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Comment by bmitc | Hacker News Reader

I too have stopped buying on Amazon. I did so a while back after being concerned about counterfeits, safety issues, etc. I had this talk with my wife not too long ago about a mirror she ordered from Amazon, clearly made in China by a no-brand manufacturer. We discussed about how, yes, it looks nice, but we have no idea what quality of glass they used. So if it falls and shatters, it could be very dangerous. It also came with a bunch stuff on it that looked like pieces of fiber glass. I just don't trust anything on that platform anymore. I buy everything else from more legitimate sellers selling brand name stuff or directly from manufacturer's websites.

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The example given of silicone spatulas could be particularly egregious - are they even RoHS or REACH compliant? They could be chock full of SVHCs that you serve to your family every supper.

I might send some of our Amazon stuff for testing for phthalates and find out.

I have definitely made it a rule that we don't purchase products that touch food from Amazon. I honestly have no idea how the products there are passing regulations. Are regulations even enforced anymore?

This doesn't sound like an Amazon issue though, but an issue with that specific product. You're the one who chose to purchase it. You would likely have the same experience with that product in other marketplaces like EBay, Walmart or Alibaba.

I don't buy this for a millisecond. Amazon ushered in this behavior and made it the "norm". It's throwaway, cheap, non-branded junk... and dangerous. There is value in discussion of the manipulation of the market and not just "Shop somewhere else". It's predatory.

If a marketplace lets itself get so dodgy that this kind of thing's normal, that's absolutely the marketplace's fault.

There's a big, shady flea market in a bad part of my city. Barbed-wire protecting the roof. Heavy bars on all the windows. Armed guards. Half or more of the vendors are plainly fences, or have a close relationship with one or more. Tons of stuff that "fell of the back of the truck". Entire booths carrying counterfeits of luxury goods, sold under the luxury brand name. It's kinda crazy it's allowed to exist.

You don't go there with the same expectations you do when you go to Wal-Mart or Costco.

Amazon tries to look like, and even started out as, a place like Wal-Mart or Costco. Now they're the "how have the cops not shut this place down?" shady flea market. It's 100% their fault that they're like that, and to the degree that they present themselves as anything else, that's deception.

Your comment implies we desire no product segregation from Amazon, nor any quality control from them, which is not something most people think of when they think of what Amazon ought to be. Most people think of Amazon like they think of a physical Walmart location; as a store that vouches every product it sells. You put Alibaba or Ebay in the same category as Walmart, but that's more akin to Walmart.com, the thing that will kill that brand. People go to Alibaba, eBay or Walmart.com for the dangerous Chinese knockoffs.

I want Amazon to be far more selective of the product it sells.

Walmart stores actually do very carful inventory control, and carefully manages the products it sells. The standard may be lower than you expect, but they are real.

Walmart marketplace is 3rd party sellers, but Walmart doesn’t commingle inventory so it doesn’t infect the rest of their products.

Walmart.com is an infinite shelf of dangerous knockoffs just like Amazon. Walmart stores have no such problem.

It's easy to not buy from other seller's on the marketplace.

Did Amazon stop commingling fulfillment inventory? That's where I worry about getting burned.

> You would likely have the same experience with that product in other marketplaces

Other marketplaces don’t put up with the same volume of crap being listed as Amazon.

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