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Comment by mywacaday | Hacker News Reader

Is the counterfeit issue specific to the US, I have never had or heard of a counterfeit issue with Amazon UK?

It used to be the case, that when you were either buying direct from Amazon or FBA, it provided some peace of mind. Today it is a lottery. If you haven't come across any issues then you are either too trusting and/or probably not conducting basic tests to check if the products are indeed genuine. As a demo, I would dare anyone to buy a microSD card randomly, and then put it through h2testw/CrystalDiskMark to check for anomalies.

This is something I have wondered as well - I have seen several threads relating this idea on HN and elsewhere, and there are numerous comments here saying the same, but I have never heard of anyone receiving counterfeit goods from Amazon in the UK.

I'm wondering if it's not a regional issue with California or something. I live in the Midwest and buy alot off Amazon, and I have never received a counterfeit to my knowledge. Maybe I don't buy enough name brand stuff to notice or maybe it's all too high quality counterfeits but I also know Noone in real life complaining about it.

It depends on the type of goods. E.g., don't even think of buying any kind of battery on Amazon.

It now takes less time to hunt down a reliable specialist online supplier, e.g., [1] than it does to wade through all the fraudulent listings and fake reviews on Amazon to find even a plausibly reliable product/vendor.

At this point, despite being a 20+year loyal Amazon Prime customer, I'm finding It's a better use of my time to find a good vendor, often family owned.

[1] I currently use batteryjunction.com, seems reliable, in my region for quicker shipping, no connection other than customer, and there seemed to be others of similar good quality in other regions.

Trying to get batteries in Ireland is a pain, most places won't ship as the majority of stuff goes by air, just tried batteryjunction and its the same issue there, Amazon has the same issue to be fair

Ouch - yup, that's another whole ball of issues!

Does seem like a big opportunity too! Ofc, need financing for inventory, but maybe partner with an existing supplier...?

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