I'm in Europe and I only buy stuff that is sold by or delivered by Amazon. Never had a problem with any scam in years and hundreds of products. The prices are good. Delivery to pickup locations is very convenient. 30 day return policy for any reason and it's very easy and free to actually send it back.
I see a lot of hate for Amazon on HN, maybe it depends on the location. I never had a problem with them and neither did any of my friends.
It is rare, but some fake products due get through even if you always get things fulfilled by Amazon. I've never had the problem myself in years of buying things including PC parts via Amazon, though a friend has. (we are both in the UK)
Due to the way things are co-mingled in the warehouses there isn't really much distinction between “sold by Amazon” and “fulfilled by Amazon”: if something has the same product code the system assumes it is the same thing, so the picker is sent to the closest one on the assumption that they are the same thing. In my friends case this resulted in him getting a counterfeit SD card. He noticed oddities on the packaging before actually opening it, so we don't know how far it was from spec. The return process was smooth and the right product was received the next day, but it was a faf he could have done without and if he'd not noticed he might have had a shock later if the card corrupted itself after writing a small amount (many fake storage devices pretend to be far larger than they are and stop writing (or worse: data is silently corrupted) once you approach their real size). Luckily it wasn't needed urgently, so the extra day wasn't a massive inconvenience.
Same here - my experience is that Amazon works very well in Europe. We picked up the Amazon habit when we moved house during the pandemic, and must have bought hundreds of times since.
Second this. I'm putting together a new computer and have bought some parts from Amazon and some components from other sellers. The Amazon purchases have been easy (not perfect of course), while the other purchases have been annoying or confusing (cancelled orders, unclear stock availability, confusing tracking, etc.).
Amazon is just so much more reliable than other retailers. Is it perfect? Of course not, but it is much less of a hassle than most others.
for what its worth im also in europe and amazon isnt even in my country, if I want it I have to buy from neighboring country and it takes many weeks to months to arrive. Seeing as the interface and product selection seems tailored to getting you to buy the most flimsy knockoff imaginable for every product there is no reason to buy from them
I see a lot of hate for Amazon on HN, maybe it depends on the location. I never had a problem with them and neither did any of my friends.