Amazon rigging feedback to protect dishonest sellers?

[GagHalfrunt]

A couple of weeks ago I bought a 32GB Micro SD card from a 3rd-part seller on Amazon. I specifically used a seller that claims to be based in New York because I'm in Connecticut and wanted the card quickly. I also wanted to avoid using a China/Taiwan or other overseas vendor as the card would likely be counterfeit. The card took more than two weeks from date shipped to make it from Brooklyn to Connectcut, a distance of less than 50 miles and a 1 day journey for pretty much any shipping/mailing service on Earth. And of course, the card was counterfeit, it was a 1GB class 4, not a 32GB Class 10. I got a refund and left the seller honest feedback about the counterfeit merchandise, the puzzling long ship time and the positive of how quickly and professionally they handled the refund. It was a very fair and reasonable review that did not violate a single letter of Amazons policies. At the time several other people had left feedback with the same problem, all of us had gotten counterfeit Micro SD cards. Now 24 hours later all those feedbacks are gone and the seller has a 100% positive rating.

Does the seller get to appeal and get feedback hidden temporarily while that's heard or is Amazon just nuking negatives to protect their own commissions? Seems crazy that all those negatives all disappeared at the same time.

 

[Howard]

Was it a product review or a seller review that you left?

 

[GagHalfrunt]

I was a seller review. And I know that Amazon prohibits reviewing a product in seller feedback. But there's no way to give an honest assessment of the seller pushing counterfeit product without mentioning that you received counterfeit product.

 

[holden j caufield]

I hate that garbage, amazon is now like ebay. I mostly hate it because sometimes I don't bother with the hassle of returning and just take the few dollars of loss. To me it's not worth it sometimes to return it and I'm sure that's how they make the majority off their money from ripping of grandma or people who don't bother with the return.

 

[DesiPower]

Marketplace is always iffy... I dont buy anything that not sold by Amazon. To OPs concern, they are running a business to make money, you cant do that without being a bit dishonest.

 

[Ns1]

I dont buy anything that not sold by Amazon.

this

 

[thesmokingman]

I was a seller review. And I know that Amazon prohibits reviewing a product in seller feedback. But there's no way to give an honest assessment of the seller pushing counterfeit product without mentioning that you received counterfeit product.

I don't know the process for creating a seller account, but could they have closed and recreated their account?

Marketplace is always iffy... I dont buy anything that not sold by Amazon.

As long as its fulfilled by Amazon I'm cool with it. *Especially when its fulfilled w/o tax!

 

[DesiPower]

As long as its fulfilled by Amazon I'm cool with it. *Especially when its fulfilled w/o tax!

 

[Argo]

Was it fulfilled by Amazon item, or fulfilled by the seller themselves?

 

[DesiPower]

Was it fulfilled by Amazon item, or fulfilled by the seller themselves?

I believe, its in Amazon's warehouse? shipped by Amazon.

 

[thesmokingman]

Was it fulfilled by Amazon item, or fulfilled by the seller themselves?

I believe, its in Amazon's warehouse? shipped by Amazon.

Nah, read the OP again. It's not from Amazon, or fulfilled by Amazon. If it were, it wouldn't have taken two weeks, and if it did, contact help and they will send a new order out asap.

 

[gorcorps]

I don't buy the Amazon conspiracy. They have things to gain by letting people see that not buying from them could mean trouble. Something else may be happening but I don't understand why Amazon would want to hide things about a 3rd party seller that had a lower price than they did.

 

[purbeast0]

i have never nor will ever buy anything from amazon that is not shipped and sold by amazon, or fulfilled by amazon. what you did is basically buying from craigslist. it's very easy to not deal with that type of transaction on amazon.

actually i take that back. i did buy something from a third party seller, but it was an obscure wifi card that i needed for my hackintosh coming from china. it took about 2 weeks (as it stated it would) and worked fine. had it not i would have only been out like $10 anyways.

 

[destrekor]

It's probably part of an appeals process, and if the seller has otherwise perfect feedback, it could have been a fluke which may make it more likely that Amazon will help them out. Perhaps they had ran out of stock but didn't have correct inventory, and thus had to wait for a new shipment, likely from overseas? So they themselves probably got duped.

Or they are a dropship-like service, but I couldn't imagine they'd have a stellar review history at that point because any dropship service should have a string of shipment delay issues from time to time. And if they receive international shipments directly and then sell to consumer, same thing, and they get to hide the international tracking.

 

[destrekor]

i have never nor will ever buy anything from amazon that is not shipped and sold by amazon, or fulfilled by amazon. what you did is basically buying from craigslist. it's very easy to not deal with that type of transaction on amazon.

actually i take that back. i did buy something from a third party seller, but it was an obscure wifi card that i needed for my hackintosh coming from china. it took about 2 weeks (as it stated it would) and worked fine. had it not i would have only been out like $10 anyways.

It's a very rare item I buy that is not shipped from an Amazon warehouse.

I mostly stick to Amazon fulfillment for the Prime shipping, but it certainly helps that there's a nice guarantee of good customer service should there be any product issues.

 

[FeuerFrei]

Thanks for reporting this chicanery.

I've noticed when leaving seller feedback Amazon now warns you to contact the seller when you select a low star rating. Based on what you reported, I wonder if they have a new policy where any negative feedback can be dismissed if you haven't contacted/opened a ticket with the seller who shafted you. :hmm:

I do know that if a seller depends on Amazon to fulfill the order (i.e. stock stashed in Amzn warehouse) then Amazon can "take responsibility for the fulfillment experience" and thus any negative feedback can be cancelled out and not apply to the seller's record.
Not sure how particular Amazon is about accepting blame, but they "always" do, it seems.

I was a seller review. And I know that Amazon prohibits reviewing a product in seller feedback. But there's no way to give an honest assessment of the seller pushing counterfeit product without mentioning that you received counterfeit product.

Amen. Product delivered has all kinds of bearing on the purveyor. You can't sanitize product from seller reviews. Everyone knows this - except Amazon.

 

[GagHalfrunt]

I've spoken to Amazon and you're not going to believe this:

The sellers have tools at their disposal to remove their feedback. As long as they issue a refund and resolve the complaint they're allowed to nuke the feedback themselves. So if a company sells a million fake cards and half the people notice, demand refunds, get their money back and leave half a million seller reviews about intentional fraud, the seller can then issue refunds to the half million people who noticed, remove all 500,000 negative reviews, keep the money from the people who didn't file claims and keep doing business on Amazon with 100% positive feedback.

 

[chrsmi1]

Marketplace is always iffy... I dont buy anything that not sold by Amazon. To OPs concern, they are running a business to make money, you cant do that without being a bit dishonest.

Your last sentence is utter bs.

 

[Captante]

I dont buy anything that not sold by Amazon.

Yep :thumbsup:


Same with Newegg

 

[balloonshark]

I've spoken to Amazon and you're not going to believe this:

The sellers have tools at their disposal to remove their feedback. As long as they issue a refund and resolve the complaint they're allowed to nuke the feedback themselves. So if a company sells a million fake cards and half the people notice, demand refunds, get their money back and leave half a million seller reviews about intentional fraud, the seller can then issue refunds to the half million people who noticed, remove all 500,000 negative reviews, keep the money from the people who didn't file claims and keep doing business on Amazon with 100% positive feedback.

That's complete bullshit. They shouldn't just ignore your long wait or the fact you received the wrong or fake product. I would have raised hell until I got something for free. (credit, 1 month prime, etc.).

 

[GagHalfrunt]

That's complete bullshit. They shouldn't just ignore your long wait or the fact you received the wrong or fake product. I would have raised hell until I got something for free. (credit, 1 month prime, etc.).

I'm in the process of raising hell. Believe me, this is not getting dropped and I fully intend to escalate this until I get satisfaction. The person I spoke to on the phone obviously didn't have the power to change the system, but I have another chat Monday with somebody higher up. If Amazon doesn't make this good I'll talk to the AG of New York where the seller is located and the AG of Connecticut where I am. I just posted that as an update, not as a resolution. I was absolutely floored when I found out how/why my seller review got canned. If Amazon had done it I'd be furious, but them allowing the sellers to do it without supervision and fake the entire feedback system I'm out for blood.