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Comment by bb2018 | Hacker News Reader

bb2018

Last year I made 349 orders on Amazon and cannot think of a single time I got a counterfeit item or felt tricked by the reviews.

I would really like to wonder of the people encountering frequent fake products on Amazon, what categories are you shopping in? Is it fashion items or something similar? My main Amazon purchases are household items/toiletries and then hobby electronic parts. I haven't had any issues with these - and beyond the review issue the Amazon pricing/delivery time/return policy is by far the best of any site I've dealt with.

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My distrust of Amazon started when I had a baby. It felt like about 80% of the stuff I ordered at first was junk. Maybe not fake, I don't know, maybe I was just being too trusting with what I was ordering, but either way it was total junk. So I started reading reviews a lot more carefully. This didn't help, I still just got junk. So then I started only ordering things from brand names I recognized. A couple times I messed up and didn't order from the actual manufacturer, and got fake or refurbished items. Then I realized if I'm just buying brands I recognize, I can just as easily pick them up at Target for the same price. My Amazon purchasing has dropped way down since this experience.

Edit to add: just last week I ordered a potty training seat from Amazon. Great reviews. Supposedly installs into every kind of toilet. It shows up and, predictably, does not work properly with any of our toilets. I wish I would have gotten it from Target or the local consignment store where I could look at it and ask about how it works, and I probably would have if not for the lock-down. So Amazon is getting my business right now, but it's very begrudgingly.

Target's delivery service is surprisingly usable, especially if you have their card (lowers the minimum for free shipping).

Just get a little step, it's all my boys needed.

You mean for the potty? She is too little, she falls through the seat. (It's pretty early for potty training, but she is interested in it.) We do also have a step.

Kohler makes a great kids seat. Probably not small enough for initial potty training, but it worked quite well for our household toilet until our child was about 6. Now it's on a toilet near the rec room, for guest kiddies.

Upside is it soft-closes, so as to not BANG shut.

I've gotten fakes from Amazon, but it is not always obvious that you've got a fake.

There was an article recently with pictures of the real and fake items, both from Amazon. You wouldn't know which was which even if they were side by side.

But the fake will probably fall apart faster, may leak poison and is overall not what you thought to buy.

And that is all aside from the issue of fake reviews, which are so prevalent as to be the nrm. So the product might be an original, but it is not what you thought you were getting in way of reliability or noise et al.

I'd still like to know what category of product you and others are talking about. I'm not in denial - just legitimately curious.

A fake watch (Armstrong IIRC. Wasn't waterproof as it should have been, and - too late - realized the word "water resistant" was misspelled.)

A fake wire sodder, which was pretty expensive and cost me in damage to the item I wanted to build. I turned to the manufacturer and complained, and they asked me to send images... it was a fake.

We got Desitin with a very weird consistency and smell. I am convinced it is not real, and have been afraid to use it.

An external disk drive, wich wasn't fake, but was also clearly not the brand it said on the box. I complained about that, and am still waiting for a resolution.

Those are what I recall offhand, but mostly have been avoiding Amazon.

We don't buy anything from Amazon which will go in or on our bodies anymore due to the prevalence of fake items. As one of the other commenters said - we'd rather go to Target or Costco to pick up brand name items.

SD cards. A very large percentage of what's on there is counterfeit.

The fake SD card problem is so bad that Amazon got an exclusive product (Samsung EVO Select) that only they can sell. Rather than solve the counterfeiting problem, they just make money off it.

This is also the strategy behind AmazonBasics. It's the only brand that is exclusively sold by Amazon. Amazon is basically destroy the reputation of other brands by letting sketchy and fraudulent sellers on their platform do as they please. There are a lot of people who exclusively buy on Amazon so over time they will only trust AmazonBasics products.

Fake makeup, beauty products, skincare, and a fake birdfeeder for me.

The fake birdfeeder is required for Amazon Basic birds, which are delivered by counterfeit drones...

In my personal experience there's a huge problem with counterfeit beauty products on Amazon.

Even when it's not counterfeit a lot of brands sell a cheaper version on Amazon than they do through other retailers.

Much like clothing lines making deliberately cheaper items for so-called 'Factory Stores' in outlet-like malls.

Pretty much every category on Amazon is counterfeited

https://thewirecutter.com/blog/i-bought-these-things-from-am...

https://youtube.com/watch?v=Uo2GFh6FGsg

I purchased in the last year or so an Intel Core i5 processor. You know what came? A cardboard box that looked like an Intel box, but was filled with four packs of Chinese playing cards. When I called to request a WTF? The nice lady insisted it was a mistaken order to which I steadfastly replied no, this is fraud. It was pretty ridiculous.

I purchased a motorcycle air filter at a price that was too good to be true. It arrive after almost 2 weeks (basically from China) damaged. I returned it waited another two weeks and it arrived damaged again. Left a bad review and got an email response asking about my experience. Can't really fault amazon too much. The price told me there had to be a catch. At the same time, I'm annoyed that was allowed to happen at all on the platform. Now There is always a thought in my mind to have a backup plan when I purchase something I really need on Amazon.

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