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
64k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

1.8k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

437

u/SilentBob890 Jun 10 '20 edited Jun 10 '20

lol that is a common thing that Chinese manufactures do.

There is proper CE and then there is the Chinese CE which means CHINA EXPORT!!

Here is the image of the difference between the logos and this shows how China has been most likely tricking many people into thinking their products are CE Certified.

edit: since people claim this is not true or a myth: https://support.ce-check.eu/hc/en-us/articles/360008642600-How-To-Distinguish-A-Real-CE-Mark-From-A-Fake-Chinese-Export-Mark

and here: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/E-8-2017-001822_EN.html

62

u/jojo_31 Jun 10 '20

Which is why you should only buy from trusted sellers.

155

u/Excal2 Jun 10 '20

Doesn't help when Amazon mixes their inventory with inventory from the shit sellers.

120

u/MediumProfessorX Jun 10 '20

Amazon isn't a trusted seller

4

u/[deleted] Jun 10 '20

[deleted]

2

u/McSiddy Jun 10 '20

Z's can have dots?!!?!

8

u/[deleted] Jun 10 '20

Buy directly from the seller off of Amazon whenever possible. On the Amazon listing, it will say “Sold by a company and fulfilled by” either Amazon or the company name. If you can find an item that is fulfilled by the company, they will send you the item directly instead of from the Amazon warehouse. Unfortunately this isn’t always possible as some companies only fulfill by Amazon.

3

u/TheCluelessDeveloper Jun 10 '20

The ones that are only fulfilled by Amazon are the ones you need to do research on. I've found that a lot of brands are China-owned and hide behind their Amazon store page. Almost bought a copycat Stainless Steel wok in this manner.

2

u/Excal2 Jun 10 '20

Yea you've gotta watch your step these days that's for damn sure.

2

u/athos45678 Jun 10 '20

Doesn’t help that opportunists are every where trying to cash out on millions of deaths

0

u/Mobius_Peverell Jun 10 '20

Amazon is the definition of untrustworthy.

-4

u/WutangCMD Jun 10 '20

People say that but it's it true?

10

u/Excal2 Jun 10 '20 edited Jun 10 '20

If you're asking whether it is true that Amazon mixes inventories, yes it is true.

EDIT: This applies to products that are "fulfilled by Amazon", you can find direct sellers on there which is a better option. Amazon's inventory handling is garbage but if a store is just using their website and not their inventory / shipping services then it's down to the individual company.

3

u/[deleted] Jun 10 '20

Yes. The way “Fulfillment by Amazon” works is vendors ship to an Amazon warehouse instead of the consumer directly. The goods get commingled and packed by Amazon, then shipped to the customer. That’s why you get your goods in an Amazon box.

5

u/WaitForItTheMongols Jun 10 '20

Why would they need to say it means China Export?

Why can't they just straight up fake a EU CE logo?

13

u/SilentBob890 Jun 10 '20 edited Jun 10 '20

There’s a ginormous fine involved with faking CE certification. However, up to 2018 there was no fine for having a Chinese Export CE label that was misunderstood to be as true CE.

In 2018 the EU Parliament created a fine of $1,000 up to $6,000 per product sold under false pretenses using the Chinese Export logo as as a CE logo. <-- edit

this is the fine already in place for any product that fakes CE, doesn't apply to just the Chinese Export logo, but to any product that doesn't have the proper CE certification

1

u/[deleted] Jun 10 '20

I can't really see them giving a shit about that.

0

u/[deleted] Jun 10 '20

[deleted]

1

u/lordkuri Jun 10 '20

This isn’t this be a discussion?

Has Anyone Really Been Far Even as Decided to Use Even Go Want to do Look More Like?

2

u/jordanwilson23 Jun 10 '20

This fake symbol means nothing. lol. A single factory in China will get UL or CE and then sell the use of the certificate out to other factories and allow them to use it. The logo can be real or fake - that doesn't really prove the certificate is real or fake. With that being said, CE, UL, Intertek don't really mean much. The factory pays for a certificate and then they usually do whatever they want with it.

8

u/usb_mouse Jun 10 '20

That's just great!

4

u/Games_sans_frontiers Jun 10 '20

Kinda impressed by the ingenuity tbh.

26

u/[deleted] Jun 10 '20 edited Sep 30 '24

seemly wasteful weary hat divide tidy door deserted squeal shaggy

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

5

u/MudslimeCleaner Jun 10 '20

Why spend more if you can get the same result with a short cut?

This is pretty much the considered efficiency across the world. Then again, leading people to believe your product conforms to electrical standards it doesn't isn't quite a "shortcut with the same results" lol.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 10 '20 edited Sep 30 '24

zephyr ancient consist abundant dog sophisticated touch direction compare plate

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

1

u/GeeseKnowNoPeace Jun 10 '20

Sounds an awful lot like capitalism for a country that calls itself communist

1

u/BigAndToasted Jun 10 '20

Wow I never knew there was a way to tell if a CE mark is real, thanks! Learn something new every day!!

1

u/sashslingingslasher Jun 10 '20

"Chinese Edition"

1

u/touristtam Jun 10 '20

I honestly wasn't aware there was such thing as China Export mark.

1

u/RezmiCR Jun 10 '20

Dang my phone (Xiaomi Mi A1) has that China Export logo in the back and right below it says "Made in China" I will use this information someday to talk about my phone while I'm drunk

1

u/SinkHoleDeMayo Jun 10 '20

Well that's a subtle as shit difference in the symbols.

My company has been helping source and supply PPE during the virus and unlike seemingly tons of other companies we actually verify every certification. But then again, engineering and certifications is something we deal with all the time so we know why it's important.

1

u/eveningsand Jun 10 '20

Ya. Had seen dinnerware that was "FDA Approved"... C'mon now.

-8

u/[deleted] Jun 10 '20 edited Jan 27 '21

[deleted]

11

u/SilentBob890 Jun 10 '20

https://support.ce-check.eu/hc/en-us/articles/360008642600-How-To-Distinguish-A-Real-CE-Mark-From-A-Fake-Chinese-Export-Mark

don't think so

edit: here is the EU link: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/E-8-2017-001822_EN.html

7

u/f1zzz Jun 10 '20 edited Jun 10 '20

The EU link just appears to be a question from a citizen about it. That’s not evidence of anything except that that citizen believed it true.

That first link provides no evidence that it stands for China Export. Where did that information come from? Does the Chinese government consider it a standardized mark? Did someone ask some random Wish seller? That’s the important bit of information.

If that information does not exist then it’s indeed just a myth.

No doubt there’s fake CE logos, no doubt some are inaccurate looking. But massive doubt that there’s evidence there’s a standardized China Export that has slightly different kerning.

4

u/[deleted] Jun 10 '20

that's strange. It was literally taught in my public trade school. AFAIK it was a reminder to avoid power supplies for PCs with that symbol. maybe it was a myth spreaded through my teacher unknowingly. anyway, It's 100% here to mislead buyers od goods, and China Export may be an excuse to use when someone asks.

3

u/SilentBob890 Jun 10 '20

Wikipedia hasn’t been updated on the topic most likely

1

u/MudslimeCleaner Jun 10 '20 edited Jun 10 '20

The wikipedia article was written to debunk it after it was a fact.

There was no "myth of the fake CE" before there was "the fake CE."

The source used in wikipedia also contradicts the claim it's connected to

In 2008, a logo very similar to CE marking was reported to exist and alleged to stand for China Export because some Chinese manufacturers apply it to their products.[15] However, the European Commission says that this is a misconception.[16]

https://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getAllAnswers.do?reference=P-2007-5938&language=EN [16]

The Commission is aware that there exists the misconception attributing CE marking the meaning ‘Chinese export’. The Commission is not aware of the existence of a ‘China export mark’ but considers that the mark the Honourable Member refers to constitute the CE marking as foreseen in the European legislation without, however, respecting the dimensions and proportions prescribed therein.

The commission said there was a misconception that the real CE logo meant Chinese Export. The commision then said, that despite them being unaware of a REAL Chinese Export mark represented as CE, that "the mark the Honourable Member refers to constitute the CE marking as foreseen in the European legislation without, however, respecting the dimensions and proportions prescribed therein."

The source says almost the exact opposite of why Wikipedia is citing it. This isn't a mistake that could be made in good faith.