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>>Why even bother sending the tree? Why produce shitty products that break after first use, why not just straight up rob people,

Could be the same reasons Scam Contractors do "some work" if you hire someone to redo your bathroom, and they take the money and run, that is clear criminal fraud. If they take the money, so some amount of work, then run it becomes a civil contract dispute.

> Why bother shipping an item to a customer if you're running a scam?

Plausible deniability.

"There seems to have been some..." looks up excuse for the day "... unfortunate mix-up with your order."

Lots of people will just not react, because it's not worth their money and at least they received something.

So the trouble is these market places allowing third party vendors on there (obviously).

All you need is a system to authenticate reputable sellers. Instead of looking at the stars on a product and clicking “buy now,” folks just need so ask: do I know this seller? Is this the ACTUAL publisher selling me this book?

I’d rather go into a real shop anyway. Unless it’s buying some hard-to-find item there’s no excuse.

> I’d rather go into a real shop anyway

You’re assuming that scams don’t make their way into regular distributors as they try to cut corners and maintain competitiveness.

You already see established brands lower the quality of their products after the first round of reviews online. If found out, they just blame manufacturing. Sorry.

True, but it's much less of a problem in physical shops. You can actually examine the merchandise. You know that the item you're paying for is literally the item that you're getting. You're dealing with the shop face-to-face, which reduces a lot of the more brazen scams. And if you have a problem, the shop is likely to do something to fix it -- and if they don't, you have realistic legal options.

In most ways, buying from a brick-and-mortar establishment is a better choice than buying online.

Yep, Patagonia is suing Nordstrom for selling fakes: https://www.seattletimes.com/business/retail/patagonia-accus...

Nordstrom being a third party vendor of course. You want Patagonia, go to Patagonia. :)

In my mind we’re talking about what is a better solution to the problem, and it’s that companies WILL protect their IP. If someone buys fake Patagonia, Patagonia loses out on a sale.

Amazon doesn’t own much of anything IP-Wise on their marketplace in the grand scheme. And they don’t care who buys what as long as products are moving. It’s easier for them to just pay out returns than handle the actual problem.

Marketplaces need to be held liable for products and services sold through them.

And when you have a dispute with a seller that came through a marketplace, your dispute should be with the marketplace and it is then up to the marketplace to recover the value of the goods from the seller.

Amazon has been problematic for a while. I think it was 2019 when I remember filtering to sold by amazon.com was a lot harder, but before that there were still problems with tons of low quality products and fake reviews

Costco bucks this trend though

> Why bother shipping an item to a customer if you're running a scam?

Because they have a warehouse full of ugly misprinted clothes and need to get rid of them. and those clothes still cost (some) money to make or acquire.

and as others have said, not sending anything is wire fraud, and outright scams will catch criminal charges; one more line on an Interpol indictment. Crappy or underperforming goods are a civil issue, and no one is launching an international lawsuit over a $100 item

This doesn't just apply to physical merchandise. And it isn't new. Isn't this the whole point of sites like yelp? Or Fox News? Whether you need a good auto mechanic or good mayor. Or if you want to know if a movie is worth paying for or whether paper bags are bad for the environment.

"How to verify any claim" has to become a formal subject like math and reading to be taught in stages over several years. It has to have real homework problems to practice different strategies. But in the end, do we come up with different ratings or logic categories to say this particular question is fifth degree hard to get right? Can we identify the elements that build trust? Does it help in poker if you know another player's family? Does it help in voting for student body president if they previously served as class president? Is it better to buy a blender from the same company that made your favorite dishwasher? Can you take a chance on a newcomer if they don't speak your language or have your accent? What if some claim hasn't been published in a peer-reviewed journal I recognize?

People willing to take risk on Wish because they are spending frivolously and would like to spend less frivolously.

Scams are high, but not so high that you won't usually get what you asked for.