Amazon and the FBA

Hello,

I read an article about Amazon's FBA program.
["FBA" = "Fullfilled By Amazon"]

It goes like this : People buy cheap stuff from somewhere in the world, for example from China, and let the complete handling be done via Amazon.
They can choose whateverthename as a pseudo brand, and sell the stuff no matter what quality.
The only thing they *must* do is, to put that stuff into a warehouse of Amazon.

My source is this article : https://www.tagesschau.de/investigativ/panorama/amazon-tricks-markenprodukte-101.html

This article links to more detailed articles, like this one :
https://www.beuc.eu/publications/tw...places-fail-safety-tests-consumer-groups/html

this document :
https://www.danskerhverv.dk/siteass...4-politik/unsafe-products-amazon-30.04.20.pdf

and this overview :
https://www.marketplacepulse.com/articles/amazon-gmv-in-2020


In short : It's a business game already : Buy cheap from somewhere, put it into an Amazon warehouse, and let do Amazon the full handling. Seller & Amazon both profit from this business game - it looks as if its core was almost modelled after economy games, which are, for example, available for the PC platform …

The only ones at danger are the buyers. But nobody cares for them, from a business perspective.

Alrik

Yeah, when I'm buying something on Amazon, I'm spending more time looking for a non-Chinese provider than looking for the actual product

And their support has become abysmal. It's handy sometimes but I hope they collapse under their own weight.

Yes, you have to be very careful about dodgy products from online retailers.

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-59432079

The situation might be different in other places, but it's kind of a Wild West with the quality of products sold, which aren't regulated to the same standards as bricks and mortar shops. Particularly with electrical stuff, there's a lot of products I wouldn't trust in my house.

Its the identical economical business game that most retail companies play.

Buy from cheapest manufacturer or supplier, rebrand / relabel, resell.

Amazon isn't doing anything that hasn't been done since the evolution of an original creator personally selling their own wares.

As for FBA or 'selling through amazon' vs 'selling to amazon'. The concept is the same, its just less paper work.

Yikes, I thought there might be some shady stuff going on, I'd no idea it was this rampant. I'll be more watching more carefully with my future orders!

I'm mostly using Amazon as a review site now and then go off to buy things elsewhere but there can be a prohibitive cost factor. I don't mind paying a couple of quid extra but recently I bought a new vacumn and the cost difference was just too much to justify. I find the same, trying to be a bit greener, when buying green and/or organic can double the grocery shop.

I'm stuck with finding an alternative to the kindle though, and I do get through a lot of books.

The BBC article makes me cringe. I get safety standards for goods produced in ones own country but it comes off like trying to police the world. There should be some onus on parents to look at the shit they buy and give to their 2 year old without requiring governmental oversight to all imported products.

Anyone here ever use Wish? It makes Amazon look like the epitome of quality.

Wisdom said:

The BBC article makes me cringe. I get safety standards for goods produced in ones own country but it comes off like trying to police the world. There should be some onus on parents to look at the shit they buy and give to their 2 year old without requiring governmental oversight to all imported products.

Click to expand...

Not really sure what's so cringe-worthy about it. The issue isn't about individuals choosing to import any old crap for their personal use. But I think most advanced countries have safety-standard certification for electronics, children's products, and so on.

The problem is that when people walk into regular shops, they trust that products will meet those standards. I think with something like Amazon, in particular, a lot of folks assume those protections apply, and many will be oblivious to where the products are coming from. So, I think the argument is that when something like Amazon is replacing regular shops for many people, they need to be held to the same standards as those retailers. I don't think people have a problem with having the freedom to knowingly purchase imports from overseas suppliers, and relying on their own judgement to determine safety.

Ripper said:

Rippers good points

Click to expand...

All this does is set the stage for more governmental oversight in the name of protecting its citizens. It limits the availability of goods more than trade agreements and inter-country negotiations already does.

The argument is intentionally staged in the name of safety and consumer protection yet opens the door for a much darker path of trade and goods control.

Rather than yet another bloated government organization that the public funds, I'm much more in favor of a buyer beware process and acknowledgement that the cheap objects you are buying were not created to the local standard.

Seems like almost every item sold on almost every site is from China nowadays. Just remember most of that stuff are just knockoffs and made cheaply. Especially clothes.

Bought a jacket off Walmart last year it was supposed to be a 2x and instead I received a medium sized jacket for a child. Good luck trying to get a refund from China.

Same with the shirts I bought off an app called wish.

Ripper said:

But I think most advanced countries have safety-standard certification for electronics, children's products, and so on.

Click to expand...

They do.

And this is why:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=veMiNQifZcM



As for Amazon, I have found it useless to use it for anything other than products that are shipped and sold from Amazon.com - and sometimes you actually have to specify that this is what you want because they don't always place themselves first in a list of options for a seller even WHEN they are an option. Amazon's supply chain and purchasing arms are savvy enough to handle products that they personally handle and deliver from all stages from supplier to customer; but otherwise you're just shooting darts at a board. Is that $30 bottle of designer shampoo your wife bought from HAPPYSALEXXX1Q on Amazon legit? Probably not. But that same bottle purchased directly from Amazon is usually fine, and most suppliers even let you know this on the product page.

I think it was... Birkenstock, if I'm not mistaken, that was so upset by all of the knockoffs that were being sold on Amazon that they flat-out stopped selling on Amazon and said to customers if you SEE our products on Amazon they aren't real.

We do have a good system in the EU with the CE marking and any goods sold in the EU should comply with the regulations set by that CE marking.
The CE marking is however put on the products by the producer and not every product is verified by an independent organization. Products without a CE marking are not allowed to be sold in the EU.
If you go to a brick and mortar shop it works, because the shop selling you the product is responsible for the product. So you can go back to that shop and talk to a real person with your complaints and bring it back.
For online shops the same regulations apply, with even more buyer protection than in a brick&mortar store, but it is with the seller of the product, who might be that individual in China, which makes it more difficult to make your claims. That said Amazon is still responsible for removing any non CE marked product or illegally marked CE product from their store, regardless of who the seller is. There are just so many products that it becomes very hard to do this pro-actively and I'm not sure Amazon is trying very hard.