Now, you may recall that I blogged the other day about an Amazon reseller selling counterfeit versions of Adobe Photoshop. I've been doing some more digging into the whole thing, and I've been pretty much stunned by what I've found. Basically, and not to put too fine a point on, you'll have more luck if you buy a product off an eBayer selling with 0 feedback. Having discovered what I have, there is absolutely no way that I will EVER buy a product off an Amazon reseller in the Amazon Marketplace again. Irrespective of the product.
You may think that because you're buying from the Amazon site, that it some way means something. I thought it did, and I was seduced by phrases like this: "When you buy an item from a seller at Amazon Marketplace, you should be able to expect a high standard of customer service, both before and after you receive your order."
And this: "If your seller refuses to give you a refund despite your attempts to resolve the issue amicably, you may be eligible for protection under the A-to-z Safe Buying Guarantee. You'll need to wait 30 days, but no longer than 90 days after the transaction if you want to submit a claim" Please note that 90 day limitation. Would you buy a television that you could only take back to the shop in the first three months? No. I thought you wouldn't. However, this gets worse. Hidden in the small print on the site is this absolute classic: "Buyers are limited to a lifetime maximum of five claims for purchases from third party sellers on the Amazon.co.uk website". Really? Is that even legal? Would you be happy if you could only return a total of 5 items to Tesco because they were faulty - in your entire life?
You might also think that because you can leave feedback for resellers, that would give you some indication of their worth. But that's not the case either, as - even if you have left negative feedback - they can basically bribe you into removing it.
Now, you may think that this is just me getting on a hobby horse and ranting because I got ripped off. It's a fair point, so I would urge you to do a search for amazon reseller photoshop counterfeit in your search engine of choice. There are complaints after complaints after complaints and even BBC WatchDog has got in on the action: "The systems that Amazon has in place at the moment to stop counterfeit goods on their site are woefully inadequate. Compared with eBay, Amazon doesn't seem to have any system in place that could quickly remove counterfeit goods from its sites".
Not only that, but their investigation found that Amazon marketplace was selling offensive weapons (CS gas and pepper spray particularly via the German site), and I found plenty of tablets for sale as well. I've no idea if these are real, fake, legal or illegal, and more to the point, no-one else is going to be certain either - unless you buy them and test them. This is of course the problem - because Amazon isn't interested in policing their site properly every single marketplace seller has to be treated with caution.
Now, I've absolutely no idea that if Amazon responded to this blog, they would say that it's nothing to do with them - the contract is between the seller and the buyer, and while they do their best to help the two sort out issues, it's nothing really to do with them. Not acceptable, because transactions take place on the site, and Amazon is lending their name and reputation to 3rd party sellers. Sure - perhaps legally they can wash their hands, but in the long term it's going to damage their reputation.
It's worth pointing out that I don't have a problem with Amazon itself - I've always had excellent service from them, but the marketplace mess really does cause me to think again about buying from them - certainly for large ticket items.
Amazon marketplace - I'd rather shop in a sewer. At least you can easily identify the rats there.
An interesting post. Like you I've used Amazon and Amazon Marketplace (without any real problems)over many years but agree we need to remember that all is not perfect.
My concern is over their complete disregard for the accuracy of their bibliographic database. I've tried to deal with these issues with Amazon but with no success.
Firstly their listing of print on demand items by the publisher like Books LLC. This outfit extracts articles from Wikepdia and then packages them for resale. OK maybe they do exist, they have an sbn etc, but they are clearly a fleecing exercise from which Amazon are happy to benefit.
Secondly I know of at least one book that does not exist being offered for sale through Amazon Marketplace. This is a title where publication was announced but due to problems with the author, who failed to complete the manuscript, was then cancelled. (I was the CEO of the publisher at the time). Re-sellers have five copies attached to the Amazon database entry being offered for sale. Amazon have been told this three times but refuse to do anything. Pity the person who goes to buy a copy.
Posted by: Martin Stone | May 17, 2011 at 04:11 PM