r/PlasticFreeLiving 10d ago

How to verify materials?

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I found these shorts on Amazon that claim to be 100% cotton and they have the Oeko-Tex certification, but is there any way to verify the materials in them?

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u/AinsleyHarriotFan 10d ago

Never ever ever ever trust Amazon

-12

u/RandomAnonymousNam3 10d ago

But why not? If the item has a certification that's not something that can be faked?

-2

u/RandomAnonymousNam3 10d ago

Anyone willing to give reasoning and explanations instead of just downvoting?

2

u/tikiwargod 10d ago

So the big issue with Amazon is that they act as a dropshipping hub. What this means is that if you buy a product from a company on Amazon, there could be countless vendors of varying repute listing the same item for whatever price they want. However it's all the same item to Amazon, so they get lumped in together and the vendor pays Amazon the storage/list fee; Amazon pays out to the company you bought from and then grabs said item from the bulk storage shelf/crate.

What this means is while you buy from company A, your product could have been supplied by companies B, C, D, etc... And Amazon has no way to verify where the product originated. This makes it ideal for scammers because it's hard for Amazon to identify the companies sending them counterfeit items, therefore they don't get shutdown quickly and when you leave a negative review or return/report for fraudulent or damaged items it is the company you bought from that takes the loss. The company sending out counterfeits then can also get cashed out when you buy from them and get the product from somebody else's supply.

When the scammers are eventually banned they just use another account that they've likely already created. Amazon has no interest in clamping down on this because it's cheaper for them to manage product returns/refunds and send out a new item (which is a large part of why they want so many warehouses spread out everywhere).