Amazon sales of Deep Learning with Python are counterfeit
twitter.com
twitter.com
I often buy classic books but want a particular edition which might include specific notes or a translation by a specific writer, but following the Amazon search - actually clicking on a link where I’ve constructed the search with meticulous attention to the terms that are essential to me - will often lead to a totally random result from an unknown ‘publisher’ which meets none of my criteria and wasn’t the link that was presented to me.
Obviously all the reviews are bunched haphazardly together - including the ones that praise the translation which the presented book doesn’t include, and the ones warning about poor formatting from the pirated edition.
If Amazon can’t even sell Kindle titles without commingling, then it blows my mind people buying electronics from them.
https://standardebooks.org/feeds
Some things to check out:
https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/philip-k-dick/short-fictio...
https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/edgar-allan-poe/short-fict...
https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/jules-verne/the-mysterious...
It looks like the Libra 2 might be the new version that would compete with your Oasis.
The devices are snappy, but not as snappy as the newest Paperwhite or Oasis from what I see on Youtube. Still, I don't even feel the pageturns. It's still faster than turning pages in a dead tree book. The killer feature is the backlight. The backlight level is adjustable to a far lower level than the Amazon devices, which is nice in a completely dark room. And on the Nook one can set the redness level, I keep mine right in the middle usually.
Another nice think about the Nook is that you can install arbitrary Android apps right out of the box - including the Kindle read app from what I've been told (I don't use it). I do install Ankidroid on my Nooks, in fact that is my primary use of the devices. I sync Ankidroid over wifi with Anki on my computer.
I bet it takes more trees to manufacture a single nook (resources) than 100s books.
Though if you do bring it up, I bet it takes more trees to manufacture my entire book collection if it were on a shelf, than the single Ereader that can store them all )) Truth is my book collection is a mixture of both.
I found a separate source estimating that a paper book (typical) has a CO2 offset of about 2.6 kg CO2. I think that's just production costs, but just considering those, it takes only on the order of 50 books over the lifetime of a device to break even. Once you factor in CO2 output from the supply chain and more dwelling space to accommodate more bookshelves, break-even is probably in the neighborhood of the study's figure.
There are other reasons that's probably not a fair comparison. Ereaders seem to increase people's book consumption. Reading means not doing things like driving around for entertainment, so buying an ereader even to read books you already have might be a net positive on CO2 output.
[1] https://www.cnet.com/culture/study-paints-kindle-e-reader-a-...
Both are great, both can read CBZ/CBR comic book formats, have custom fonts, get all books via WiFi sync.
Lately I use the Pocketbook more because it synchronizes the book reading page between the reader and the smartphone app. No matter where I got the book from.
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B09Q37DFJ7
It has easy adjustment of the backlight and can read all kinds of formats.
My one complaint is that it's slow to boot and has shorter battery life than Kindle because it's Android-based. I actually use the built-in reader app for everything instead of Android apps anyhow, but I love knowing that I could write my own app if I wanted to, or just download one from the net.
The resolution on graphic novels is surprisingly good for e-ink IMO.
Thank you!
It says it'll last until about 22:45 and that it's currently 05:10. (I apparently haven't set the time!)
I typically read for 30-60 minutes at night, I'd say, so those numbers make sense to me. Seems like about 20 hours.
https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/jules-verne/twenty-thousan...
There is no acceptable PD translation of 20,000 Leagues; all the classic translations are widely considered to be slapdash, very bad, or severely bowdlerized.
These days I try to order from the publisher when possible even if it costs a few extra dollars.
I only read the three-start reviews, they tend to be the most useful for judging whether a product is right for my need/want.
I own an Amazon Oasis which I like, but I try to split my eBook purchases fairly evenly between Google Play, Apple, and Amazon. It seems wise to not put all of my digital library on one vendor’s platform. I also like to sometimes buy directly from authors or publishers.
I have both editions of Chollet’s book. It irritates me that he is getting ripped off.
I really don't trust Amazon for a lot of things now, and would rather go directly to the seller on their site. Especially now that I've gotten older, I just want less stuff but with higher quality.
But the press won’t even take issue with Amazon’s comingling. I wonder why. The press always seems to cry on the working conditions, without ever mentioning how dangerous the products are to consumers too. I bet our governments have ties with Jeff Bezos…
Here, the problem isn't that items are put together in the same basket, it's that they are counterfeit: no seller should have any "new" inventory of the book, at all; new inventory should only come from the publisher. As the publisher isn't an Amazon seller, Amazon itself needs to buy the book from the publisher, and carry it in their own inventory.
Not commingling, ie carrying a separate inventory for each vendor, doesn't change the problem at all: all inventory not coming directly from the publisher is counterfeit.
In theory, it could be possible for other vendors to buy from the publisher and then sell on Amazon; in practice this is highly unlikely. But Amazon doesn't care and doesn't do any basic check.
They are probably hiding behind the fact that the sellers are doing the counterfeiting, not them. IANAL, but since they obviously benefit from it, it should be possible to sue, not just in civil court, but in criminal court as well.
For other products, that’s isn’t so. For say a laptop memory card, there’s a dozen authorized distributors that supply various resellers.
The whole issue is Amazon saying “Fuck you, we’re Amazon” to the market.
FWIW, I stopped using Amazon when the German strikes started and we found out what was going on. Europe can live without abusive companies like that, even if it makes our stuff a bit more expensive. I know I wasn't the only one.
While walmart was not perfect, and some middle managers could make life hell for some workers, as a company most of the crap I saw on the news was just rhetoric or things taken out of context by union organizers for the purposes for try to get a union installed.
Having lived through that, I see alot of that being echo'ed in the amazon debate. Unions look to gain ALOT of revenue from unionizing these companies, I am not sure why everyone always assumes the motivation of the union is altruistic and the motivations of the company is always evil
The world is much more Gray than the employee vs management dynamic people seem to subscribe
Both a company and a union do their little dances on the news. Nobody believes either one is telling 100% of the truth. We've all seen unions start strikes for stupid reasons, or sing la-la-la-I-cant hear-you when a member clearly needed help
But, it's common around here to have multiple unions in 1 company. You can shop around if you don't like one. You can not join any union. This market dynamic makes unions compete for you. Both unions and workers also understand that they won't gain anything if they drive a company out of business or to another country.
Specifically for Amazon, we've never heard much about Walmart or anti-walmart rhetoric over here. We have hard discounters which can be demanding for their employees, but they don't clash that hard or that regularly as Amazon does. Things like the bottle peeing are new around here, and confirmed by other parties than the unions. Ignoring collective agreements is also unheard of for a company of this scale. The underlying general idea around Amazon seems that it tries to import an US-style no-rights-worker model into Europe. If that takes root, we're all worse off. People sympathize with that, even if it is rarely enough to counter the siren song of cheap goods.
that is not the US system and why I personally get sooo frustrated with Europeans commenting on US labor relation, and US Unions. Europeans look at the issue from their lens, of their laws, and their unions which is completely different from the US. You can not compare the two at all.
At best in the US if you happen to be in a right to work state you can choose not the join the (and I mean THE, singular) union that represents the work force at the company. that is a "labor" union
The closest we have to EU style unions would be a trade union, but even then normally there is a single union that represents a trade, like the "Screen Actors Guild" for actors. There are not multiples.
>Specifically for Amazon, we've never heard much about Walmart or anti-walmart rhetoric over here.
Anti-Walmart rhetoric started to die off around 2010.
>Things like the bottle peeing are new around here, and confirmed by other parties than the unions.
It is in the US as well, and i take these stories with extreme skepticism.
>The underlying general idea around Amazon seems that it tries to import an US-style no-rights-worker model into Europe
Again the US has plenty of labor laws, the primary difference between the US and Europe is the amount of required paid benefits an employer must offer, but abusive actions (such as forcing an employee to pee in a bottle) is no more legal in the US than in Europe
> If that takes root, we're all worse off.
I have no problems with US Labor laws, remember the US is very individualist, and for the most part, most of the population prefers this. I have no desire to have the government dictate to me and my employer how many vacation days I have must have or things like that. I am not soo extreme as I to say all labor laws should go away, I think laws that prevent true abuse (like requiring an employee to pee in a bottle, or requiring employees to stand for hours off the clock at security check points unpaid) are area's where the government can and should step in, but that is where it should end.
> I stopped using amazon a few years back after reading over and over
> about their treatment of warehouse employees
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/top-companies-2022-50-best-wo...
The latter are effectively treated like shit.
The report you linked is completely off topic and probably bullshit PR anyway.
Definitely a good point!
> The latter are effectively treated like shit.
That said, based on almost everyone’s feedback who I know that’s been a software engineer, they are effectively treated like shit too, just better paid than the warehouse staff.
Cons, could always be paid more and oncall is tough.
So naively, you should only be able to get "new" using the sold from Amazon* (as they get stock from Ingram periodically) or by my back-stop listing which is out of my own personal inventory.
What I've found out since is that some of the resellers are able to order directly from Ingram and so can somewhat legitimately offer a "new" copy for sale through Amazon. Their listing prices are always above the default Amazon price as they need to recover the Amazon selling fee (greater than the 28% wholesale discount I offer through Ingram).
Unfortunately, when Amazon's stock is out they frequently list such sellers as the primary seller on the product page (buy now) rather than my own listing (which is in name of the publisher).
So if you see a listing of "new" and it is below the official Amazon price, it is not really new. It may be "like new" but it is definitely not new. Those listings at prices higher than Amazon's may, or may not, be new.
*Ingram is able to distribute to a long list of booksellers so it is entirely possible a book is printed on demand off an order through say BarnesandNoble.com. While I do not get any info on who Ingram sells to, it is pretty easy to track Amazon's by their references to either how many remain in stock or "more on the way" and a print order hitting Lightning Source.
Add on Amazon's treatment of warehouse workers as icing on the cake and nah, I'm good.
And... that would be exactly why, yes. Intent matters in the law, and the burden on a seller isn't perfection but merely "good faith". Amazon clears that bar, probably[1]. Silk Road very clearly did not. Also, of course, drug and weapons trading gets a vastly higher level of attention from law enforcement than counterfeit hardcopies of tech books. This analogy doesn't really fly. It's like asking why police execute arrest warrants more reliably for murder suspects vs. shoplifters.
[1] There are very reasonable arguments to be had about whether they should be doing more and what internet market-makers' responsibilities are here. I don't expect this HN thread to illuminate them though.
ironically the number of unsolved murders is at record high because murders are not actually the focus of most law enforcement resources.
it is also a terrible analogy because murder and shoplifting are much further apart on the criminality scale (both in severity and possible punishment) than Drugs and Counterfeits are, which in reality both have about the same levels of severity and punishment classification under the law
And the only reason I linked to it was to point out it was for sale so how could it be illegal? Places like Amazon aren't held to the same standard as regular people and that really needs to change.
It is not right but that is the world we live in currently, "Big Tech" can get away with more than any startup ever could
Amazon also runs a Print-on-demand (PoD) operation and offers that as a paid service to booksellers. Several years ago they acquired a company called BookSurge which was into PoD. Booksellers can store their virtual book inventory (i.e., print PDFs) on Amazon's servers and Amazon would route a customer order to their PoD service to print the book and ship it on demand.
While this is a legitimate service for legitimate publishers/booksellers who own the rights for the book, it is quite easy for unscrupulous sellers to just virtualize their entire illegal print operation with Amazon undermining authors and publishers.
I am not sure what kind of controls Amazon has to prevent abuse of their system.
Just to be clear, I am not insinuating that this case (or any other case of counterfeiting) has anything to do with Amazon's PoD operation. Just that this is an attack vector for them that potentially impacts legitimate authors/publishers/booksellers.
Terrible binding, thin, crappy paper, weird textured covers.
We already had enough for the term, so we didn't pursue it much more but they ended up refunding all of the money that we'd spent buying the books from ourselves in order to, I guess, avoid being complicit in copyright infringement. They didn't really understand the creative commons license.
I'd guess if it's your gig to pirate books you have to play whack-a-mole with getting your books removed, but small orders probably don't get reviewed so the time scale is going to be long.
If it is indeed endemic in some categories at Amazon then surely the leadership at Amazon are aware. Do they just not care?
If I were a publisher I’d be furious at this situation. A regulator really needs to investigate and make Amazon police this more effectively.
1. There's some non-thorough verification of the items rather than completely trusting the merchants.
2. Merchants could sanctioned if caught sending counterfeit items.
3. You don't get to choose how Amazon stocks its fulfillment centers.
4. Assuming that part of the suggested con is to set the counterfeit items price to a fraction of the Sold by Amazon, I'd guess that Amazon would probably be more careful with grouping vastly differently priced items together regarding of their ID.
Again, these are all just assumptions but with that in mind, I would guess it won't be an easy thing to pull off.
Why is Amazon not doing enough to fix the issue? It's frustrating. I think Amazon is confident it's not easy to disrupt them and hence don't care enough to fix it.
I paid for the "book" presuming I would get a nicely bound and accurate translation. Instead I received half of the book, with an open domain but outdated translation from the 1800s, and no form of recourse.
Amazon is quickly losing my trust.
Surely this would be an easily solved problem if Amazon cared to solve it?
[1] - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Complete-Guide-Music-Technology-Cub...
They would have to be very very careful with introducing random third parties, right now from what I can tell on Amazon AU you can only buy through Amazon directly (ie they have the item) or via an "authorised third party" where they are a pre-established brick and mortar (every store I've seen on Amazon I know who they are).
Steam (aka Valve) only started offering refunds to Australians once they were threatened by the AU government, and even then they were still shady. https://www.eurogamer.net/valve-is-being-sued-by-australian-...
Australia is pretty good with the ACCC (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission), there are some horror stories from both side but most of the time it works out good for the consumer.
Eg I bought this on Amazon AU. It's from a 3rd party seller: https://www.amazon.com.au/gp/aw/d/B0972JM9NZ?psc=1&ref=ppx_p...
(And it's fine - not all 3rd party sellers are bad)
Normally Titanium is quite expensive, and although pure Titanium cookware is one of the safest metals, it's heat distribution is not really ideal. Some companies titanium cookware has titanium alloyed with other metals and materials. This provides end results, with a non reactive cookware that is now not as expensive as pure titanium.
In other words as titanium isn't the best conducting heat, there is the possibility was coated with other metals than can potentially leak into food. See [1], [2] and [3]
So to make this type of purchase, personally, it would be quite important to know who the vendor is, where are they based, are they on a country with reputable manufacturing controls?
Looking at the 3rd party seller you provided as example, you do notice their guarantees, certifications and mention the product is 99.8% Titanium. But who are they? Where are they? Who controls them?
Looking at their 3rd Party Seller shop in Amazon, there is nothing to easily identify the seller. A series of stock photo images from outdoor camping events...Further research shows they also have a page at Alibaba, but again no mention of who they are than can be easily found. Just a lot more stock photos of outdoor living and camping.
Invoking all my Internet search Fu skills, you end up finding they are a medium sized manufacturer based in Guangzhou.
At the same time they are also listed on a random Reddit comment as a generic manufacturer of cookware of difficult to verify quality... See [4]
So what is an Amazon customer to do? Their research for Amazon? Trust the Chinese authorities quality control? Maybe the products are really excellent but it's way too much research. Will go to a reputable camping shop, and maybe buy from a reputable manufacturer...
[1] "What Are the Dangers of Titanium in Cookware?" https://oureverydaylife.com/what-are-the-dangers-of-titanium...
[2] "Is Titanium Safe to Cook In? What the Evidence Says" https://sliceofkitchen.com/is-titanium-safe-to-cook-in-what-...
[3] "Healthy Types of Metal for Cookware" https://www.livestrong.com/article/158539-healthy-types-of-m...
[4] "Titanium alloys from sketchy Chinese companies, are they safe to use for water?" : https://www.reddit.com/r/Ultralight/comments/ux5zts/titanium...
I'd note that all the links you point to say titanium is safe, and the Reddit discussion notes concerns about aluminum (which of course is much more common in cookware than titanium).
I wonder if the author ever reversed the chargeback
It's not a massive problem as anyone I know I can just direct but no amount of shipping notes seem to help couriers or delivery drivers.
I suppose the fake seller could also counter-claim the takedown, and it might be difficult to find them in order to sue. I wonder if you could get a court order to force Amazon to take the listing down permanently, though, after all that.
Does DMCA apply? It is mostly about digital information on the provider's service and the article was about printed books. 17 USC 512(d) does provide for applying the DMCA takedown procedure "for infringement of copyright by reason of the provider referring or linking users to an online location containing infringing material or infringing activity, by using information location tools, including a directory, index, reference, pointer, or hypertext link" and that doesn't say anything about the infringing material being referenced being digital.
I'm not sure though that linking/referencing/pointing to a seller of infringing physical books would be infringement. A brief search suggests that the law in this area is not yet clear.
""" The issue affects ~100% of Amazon sales of [Deep Learning with Python, second edition] since March or April. That's because, amazingly, since fraudsters are claiming to have inventory, Amazon has stopped carrying its own inventory for the book (i.e. it has stopped ordering new copies from the publisher). """
Feels like our current market/economic system has failed badly.
Sometimes this takes the form of MBA paperclip optimization, but it can also take the form of simply making something lots of people want. Hollywood is an example of the latter - they don't seem that concerned with minimizing costs, because they believe that if they make a good movie that resonates with audiences, they'll still get a 10x return on investment. :)
maybe Google would have been a better example?
For anyone who wants to know more about their predatory practices, specifically around bookselling, then I recommend that you pick up a copy of “How to resist Amazon and why” by Danny Caine from your local bookshop.
It saddens me that companies I admired so much as startups (Amazon and Google mainly) have become so powerful and dystopian.
Cynical programmers don't write about OK experiences.
Judging by how a dozen titles were dumped onto the store on a single day, and the highly specific yet disparate subject matter there are probably thousands of 'authors' like this. Some have hundreds of five-star reviews. In a few minutes I I identified a whole bunch of them: "Chillout Note Books", "Kim Karandash", "Steve Oneli", "Karolina Mendez", "Kai Halson", "TKH Team Publisher", "Dwayn Clarkes", "FỌRT-NITE Coloring"
Some look like they're using homoglyph attacks to evade detection, which is pretty sad given how trivial that should be to bypass. Given how many obvious fakes I could find in a short time with no special tools, it's also probable that there's even more less-obvious fakes out there.
So yeah, "sold and shipped by Amazon" is essentially meaningless as a badge of authenticity.
How are they obvious fakes? What is there in the product pages to indicate they are fake?
I see they're dispatched and sold by Amazon and I got no other information to tell those are fake. How do you know?
The pattern continues with the other listings, why does a Fortnite colouring book spell "Fortnite" wrong? Twice, and differently each time using an unlikely homoglyph? Why isn't it being listed on the Epic Games Amazon store with the other Fortnite books? All of which mention being "official" when this one doesn't. Why does the description claim "unique" and "hand drawn" art yet the preview show clearly automatically vectorised screenshots or key visuals? And I don't even play Fortnite, so this isn't even some deep insider knowledge.
Someone clearly has a script to pull images of trending IPs from a search engine, vectorise them and then sell them as 'colouring books' on Amazon through PoD with generic descriptions. There's similar rackets with notebooks, t-shirts, mouse mats and mugs through other PoD services.
Amazon PR constantly rambles about not hitting “Day two” (https://aws.amazon.com/executive-insights/customers/sustaini.... Unfortunately, Amazon has hit Day 2 years ago under Bezo’s watch.
Again, speculation, but I'd say there is a great conflict of interest trusting gov to regulate itself in the sense gov agencies have large contracts with aws.
"Amazon has a book piracy problem" https://twitter.com/fchollet/status/1545477267932864512
(219 points | 15 days ago | 119 comments)
The problem is becoming wide-ranging and rampant, so if they don't, they just may become an artifact of history.
But absolutely would for overpriced college books. Most of those books were a giant scam. Buy this year's edition for $300, sell them back to the college bookstore for $40 because there's a "new" edition.
Counterfeiters are going to counterfeit, but Amazon should definitely be liable here since they've bee made aware of the issue.
That said, in response to this, I would probably format the book's PDF edition so that an aspiring republisher would have to do a lot of work to get it print-ready.
I've bought tools from Amazon fairly recently. They're things that you could totally counterfeit if you were interested in doing so, but at the same time they're things that I can immediately identify as being either legitimate or indistinguishable from such. Like, I purchased a set of iGaging double squares on Amazon and tested them against my surface plate and my Starrett square. They pass. Maybe somebody's counterfeiting the thing and selling it at the same price to me, but it's also not a worse product, so I couldn't tell.
I don't doubt that there's a lot of counterfeiting going on, because it's the internet, but it probably depends on what you buy as much as anything else. I'd be much more worried about substandard quality from buying things from the bajillion sellers with what sound like generated names (because they all look the same but did this one swap out component X for one that's a couple cents cheaper?) because there's no good way to control for it--but in those circumstances Amazon's return policy is also pretty great.
Just recently I found something $15 cheaper at Amazon and decided to go with them. I got something that very likely is used (some of the internal packages had been opened, outer container/box had creases, and had been clearly taped closed, etc). It was a time sensitive item so I couldn't return it and get a new one in time.
Fitting that just when I told myself "Oh what the heck - I'm saving $15, let's just go with Amazon" I end up getting a used item sold as new.
I think a lot of sellers also include the shipping cost in the price of the item and ship it to Amazon so it can be PRIME-eligible.
Obviously this becomes an issue with tools because unless it's an exact copy being made in the same factory (which does happen with outsourced Chinese products and this is typically when you'll see /almost/ exactly the same product with 10 different listings and 10 different brand logos on them), it doesn't have the R&D and QA that the original product has. Even if they are made in the same factory, they don't necessarily have the same quality, latest software, or warranty of the original. Where the American company that outsourced that oxygen meter may have opted for the medical grade, consumer-safe plastic and tests each batch, the counterfeiters are happy to use the cheapest materials they can find, which are at best only lower-quality, and not actively unsafe. Counterfeiters make money through active deception, and money is the goal, so they will _never_ pay for the best materials and tech. If they can source the metal made with lead for 5% cheaper than the non-leaded equivalent, it's not even a question. They are going for the cheaper option, because that's 5% more profit.
It takes the risk out of online shopping.
There's 5,000 reasons not to use them and 500 other vendors that have similar policies but I know how expensive a return actually is so I would rather do that strategy with a company I don't care about.
They run retail at a loss and frankly I'm more than happy to be one of their stubbornly unprofitable customers.
Since then, the others have caught up and they have stagnated. I'm starting to look elsewhere more often but habits do change slowly. I hate to say it but I don't think too hard when I need the little odds and ends Amazon is still pretty good at delivering.
Despite getting 1/3 the money per copy compared to selling via Lulu.com (although this has changed now, lulu pays a lot less than they used to), I made a lot more money selling via Amazon than via lulu. I held out for years until the situation was untenable financially, and now only sell via Amazon for this reason.
Having said that, I haven't seen a counterfeit book yet, maybe the problem is not as widespread here as in the Us?
Looking at some recent Amazon purchases of mine, I bought at Amazon because there was no obvious reasonable way to buy elsewhere.
1. I've long had one of these [1], which I bought decades ago in some local store (probably a bookstore) and it works great and was cheap. I really just wanted another one of those but they seem to be unavailable now except from medical supply companies (WTF!?) for around $35.
Barnes & Noble, Office Deport, and Staples all have book stands, but none with the simplicity and versatility of the Easi-Reader. Amazon at least has some with the same general design [2] so that's where I went.
2. I wanted a pyramid-style mechanical metronome. I don't really need it--I've got an electronic metronome, my piano has a built in metronome, and there are numerous free metronome apps for mobile and desktop, but a mechanical one would look great sitting on my piano, and I like the swinging arm so I can see the beat.
The only reasonably local music store doesn't have that style. They only have this kind of mechanical metronome [3], which I find ugly. The major online music stores either don't have mechanical metronomes, or only have expensive ones.
Amazon did [4]. It even matches the color of my piano.
3. A PT100 temperature sensor. I could have gotten one from Adafruit or Sparkfun or Digikey or similar, but they all charge a lot for fast shipping and even slow shipping is pretty high. I generally only use them when I've got enough things I need for longer term projects that I can place a big order.
When I want just one thing in a couple of days, like that PT100, I usually go to Amazon [5].
4. The most ridiculous recent Amazon purchase was dial calipers. Surely that is something I can get locally at Home Depot or Lowe's, right? Nope. My HD only stocks 3, one digital, one vernier, and one that is just a sliding ruler with caliper jaws so it can take inside and outside measurements. HD does have a dial caliper online for ordering at least. Lowes's only lists 3 on their website, two digital and one vernier which is the only on in stock at my nearest store.
The one that can be ordered at HD is plastic, and there isn't a lot of reviews on their site. So I went with Amazon [6].
5. I wanted a guitar stand that was not bulky and would work well with a classical guitar. I went with an Amazon Basics model [7]. The local music store wants $37 for an A-frame stand. They have a tripod stand for $18, but those are too bulky for where I wanted to use it.
6. A classical guitar strap [8]. My local music store does carry that exact same strap and it is even in stock, but that store is about a gallon of gas away round trip and this is such a low volume item that there is little risk of Amazon's being counterfeit so I went with Amazon.
(BTW, that strap is great! I've never been comfortable with the usual footstool approach nor ever been able to actually get good position that way and was considering trying something like Guitarlift [9] or ErgoPlay [10] but the sound hole strap approach is cheap enough I though I'd give it a try first as not much would be lost if it didn't work. For more options for and the history of supporting classic guitars see this video [10]).
[1] https://www.walmart.com/ip/The-Easi-Reader-Bookstand/1157552...
[2] https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07QMRBZN2
[3] https://wittner-gmbh.de/wittner_metronome_super_mini_e.html
[4] https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01IP8C04M
[5] https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DP3LYPX
[6] https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00B5XJW7I
[7] https://www.amazon.com/dp/B018FCZKR2
[8] https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003B12ZFI
[9] https://www.stringsbymail.com/guitarlift-guitar-support-medi...
eg: https://www.inc.com/sonya-mann/amazon-counterfeits-no-starch... (2017)
Now what I am angry about is that we pay a ton of money in taxes for institutions like Trading Standards, Competition and Markets Authority, Serious Fraud Office and Police and they seem the be not doing their job. If you started an online business and facilitating the sales of counterfeit goods, they would probably be all over you, because who is afaid of a small guy. But if it is giant like Amazon, I can feel that a mere thought of doing anything about this brings officers a brown stuff down their pants. Why don't they order closure of Amazon until they sort this out? One law for the rich, one law for the pleb?
If you shut down Amazon, you're the one in trouble with your populace.
That leaves the legal route, which has been pay-to-play since the medieval times, and corporations can spend more on lawyers than most statutory departments.
You just need to increase the cost of doing fraudulent business by fining them more than they profit from the frauds.
My company dealt with this. We spoke with fantastic lawyer that will go thru the motions (its not a quick process) and get the reseller banned from amazon for a very affordable fee.
Amazon makes this very hard to do and oftentimes you need to sue in a foreign country, so you need someone that knows what they are doing.
If you would like the contact, post a way to email you the counsel's contact info.
Whereas I have some manning books like the Grokking series that I buy directly from them when they have those Black Friday sales and the glue looks pretty similar to the counterfeit he’s showing in the picture.
That said I usually try to buy from sold by amazon or directly from manning or no starch when buying new. Manning has some great topics and the quality of the content is pretty good too.
While I don't think I've received counterfeit books, (just electronics), Amazon also has a print-on-demand system that is horrible. Oftentimes these counterfiet books are printed/bounded from Amazon's own printers, these counterfieters don't even have to produce anything themselves, other than uploading a PDF to Amazon. Amazon does it all for them.
Unfortunately, if an author's book (legit sold through Amzon) I want is only printed off Amazon's print-on-demand service, I can't get it anywhere else. I think I've seen reference that Amazon makes an author have an exclusive with their print-on-demand, but I can't find a reference right now. Bah. We need to have less exclusive tie-ins and more choice.
I haven't heard anything like this for print books (print on demand or otherwise).
There might be some "exclusivity" like aspect for eBooks that are part of the kindle "unlimited" subscription service, but you can opt out of that and distribute on other platforms, n.p. One thing they require is that you use the same "list price" on all distribution channels.
https://www.finnegan.com/en/insights/articles/maglula-beats-...
How could this had happened?
The alternative universe where Amazon actively decides about the legitimacy of copyright holders is also horrible.
And this is not just a theory. YouTube is a prime example of how this can go wrong. Bogus claims that the company accepts by default as legitimate.
What DMCA says is that the service provider has to take the content down and forward the claim to the uploader. It does not really provide any leeway about trying to figure out if the claim is legimate or not. It is up to the party who uploaded the content then to dispute it.
If I am not mistaken, the DMCA deals with removal of copyright infringement per se from digitally available media. However, the listing of this product on Amazon's website is not in itself a copyright infringement. Instead, it is a "legitimate" listing of a product for sale which happens to be counterfeit when eventually received. Illegal no doubt, but can it really be taken down by DMCA procedure?
Can they implement such a system? Sure. But don’t say it’s DMCA or they’re required to do it. They have a separate DMCA process, and the cost of submitting false claims is higher there.
Does Google's Content ID system do that?
If it were a high sales book, Amazon would probably have it in stock and they would sell it themselves. If not ... Things can be frustrating.
So the problem rather is online distribution of counterfeited books in countries that, for whatever reason, abhor government intervention in the book market. In the US, this is a political problem that stems from political decisions. It's not the problem of a single company. (I'm definitely not defending Amazon.) The main question here is are these political decisions in favor of book authors?
And Amazon is getting into healthcare... what a cluster fuck their lack of goods verification will be when its prescription meds?
How can it be that Amazon is allowed to do it? they are responsible, no doubt! If a local shop would do the same, you can imagine who would be charged: the factory of the product or the shop owner himself?