To have not realised that when you buy Apple products from Amazon they may well be fake?

[themymble]

I bought some AirPods for my son for Christmas on Black Friday. Fulfilled by Amazon, so not a third party. They never really worked properly so I took them to the Apple Store today to get them looked at and it turns out they are fake!!! I had no idea this could happen. The man at the Genius Bar said it was the third fake pair from Amazon in the last few weeks! Aibu fro have not realised that Amazon sell fake products??

Have you complained to Amazon? If you try live chat I find they are usually excellent at helping.
Have you got something in writing from the Apple Store saying they are fake?
I was aware that fakes are sold on Amazon so I try and buy either from Amazon direct or from elsewhere. I'd buy from official third party stores on Amazon but wouldn't use random third party sellers for expensive or branded items.
I hope you get your money back.

Was it sold by Amazon too, or just fulfilled by them?

I think fulfilled by Amazon means that Amazon deliver it but don't "sell" it. It is a marketplace order which is supplied by a third party to the warehouse and then sent through the Amazon network. I'd complain to Amazon they are normally pretty good at sorting issues.

So much stuff on amazon is fake.

My husband ordered some soap we use regularly and I had a massive allergic reaction to it. They would not refund.

I try to use Amazon as little as possible these days, dodgy goods, fake reviews, questionable ethics......

These were not on the market place. From Amazon direct. I called Amazon while I was at the Apple Store and they tried to fob me off with sending them back for repair, but I asked to speak to a manager and insisted I needed a refund. Hopefully this will come through. Apple Store confirmed that they do supply Amazon with Apple products so should be a trustworthy place to buy from. I am just so shocked! I know there is a lot of tat sold by third parties- but this was not from a third party. I will never buy a branded product from them again. I’ve totally lost trust.

I suspect that people buy AirPods return the fakes and keep the real ones.

I think they Fulfilled by Amazon means that they dispatch goods that a third party sent to their warehouse. There’s no guarantee that they are real like places like Vinted who will authenticate for a price.

So where did you get "fulfilled by Amazon" from? That would mean third party.

‘Fulfilled by Amazon’ is 3rd party sellers

It is a 3rd party item that they have sent to the Amazon warehouse. You buy it and Amazon staff put it into a box

Look down the item details “sold and despatched by Amazon” means you are buying from Amazon
“sold by xxxx” means it is being sold by someone else, no matter who it states as “despatched by”

It says sold by Amazon.co.uk

Sorry- the fulfilled by is my mistake. I don’t know how to edit my post. It was definitely sold by Amazon.co.uk. I have attached a photo. This post is meant to be a warning. I had no idea that Amazon proper (rather than a third party) would sell fake goods. The Apple Genius Bar staff showed me all the ways you can tell they are fake.

This!! Heard about it a few times. It’s an easy scam

Amazon is terrible these days, full of fake stuff and crap Chinese junk/knock offs.

I bought a MagSafe charger from Amazon when they first came out, that ended up being a fake which I discovered when it got so hot it scorched my desk. I complained to Amazon and they sent me a replacement, I disposed of it and bought one direct from Apple. I wouldn't get Apple products through Amazon again as Amazon doesn't verify they are authentic before shipping.

I’ve come to the conclusion that you can’t buy some things online and this includes Apple stuff. I don’t think Amazon do it on purpose but the number of cf out there means that stuff like AirPods have to be from apple.

Wow, I really didn't realize that then! I knew to be careful with marketplace stuff but would have been confident buying direct from Amazon.

That's shocking.

You should contact trading standards.

Yup! Amazon had such a great business model, to the point of undermining 'real' shops... and now you can't trust a damn thing they sell. A couple of real-looking DVDs that turn out to be in Czechoslovakian, and I was back to HMV... 🙄

I’m going to contact trading standards. I feel this should be more widely known about. It’s really shocking.

Have you downloaded the actual invoice? Does it say it's sold by Amazon Uk on that?

I have been caught out by Amazon in the past with fake perfume and printer cartridges
I refuse to shop with them now

I didn’t even know you could do that- but just have and yes!

A lot of the skincare is fake too, especially the more popular or pricey brands. It's turning into a bit of a junkyard and so I go direct to individual stores now after being quite the Amazon addict for a long time.

They're clearly not doing it on purpose, soneone will have scammed them first. They turnover billions a year. It's not worth it for them to deliberately sell fakes and then lose customers.

I got caught out with some fake expensive shampoo, it didn’t foam up like the one I had before and thought they had changed the composition, so I emailed them and found out they hadn’t. Complained to Amazon and got a refund. It was a battle to buy it again from Amazon themselves though, even the person who refunded me couldn’t direct me to the “sold by Amazon” item.

I heard on another forum, not sure so how true this is, that Amazon don't distinguish between third party stock and their own. So Amazon will have their stock if genuine Apple Air Pods and third party seller Air Pods that may or may not be genuine all together.

I had issue with even the leads. I order from curry's instead or pop into the store