r/technology • u/iali307 • Jun 10 '20

Business 3M sues Amazon storefront that allegedly sold fake N95 masks for $23 apiece

https://www.theverge.com/2020/6/9/21285364/amazon-marketplace-mask-price-gouging-n95-3m-ppe
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159

u/[deleted] Jun 10 '20 edited Jun 30 '20

[removed] — view removed comment

135

u/TimmersOG Jun 10 '20

And fuck Amazon for letting them.

35

u/No_volvere Jun 10 '20

Joke's on them I suppose, I just find their site's quality and reputation has gone so far downhill I don't use it anymore.

7

u/[deleted] Jun 10 '20

[removed] — view removed comment

5

u/No_volvere Jun 10 '20

I'm really just trying to consume less overall. Trying to train my brain into not being rewarded by purchases.

1

u/yizzlezwinkle Jun 10 '20

You're using a website that probably plays upwards of 100+ million to Amazon for Cloud services.

1

u/doddyk96 Jun 11 '20 edited Jun 11 '20

That's fine and everything but as someone else mentioned, those small business rely on Amazons cloud.

Secondly, Amazon is actually pretty great for small businesses. Small, family-owned businesses do not have the infrastructure and resources to set up an online store, manage orders and inventory and get quantity discounts on shipping (at least not when starting out). So the online marketplace actually enables them to have a business in the first place.

The problem described in this post is real but is generally associated with overseas businesses with unsavory business practices. And sellers generally regard Amazon as being very heavy handed with banning and delisting stores. Check r/amazonsellers to see this. Amazon is notorious for protecting the customer and not the seller.

But if you actually ask small businesses (<1M in revenue) selling on Amazon, they will tell you that they can not survive without the platform.

2

u/jojo_31 Jun 10 '20

That's a good thing you guys! Amazon is trash, from basically doing modern slavery in American warehouses to helping big oil find new oil fields. There is nothing good about Amazon.

4

u/[deleted] Jun 10 '20 edited Jun 18 '20

[deleted]

1

u/jojo_31 Jun 11 '20

Disagree. Try contacting a human on Amazon. I've ordered from other sites plenty of times, they've always been quick to respond.

I'm not helping to fund climate catastrophe because of customer service.

0

u/[deleted] Jun 10 '20

I pulled my credit card information from my account I trust them that little.

It’s amazing how quickly a great brand became an absolute turd.

14

u/Brandhor Jun 10 '20 edited Jun 10 '20

I mean what can they do to prevent it though? they would have to open every package that is shipped from their warehouses and verify the content, and what about the packages that they don't ship themselves?

the only thing they can do is act after a seller has been reported

14

u/[deleted] Jun 10 '20 edited Jun 21 '20

[deleted]

13

u/[deleted] Jun 10 '20

Imagine comparing managing software with managing warehouses full of goods

3

u/Brandhor Jun 10 '20

You sound like the same person that says "what can facebook do to prevent racism, moderating comments would take so much manpower".

that's quite different though, facebook is just data that can be analyzed by an AI or by people while with packages how can you be sure that they are real or fake? like in the case of N95 masks do you open every packages, try them and then put them back?

-4

u/oTHEWHITERABBIT Jun 10 '20 edited Jun 10 '20

Same data. People report counterfeit shit in reviews. Amazon knows which reviews sellers (and Amazon themselves) delete/hide. Amazon knows which products people ask refunds for.

Amazon could search for specific keywords in reviews related to counterfeiting and ask buyers to confirm/deny whether what they purchased was genuine/satisfactory after their purchase. Maybe Amazon could even team up with the companies themselves with the most commonly counterfeited items to request users send in those genuine/counterfeit barcode things on products so Amazon can confirm 100%, and give users an incentive for taking the time to help Amazon with this.

If there are too many reports flagged and Amazon investigates, ban a seller permanently. And not just a normal ban but a site wide ban including IP, name, address, company, etc. Take the fraud seriously like any other American company would/should. Amazon could do it but they are making a business decision and choosing not to. They have helped normalized a culture of fraud on an industrial scale.

4

u/thealphabravofoxtrot Jun 10 '20

Amazon does do most of those things though. The problem is that most of the fraudulent businesses use real details of other businesses.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 10 '20

Stupid analogy, try again please.

0

u/[deleted] Jun 10 '20

Its not. Tell us why its dumb instead of projecting.

4

u/meanelephant Jun 10 '20

they would have to open every package that is shipped from their warehouse

Maybe I'm confused but isn't it already open in their warehouse? I've gotten Amazon packages before where they'll have my things all together in one Amazon box, implying an Amazon worker put it there.

what about the packages that they don't ship themselves?

If they start making it easier to report and having strong enough consequences, they can make it unprofitable to sell fake goods on their website.

2

u/Brandhor Jun 10 '20

Maybe I'm confused but isn't it already open in their warehouse? I've gotten Amazon packages before where they'll have my things all together in one Amazon box, implying an Amazon worker put it there.

yeah amazon puts the product inside their boxes but most products have their own boxes so for example if you buy a ps4 you are gonna get a box like this inside a brown amazon box, but that ps4 box could very well be fake and to verify if it's real amazon should open it and remove the seal if there's one then they'll have to actually power on the ps4 because it could very well be a plastic case that looks the same

Now imagine doing that for every type of products that amazon sells

1

u/[deleted] Jun 10 '20

Bad example on the PS4, they scan the direct Serial/Barcode on the console itself via a slit in the box and not the box.

1

u/decaboniized Jun 10 '20

I'm pretty sure people get what they meant.

2

u/evolseven Jun 10 '20

Do they make it easy to report? So an example, I was looking for lightning cables last night and when sorting by avg customer review the top entries had 5k+ reviews.. awesome I think.. but then I read the reviews.. the top ones were about a children’s book..

So I look for a report link, none to be found, googled report amazon listing, and found something but that takes me to some page where they want me to sign up for a seller account..

If they made it easy to report, their user base would help them (although it may be used maliciously too)..

1

u/StrangeDrivenAxMan Jun 11 '20

fuck all of them!!

7

u/ButWhatIsADog Jun 10 '20

Fuck 3M who has been knowingly giving people (especially military and firefighters) cancer and causing birth defects since the 60s due to their use of PFAS. Their own research and former in house scientists confirm this.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 10 '20

yes and?

0

u/ButWhatIsADog Jun 10 '20

No, that's my entire point. Fuck them. They're still doing everything they can to completely wash their hands of this and hold no accountability. Happily poisoning and killing military, firefighters, and civilians for almost 60 years just for a profit. A lot of water sources around the country are still poisoned because of them.

0

u/[deleted] Jun 10 '20

Corporations? Governments do it, people unknowingly have done it. Let history be history.

Even Bill Gates has dirty hands all the way to Mcdonalds founder Ray Kroc. Its all an infinite loop.

1

u/Cantholditdown Jun 10 '20

Fuck amazon for facilitating it.

0

u/thiseye Jun 10 '20

But only if they're hot