Comment by mattlondon | Hacker News Reader

Comment by mattlondon | Hacker News Reader

I recall seeing youtube videos about people who purchased pallets of returned items from Amazon. Kind of an "unboxing" video for a huge stack of returned items. Yes I was bored.

They had a few similar scenarios where people had clearly purchased expensive computer components like motherboards etc and then returned the box with some worthless motherboard in there instead of the expensive one. You can imagine some poor Amazon warehouse worker receiving the package, opening it up and seeing the motherboard "yup - looks like some computer gubbins. approved." and off it goes.

The video people seemed to react like this was quite a common occurrence.

So this makes me wonder, if amazon are bundling-up returned items into pallets and selling them in bulk, how did clearly returned items get sold back to an end user? Frankly I am amazed the scammer went to the effort of putting in a 8TB device and connecting it, rather than either returning it empty or with some random old IDE drive in it as a decoy.

> So this makes me wonder, if amazon are bundling-up returned items into pallets and selling them in bulk, how did clearly returned items get sold back to an end user?

If the item is (looks) unopened and pristine, Amazon will usually sell it again as new.

Some switcharoos are caught, some are not.

No, this was an Amazon Warehouse deal, in which you purposefully buy a returned item at a discount.

Right. Though it does happen with "new" items as well, I've been hit with RAM swapped in the package with an older module (sold by Amazon as new).

> If the item is (looks) unopened and pristine, Amazon will usually sell it again as new.

This is a big reason I stopped purchasing most goods from Amazon.

I was tired of getting open-box merch sold as brand new.

Isnt this mass fraud being committed by amazon then?

I'm no legal expert, but I imagine it would be very difficult to prove that Amazon is committing fraud.

In Washington State, Fraud has a very specific meaning, and requires me (the victim) to prove 9 elements of fraud.

These elements include proving Amazon intentionally mislead me by stating false facts, and that as a result of the fraud, I suffered damages.

As other threads have mentioned, the sheer scale at which Amazon operates means they deal with logistical issues differently than other retailers. To ensure 100% rate for returns would increase the cost to Amazon, which would either be eaten by the company, or passed along to the consumer.

They could catch it multiples ways. Simple precise weight measurement would catch basic scammers. They could X-ray the package and use cv to determine if the contents have been modified or not.

Why automate? Pay someone to open the box and check.

Cost of multiple shifts at multiple locations + cost of implementing verification process + cost of security and oversight + cost of extra inventory loss due to employee theft

vs

Cost of negative image (deferred via simple returns) + cost of inventory loss duo to fraud + cost of inventory loss due to employees

It's simpler to simply eat the cost of abuse.

And now the (possibly fake) security seal is definitely broken, so "probably new" becomes "definitely used"

How would this catch this particular case, were you just put the same thing back in except one has a small "8 GB" sticker on it?

They have different weights according Amazon’s site. 1.75 vs 1.45 pounds.

Xray + CV will fail horribly when the device is sent back with the power cable wrapped around it...

The reference was to shrink wrapped(unopened) returns. If it’s open, employees could do a manual inspection.

You've described the process: When the Vendor misses the bogus return, it's sent back to another sales bin, and resold. Next, the Customer accepts it, or returns it again. At this point, the loop should exit, but we already know the Vendor is imperfect. I've wondered how often this iterate before exiting. The worst case is fun to speculate on, since both are motivated to pass that hot potato.

Those bundles are liquidation pallets where, for whatever reason, Amazon decide they want to sell the stock for cash. It doesn't mean every returned item will be liquidated in that fashion.

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