The Best Thing About Amazon Was Never Going to Last | If shopping on the site feels different now, that’s because it is

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The Best Thing About Amazon Was Never Going to Last
theatlantic.com

The Best Thing About Amazon Was Never Going to Last | If shopping on the site feels different now, that’s because it is::If shopping on the site feels different now, that’s because it is.

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The problem with this is that if a non-manufacturer sells the "same" product, and they both use the same warehouse, Amazon keeps both versions of the product in the same bin, and there's no way to guarantee whether you're getting the real product or the knockoff.

If you buy post-it notes from the official post-it's Amazon store, they're not necessarily giving you post-its from the official post-its stock. You could be getting post-its from seller A6Zodiyn which were never stored properly and several years old so the sticky note glue doesn't hold anymore. But both sellers were selling post-its in the same packaging, so they're in the same box in the warehouse and what the pickers grab is random.

But also the completely fake post-its are in that box too, and they don't stick as well plus their color is off, and there are fewer sheets per pad. But because the outer packaging is the same, same same warehouse box.

This has been a big problem in beauty products particularly, I know. People having sudden reactions to a cream they’ve used for years, because it’s actually a counterfeit.

Another area affected by this is trading cards. If you buy a trading card pack, it's guaranteed yours will have previously been opened, sifted through for good cards, poorly resealed, and returned for Amazon to say "yeah this looks untampered, sell it for the same vendor as new".

I personally haven't had that issue so far, so I can't speak for that.

I have. I won’t buy ssds or sd cards from Amazon anymore for this exact reason. I got counterfeits twice. Once with an sd card and once with an ssd. Now I buy from B&H for stuff like that so I know I’m getting what I ordered.

I was able to return both counterfeits to Amazon so I didn’t lose any money, but I don’t want the hassle of having to test and verify shit I buy to make sure it’s what it’s supposed to be.

Edit: I try to avoid Amazon entirely, but sometimes it’s the only option.

That's not the issue. If the wrong product was sent to you, you just make a refund and reorder.