Fake Amazon

The Sell Your Stuff and Fullfillment by Amazon services are methods for companies and individuals to sell stuff via Amazon’s marketplace, and using Amazon’s immense, global reach.

By offering these services, Amazon has created a gigantic marketplace, while simultaneously making even the most obscure or hard-to-find items available to anybody. Just type some text into Amazon search, and you’ll get results. Lots of results. Too many results, it seems, even for Amazon. This is because many of the items don’t really come from Amazon itself, but rather from sellers using the Sell Your Stuff or Amazon Fulfillment service.

Sellers set their own prices (which can be odd, see Figure 1, below), buyers have a greater selection (not always a good thing, but that’s another article), and Amazon handles the whole purchase. In a few days, you get your product (sometimes, see below). The process is seamless, and it feels like you’re buying from Amazon.

Figure 1 An example of odd third-party pricing at Amazon.

I’ve dubbed this storefront and purchase experience Fake Amazon. It all seems to work perfectly, until you need to return something.

Wolverine

I wanted to pick up a Mighty Muggs Wolverine figure. Who wouldn’t want one, right? I mean, he is the best there is at what he does.

The local Target was sold out. As Amazon is my online store of choice, I checked there first, and found one for the same price. As an Amazon prime member, I’m always looking for the “Prime” availability image which lets me know the item I’m about to buy is available for free 2-day or $3.99 overnight shipping. When I don’t see this image, I know that the item might be sold by a third-party using Amazon’s services (although some Fake Amazon items are eligible for Prime, too).

I’d purchased items this way from bigger resellers (like Adorama, JR, and others) in the past without an issue, so I felt confident enough dropping $10 on a Wolverine vinyl from a third-party via Amazon.

Several days later, my package arrived, but Wolverine was not in the box.

Instead, I found a Bratz Babyz Storybook Collection Sasha’s North Pole Journey doll, along with an invoice addressed to somebody else.

I didn’t like the Bratz Babyz Storybook Collection Sasha’s North Pole Journey very much, and although I thought maybe it could pass as a Sabertooth figure on account of the outfit, my heart was set on Wolverine, so I decided to return it.

Returns from Fake Amazon Aren’t Handled By Amazon

Ideally, I would have liked have been able to send it back in exchange for the correct item. Typically when ordering from Amazon, you can go to your previous orders and step through the automated return process, which is fairly simple. The return process for a third-party item requires you to contact the seller through Amazon’s system, and then wait for them to reply.

I filled out the form (which seems to choke on quotation marks and other commonly-used characters and punctuation) and waited two weeks. When I received no response, at my request, Amazon stepped in and tried to recover the money. I’m not sure if they ever actually got in contact with the seller, or if they just issued a refund to me, but, I was never given a way to get an exchange, and I was never instructed to return the Bratz Babyz doll, although the money was eventually refunded.

The Bigger Issue

The real issue here, I think, is that for the “average” Internet shopper, it might be difficult to know if you’re purchasing from Amazon or from a third-party. Sure, there’s text under the product name telling you where the item is coming from, but you’d be surprised how many people ignore, disregard, or just plain miss it.

Most times, I bet things go just fine. But sometimes, when things go wrong, the system seems to break down a bit. Sure I got my money back, but what if this had been a gift, for example, or an item that was more expensive. Do you buy something somewhere else and hope for a refund in a month, or do you just wait? What if you can’t wait?

And in case you’re wondering, I wound up donating the doll, but I still don’t have a Mighty Muggs Wolverine figure.

20 Dec 2008 • 17 Comments • Tags: commerce, web

Comments

17 Comments.

I ran into major confusion when trying to buy some shoes from Amazon Prime. Some of the sizes were sold by Amazon and some by Fake Amazon. These were displayed on the same page and you can't tell who the real seller is until selecting a size! Crazy wrong.

bradley • 20 Dec 2008 • 03:12 PM

The Fake Amazon approach has *always* felt off for me. I don't think it's helpful to the Amazon brand or to consumers. I'm a pretty savvy internet user and I often have trouble wading through Fake Amazon to order things from Real Amazon.

At the very least, I think it should be a separate site, or at least have a different visual brand so that it's clear in integrated search results and product detail pages where everything is coming from.

Grant • 20 December 2008 • 07:12 PM

Good call, Dan. Since I'm an Amazon Prime subscriber, I usually filter by items available for Prime shipping, which cuts out most (but not all) of the Amazon Fake.

In some searches, you can also click to filter by items sold by Amazon, but that's not available in all searches.

Not only that, but as Bradley notes, you have to be careful to click on the link to show all sellers and make sure you're buying from Amazon once you find a product that's sold by multiple vendors.

Over all, it really slows the shopping process down and dilutes the Amazon brand. I think you should be able to search products sold by Amazon.com (the safe, controlled area), but venture out into the wilds of independent vendors if you choose, perhaps to find something on sale or something Amazon doesn't sell.

Geoff • 20 December 2008 • 08:12 PM

• 20 Dec 2008 • 08:12 PM

Fake amazon drives me NUTS! The biggest thing I hate is that my orders don't ship together, and shipping is always more expensive when you use fake amazon.

I really really wish they had a toggle to turn off fake amazon results in searches.

BJ Clark • 20 December 2008 • 08:12 PM

Here's my Fake Amazon Tale of Woe (R): We needed a non-standard sized baby gate for a doorway. Found one on Amazon that was perfect. When we got it, we realized that the amazon.com entry was in error. ditto for the retailer's site. The manufacturer had the correct dimensions (it was off by 1 inch, but it was 1 inch to wide). "No problem" I thought. I've been an Amazon customer for over a decade and never experienced issues with returns. Turns out, the return had to be handled via the retailer (global pets). It took over 2 months to finally get the return processed and my account credited. Also, I had to work with Amazon separately to get a refund for the shipping. Oy. I definitely think twice about using a "Fake" that I'm not already familiar with.

Andy Michaels • 20 December 2008 • 09:12 PM

Glad you coined a name for this, and I agree with the other comments -- this is starting to hurt Amazon's reputation. If I want to shop from unknown sellers who may not ship something on time and who are difficult to get ahold of, I'll use Ebay.

Last week I was shopping for Christmas gifts on Amazon and was surprised at just how bad this situation has gotten. Many popular video games and toys were only available from Fake Amazon. I'd prefer if Amazon focused on the key product groups they can actually keep in stock (books, music, and electronics) and split the larger marketplace stuff off until they can control the entire pipeline for those as well.

Manton Reece • 20 December 2008 • 11:12 PM

By allowing the Market Place to pollute the main search results, Amazon have let it negatively impact their reputation as a trusted single source.

When searching Amazon you want to know that the result you've found is the definitive item listing held. But since the Market Place, it could be just one listing of several, and you can never be quite sure that if you had changed your search keywords a bit, or dug through a few more pages, you might have found a better deal. That uncertainty has shifted the way Amazon works.

Even simple searches can easily miss Amazon's own listing and turn up a slew of untrustworthy chancers trying to flog a £10 book for £99. There's nothing wrong with that idea, as it might apply to say, eBay, but one advantage of using Amazon used to be that you could trust the price they listed as being about right for the item.

Brook Elgie • 21 December 2008 • 06:12 AM

Great post Dan. I always ensure I don't order from Fake Amazon, but you're right, the average user could easily fall into this trap and end up with a really bad taste in their mouth. Amazon should take a closer look at this practice and how it affects their brand.

Drew Strojny • 21 December 2008 • 10:12 AM

Like you, Amazon is my online retailer of choice. After a decade of exemplary service, this Fake Amazon (love the name, by the way) element of their business has the potential to sully their reputation. With the untold millions that they have spent building this brand and reputation, I wonder if the fees collected on the Fake Amazon business are worth it.

Scott Gamble • 22 December 2008 • 11:12 AM

I can totally relate to the issues and how Fake Amazon should be emphasized to avoid confusion. But I just wanted to give an alternative experience.

I recently bought a replacement battery for my Sony Ericsson cell phone and the search results were very confusing. I ended up buying a BST-38 instead of a BST-37. Once I discovered the error I went onto Amazon and sent a message to the seller. I got a response and an RMA within a few hours. I sent it back and within a week had the correct battery.

I'm sure there are plenty of horror stories but I didn't want this to turn into a vocal minority situation where a few dozen people scream bloody murder about Amazon over an unscrupulous third party.

Jacob Harvey • 22 December 2008 • 04:12 PM

Of course, somewhere out there is a very disappointed little girl holding a small figurine with a five o'clock shadow and adamantium claws.

Snikt!

Jamie C • 22 Dec 2008 • 07:12 PM

Seeing the prices drop twice in a month on Nikon DSLR cameras, I've been checking Amazon regularly to see if it becomes a trend (and also to drool over the camera I want). Well even before you posted about Fake Amazon, I always looked for the item marked with "Ships from and sold by Amazon." Today, though, I specifically clicked "Amazon.com" in the seller options on the left sidebar bringing me here (if you scroll down a touch you can see that Amazon was selected):

http://www.amazon.com/s/sr=41-9/qid=1229991371/ref=sr_av_p_6_8?ie=UTF8&rs=3017941&field-enc-merchantbin=ATVPDKIKX0DER&rh=n%3A502394%2Cn%3A281052%2Cn%3A3017941%2Cp%5F49%3ANikon%2Cp%5F6%3AATVPDKIKX0DER&page=1

So then I clicked on the D90 body - it was option 3 as of this email:

http://www.amazon.com/Nikon-D90-12-3MP-Digital-Body/dp/B001ET5U92/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=photo&qid=1229991724&sr=1-3

and noticed near the "Add to Cart" button, "Ships from and sold by Calumet."

What the heck? That's crossing the line of ambiguity in my opinion.

So there's another layer in this nasty mess.

Daniel • 22 December 2008 • 07:12 PM

fyi, i just saw this same wolverine today at a local urban outfitters - http://www.urbanoutfitters.com. personally i prefer the darth maul version..

jason • 23 December 2008 • 12:12 AM

I agree completely with the notes above, but for counterpoint, let's also consider the business case for what Amazon is doing.

Amazon.com is positioning itself as a one-stop marketplace. Anything you want, Amazon sells (or sells-through). From this angle, including every possible search result is fundamentally necessary: it shows breadth and reach.

Amazon UX folks will also point out that there's an "amazon.com only" filter on the search results page, so you only get items fulfilled by their warehouses.

I agree this is just part of the story, and that overall, it's a bigger, messier problem. eBay is experiencing the same problems with its increasingly dominant retail sellers marginalizing the auctions, which used to be the main (only) reason people shopped there.

Caveat emptor, indeed.

David Wertheimer • 23 December 2008 • 11:12 AM

Ah, my fellow Americans, I think it's time you all woke up and smelled the pungent aroma of entitlement that emanates from your posterior orifice.

Daniel R • 29 Dec 2008 • 04:12 PM