Comment by mabbo | Hacker News Reader

Comment by mabbo | Hacker News Reader

Having spent many years in "Outbound" of Amazon Fulfillment, I'm skeptical that Amazon would ever know that they didn't send a fake item.

Items aren't inspected deeply when they arrive. Fakes can get in.

Items that are misplaced and later found are presumed to be good- no quality checks opening the package. If the barcode scans, the system just adds it.

The picker, sorter, packer all do a quick quality check to see if the box is broken. They sure aren't opening it to see what's inside.

All that's left is the weight check as the package leaves the building. The putty the scammers use weighs exactly the right amount.

The only time the item might be checked for being correct is when it's returned. And they do that because a lot of scammers buy the real item and then send back a box full of putty.

My guess? Someone didn't do a complete check on a previous return- hey, associates have to make rate or they'll be fired, corners get cut. The fake got restowed, resold, and then the second time it was returned someone did a real check.

Excellent analysis. But the issue here isn't that someone made a mistake somewhere.

But rather, that at a very high level: Amazon knows perfectly well that a certain percentage of its customers are getting screwed over, just as it knows it could probably do a lot more internally to prevent this kind of stuff from happening. But having sat down and done a "rational" cost-benefit analysis -- it has calmly decided that it plainly doesn't care, as long as it thinks it can get away with it.

That's just the way the company is - from the highest levels down.

> But rather, that at a very high level: Amazon knows perfectly well that a certain percentage of its customers are getting screwed over

Wonder if there is a way to make them (CEO, CFO, someone high) to say that on the record? No one asks such questions in investor calls I guess (haven't attended myself btw) so the only other forums appear to be legal or congressional.

If I’m the one spending $700 to buy something I should be able to demand the check every outgoing product equally rigorously too. They obviously deem it worth it when they reverse spend that amount.

Why buy something there if the odds are higher retailer is scamming you, not the other way around?

> Items aren't inspected deeply when they arrive. Fakes can get in.

I think stores like Walmart do the same thing for returns, most of the time I believe they just trust the customer, don't know what happens after though if they simply put it back in the isle if the packaging looks good.

Costco as well. I purchased a 3-pack of carbon fiber luggage that came mastroika doll'd, a small suitcase inside a medium inside a large, in a box.

Well the large bag was spotless, and the inside two were slightly scuffed with airline baggage tags still on them! Some enterprising person(s) had used Costco's generous return policy to take a trip and then return the baggage afterwards.

A thorough check, unfortunately, found no contraband or jewels left in the bags by their previous owners.

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