Feedback Manipulation vol 3
Post by @Pudding n pie :
"Going back on topic, we know that JBW is not the only seller polluting the catalogue with bogus duplicates while simultaneously manipulating feedback.
Guaging the extent of the whole fake/bogus/phanton dropshipper phenomenon is not that easy, although it’s obviously a big problem.
To get an idea of how prevalent it is, here a few obviously bogus random ASINs and the sellers offering them:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/B01K04YD4Y230
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/B01K0RYG0W71
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/B01K92P7TC41
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/B01IUKLJ5Q47
You could choose any number of similar ASINs and see the same sellers (plus a few more) offering them to unsuspecting buyers.
Apart from JBW and a couple of others, most of these catalogue vandals are on 98%+ positive feedback.
It’s frankly unbelievable that phantom dropshippers would be able to maintain that level of good feedback without some form of manipulation.
Some of these sellers have been here almost since marketplace was founded. How have they been getting away with it for so long?
At one time, some us simply assumed that they were cross-listing between various Amazon sites and other platforms and acting as arbitrageurs in a way that helped those sellers who were not listing internationally.
In the last few years however, it’s become clear that much or most of this ‘arbitrage’ is actually taking place within Amazon UK itself through catalogue corruption, hence all the millions of duplicated ASINs. It’s reached absurd proportions and some of the (more incompetent?) practitioners have been caught red-handed in the act of feedback manipulation.
The hope now is that Amazon will realise that the cat is out of the bag and will not try to simply stuff it back in.
Feedback Manipulation vol 3
Post by @Pudding n pie :
"Going back on topic, we know that JBW is not the only seller polluting the catalogue with bogus duplicates while simultaneously manipulating feedback.
Guaging the extent of the whole fake/bogus/phanton dropshipper phenomenon is not that easy, although it’s obviously a big problem.
To get an idea of how prevalent it is, here a few obviously bogus random ASINs and the sellers offering them:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/B01K04YD4Y230
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/B01K0RYG0W71
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/B01K92P7TC41
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/B01IUKLJ5Q47
You could choose any number of similar ASINs and see the same sellers (plus a few more) offering them to unsuspecting buyers.
Apart from JBW and a couple of others, most of these catalogue vandals are on 98%+ positive feedback.
It’s frankly unbelievable that phantom dropshippers would be able to maintain that level of good feedback without some form of manipulation.
Some of these sellers have been here almost since marketplace was founded. How have they been getting away with it for so long?
At one time, some us simply assumed that they were cross-listing between various Amazon sites and other platforms and acting as arbitrageurs in a way that helped those sellers who were not listing internationally.
In the last few years however, it’s become clear that much or most of this ‘arbitrage’ is actually taking place within Amazon UK itself through catalogue corruption, hence all the millions of duplicated ASINs. It’s reached absurd proportions and some of the (more incompetent?) practitioners have been caught red-handed in the act of feedback manipulation.
The hope now is that Amazon will realise that the cat is out of the bag and will not try to simply stuff it back in.
368 replies
Seller_mBENc0rmDmw5W
Here, for example, are some of today’s feedback comments from one of those 98% sellers (not one I’ve seen mentioned before):
1 out of 5 stars
I have tried to cancel an order with this seller as they were charging me £98 for delivery on one set of books costing £15.99 which should have been delivered through Amazon Prime - 2 days later i get a message saying that the order is despatched and cannot be changed, leaving me with an overdraft in my account. This seller has ripped me off and i will be making complaints and a claim. Read less
By saah on 12 November 2018.
2 out of 5 stars
I know it was out of print when I ordered it but the seller could have removed the 99p sticker it still had on it from when he purchased it from a charity shop. That way I wouldn’t have realised that I’d been gouged for a 1500% mark up. Read less
I wonder how long those FBs will remain in place…
That first comment about Amazon Prime is interesting.
Seller_8IBTKy4xXgF04
Quick question: if I have a book to list (using ISBN) and the listing process takes me to one of the bogus duplicate pages, where does this leave me (in terms of Amazon rules)?
Seller_YropdiN8t2UD4
So what happened to the previous thread? Did it get deleted again?
Seller_LKjg1QRrO36Yq
Well done for saving some of our posts - I thought they looked familiar! 
[edit] unfortunately, the links all appear to be dead - I guess someone{s} decided to merge them.
Seller_LKjg1QRrO36Yq
Here, in no particular order, is a list (by no means exhaustive) of sellers mentioned on the deleted threads. All of them are known to be mass-duplicators of bogus ASINs, all are at least suspected of engaging in feedback manipulation…
JB World
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aag/main?seller=A38R4JMQ826LWHRiding waves
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aag/main?seller=AYU9BUVAW25HIDancing Whale
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aag/main?seller=AVRZ59A3UER60EXCELLENT_UK_BOOK
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aag/main?seller=A2XO84YBY7SRUVRooF
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aag/main?seller=A48R0V5ODBO1FPIEULER
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aag/main?seller=A35U4ERIKKFAG9Drummond Readers
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aag/main?seller=A2TQZ6T6JJIGPTreasure Boat
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aag/main?seller=A1XJIOFALZLEZUCAROL AND LIBERTY
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aag/main?seller=A3CNOR4P382C26PROTO BOK
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aag/main?seller=AVRGASHJDBP7BMeridian Bookstore
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aag/main?seller=ABK7O8NFUDPYPowerful Output
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aag/main?seller=A3P9C2YAL9WSEGBrightwell77
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aag/main?seller=A4CICSZ8YNE6Mthese three now apparently suspended or banned:
UK Book Deals **
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aag/main?seller=A3GK9G7S90GJ5EGoldVictory UK
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aag/main?seller=A1M5CPRJBQCQKSmaller World Future
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aag/main?seller=AZGQF2ZHVL4Y2
Seller_EJIX7rqDNQJi2
Today, one of the posters on the USA Forum shared a “The New York Times” article, which is titled “A Business With No End” with this comment:
“The New York Times has an article today that exposes the empire of ONE MAN who is largely responsible for multiple 10,000+ item Amazon sellers, weird brand names, wildly over-priced items, mysterious returns, drop-shipping, and more on Amazon. Pretty much a cornucopia of shady seller tactics on Amazon these days.
The vast international illegal operation employs hundreds of fake companies, fake churches, fake bookstores, fake department stores that may or may not exist, fake brands, fake HB1 visas, fake reviews, a fake university in California full of “students” on student visas who write click-bait and fake reviews, and even a fake psychiatric hospital. Oh, and apparently a lot of shady fake Amazon sellers. Not confined to Amazon, the empire also involves multiple click-bait farms and fake review farms, and even Newsweek magazine. All part of a vast hidden empire run by a man named Park.”
Here is the article, I found it quite difficult to read due to it’s form and English but the point is that it’s talking about all these fraudulent dropshippers, or rather 1 person who owns and operates them, including JB World:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/11/27/style/what-is-inside-this-internet-rabbit-hole.html.
In the beginning slide of the interactive article, you will see:
“So were 140 other LLCs, most of which were registered in 2015.” with this link: https://www.bizapedia.com/addresses/235-montgomery-st-ste-350-san-francisco-ca-94104.html.
This is basically a list of all companies owned by the one person about whom is the article and what do I see:
.
Seller_LKjg1QRrO36Yq
I hadn’t thought it about it before reading those articles in the NY Times and Mother Jones, but maybe they use biblical names because they all belong to that strange christian sect? The one founded by the Korean guy who appears to control a large number of these weird dropshipping accounts…
Seller_q1RavrGIuxu3w
The usual batch of 15 fake glowing positive FB arrived with 30 minutes for JBW again this morning. Aint it just great to see how well Amazon keeps the platform free of crooks and looks after buyers interests 
Seller_LKjg1QRrO36Yq
Worryingly, goldvictory are still going strong on Amazon USA:
this is further evidence of the lack of joined-up thinking at Amazon.
Seller_q1RavrGIuxu3w
I think someone else mentioned that Amazon literally have no idea whats going on in different parts of the platforms, no joined up thinking at all. Its a sign of a large company losing sight of what got them to become so large and popular in the first place, a large and varied stock and excellent customer service with crooks kept out.
The customers who have complained to me about being ripped off by drop-shippers are not complaining about the drop-shipper so much as they are blaming Amazon for allowing them on the platform in the first place. Amazon has a very good reputation in many buyers minds, especially the one or twice a year buyer. But shoppers can very quickly move once they are treated like dirt by crooks who Amazon should be removing.
Despite what some might think I am not anti-Amazon, on the contrary I want Amazon to succeed as it gives me a great market to access. I simply want Amazon to run the platform as a clean crook free site we can all trust. What they could do very easily to get some of the crooks removed is listen to those of us who do have the platforms best interests at heart and who have seen and monitored the crooks, in effect doing what Amazon themselves should be doing but are not.
