Amazon Japan ordered to pay 35M. yen for allowing listing of fakes
mainichi.jp
mainichi.jp
I rarely, like once every 6 months, look for some obscure thing on Amazon. First thing I do after finding products, I research which one of the listing has any chance of not being a fake/dud/scam.
I can't imagine buying anything of value on Amazon.
It varieres from region to region obviously, but here there's no point in ordering from Amazon. Everyone else is cheaper, have faster shipping and don't have a ridicules number of scamming sellers with fake, defective and dangerous products. It seems like Amazon should be failing, but I don't think they are.
The Amazon store really have become an absolute shitshow.
Amazon definitely explicitly supports this.
What I do, is go directly to the product Web site (not the Amazon page for the manufacturer), and order from there. Sometimes, the fulfillment is via Amazon, but I know I’m getting the real thing. The difference in price is often smaller than you might think. Amazon prices aren’t that good, anymore.
Vendors can be flexible, if the malfeasance is under the Amazon imprimatur, but it's a completely different story, if they act as fulfillment for a separate company, and substitute fake stuff.
Bit we can't help ourselves, I suppose. I'm also guilty of ordering cheap plastic crap.
I guarantee a smaller company would probably be sued into oblivion if they were as relaxed about what they stocked as Amazon is. Same with an app store that was as willing to stock knockoffs and fakes as the iOS App Store and Google Play.
The fact these companies seem to be able to just stock anything and everything without any sort of oversight or quality control, and can just basically say "buyer beware" boggles the mind, especially compared to traditional retail and offline equivalents.
The one time I had a problem with an Amazon item it was immediately refunded.
They are still operating in the UK so can clearly operate profitable under these rules. You shouldn't accept anything less.
Not only is it much better for the customer, it's also clearly profitable.
It can also act as a differentiator, many retailers here including some big French ones tried to play around that law with the marketplace system, "we are not the seller just an intermediary", and while changes to the law is on its way to stop that it allowed Amazon to easily take over by not making that distinction.
There is still some issue about the difference between shipped by Amazon or not for the warranty request (not refund or fake or... but regular warranty issue), which I hope the law tackles head on.
There was a wave of fake household appliances sold in the UK.
Amazon is ceaspool and should be shutdown for the betterment of humanity.
With that said, the discussion on Yahoo News is mostly in agreement with the opinions shared in this thread: given Amazon's scale, a fine of 35M yen is equivalent to no penalty.
How very nice and kind of Amazon.
35M yen to a brand or two here or there when they lose in court is nothing for them.
Walmart etc big retailers do lots of sketchy stuff, house label products, and squeeze suppliers.. but you don't see blatant counterfeit good sales.
Amazon and other "online marketplace" types want to have it both ways - collecting obscene fees to list, stock and ship your goods.. while taking no responsibility or risk. They have turned the retail model on its head where they win either way as they are just taking fees on 3rd parties taking the risks, inverting the supplier-retailer relationship.
There is a lot of ecomm change happening now in Japan with the rise of Mercari, junk items selling more than new / real (makes no sense) etc.
Pre pandemic, it was a dream to order online in Japan. No fakes, low prices, great quality.
Amazon sells everything. You literally buy things everywhere else.