Hah. I bought an Apple Pencil from BB. Shrink-wrapped in the box. I get home, the battery won't charge. I figured out from the S/N that someone had bought a new pencil, put their dead one in the box, shrink-wrapped it, returned it, BB put it back into stock, and I ended up with it.
Fortunately, BB replaced it for me, but I've never had this issue with a single Amazon item I've purchased and I've done a lot more shopping from Amazon than BB.
It was supposed to be brand new, not a used item.
For me, living first in Baltimore then NYC, places where there's quite a few people buying quite a few things up and down the cost scale, I never saw a counterfeit anything come up.
That's not to say I think it doesn't happen, just that I think that's why some people have wildly different experiences here.
Not for nothing, but I can’t remember the last time I purchased anything computer related that was shrink wrapped. It’s all single-use-obvious-if-opened tape
Nearly every time I've bought cheap USB-C cables off Amazon they didn't perform as advertised. The few times I bought name-brand ones they looked different from the ones I've bought at in-person stores and once again failed to perform as advertised (likely counterfeit).
I avoid Amazon as much as possible these days.
After years (my whole adolescent and adult life, more or less) of online shopping, I find that it's actually quite refreshing to go to the store, find the product I need, and purchase it. I have it immediately, I got to handle a demo unit and get a feel for it. If I need to return it, I go back to the same store and get my money back the same day.
There are pros and cons to both, for sure, but these days I find I'm valuing the offline experience more and more.
I'd much rather drive somewhere fun with the kids, work on a hobby, read a book, or just frankly sit and do nothing than go to a store.