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Amazon allows scammers to continue to scam

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Carnby

Carnby

Member
Sorry guys, I just need to vent.

I purchased Nier a few weeks ago from a seller on Amazon. At the time of the purchase, the seller had no feed back. That didn't bother me, because only a few weeks ago I too sold a rare item for cheap on Amazon, and it was my first item, so I didn't have feed back either.

While still waiting the package to arrive, 4 days ago I looked at the seller's feedback. Suddenly the seller had 12 negative feedbacks, and all with the same complaint. The buyers never received the item and the tracking number they were given was fake. Sure enough, my tracking number is fake too.

I reported the seller to Amazon, and four days later the scammer is still selling the same item, still giving out fake tracking numbers, and their their feedback is now up to 51 negatives.

I've called Amazon to report this seller multiple times. Amazon keeps telling me that I will get my refund in 2 weeks. I tell them that's not why I'm calling! Despite making my biggest concern crystal clear, Amazon completely ignores that a scammer is still selling on their site, he's using fake tracking numbers, and his negative feedback is rapidly growing. Again I keep being told, in 1 to 2 weeks i will get my refund and something will be done. It's just so frustrating!

TLDR: Why isn't Amazon closing accounts that are clearly scammers? Instead they make all of us waste our money and time, and wait weeks before doing anything, if ever.
NLt68GP.png
Click to expand...

Update: Within hours of making this complaint public on Twitter (screen captures included), I received a refund and the scammer's account was shut down. Thanks for the suggestion.
 
old

old

Member
This exact thing happened to me in November. Bought a book from a third party seller on Amazon. Said it would take 3-4 weeks to arrive. 6 weeks later still no book. Tracking number was fake. Checked the sellers feedback. All same thing, nobody was receiving anything, fake tracking numbers. Reported the scammer.

Amazon just gave me my purchase back as a gift card.
 
K

Keyser Soze

Member
The person you are contacting on Amazon likely does not have the clearances needed to sort out the issue on a mass scale, and it would probably mean extra footwork for them to fix the entire issue. They are likely doing the best the can - for you - with their current levels of access, which is within their job description (customer service).
 
D

Drazgul

Member
Is there a way to filter out all 3rd party vendors from Amazon search results by default, maybe buried somewhere in the account settings? I've no interest in those, and filtering them out for every search gets tiresome. Fulfilled by Amazon ones would be the one exception, I guess.
 
LifEndz

LifEndz

Member
This is why if I'm considering buying third party there has to be a substantial amount of feedback on the seller. Too many people looking to take advantage of others.
 
Carnby

Carnby

Member
Keyser Soze said:
The person you are contacting on Amazon likely does not have the clearances needed to sort out the issue on a mass scale, and it would probably mean extra footwork for them to fix the entire issue. They are likely doing the best the can - for you - with their current levels of access, which is within their job description (customer service).
Click to expand...

I get that, but five days later after I reported it to level 1 support, the scammer is still selling. I have emails from Amazon, where they claim that this has been escalated. Five days and 50 more negative feedbacks later, the scammer is still scamming.

Get off your ass Amazon. Hell, my seller account was shut down weeks after a I sold my first time due to "inactivity". Why the hell is it so hard for Amazon to put a hold on the seller's account until this is sorted out. You don't gotta be fucking Sherlock Holmes to see this is a scammer.
 
B

BreakyBoy

o_O @_@ O_o
That's funny. I had two returned shipments due to mixing up addresses, and got negative feedback for both, and was immediately banned from further participation in the Amazon Seller program.

That was over five years ago. I'm still banned.

I guess there was a flip in policy at some point.
 
D

Darryl M R

Member
Sorry to hear about this OP. I only buy items sold by Amazon, fulfilled by Amazon, or third-party with crazy high reviews.
 
D

DrEvil

not a medical professional
Drazgul said:
Is there a way to filter out all 3rd party vendors from Amazon search results by default, maybe buried somewhere in the account settings? I've no interest in those, and filtering them out for every search gets tiresome. Fulfilled by Amazon ones would be the one exception, I guess.
Click to expand...

I always check the box next to "prime" to ensure it's a " sold by" amazon item.
 
N

neshcom

Banned
I mean, no marketplace will be in a hurry to get anyone off their site. But still, this is the feedback system working as intended. This dudes reputation is in the shitter and, even if they have an account once those sales are complete, no one will buy from them.
 
C

CreeperBlocks

Banned
This is why I buy from Amazon, or it's fullfilled by Amazon, or it's a third party that has a very high percentage and very good reputation. I never buy anything lower than 80%

I'm currently waiting for a few Japanese games I bought from a third party seller from Japan it's been a long wait.
 
Carnby

Carnby

Member
neshcom said:
I mean, no marketplace will be in a hurry to get anyone off their site. But still, this is the feedback system working as intended. This dudes reputation is in the shitter and, even if they have an account once those sales are complete, no one will buy from them.
Click to expand...

As I've pointed out to Amazon, the seller uses media mail. This means the buyer is willing to wait a few weeks before they start investigating what really happened. In the meantime, he's selling the same fake item over and over while everyone waits a few weeks before submitting feedback. I've pointed it out to Amazon, and they won't do shit.
 
S

Stopdoor

Member
Yeah, already had this happen twice. To be honest, it's kind of predictable because the price usually is really good and the seller has none or negative feedback, but it is weird how common it suddenly is. Even if they don't tell you they're looking into it, they must be because Amazon's generous refund policy would start to break the bank eventually.
 
N

neshcom

Banned
Carnby said:
As I've pointed out to Amazon, the seller uses media mail. This means the buyer is willing to wait a few weeks before they start investigating what really happened. In the meantime, he's selling the same fake item over and over while everyone waits a few weeks before submitting feedback. I've pointed it out to Amazon, and they won't do shit.
Click to expand...
You aren't the only person with a tip-off for a scammer and this guy isn't the only person Amazon will investigate. You need to accept that no customer is a responsible or safe enough judge (sheerly on principle) for a marketplace and that Amazon is bigger than your one issue with this one seller. You've sent it in, let them work on it.

I guess it's a scam if this dude is holding your money for a few weeks, but Amazon is doing what they can and should: refund and investigate.
 
Carnby

Carnby

Member
neshcom said:
You aren't the only person with a tip-off for a scammer and this guy isn't the only person Amazon will investigate. You need to accept that no customer is a responsible or safe enough judge (sheerly on principle) for a marketplace and that Amazon is bigger than your one issue with this one seller. You've sent it in, let them work on it.

I guess it's a scam if this dude is holding your money for a few weeks, but Amazon is doing what they can and should: refund and investigate.
Click to expand...

Investigate? LMAO.
 
B

Biske

Member
I've never had any problems.

Usually with 3rd party sellers on amazon I give them more scrutiny, look at the price if it seems too good to be true, if the price to shipping ratio is asinine thats usually a bad sign (when the item is like a dollar but the shipping is like 15) and then feedback and number of items sold.


If they are a new seller with no feedback, well thats a gamble. Would be nice to have it quickly solved, but I understand how Amazon could be in a bit of a bind. I'm sure they have to give the sellers some kind of leeway and time to follow through, and they have so many people buying and selling, can hardly crack down on them.

So I don't think "you'll get your money back in a week or two" is too outrageous. If you are in a situation where its more urgent than that, probably better to never trust 3rd party sellers, if possible, certainly ones with no history and feedback.
 
B

Bleepey

Member
I bought a CPU from a third party on Amazon. Within weeks of my CPU not coming they accrued a fair few negative reviews. So I called Amazon asking for a refund and they gave me a refund on the phone.
 
L

Laekon

Member
Large corporation doesn't give a shit. The message from the customer service rep probably has to go through 3 departments all with different goals. The person you talked to doesn't care cause there are 10 people in que and he gets judged on call volume. The person in charge at the end is still on their Christmas ski vacation in Switzerland and doesn't care that either of you exist.
 
B

bachikarn

Member
I don't completely see the issue? Amazon refunded your money right? So the scammer is really scamming Amazon than people, and I'm sure Amazon will deal with if it is a big deal.

Yeah, I get that this is an inconvenience to you, but at least you got your money back.
 
M

Mechanized

Member
Drazgul said:
Is there a way to filter out all 3rd party vendors from Amazon search results by default, maybe buried somewhere in the account settings? I've no interest in those, and filtering them out for every search gets tiresome. Fulfilled by Amazon ones would be the one exception, I guess.
Click to expand...

I want this as well, just so I can stop seeing people selling shit for 3-4 times its value because they're the only seller.
 
M

Mechanized

Member
bachikarn said:
I don't completely see the issue? Amazon refunded your money right? So the scammer is really scamming Amazon than people, and I'm sure Amazon will deal with if it is a big deal.

Yeah, I get that this is an inconvenience to you, but at least you got your money back.
Click to expand...

The point is that Amazon isn't stopping this person from continuing to sell to others, meaning more people will have to go through the refund process and not get the item they want.
 
F

Fuzzy

I would bang a hot farmer!
It's funny to see scammers show up on Amazon selling all of their games for the exact same price. It's not hard to spot them.
 
M

Marty Chinn

Member
Mechanized said:
The point is that Amazon isn't stopping this person from continuing to sell to others, meaning more people will have to go through the refund process and not get the item they want.
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Shouldn't this be partially on the buyer at this point if all these negative reviews are accumulating like the OP is saying?
 
U

UnemployedVillain

Member
otapnam said:
3 is about getting amazon to remove the bad seller from their site. It's not bitching really.
Click to expand...

Yeah, but the negative feedback already achieves that, won't it? As long as people are getting refunds, Amazon doesn't really need to do anything. In fact, they probably have a system in place that auto flags/removes sellers if they're feedback ratio gets too low, so that's probably why they didn't do anything
 
N

neshcom

Banned
UnemployedVillain said:
Yeah, but the negative feedback already achieves that, won't it? As long as people are getting refunds, Amazon doesn't really need to do anything. In fact, they probably have a system in place that auto flags/removes sellers if they're feedback ratio gets too low, so that's probably why they didn't do anything
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Not to mention OP said he was one of the first ones burned. If the timeline on this is multiple weeks, there are probably still open orders to be resolved.
 
Carnby

Carnby

Member
Wafflecakes said:
Let me get this straight.

1. Gets scammed.
2. Gets money back.
3. Bitches at Amazon for poor customer service.
Click to expand...

Nope. I haven't gotten my refund. It won't happen for another two weeks, after Amazon completes their "investigation."

Some bush league shit right there.
 
L

low-G

Member
Recently an Amazon seller sold me an item they were not legally allowed to sell, obfuscating the fact, and making attempts on the product itself to hide that.

I complained and I got $100 back (so I got the item for free, it's still worth something to me), but the seller is still selling these illegal items. (Also I see that other people noticed the same thing and simply returned the item to the seller for a refund)
 
U

UnemployedVillain

Member
Carnby said:
Nope. I haven't gotten my refund. It won't happen for another two weeks, after Amazon completes their "investigation."

Some bush league shit right there.
Click to expand...

Do you honestly think you won't get your refund? Amazon practically gives out money. They have the easiest, most liberal refund policy I've seen anywhere. Hell, you might even get credit on top of your refund
 
R

rjinaz

Member
In my experience Amazon does keep fraudulent sellers up for a long time, yeah. I got scammed for a PS4 like 18 months ago. Seller was selling it for $300 which was about $30-40 lower than other people.

I knew Amazon would have my back though it was still stupid I admit. The seller had 100 percent 10 sales. Well, a week passed no updates. Checked his profile and 2 negative reviews about PS4s. A week later, 6negative reviews about PS4s never received. I asked for a refund about 3 weeks later after the estimated arrival date passed. Got it about a week later. So a month or so. The seller was still selling. No clue how long they were selling before me but based on reviews he was scamming people at least 2-3 weeks before me so 6 weeks later he was still at it.
 
Carnby

Carnby

Member
UnemployedVillain said:
Do you honestly think you won't get your refund? Amazon practically gives out money. They have the easiest, most liberal refund policy I've seen anywhere. Hell, you might even get credit on top of your refund
Click to expand...

Honestly, I don't care about the refund. This is about amazon not cracking down on scammers.

Also, NeoGAF desktop is fucked right now. Stick to mobile.
 
L

LiK

Member
Carnby said:
Nope. I haven't gotten my refund. It won't happen for another two weeks, after Amazon completes their "investigation."

Some bush league shit right there.
Click to expand...

You should be getting the refund cuz Amazon has a refund guarantee for 3rd party sellers, iirc. I got scammed once with a bootleg DVD. got my refund and didn't bother sending it back cuz i ain't paying for shipping to send back trash.
 
A

AtomskEater

Member
Now I'm kind of happy my "don't buy from people with no feedback" policy carried over from ebay.

Sucks ass that Amazon isn't quicker about at least locking his account while they're investigating, though.
 
cj_iwakura

cj_iwakura

Member
I've bought from vendors before, as long as they were reputable. Maybe I've just been lucky. My Guilty Gear 2 and Tokyo Xtreme Racer 0 came through great.
 
A

Angry Grimace

Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
Yep. Got burned on this myself. Didn't wait for anything and got it charged back.
 
L

Linkura

Member
As someone who sells old games from my collection on Amazon, this pisses me off.

By the way, it seems like fucking no one gives positive feedback on that site anymore. I've sold a bunch of things in the past couple of years on Amazon, yet my latest feedback is from 2014 because no one can be arsed to leave feedback. Meanwhile, Amazon doesn't shut down these scammers fast enough. People suck.
 
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