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Comment by paulcole | Hacker News Reader

Forget about counterfeits, just imagine how much of the 3rd-party stuff sold on Amazon must be stolen.

Here in Portland there was a recent bust of a lego theft ring. You have to wonder how much of this ends up on Amazon or ebay:

http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2018/04/se_port...

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About two years ago, when our first child needed formula, we briefly considered buying from Amazon until we read about the comingling/counterfeiting issue. We decided to buy from Whole Foods instead (funny enough with the Amazon purchase recently). We wanted someplace where we trusted the supply chain, and that wasn’t Amazon. Now we use Costco (we pay for our membership, but piggyback off a family member’s prime membership although we’ve phased out almost all Amazon purchases for Costco, Target, or Wal Mart).

I would not trust Amazon for anything that you’re going to consume. You can’t trust who supplied it, and I have a great deal of skepticism that you’d be able to hold someone accountable if there was a health issue from consumption of a counterfeit product.

I am a bit confused, When you buy from Amazon, isn’t there an explicit indication whether you are buying from Amazon itself vs “marketplace” seller? Shouldn’t stuff direct from Amazon be legit?

I could be mistaken, but my understanding is that there is no indicator if comingled inventory is enabled or disabled for a SKU, and that even product sold “by Amazon” could be comingled.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13926015

I've received counterfeit electronic goods from a Chinese third-party seller before.

No, Amazon mixes inventory. You should not trust Amazon with anything that is expensive or you put into your body. A product gets high ratings and is successful, then counterfeiters flood the market with a fake product that you end up inadvertently buying.

A recent example is Eclipse glasses that were purchased on Amazon. Since the inventory was co-mingled and Amazon doesn't have the time or expertise they refunded most purchases of the glasses both from legitimate and illegitimate sellers.

I believe this is only the case in US. If you're buying from Amazon in EU the stock advertised as "sold by Amazon" is actually their own stock.

Do you have a source for that? I tried finding an answer to this a while ago and was left a little unsure in the end.

That is no guarantee it seems, even for really expensive items.

Go to Youtube and search for "chaseontwowheels" and "rocks", you'll see an interesting story in three parts about a guy trying to order a high end camera from Amazon.

> I would not trust Amazon for anything that you’re going to consume.

Likewise. I've gotten flagrantly counterfeit body wash / shampoo and the only thing I buy on Amazon now is books, because they're the only thing that won't cause any problems to me if they're counterfeit.

The risk of counterfeited food/drink/personal care products/electronics just not worth it.

Here in the Netherlands they actually (for a time) limited Nutrilon sales to everyone as the legal way even was profitable: Buy the stuff here from the store, take it with you in your luggage (and simply pay for the fees) to China and sell it there. The result being empty shelves and people with kids not being able to buy it. As far as I know there was some theft involved but not more than the legal buyouts.

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