Comment by x0x0
7 years ago
I'm in the same place -- Amazon sold me a counterfeit charger. Well, not counterfeit, but with a fake ETL/Intertek -- a UL competitor -- mark. I told their CS and they refunded me, then continued selling the charger with the fake ETL mark.
I moved $40k/year of IT spend from my company off Amazon to BHPhoto.
I also stopped buying any makeup / food / supplements / dog food / dog toys on Amazon.
Hell, I bought my dog's new leash and collar straight from the manufacturer!
We make speaker wire and sell it primarily on Amazon, so I have some experience on the manufacturer side of UL/ETL marks. My advice is to never buy any product with an ETL mark. As an organization, they are way less stringent about enforcing the integrity of their mark. And I would also never buy anything at a low price tier that bears a UL mark, since it’s probably counterfeit. If you want quality, pay for it. When you pay for a brand which markets on quality at a higher price point, there’s a pretty good chance you’re getting something legitimate. The reason is that it’s hard to compete at a higher price point, so honesty is probably the only reason a brand would willingly choose to scale that kind of a barrier.
> When you pay for a brand which markets on quality at a higher price point
I think what others are saying is that you can't do this on Amazon, even if you want to, because of fakes.
I've personally moved all my online shopping to Target and Walmart, and I only buy products that they stock in their stores.
If you’re buying from the manufacturer and there are no other sellers, then you’re fine on Amazon. Where you have to watch out is when there are multiple sellers on an item.