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Comment by abhiminator | Hacker News Reader

I'd argue the opposite -- why not order from Amazon?

Lots of folks have come to trust Amazon's reliability and customer service over the years, so it does make sense for customers to order expensive things from Amazon or any other online store, especially with a pandemic going around.

This incident in particular does seem to be an outlier, and we'll have to see how Amazon resolves it.

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I stopped trusting amazon when they removed the ability to report product issues, like knockoffs or scams.

Removing the links just affirmed they don't care whats in their marketplace, and they just backed that attitude up with their recent lawsuit claiming they're not responsible.

I've even reported people who include the "$5 for a review", but they don't ever do anything about it. What trust have they earned except from a few people not complaining?

I trust amazon 1st party store shipping

I do NOT trust the million other people selling things on amazon storefront hoping that you don't notice they're not actually amazon

It's not an outlier. I've ordered things from Amazon and gotten completely wrong things- like 1 latex glove in the box instead of the makeup I ordered.

There are a lot of knockoff products on there, even benign things like birdfeeders are getting faked and sold: https://www.marketplace.org/2019/11/18/how-amazons-counterfe...

Irony is the bird feeder story originally came out before we knew amazon was using their market insight to steal and knockoff their own sellers products. Likely amazon was the one making the knockoffs.

> before we knew amazon was using their market insight to steal and knockoff their own sellers products. Likely amazon was the one making the knockoffs.

I have not heard that, but holy cow. Just so incredibly shady.

For what it's worth, I bought that same birdfeeder directly from the manufacturer's own storefront on ebay (I've found ebay to be easier to find real sellers than Amazon and don't have to deal with figuring out who is doing the shipping etc) and it's awesome.

Don't use Amazon all that much but from the comments here and in other articles that seem to pop up more often recently I figure now time has come for Amazon to finally milk that sweet sweet trust relationship.

I've recently used newly opened Amazon.pl, first purchase and I had to wait +5 weeks for a small item. I'm not used to navigating the labyrinth of checking whether something is fulfilled by someone or whatever. I just had the displeasure of buying something from a dropshipper.

Because Amazon has allowed their store to be filled with buyer-beware scams. Much of their electronics are knockoffs - good luck buying legit batteries, chargers, etc. You're shopping, with inventory commingling, from who knows who. Is the device actually new, or is it a refurb or return? Etc.

For any substantially expensive device, they can also void the warranty by not being an authorized dealer. Or at least create a hassle for the person attempting to use that warranty.

The one thing Amazon provides is trust and this is their main asset. All of their wares you can buy anywhere, buy on Amazon you have reviews and a third party (Amazon) who mediates. Now the big BUT. Amazon integrates every step and thus loses the mediation ability and they are losing the trust with fake reviews.

Nowadays I research items on Amazon and search specialized shops to get them from and maybe get someone to chat with about the stuff I am going to buy. Because I can't trust the reviews on Amazon

A specialty retailer is more likely to know exactly how to package the item to avoid damage. They are likely to have experience with delivery errors that are specific to that specialty product, and thus will be better able to rectify those errors. They may have better customer service, as is the case with B&H. Lastly, a dispute with a specialty retailer is unlikely to affect other services, like Prime Video or grocery delivery.

Because Amazon co-mingles inventory from sellers by UPC. So if one crook ships in empty boxes and you buy from someone else you still can get shafted and the honest seller eats the costs.

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