If you leave that review, it will go back and hurt the seller. I've seen advice in some of the groups I'm in for sellers that says if a listing gets shut down, look at recent reviews to determine if anyone was unhappy.
Also, if you return and mention the word counterfeit, that will be picked up. I've had one listing temporarily shut down because of a return that said they were worried it was counterfeit, then I sent amazon invoices and they let me sell again.
You can review a product (that has multiple sellers) without reviewing the seller. So, if I get a counterfeit, and place a PRODUCT review, it hurts ALL the sellers. Not just the single seller that did the wrong thing.
Your story didn't include the nuance of co-mingled inventory. What if the sale went to you, but was fulfilled by inventory from another seller...and the item actually was counterfeit. Does the actual culprit suffer?
>Even though inventory tracked using the manufacturer barcode is commingled within the network, the source of the inventory is tracked by our fulfillment systems and is taken into consideration if inventory problems arise.
Reconcile that with "stickerless commingled inventory". How would they possibly track it? They are, at best, stretching the truth.
Note that in areas where it exposes them to liability (movies), they won't allow stickerless. That tells you something about "tracking the source".
Edit: If the bins are such a good idea why are stickers sometimes required? Also if finding the sources is so easy why do sellers selling counterfeit goods stay in the system for so long?
Commingled doesn't mean they're in the same bin, it just means that they can be used to fulfil other sellers' sales.
I have inventory with no sticker on it in NY, you have inventory with no sticker in CA. Someone orders from me, they live in CA, amazon takes yours off the shelf and sends it to them. Amazon still knows that that sale was fulfilled from your inventory.
Same thing with multiple bins in the same warehouse. I'm told by people who've toured warehouses that bins are kept separate and everything is tracked.
>Have any sources on that? Sellers are suspended quite often.
Sources that Amazon has gotten worse in this area over time? Sure. My own experiences, experiences of others that you can read here and elsewhere. Plenty of news stories from reputable sources (https://www.google.com/search?q=amazon+counterfeit+problems&...)
All anecdotal, of course, because only Amazon really knows the numbers, and they aren't sharing. Fair enough to say I'm guessing as to why. I don't find it unreasonable to question their practices though. It's a big enough issue that people are noticing.