Dirty diaper resold on Amazon ruined a family business

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2024/07/dirty-diaper-resold-on-amazon-ruined-a-family-business-report-says/

by arittr • 2 years ago

29 10 2 years ago

Amazon says that it prohibits negative reviews that violate community guidelines, including by focusing on seller, order, or shipping feedback rather than on the item's quality.

You'd think they'd try to use AI to flag this stuff instead of whatever the hell their current chatbot is supposed to be for — I still regularly see "product damaged in shipping" 1-star reviews

Additionally, anyone that's regularly tried to order "open box" from "Amazon Warehouse" to save a few bucks can probably speak to the inaccuracies of the return process... it's pretty common to get broken (or completely mislabeled) goods from this program.

cowboylowrez3• 2 years ago

it seems like actual humans at Amazon reviewed the situation yet let the complaint stand and the original complaint poster now is informed that the complaint blamed the wrong party yet didn't take the effort to update her product review.

lol pretty dissappointed in the humans involved in those two situations and its hard not to be angry on behalf of the previously successful business that was victimized like this.

lastofthemojito3• 2 years ago

In what way did the complaint blame the wrong party? I guess "the company" can be read in multiple ways, I read it as blaming Amazon:

The diaper arrived used and was covered in poop stains. (See pics) Nothing could have been more disgusting!! I am assuming someone returned it after using it and the company simply did not check the item and then shipped it to us as if it was brand new. These were not small stains either. I was extremely grossed out. Thank god I saw the stains and didn’t put it on my baby! I will be returning this ASAP and I sure hope they check it out when they get it back but I wouldn’t be surprised if they just ship it to some other unsuspecting parent.

unyttigfjelltol• 2 years ago

I often select Amazon warehouse or refurbished items (don't recall precise wording) and from experience, the quality often is surprisingly shabby, or put differently, that category of merchendise is substantially under-discounted. Metal supports bent, components missing, protective packaging conspicuously breached or smashed. I found this article insightful as it tends to explain the processes that lead to such items being listed as if they are undamaged, conforming and nearly-new. At this point I assume products distributed in that channel are significantly defective albeit probably functional with some effort.

lastofthemojito3• 2 years ago

Amazon says that it prohibits negative reviews that violate community guidelines, including by focusing on seller, order, or shipping feedback rather than on the item's quality.

I've always really disliked this policy, especially on items that are shipped by the seller instead of fulfilled from Amazon. Say you want to buy some of those Japanese Kit Kats that come in unusual flavors (at least to the American palate). Feedback that candy from Seller A arrived stale or melted and that candy from Seller B arrived in great shape would be helpful. I don't need yet more reviews of the product in the abstract, I need information about what condition it will be in when it arrives at my door, and seller practices can absolutely influence that.

dbg314152• 2 years ago

I purchased an item advertised as "fulfilled by Amazon" with Prime shipping. However, when I tried to return it, the seller insisted I pay $56 for overnight shipping. After returning the item as requested, the seller refused to refund my money, claiming the item had been opened, which wasn't true.

(But how do you prove it wasn't opened after the fact, especially when they have pictures of it opened? Shady!)

When I wrote a review detailing my experience, it was removed the next day because it focused on the seller's return policy. So now, I'm not only out $100 for the AC sensor itself but also $56 for return shipping. What's worse, I can't even warn others about the seller's shady practices.

My review included screenshots of the seller's communication, but all of it was removed. This allowed the seller to falsely imply they offer free returns when they clearly don't.

I'm frustrated that Amazon didn't provide real support and simply told me to use the seller's return system. And then to have them also censored my review... that all just leads to a junky experience for future buyers who won't have a full picture.

Compare this to Costco... ugh. Anyway, look I just want a human at Amazon to remember how much I spent there, and be like, "Oh great, we see you've had an account for 25+ years, we value that, we'll take care of you! We don't want shady sellers on our platform!" But... nope.

dbg314152• 2 years ago

Amazon is really broken. (Yelp too for that matter.)

They don't force customers to update the product when the manufacturing or size of the products change. So you'll get a "buy it again!" but it's fundamentally not the product you purchased.

And a company can sell something "good" for a few months, and offer rewards / incentives to give good reviews, then use those reviews for the "old" product to sell a revised and "junk" version. Shrinkflation is so real.

Companies are free to use Prime to for delivery, but their own processes for returns. "Oh, I have to spend $56 to ship something using DHL over-night now because that's the only delivery method the seller accepts for returns? Uh..."

Making sure when you see a "Prime" logo, it also means Prime Returns -- like the drop off at Whole Foods style free returns policy.

Also... there's like no real way to talk to a human when you have a real issue with a seller.

Reviews seem... less than honest a lot of the time. Looking at pictures, it's often "old" versions of the product at this point. And there are a bunch of settings for reviews, so ratings could be on the "group of products" rather than the specific product you're ordering. Like, "Oh this is all tennis shoes we sell, not the shoes you ordered."

Anyway, some simple tools would really help... like giving consumers the ability to filter reviews based on when the reviews were created. "Only show me products with 100 reviews in the last week... then sort by customer review rating." Or, "For the rating, only count reviews from my country buyers from the last month." Stuff like that would be easy to do with the data they have, and would help reduce scammer-sellers.

Recently I bought a little sensor for my AC system... turns out I didn't need it, so I went to return it. I hadn't opened it. The seller told me I had literally 3 days to get it back to them... and told me that I had to send it a certain shipping method... and then when I did, they refused to give a refund because they said I had opened the box. For proof, they had opened the box and took a picture of the item open.

So I got to pay for the item, and pay $56 shipping, only to not get a refund. Amazon closed the case without ever letting me talk to a human. Shady.

Dirty diaper resold on Amazon ruined a family business

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