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The story behind the story

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Investigation finds 4,152 items on Amazon that were declared unsafe by federal agencies, are deceptively labeled, or are banned by regulators

but which really wasn't. “Amazon in court argued it didn't sell the helmet but merely listed it on the seller's behalf.” https://www.wsj.com/... Joanna Stern / @joannastern : Things @WSJ found on Amazon: - Banned baby sleeping mats - Toys with excessive lead levels - Thousands of children's product listings without the proper warnings Parents, you should change the way you shop on Amazon. Here's how I now do it: https://on.wsj.com/2ZoOalE ChristopherSStewart / @csstewart : New ⁦@WSJ⁩ investigation found thousands of banned, unsafe or mislabeled products on ⁦@amazon⁩. Toys w lead, failed safety standards. Bad bike helmets. Shocking reporting by ⁦@AlexandraBerzon⁩ ⁦@shaneshifflett⁩ ⁦@ScheckWSJ⁩ https://www.wsj.com/... Mustapha Hamoui / @beirutspring : 1- Company starts small, experience is great, attention to details, people follow up on the little things 2- Company gets big, people can no longer keep up, algorithms take over, scammers start gaming the system & service goes rock bottom (via @techmeme) https://www.wsj.com/... Alexandra Berzon / @alexandraberzon : former Amazon safety manager Rachel Johnson Greer told us she has estimated *80%* of 3party sellers didn't comply with federal, state or industry safety and labeling standards - vast majority of the issues were not having proper warnings and labels she said. (Amazon disputes) https://twitter.com/... Ari Levy / @levynews : not a single quibble with the WSJ story, which means they do all these things and the marketplace is STILL a catastrophic clusterfudge. what does that tell you? https://blog.aboutamazon.com/ ... Dr Ed / @notdred : One thing I've noticed about Amazon lately is that if you don't know EXACTLY what you're looking for you have to wade through tons of questionable garbage while shopping https://twitter.com/... Kashmir Hill / @kashhill : Amazon is not doing a great job policing its platform to prevent the sale of unsafe, recalled, or otherwise dangerous products. In other words, don't buy your motorcycle helmet there. https://www.wsj.com/... Jeff Bessling / @jeffbessling : This is where Walmart, Target etc shine. They are held to a much higher standard as to what they are allowing to be sold through their stores. Amazon is getting overrun by knockoffs and ripoffs especially around the holidays. https://twitter.com/... Joanna Stern / @joannastern : This investigation has changed everything about how I now shop Amazon for my son. Sippy cups, trucks, bubbles, etc. I wrote about how I now shop on Amazon here: https://on.wsj.com/2ZoOalE Jeremy B. Merrill / @jeremybmerrill : Amazon sells stuff. Uber is a taxi company. we've let companies basically gaslight us into saying, “well, technically” they're not doing what they're obviously doing... by pretending that the details of their contracts with their affiliates matter. https://twitter.com/... Scott Austin / @scottmaustin : A WSJ in­ves­ti­ga­ tion found thousands of items on Amazon that have been de­clared un­safe by fed­eral agen­cies, are de­cep­tively la­beled or are banned by fed­eral reg­u­la­tors— items that big-box re­tail­ers' poli­cies would bar from their shelves. https://www.wsj.com/... pic.twitter.com/aRBV2IYWaO Alex Hern / @alexhern : Probably breaks Amazon's TOS in 15 different ways but it'd be useful to people who wanted to shop on the site without accidentally buying dangerous trash Alex Hern / @alexhern : Earlier this week, I needed to buy a replacement pair of Bose headphone ear pads. £25 from Bose, £9 from Amazon. Except I went for Bose, because those are the only ones I can be confident won't leave some sort of toxic chemical leaching into my skin for the next two years. https://twitter.com/... Joe Palazzolo / @joe_palazzolo : A ⁦@WSJ⁩ investigation found 4,152 items for sale on Amazon that have been declared unsafe by federal agencies, are deceptively labeled or are banned by federal regulators. ⁦@AlexandraBerzon⁩ ⁦@shaneshifflett⁩ ⁦@ScheckWSJ⁩ https://www.wsj.com/... Scott Austin / @scottmaustin : http://Amazon.com can't control its marketplace. Full stop. Read this investigation of unsafe products by @AlexandraBerzon @shaneshifflett @ScheckWSJ https://www.wsj.com/... https://twitter.com/... Doothcrow YouTube / @doothcrow : Only 4,152? I could find more than that on @Amazon in a day. When a vibrator is labelled “USB Desk Fan” on the home page, you know the site is riddled with shit! https://twitter.com/... Louise Matsakis / @lmatsakis : A couple months ago, I started including my email address on stories I wrote about Amazon. Now, almost every day I get a message from someone who bought a counterfeit or dangerous product on the site https://www.wsj.com/... Christopher Mims / @mims : When the Federal government declared drop-side cribs hazardous for infants, the pregnant mom in charge of recalls at Amazon suggested they remove all cribs and only allow back on those found safe. She was told selection was more important. 4/4 https://www.wsj.com/... Christopher Mims / @mims : I find equally astonishing and, frankly, frightening, the fact that the former head of recalls and compliance at Amazon *refuses to buy from third party sellers on Amazon,* believing their goods unsafe. 3/ https://www.wsj.com/... Christopher Mims / @mims : What I find most astonishing is that even after the Journal alerted Amazon to thousands of mislabeled, banned or unsafe products, within 2 weeks more than 100 were back up on the site, often from the same sellers. https://www.wsj.com/... 2/ Mark Bergen / @mhbergen : “bad actors” https://www.wsj.com/... https://youtube.googleblog.com/ ... https://twitter.com/... Robinson Meyer / @yayitsrob : WSJ “commissioned tests of 10 children's products it bought on Amazon, many promoted as 'Amazon's Choice.' Four failed tests based on federal safety standards, according to the testing company, including one with lead levels that exceeded federal limits.” https://www.wsj.com/...

Wall Street Journal

Discussion

  • @scottmaustin Scott Austin on x
    🤨Within two weeks of Amazon's removing or altering the first problematic listings the Journal identified, at least 130 items with the same policy violations reappeared, some sold by the same vendors previously identified by the Journal under different listings.
  • @johnrobertsfox John Roberts on x
    This goes well beyond the principle of “caveat emptor”. “A giant disaster zone.” Amazon struggles to police the many third-party sellers on its site, leading to a proliferation of unsafe or banned products. https://www.wsj.com/... via @WSJ
  • @malwarejake Jake Williams on x
    You lose the ability to credibly claim “we take safety seriously” when it's obvious you don't... https://twitter.com/...
  • @jeremybmerrill Jeremy B. Merrill on x
    A man bought a defective helmet on Amazon that was sold as compliant with DOT rules — but which really wasn't. “Amazon in court argued it didn't sell the helmet but merely listed it on the seller's behalf.” https://www.wsj.com/...
  • @joannastern Joanna Stern on x
    Things @WSJ found on Amazon: - Banned baby sleeping mats - Toys with excessive lead levels - Thousands of children's product listings without the proper warnings Parents, you should change the way you shop on Amazon. Here's how I now do it: https://on.wsj.com/2ZoOalE
  • @csstewart ChristopherSStewart on x
    New ⁦@WSJ⁩ investigation found thousands of banned, unsafe or mislabeled products on ⁦@amazon⁩. Toys w lead, failed safety standards. Bad bike helmets. Shocking reporting by ⁦@AlexandraBerzon⁩ ⁦@shaneshifflett⁩ ⁦@ScheckWSJ⁩ https://www.wsj.com/...
  • @beirutspring Mustapha Hamoui on x
    1- Company starts small, experience is great, attention to details, people follow up on the little things 2- Company gets big, people can no longer keep up, algorithms take over, scammers start gaming the system & service goes rock bottom (via @techmeme) https://www.wsj.com/...
  • @alexandraberzon Alexandra Berzon on x
    former Amazon safety manager Rachel Johnson Greer told us she has estimated *80%* of 3party sellers didn't comply with federal, state or industry safety and labeling standards - vast majority of the issues were not having proper warnings and labels she said. (Amazon disputes) htt…
  • @levynews Ari Levy on x
    not a single quibble with the WSJ story, which means they do all these things and the marketplace is STILL a catastrophic clusterfudge. what does that tell you? https://blog.aboutamazon.com/ ...
  • @notdred Dr Ed on x
    One thing I've noticed about Amazon lately is that if you don't know EXACTLY what you're looking for you have to wade through tons of questionable garbage while shopping https://twitter.com/...
  • @kashhill Kashmir Hill on x
    Amazon is not doing a great job policing its platform to prevent the sale of unsafe, recalled, or otherwise dangerous products. In other words, don't buy your motorcycle helmet there. https://www.wsj.com/...
  • @jeffbessling Jeff Bessling on x
    This is where Walmart, Target etc shine. They are held to a much higher standard as to what they are allowing to be sold through their stores. Amazon is getting overrun by knockoffs and ripoffs especially around the holidays. https://twitter.com/...
  • @joannastern Joanna Stern on x
    This investigation has changed everything about how I now shop Amazon for my son. Sippy cups, trucks, bubbles, etc. I wrote about how I now shop on Amazon here: https://on.wsj.com/2ZoOalE
  • @jeremybmerrill Jeremy B. Merrill on x
    Amazon sells stuff. Uber is a taxi company. we've let companies basically gaslight us into saying, “well, technically” they're not doing what they're obviously doing... by pretending that the details of their contracts with their affiliates matter. https://twitter.com/...
  • @scottmaustin Scott Austin on x
    A WSJ in­ves­ti­ga­ tion found thousands of items on Amazon that have been de­clared un­safe by fed­eral agen­cies, are de­cep­tively la­beled or are banned by fed­eral reg­u­la­tors— items that big-box re­tail­ers' poli­cies would bar from their shelves. https://www.wsj.com/... …
  • @alexhern Alex Hern on x
    Probably breaks Amazon's TOS in 15 different ways but it'd be useful to people who wanted to shop on the site without accidentally buying dangerous trash
  • @alexhern Alex Hern on x
    Earlier this week, I needed to buy a replacement pair of Bose headphone ear pads. £25 from Bose, £9 from Amazon. Except I went for Bose, because those are the only ones I can be confident won't leave some sort of toxic chemical leaching into my skin for the next two years. https:…
  • @joe_palazzolo Joe Palazzolo on x
    A ⁦@WSJ⁩ investigation found 4,152 items for sale on Amazon that have been declared unsafe by federal agencies, are deceptively labeled or are banned by federal regulators. ⁦@AlexandraBerzon⁩ ⁦@shaneshifflett⁩ ⁦@ScheckWSJ⁩ https://www.wsj.com/...
  • @scottmaustin Scott Austin on x
    http://Amazon.com can't control its marketplace. Full stop. Read this investigation of unsafe products by @AlexandraBerzon @shaneshifflett @ScheckWSJ https://www.wsj.com/... https://twitter.com/...
  • @doothcrow Doothcrow YouTube on x
    Only 4,152? I could find more than that on @Amazon in a day. When a vibrator is labelled “USB Desk Fan” on the home page, you know the site is riddled with shit! https://twitter.com/...
  • @lmatsakis Louise Matsakis on x
    A couple months ago, I started including my email address on stories I wrote about Amazon. Now, almost every day I get a message from someone who bought a counterfeit or dangerous product on the site https://www.wsj.com/...
  • @mims Christopher Mims on x
    When the Federal government declared drop-side cribs hazardous for infants, the pregnant mom in charge of recalls at Amazon suggested they remove all cribs and only allow back on those found safe. She was told selection was more important. 4/4 https://www.wsj.com/...
  • @mims Christopher Mims on x
    I find equally astonishing and, frankly, frightening, the fact that the former head of recalls and compliance at Amazon *refuses to buy from third party sellers on Amazon,* believing their goods unsafe. 3/ https://www.wsj.com/...
  • @mims Christopher Mims on x
    What I find most astonishing is that even after the Journal alerted Amazon to thousands of mislabeled, banned or unsafe products, within 2 weeks more than 100 were back up on the site, often from the same sellers. https://www.wsj.com/... 2/
  • @mhbergen Mark Bergen on x
    “bad actors” https://www.wsj.com/... https://youtube.googleblog.com/ ... https://twitter.com/...
  • @yayitsrob Robinson Meyer on x
    WSJ “commissioned tests of 10 children's products it bought on Amazon, many promoted as 'Amazon's Choice.' Four failed tests based on federal safety standards, according to the testing company, including one with lead levels that exceeded federal limits.” https://www.wsj.com/...