Ran across this piece from last year just today and appreciated this quote from Chris McCabe, which gets to the heart of the harm that Seller shenanigans and illegal activities do to Sellers and Buyers:
The host further said (and yep!):
been following a facebook group cautiously and carefully.
Powered by ai? Is ed saying his group is ai?
I mean I guess if I was under house arrest I would get a photoshop license and make crazy posters up too!
Sounds like the we know where to send the billboard truck with Edâs mugshot behind bars.
Has anyone found his booking mugshot yet? Isnât that public record.
Not at all photoshopped ROFLOL.
I donât know what youâre talking about. Most peopleâs shoulders look like that.
What? You expect anyone involved in this to be honest and truthful?
Why break the streak?
Well, the true hilarity would be if you bribed someone to make that picture for you.
I didnât think he was quite that tall???
Sliding scale ???
Here is a link to a pdf of a very-well-researched article from Lakewoodd, NJ, a town that has become one of a growing number of âstrongholdsâ for orthodox Jewish families. Apparently a lot of them by merchandise from liquidators, sell on Amazon, and then are surprised when they are suspended, their balances confiscated, and their merchandise of dubious origin seized.
Our old buddy and confessed convicted felon âEdâ is in there, of course, as he seems to be a mentor and cheerleader for this kind of âgrey market goodsâ business on Amazon and other online platforms.
(Download pdf is the middle icon on the black toolbar at screen bottom)
I read much of the article and do not believe it is well researched.
It reads like many of past articles in which sellers project their feelings of persecution, and Amazon stonewalls the specific triggers for its actions.
It might show a little paranoia, but Amazon creates paranoids among its sellers with great aplomb.
There is an enormous amount of merchandise of indeterminate origin to be had if you know where to look. Some of it is legal, some of it is criminal.
Many sellers, including those of Lakewood, NJ do not really care of the history of their inventory. As they see it, they paid for it and should be allowed to sell it.
My long departed uncle, spent most of his life importing and exporting merchandise of indeterminate origin. Sometimes it was seized by US customs, sometimes it was seized by customs in other countries. He accepted that as part of the risks of his business model.
His business continued until his partner, his brother, disappeared in Brazil. No he was not traveling in the Amazon jungle.
The article and the sellers feeding it feel like people I have known all my life. I could have been just like them if I did not break from the herd.
Hi @packetfire, I have reopened this thread and moved your post here since its primary acknowledged source is convicted felon Ed Rosenberg.
Also interesting is the several paragraphs spent on discussing the same seller notes added by Amazon that Ed was convicted of bribing Amazon employees to access illegally.
My caution is to take the article with a grain of salt due to its reliance on information from Ed and unverified speculation.
Last edit by @Pepper_Thine_Angus
The following is my personal opinion (protected 1st Amendment) and not the opinion of SAS.
I beg to differ here. The author says multiple times âaccording to sellers we spoke toâ so it is not well balanced at all.
There are also a few facts that are incorrect in the article (Amazon does not use Skype).
âThose who have gained access to these notes say that the
majority are completely false, while some may have a basis in truth
but are unrelated to anything connected to Amazon selling.â
All of the sellers in the article seem to have gained access to their internal notes, wonder how?
âAnother reason some sellers have been told to explain their suspen-sions is that they havenât been able to prove their merchandise is not stolen. According to Amazonâs new policy, a seller must provide all invoices to prove how the product got form the manufacturer to him. As sellers explain, this is often impossible. Sellers are able to of-fer lower prices when they can find middlemen and dealers who have some connections that allow them to purchase products for cheap. These dealers canât reveal their connections or they would lose their source of income. Thus, they will not give their invoices to the seller. This does not make the product suspicious,â
Yet it does make the product suspicious.
NONE of the sellers are named. That is a AP no no.
Below are a couple of documented cases shared by the sellers themselves
with Ed Rosenberg. Mr. Rosenberg is a consultant for Amazon sellers and is
known as one of the biggest experts on this topic.
Yet Ed was not quoted or interviewed for this article?
Cover Story starts on page 64, LOL
Re JAYSPEC. A lawyer would have a field day if this was legit. Going after Amazon would be a walk in the park if these discrimination clams have merit. If they do have merit, I say go after them, would be an EASY win. I feel like they donât want to go after Amazon because they know how they obtained said account notes was not exactly legitimate.
Overall this article REEKS of an Ed PR fluff piece and I see nothing new here that we as the seller community havenât already known for YEARS. Gray market items have never been allowed on Amazon, it just wasnât enforced. Now that Amazon has the govt saying Amazon is liable for selling said grey market items, Amazon cares enough to enforce said rules.
As a friendly mod reminder, we at SellersAskSellers do not allow insults or promotions of stereotypes against any specific group of people and are very aware of the rise of dangerous anti-semitism throughout the internet in these recent times.
This post is your warning that posts containing SAS-prohibited content can be removed in whole or part without warning and without appeal.
ETA: This is a general reminder to stay on topic.
@Pepper_Thine_Angus @VTR @papy @moderators
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Innocent until proven guilty only applies to the govt. A private company like Amazon fully has the right to treat sellers as guilty until proven innocent. The cops canât come into your own B&M store and demand invoices from you, but you do not have the constitutional right to sell on Amazon. After many years it seems like some sellers donât understand this concept.
Actually, if they suspect you are trafficking in stolen goods Iâm pretty sure that they CAN demand proof of authenticity and invoices now. And, since almost every store (including minuscule ones) now are on the web, even the INFORM Act can come into play with the freaking FEDS!