I read on a forum that Amazon dumps items from different sellers in the same fulfilment bin, so even if you buy from Honest John, you might get a product supplied by Faker Phil. Is this still the case?
Apparently there are a lot of fake Nitecore chargers about, and I assume other brands and items too, including Eneloop batteries.
Usually the big - well known brands they have their own shops on Amazon⌠!?
Iâve never heard of that.
As far as I know, when choosing what to purchase on Amazon, Amazon tells you the sellerâs specific name and thatâs who supplies the product.
On the other hand, there are fake products on Amazon, as on many other sites, so it helps to be informed, and it helps to read customer reviews to try to determine if youâre buying the correct product.
Be sure to check out the sellerâs feedback as well. 
Wouldnât reccomend it.
I think youâre UK based, I rate these guys for cells, they used to be called 18650.uk:
Or
For NiMh you canât go far wrong with IKEA Ladda cells.
The last chargers Iâve bought have been from manufacturer on AliExpress.
In large organisations customer satisfaction is regarded higher than making a quick buck (and run).
Nevertheless: when the doodoo hits the fan, youâre on your own. The times PP used to step in for you are over.
Last year I bought mainly from manufacturers on AliExpress, long standing sellers on Amazon and fellow members.
Once in a while I take a gamble, but only if my wallet can take the hit if things go wrong. But all went well.
If a seller is a week old, has hundred of five-star reviews and offers a NOS Surefire 6P for $24,99, remember that:
if something seems too good to be true, it probably is.
And when in doubt: ask you fellow members.
Thatâs a good point.
They do, but when it is fulfilled by Amazon, the product is stored in an Amazon warehouse, and the suggestion is that the same products in the same packaging are just poured into a communal bin, and Amazon credits the appropriate seller when a sale is made. I donât have proof this happens currently hence my post. But it is a concern as it would mean that the supplier is untraceable.
I once bought a ânewâ iPhone on eBay. Sealed box in sealed clear plastic, with perfect items inside. Two years later the battery failed, Apple replaced it and told me the phone was four years old. Turns out it was a second hand item, probably with a new non Apple outer shell, and a fake box and wrapper. Fraud is a big business.
Oddly enough I live a few miles down the road from nubattery, my last (Xtar) charger came from Fogstar, and I plan to pick up some Ladda AA cells next time I am in Ikea in Southampton, itâs a 25 mile drive unfortunately. What a coincidence.
I think youâre right, itâs not worth the risk when buying items that could burn the house down, buy from known good sources instead.
Incidentally Nkon have some very good charger and battery prices, but shipping is high, so itâs not worth it for a single item.
Thanks to Farrage for (re)introducing the concept of Customs. I hardly buy British anymore, like when I started on BLF.
Yes but thereâs a big caveat. This video gives an excellent explanation, focused on fake USB drives, but the same principle applies to all products that are offered by multiple sellers on Amazon:
Basically, Amazon prioritizes the efficiency of their logistics processes, and they wonât necessarily ship your item from the stock of the seller that you purchased from. The recommendation in the above video of purchasing directly from the brand website of the product manufacturer seems like a wise move for battery-related products too.
Amazon is an 800-pound gorilla, and sooner or later they will shaft you. Of course I get it, there are specific situations where Amazon is the only option, and Iâm also an Amazon customer whether I like it or not. But for peace-of-mind it might be better to prefer other retailers as the first option.
I prefer not to buy expensive items that can go wrong from overseas. I had to return a skate sharpener wheel, it got stuck in Swedish customs, then a month later it was returned to me. I would argue that it is thanks to European intransigence, not Farage. JC Juncker could have made some small concessions but he didnât.
Unfortunately it looks like Amazon reviews are also becoming ever more irrelevant. The guy in the previous video I posted also documented how Amazon shot down his review of a blatant fake that they sent him:
As a matter of fact, I just had almost the same thing happen to me. It wasnât a fake, it was just a poor quality product, and I left a detailed review about the issues and gave it 2/5 stars. Quite a few days later Amazon replied with this gem:
Itâs worth mentioning that my review didnât contain a single link or mention any other alternative products, but I did make a statement something to the effect of how all the glowing YouTube reviews for the product are obviously just paid shills. Iâll let people draw their own conclusions based on that experienceâŚ
I used to write pretty thorough reviews and I stopped because I had a similar experience. Seems like the more substantial the review, the more likely it is to run afoul of their automated red flag system. If they actually told you exactly what was wrong that would be one thing, but they donât. At this point Iâm about ready to don a tinfoil hat and say they are intentionally suppressing reviews that would reduce sales to keep their numbers up.
Interesting, thanks. So itâs not just me.
I can understand why they threw your review out. Itâs not a forum for wide open discussion. The review should be about your experience with the product. By mentioning YouTube and people on YouTube and potential Schills on YouTube you are discussing things that have nothing to do with your experience with that specific product. Donât bring up YouTube or any other outside business.
Edit.
Less than a month ago I ordered two security cameras from Amazon in a few minutes after I placed the order I realized I had forgotten to order 2 SD cards. As I started skimming Amazon for SD cards I realized there are going to be fakes out there. But I shopped around and looked at various brands and prices and when with a known brand but still went for the cheapest price I could find on Amazon. Are they putting all products from various companies in the same bin? I donât know. Possibly. They were SanDisk extreme, 256GB. The packages look good except for the UPC code has a sticker over it that looks like itâs coming out of China even though the the UPC sticker thatâs under it says made in Malaysia. So we have two stickers. Iâm going to try to peel them off and see if thereâs anything under that first sticker. Theyâre working but I donât know if they truly have that much storage.
Well, I would beg to differ on that characterization. My review was very specifically about the exact product I received, and it contained nothing even remotely close to
Of course Amazon has the right to make whatever policies they want on their website regarding acceptable reviews, but that doesnât make those policies ethical, especially when they reject reviews based on false premises.
For a fairly modest capacity like 256GB I bet the likelihood of a fake is less than if it were 1TB or something in that range, and especially if you paid a fairly normal, not exceptionally cheap price. But it still might be good to test it if youâre going to use it for anything important. Maybe format it with a checksumming filesystem like Btrfs and then create a 250GB file (or something slightly less than the stated maximum capacity) filled with random data (for example shred -n 1 -s 250G filename), checksum it (md5sum filename), and then unmount and remount the storage and do another checksum.
I was asked by a Chinese manufacturer to review a torch on Amazon. I received a free torch, which I reviewed favourably. I did a few more, then I reviewed a bike light with a somewhat dangerous looking battery pack. Basically the cells were wrapped in a thin plastic film, which was exposed to the elements, and the charge plug was non EU compliant. So I said it was a nice torch but the battery pack might be unsafe. Guess what? Yup, no more review requests. I gave all of the lights away, I didnât need them and to avoid bias.
Then we have YouTubers plugging unproven so-called medicines, YouTube adverts by scammers (to obtain credit card details in one case), and so on.
I saw a YouTube video by a major news channel giving false details about covid vaccines. So I posted a comment about how vaccines are tested. It was removed.
We live in an era where fake news spreads fast, scammers abound, and moderation is done by robots hence it is ineffective. Big internet corporations make a fortune, and spend as little as possible on ensuring the safety of users. In fact they donât give a fig.
Yes, this too. In fact I suspect that in the case of my rejected review it was very likely some âAIâ algorithm that flagged it. In my review I had included the full name of the product I purchased âThe BRANDNAME XYZ-123 performed poorlyâŚâ and some dumb AI probably confused that with the unrelated product name-dropping tactics that spammers use. Also in another recent order where Amazon sent me a completely incorrect product and never compensated me for it I got a strong sensation of AI based on their 10 or 15 idiotic and completely irrelevant responses to my emails.
Did you do a chargeback? Bet that would have gotten their attention.
Not yet, I was hesitant to do that because I do occasionally still need to purchase from them and I wasnât sure if they would retaliate by closing my account. What do you think?
I guess you could search around for anecdotes from people who have done it. I know Iâve heard that Sony tends to close the accounts of people who chargeback on PS Store. Not sure about Amazon.
Did you ever get through to a human? It is still possible to chat with a human in supportâitâs just a pain to get through their bot system which tries to route people away from the humans.
Talking about live chat. It starts out as a bot but the right responses can eventually get you through to people