Is This Even Possible !?

[Honeybadgers]

god, these sellers are getting even more dubious.

 

I was looking to buy some moderately high end goggles for the upcoming solar eclipse since I'll be on the path of totality.

 

I'm glad I checked the seller, because the lowest price (and only by a hair, not this dollar-store stuff, they only marked it down from $35 to $32) seller was...

 

One of these scammers.

 

This needs to stop.

[Karmabim]

The problem is huge and to be quite honest, I don't think Amazon is treating the problem half seriously or maybe they can't stop it. I emailed again just to get an update and to let them know how frustrating the problem is to customers and to other traders on Amazon. That was a few days ago and have they replied? Have they heck.

 

You would think they were more concerned about the scale of disruption to their business but it seems not. The fault probably lies with the ease of setting up a seller account because even if one of the scammer accounts is taken down two of three pop up in its place selling the exact same items.

 

Imagine a new customer to Amazon. They have heard about good deals and search for them. Naturally they will find the lowest price from one of the scam band and duly order the items. Wait, wait, wait, nothing arrives, complain and eventually get a refund (probably). Will they repeat the wonderful shopping experience? I don't think so! Do Amazon care? It doesn't seem like it!

[Chrissy]

Amazon have been so 'off-handed' with me that I have just given up. To be brutally honest, I no longer care whether they have to pay out all of these £7.99 or £9.99 claims. If they aren't prepared to welcome or even to accept help, then IMHO they deserve whatever they get.

[Dubois]

I agree this is getting out of hand. I've just spotted something on my watch list (household goods, nothing to do with pens) come down from £10.95 to £4.20. Guess what? New seller NANCY BRAND from MI, USA, has it along with a couple of thousand other items, Think I'll give up on Amazon for a few months.

 

Edit>> Just googled "Amazon just launched scam" - this has been going on for years!

Edited August 9, 2017 by Dubois

[FordPrefect8]

I'm starting to think that Amazon is quite happy with this going on. It would make sense if they are the party holding onto the funds for the majority of the time - between fake sell and A-Z claim.

Didn't someone say 3rd party sellers get funds from transactions with few weeks delay?

Edited August 9, 2017 by FordPrefect

[Karmabim]

I'm starting to think that Amazon is quite happy with this going on. It would make sense if they are the party holding onto the funds for the majority of the time - between fake sell and A-Z claim.

Didn't someone say 3rd party sellers get funds from transactions with few weeks delay?

 

Third party sellers get paid by Amazon as soon as they mark the items dispatched. So with a 3 week delivery time after say 3-4 days they say the item is dispatched, they get paid. They do this for say 1-2 weeks getting paid for as much as they can still leaving a comfortable week then disappear. The next day another name takes up the same scam and so it goes on. Meanwhile customers complain and Amazon have to honour their refund policy.

[Chrissy]

I believe Amazon does get to keep the funds, until a seller can withdraw them to his bank account after two weeks, but paying all of the buyers back their £9.99 payments is surely hitting their profits.

 

They will have to pass that on to buyers unless they actively police these scammers and stop them more quickly than they are currently doing.

[Honeybadgers]

I don't understand why Amazon would let this happen willingly, because they've always had incredible customer service whenever I've had an issue, never questioning a product that never arrived, and never even asking me to return a defective product before sending me a new one.

 

I honestly think this problem is so new that Amazon hasn't figured out how to deal with it yet. Fingers crossed they do take it seriously, because this kind of cheap, scummy, exploitative scamming is what has nearly ruined Valve's Steam video game storefront, all because Valve refused to curate ANYTHING.

 

Watch, these scammers are North Korea's new method of funneling money. Wouldn't that be bizarre.

Edited August 10, 2017 by Honeybadgers

[fabri00]

Interesting to see how many peoples think they can get a pen regularly priced at 100 or more USD for less then 10 USD. .....

[schapman]

I got an imitation LAMY Safari from an Amazon seller like this - after ordering a Kuretake #50 Brush Pen. It actually writes pretty well for what it is.

 

Here is a thread on the LAMY subforum with more information.