how shopping malls have done things for a long time. I'm not a seller on Amazon or might feel like I had no other choice like many say they do. However, they were after me due to some work I did for another company a decade ago that they acquired.

    3. Re:eCommie by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 1

      Newegg? Seriously - they're a fast growing competitor in the Consumer Electronics space, not just computer parts. And they have a "Shipped By Newegg" competitor to "Fulfilled By Amazon" that's quite a bit lower cost. Between that and Jet (which is Walmart), you're looking at some pretty large market (Newegg is the 82nd most visited website in the US - that's not inconsequential).

      --
      Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
  8. Examples of insufficient management at Amazon by Futurepower(R) · · Score: 4, Informative

    I have seen many, many examples of insufficient management at Amazon.

    It is VERY important to recognize ALL of the abusiveness of Amazon. Only a small part of that is mentioned here, in this re-post of a former comment, with added information:

    My opinion: Jeff Bezos is not a sufficiently capable manager. Evidence: Look at any Amazon web page. As you are researching some product that is interesting, you are often distracted by other products. One fix: Put any distractions at the bottom of the page. There are many other shortcomings of the Amazon web site besides those mentioned in this Slashdot story.

    A few of the stories about Amazon being abusive:

    Inside Amazon: Wrestling Big Ideas in a Bruising Workplace. (New York Times, Aug. 15, 2015)

    Quote: "The company is conducting an experiment in how far it can push white-collar workers..."

    Amazon warehouse jobs push workers to physical limit (Seattle Times, April 3, 2012)

    Worse than Wal-Mart: Amazon's sick brutality and secret history of ruthlessly intimidating workers (Salon.com, Feb. 23, 2014)

    Amazon paid no US income taxes for 2017 (SeattlePI, Feb. 27, 2018)

    Undercover author finds Amazon warehouse workers in UK 'peed in bottles' over fears of being punished for taking a break (Business Insider, April 16, 2018)

    The undercover author who discovered Amazon warehouse workers were peeing in bottles tells us the culture was like a 'prison' (Business Insider, April 18, 2018)

    Amazon Gets Tax Breaks While Its Employees Rely on Food Stamps, New Data Shows (The Intercept, April 19, 2018)

    Quote: "Though the company now employs 200,000 people in the United States, many of its workers are not making enough money to put food on the table."

    Amazon Under Fire Over Alleged Worker Abuse in Germany (bloomberg.com, Feb 19, 2013)

    Quote from the Wikipedia page for Jeff Bezos. (Nov. 29, 2018):

    "Journalist Nellie Bowles of The New York Times has described the public persona and personality of Bezos as that of 'a brilliant but mysterious and coldblooded corporate titan'. During the 1990s, Bezos earned a reputation for relentlessly pushing Amazon forward, often at the expense of public charity and social welfare."

    In my opinion, Bezos is not "brilliant". No one who is habitually abusive can be called brilliant; his abusiveness damages the quality of his own life.

    Would you fly into space if the company has a manager who shows serious limits? Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos owns Blue Origin.. Blue Origin does NOT now have the capability of orbiting the earth. Would you fly into space with a company owned by someone who makes huge mistakes and doesn't detect them?

    1. Re:Examples of insufficient management at Amazon by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I worked for them (engineering) and loved it. I know plenty of people that still do and they love it. The work is good, the pay is very competetive, benifits are good, hours are good, perqs are great (best coffee Ive ever had among other things), management was pretty good overall with reasonable schedules and goals. It was always made clear that they would never let money get in the way of progress. I met Bezos briefly and I thought he was impressive. If I have one complaint its that they are infatuated with young inexperienced people with half-assed ideas, but most companies in the world suffer from this to some degree. And sure the non-engineering folks may not be as well off, but I interacted with a lot of customer service and warehouse people and they are generally much happier than all the media is trying to portray them. And yes I would fly into space on Blue Origins' maiden flight if I could, no questions asked.

    2. Re:Examples of insufficient management at Amazon by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Evidence: Look at any Amazon web page. As you are researching some product that is interesting, you are often distracted by other products. One fix: Put any distractions at the bottom of the page. There are many other shortcomings of the Amazon web site besides those mentioned in this Slashdot story.

      I don't know if that's a great example without more information; what if they did some internal testing and research and found these distractions, on average, increased sales? Most people might find it annoying, but what if people click anyway and make more purchases because of it?

    3. Re:Examples of insufficient management at Amazon by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I worked for them (engineering) and loved it...And yes I would fly into space on Blue Origins' maiden flight if I could, no questions asked.

      Maybe custodial engineering. No trained engineer would risk their or anyone else's life without a round of testing first.

    4. Re:Examples of insufficient management at Amazon by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hardly. "Maiden Flight" does not preclude reasonable testing, and by its nature there will always be a first of something, and smart and reasonable people have accepted known risks before. The comment was that no one should ever fly Blue Origin because Jeff Bezos may or may not have made some unnamed error. I said having been part of Bezos' engineering team I was sufficiently impressed by the design and testing process that I would trust another project by the same company. WTF have you actually witnessed at Amazon, to be such a snarky prig?

    5. Re:Examples of insufficient management at Amazon by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Then their business model isn't Bring Consumers Their Desired Product, it's just peeling out every dollar possible from your wallet.

      "so what"

      So if you have zero incentive value in their eyes, they have none to you. Reverse their exploitation with a pluginmonkey or other script, and give the finger to any shill that says you're depriving Amazon for it, because obviously there's no morality in "research showed increased revenue."

      Research showed daring the federal fines would be cheaper than complying with Honest Practice X. Guess what we won't be doing next quarter?

  9. Eh, Iâ(TM)m ok with this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Really, so what? Amazon is trying to solve the problem. Maybe they have made some mistakes but they are evolving. If a seller gets banned oh well. I care more about getting my shit than 6 person company selling a product l. #consumerrights

    1. Re: Eh, Iâ(TM)m ok with this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Maybe you did not really get banned. Maybe they want you to find a secret website to deposit a payment at to get secretly unbanned. Oh wait, no, this is amazon we are talking about, honest as the day is long and twice on sundays

  10. What were you trying to say? by aitikin · · Score: 2, Interesting

    ...on the many ways Amazon Marketplace, the ecommerce giant's the company's third-party platform, sellers sabotage each other and defraud customers, and how Amazon is run its own government, so to speak -- with its own rules that its suppliers have no choice but to follow

    I'm a little bewildered at this passage...because I just cannot understand it...was it supposed to read:

    on the many ways the Amazon Marketplace (the ecommerce giant's third-party platform) sellers sabotage each other and defraud customers, and how Amazon is running its own government, so to speak -- with its own rules that its suppliers have no choice but to follow

    or am I just insane? The choice to utilize commas turned this into an incoherent run on sentence...

    --
    "Don't meddle in the affairs of a patent dragon, for thou art tasty and good with ketchup." ~ohcrapitssteve
    1. Re:What were you trying to say? by Red_Forman · · Score: 1

      Amazon is run its own government

      I was bewildered by this sentence alone.

      One more proof that msmash is a dumbass.

    2. Re:What were you trying to say? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Beat me to it.

      The claim here is anything personal or commercial is an act of sedition.

    3. Re:What were you trying to say? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you're this confused and bewildered by a single badly formed sentence that's just evidence of you being a dumbass...

    4. Re:What were you trying to say? by SethJohnson · · Score: 1

      If you're this confused and bewildered by a single badly formed sentence that's just evidence of you being a dumbass...

      If only it were a single badly-formed sentence.

      Try reading the opening sentence to this summary out loud:

      "Fascinating article on The Verge on the many ways Amazon Marketplace, the ecommerce giant's the company's third-party platform, sellers sabotage each other and defraud customers, and how Amazon is run its own government, so to speak -- with its own rules that its suppliers have no choice but to follow."

      --
      $5 / month hosted VPS on linux = awesome!
    5. Re:What were you trying to say? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ...says the guy who chooses to "end" a sentence with an ellipsis. That's not how sentences work, dummy.

    6. Re:What were you trying to say? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If *that* bothers you, well...

  11. Re:When is it a monopoly? What can be done about i by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    A monopoly on what? You are choosing to sell on Amazon voluntarily. Go sell on your own website if you don't like it.

  12. Re:No I won't work for you. Get lost Amazon. Die. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Woah now, we got a keyboard badass over here.

  13. Recently bought a product (Aug'18) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Seller gets to early Dec'18. Said for a 5-star review I'd get a 99%-off coupon to get a 2-pk battery and charger for said product. Mind you, under $10 for that, and this guy pleaded with me to give him a screenshot of my 5-star 'review' so I'd get this. The weird thing is, it is a good product. I offered two suggestions that would make it a 5-star product, but never heard anything about that. Had several exchanges by e-mail (oddly, the person sent an image of this company's e-mail, rather than putting it in the e-mail itself -- one that Amazon no doubt looks at before sending it to me). Okay, may not oddly given that. Still, this is my first time getting this sort of thing, and I've been buying on Amazon since 1998.

    No, not going to report this one to Amazon. This person sounded almost desperate. It does the obvious, which is to reinforce my belief that most Amazon 5-star reviews are not 5-star reviews.

    1. Re:Recently bought a product (Aug'18) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ratings/reviews are king and companies like Amazon or ebay effectively require a minimum rating that's often unrealistic. Sellers have no choice but to game a broken system.

    2. Re:Recently bought a product (Aug'18) by DogDude · · Score: 1

      What a tremendous pain in the ass. You could've just gone to a store.

      --
      I don't respond to AC's.
    3. Re:Recently bought a product (Aug'18) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I've smelled a desperate email or two.

      On the personal scope, I can look forward to the day my "rideshare" begs to suck my dick for a 5.

      On the broader scope, let's congratulate ourselves on having socioeconomic cancer.

  14. The Solution is so Easy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    If Amazon wanted to fix this, it could in the flip of a bit.However, it does not want to confine reviews to verified purchases.

    The fact is, however, that Amazon is complicit in this mess, because it allows them to beat down sellers and keep them compliant. In fact I would not be surprised if Amazon were the one purchasing a lot of these fake reviews.

  15. eBay by mspohr · · Score: 2

    I can usually find stuff cheaper on eBay. Amazon is for suckers.

    --
    I don't read your sig. Why are you reading mine?
    1. Re:eBay by jwhyche · · Score: 3

      Amazon has a better return policy.

      --
      I read at +2. If your post doesn't reach that level I will not see or respond to it.
    2. Re:eBay by mspohr · · Score: 1

      you pay for that.
      Most eBay merchants accept returns. You may have to pay for shipping but you'll save unless you return a lot... (Why are you returning a lot?)

      --
      I don't read your sig. Why are you reading mine?
    3. Re:eBay by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In my case it was 'throw it in the bin'.

      There's a reason why they're more expensive.

    4. Re:eBay by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      you pay for that.
      Most eBay merchants accept returns.

      I've been pricing solar equipment on Amazon and eBay and it's all cheaper on Amazon. But I just bought an ATX pin puller (what are those connectors actually called, anyway? the audio amplifier in the bus uses them, too) on eBay, because it was cheaper to get a half-decent looking one there. So you pay... less for that?

      Most eBay merchants accept returns, and eBay will grant you a refund on pretty much anything that doesn't match its description if the seller doesn't take it back. At least, that's been my experience. But Amazon will usually cross-ship, or refund you as soon as the shipper reports receipt of the package, at least if they are the seller (or even just fulfilling the order from their warehouse.) I've never had an eBay seller do that, and it often takes days just to get things processed if the seller is a slacker or a wanker.

      --
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  16. Re: When is it a monopoly? What can be done about by Dins · · Score: 1

    Calm down, Jeff.

  17. Re:No I won't work for you. Get lost Amazon. Die. by Seven+Spirals · · Score: 2

    Says the Anonymous Coward. *YAWN*

  18. Re:No I won't work for you. Get lost Amazon. Die. by Seven+Spirals · · Score: 0

    I typically don't roll out the professional attitude for people I hate. I took it as an opportunity to express my vitriol toward them, not to prove what a great sycophant suit-weasel I'd make if they hired me.

  19. Re:No I won't work for you. Get lost Amazon. Die. by Seven+Spirals · · Score: 1

    Let me count the ways ?

  20. Amazon is totally screwed by Going_Digital · · Score: 4, Interesting

    * The catalog is full of inaccurate listings that have been duplicated multiple times and put in multiple categories.
    * There is mass manipulation of product reviews and seller feedback
    * There are huge scale fraudsters on the site that use tricks like those in the article to get their higher price duplicated listing at the top of the search ranking
    * The humans that have any sense and can speak your language have been replaced with minimum wage slaves in the poorest countries in the world, is it any wonder they are targeted for bribes? And because that still costs money even those poor sods are being replaced by keyword bots, that Amazon laughingly calls AI.

    Amazon knows all this is going and just doesn't give a damn. I no longer buy on Amazon as it is a fraudsters paradise, both so called buyers and sellers are exploiting it. The buyers that are claiming they didn't get their package is pushing the prices up for genuine people, the fake sellers are also pushing prices up. Every time Amazon does do anything to try and fix it they bring out a thermo nuclear warhead to crack a mustard seed, causing massive problems for everyone and causing more damage than the problem they tried to fix.

    There is just no point in going to Amazon for anything, it is hard to find what you want and chances of a bad buying experience are high. Ebay used to be the crooks paradise but they have all moved to Amazon now.

    1. Re:Amazon is totally screwed by Fly+Swatter · · Score: 3, Informative

      Sold by or Fulfilled by Amazon. Stick to this and so far I have had no problems - but then I don't buy much from them anymore and I do my due diligence before buying anything.

      Their prices are generally the same now as other retailers, and the marketplace just gets in the way when I do try shop there.

    2. Re:Amazon is totally screwed by 110010001000 · · Score: 1

      Totally screwed=$58 billion in revenue per quarter and increasing fast.

    3. Re:Amazon is totally screwed by omnichad · · Score: 1

      Fulfilled by Amazon are subject to commingling. Fraudulent products in the same bin as equivalent to the real thing. Innocent sellers get penalized because they are the seller of record when the fraudulent product gets to the consumer.

    4. Re:Amazon is totally screwed by QuadEddie · · Score: 1

      As someone who spends 20k per year on the site.... what the hell are you smoking?

    5. Re:Amazon is totally screwed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yep. That's why Amazon is now just a dust blown ghost town of merchandising and is so insignificant that it is hardly...oh wait.

      You have valid points. Amazon REALLY needs to get back to where an item search gives good usable results. The "sponsored" items designation is horrid. If it were one or two then easily ignored but the sponsored items are a majority. I get a different AMOUNT of results by a huge percentage when sorting by price or featured. WTF. The most obvious way to prepare your juggernaut for a fall is to make it a hassle because it DOES NOT WORK.

      I personally deal with the mix and uncertainty of sources by limiting purchases to only certain categories. So game controller purchasing is just asking for trouble. Computer components...no way. Weird esoteric items...YES.

      Amazon needs to fix its search results. Its a stumbling block much bigger than any offset offered by one click ease. NEVER make it hard to find desired items. Worst thing a retailer can do other than actually killing and eating customers....maybe.

    6. Re:Amazon is totally screwed by Falos · · Score: 1

      It's EASY to find desired items, silly goose.

      Oh, you mean outside of our Promoted offers? Well someone clearly needs reeducating!

      There's nothing "worst" about three pages of suggested thumb drives. It's working quite well for us, thanks. And it's apparently working fine for surface dwellers.

      As for you? Someone capable of spotting inferior products or gouge prices? Yeah, you're the outlier, bitch. Doesn't mean fuckall to the retailer's "optimal" practices.

  21. Thermoworks no longer sells on Amazon by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    the thermometer company was tired of customers complaining and returning fake products. So they stopped selling on there.

    All you see now are super expensive fakes or resold by private individuals.

    As far as I can see there are thousands of products like that. I remember seeing the super expensive audio cables with the funniest reviews.
    https://www.amazon.com/AudioQuest-Diamond-6-56-Braided-Cable/product-reviews/B003CT2A2M

  22. Re:When is it a monopoly? What can be done about i by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It is a private company, you are playing on their playground - if you don't like it take your ball and leave (oh and as a less and less customer of Amazon I hope every marketplace seller takes their ball and leaves - or amazon provides a disable option soon).

  23. Re: When is it a monopoly? What can be done about by edris90 · · Score: 1

    Or work together to destroy the amazons profits from within. If vendors worked together they could leaverage Amazon into giving up control or be run out of buisness, by so many different avenues, and at the same time, teach the children of these executive s out front under them into shaming and reviling then. What we need is a social engineering masterpiece to grab these decision makers by the balls and leaverage them into submission.

  24. Scumazon: making things worse for $$$ and stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I dropped Prime when they started putting commercials at the beginning of Prime videos. Really dumb commercials, like ads for Prime on a Prime video.

    Still loving:
    1. Free 2 day shipping that when you go to check out defaults to pay shipping.
    2. Endless pushes/pestering to try 30 day Prime and you can have your Black Friday order in 2 days. When you struggle through it it finally , after wasting your life tells you you are ineligible when Amazon already knew that. When you finally get back to your order it has defaulted you to the most expensive shipping option (not even the normal pay option)
    3. Perpetually unchecking the Prime box when searching so as to put scammer vendor garbage in front of you hoping you will slip up and buy it when all you wanted to do was buy from Amazon.
      4. Yeah... you will have to talk to the vendor about that problem since you didn't buy it directly from Amazon... Sure we got our cut and now you can DIAF. Seriously Amazon takes no responsibility for the vendors it perpetually tries to get you to buy from by endlessly unchecking the Prime box and not giving you a way to set your account up to only buy from Amazon.
    5. Got a Fire that you paid more to not get special offers? How you like your special offers and spam from Amazon?! How do you like our forced search engine which is mostly paid ads when you search google (suck it Amazon I now run FF)? How you you like the minefield of expired books that when you click them pop up a "give us money!" screen? You like that the books you download will never show up in your books section (WTF docs?)? How do you like the Amazon shopping app that is mostly payed placement ads?

    Amazon's greed and complete lack of ethics has turned a convenient shopping experience into a nightmare. I miss old Amazon.

  25. Copies by rsilvergun · · Score: 1

    they come in "official" Sony packaging and are sold as new. I use them on my PC and the current drivers (a package called "SCP Toolkit") can spot them in software, but once you have them in your hand it's pretty obvious. The Analog sticks don't perfectly center. It doesn't hurt the gameplay (at least not that a scrub like me can tell) but it's an eye sore.

    --
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    1. Re:Copies by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      Interesting. There is an issue with the official remote (genuine) that makes it eat batteries. It's Bluetooth and the host has to put it into sleep mode, and even then it only goes a couple of weeks on cheap cells. Maybe there is an issue with the PC drivers not putting the gamepads to sleep properly.

      I use the remote with Kodi on a Pi and had to change some settings to make it sleep IIRC.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
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  26. False Orders with empty box complaint by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I have a friend that has a company selling by Amazon and his own WebSite.

    He got a string of orders were complaints that empty boxes arrived, lots of different but all in the same part of the country, he could prove otherwise, having a system that photographs and archives each parcel that leaves his premises. The investigation revealed that all the orders actually came from the same account, a shop who would use my friends Amazon store to fulfil orders he could not, but then complained about empty to get a refund and keep the full payment.