parts sold and fulfilled by amazon

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Jul 3, 2020
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Canada
Hi all, I have a quick question about parts off amazon... watching some automotive channels on youtube, I came across a video about a failed timing belt from what appeared to be a "genuine" honda timing belt kit, which was a fake... none the less, I went down a rabbit hole, and discovered this online


i've known about counterfeits, but I didn't think they've gotten this good... I would never have thought a kit could be faked that well. None the less, I would never buy off 3rd parties from ebay, OR amazon, that were claiming genuine parts, but, this is where I think it get's interesting

A few years ago, I did buy an Aisin timing belt kit off amazon, but, it was sold and fulfilled by amazon, not some 3rd party seller. This is what gave me the reassurance that it wasn't a fake kit and why I bought it... I would've been concerned had I bought it off third party, but being straight from amazon I wasn't.

So the question is, can we even trust brand name parts if amazon is the seller and not third party? If they are fulfilling the order, how do they check for counterfeits, where do they source the kits from?

The timing belt or water pump hasn't failed and it's been 2 years since, but now I wonder if I should ever buy critical components off amazon, even if it's fulfilled by them with no third party involved
 
Was a guy on another forum I'm on that mentioned he worked at the Amazon warehouse. He said that probably 75 percent of the name brand auto parts they received were fakes and that they were having a big problem with it.

Ive also seen guys talk about OEM parts not lasting or failing early and when asked where they got them its almost always Amazon.
 
Yea... Well, I'm never buying critical components off amazon even if it's fulfilled by them. What a shame, I've stayed away from ebay for years, and third party sellers on Amazon too, but I had a little more faith in it being direct from Amazon... Such a shame
 
Same here. Timing belt kits and spark plugs come from RockAuto for me. Other stuff I might gamble on Amazon or Ebay, just depends on the part and how hard it is to swap out and how critical it is. If it is something that would leave me stranded or break something else expensive its RA or local store.
 
The barcode on the label of fake Honda parts often does not decode to the correct number. The counterfeiters will probably fix that at some point though.
 
Amazon co-mingles their own inventory with that of third-party FBA marketplace sellers :sneaky:
This is why ^^. It's not always 100% safe to buy an items that is "Sold and shipped by Amazon". I guess it should be if Amazon is the only seller of an item though. Look at these Monroe shocks, for example: https://smile.amazon.com/Monroe-5667-OESpectrum-Passenger-Absorber/dp/B00T3MTNHC/. There's only (1) choice for "Sold and shipped by Amazon" while you could buy the same ones from (24) other sellers through Amazon. Key is, NONE of them are shipped from Amazon and therefore, there should be no co-mingling of these parts.
 
I buy some OE GM transmission parts off Amazon & haven't received any fakes yet, But these aren't common maintenance items like spark plugs, water pumps, & timing belts.

Summit Racing is really good as they are a authorized dealer for many brands like NGK, Denso, Aisin, AC-Delco, GM Performance, Mopar, & Ford Racing.

I also spend a ton through my local dealership parts departments.

It's a jungle out there.
 
Recently purchased a Bando drive belt from Amazon that was probably at least a decade old. I have not seen Bando aftermarket belts made in Japan with the funky printing in at least a decade.

I returned it.
 
I buy some OE GM transmission parts off Amazon & haven't received any fakes yet, But these aren't common maintenance items like spark plugs, water pumps, & timing belts.

Summit Racing is really good as they are a authorized dealer for many brands like NGK, Denso, Aisin, AC-Delco, GM Performance, Mopar, & Ford Racing.

I also spend a ton through my local dealership parts departments.

It's a jungle out there.
Summit Racing has some really good stuff in stock.

They had the fuel pump drive belt and idlers in stock for my Touareg - VW told me it would be a week! The parts guy asked me, "why are you changing that?" :oops:
 
I spend extra $$ on oem or the highest quality parts possible parts cause I don't like doing things over and over. Some of the big names that were once really high quality now have low quality with the high quality name.
 
I can't imagine spending the money on OEM parts and not getting them from the parts counter.
Agreed, many parts counters will price match or get close to online OEM discount dealer pricing. I've had luck with Honda and Toyota parts counters price matching well below retail. Hyundai and Chrysler are especially desperate to sell and will even price match aftermarket, YMMV. Good luck with with MB or BMW though, they actually increase prices over retail....."matrix pricing".
 
Agreed, many parts counters will price match or get close to online OEM discount dealer pricing. I've had luck with Honda and Toyota parts counters price matching well below retail. Hyundai and Chrysler are especially desperate to sell and will even price match aftermarket, YMMV. Good luck with with MB or BMW though, they actually increase prices over retail....."matrix pricing".
Everyone does matrix pricing for retail customers. Not just the euros.
 
Never buy anything important from Amazon, period.

I bought some counterfeit Shimano bike parts last year. They were a combination of two different models that doesn't exist in any Shimano catalog. I left a review accordingly, with pictures, and they took it down "after verifying with the supplier". Never trust the reviews, because they take down the ones that try to warn you.

Even when I get goods that are not counterfeits, they aren't as good. I have no idea how this happens but I bought some Leviton GFCI receptacles off Amazon when they were out of stock locally. I don't think they were counterfeits and had the retail box, all the stickers, everything and looked perfect. But the failure rate was about 50%. I had to go to my local Home Depot, buy the exact same part number, and they all worked. So even when they aren't counterfeits, there is some way where QC rejects are getting mixed in or something.

Never buy anything important from Amazon. Never buy storage media from Amazon. Never buy X from Amazon...the list of things that I WILL buy from them is getting shorter and shorter.
 
Never buy anything important from Amazon, period.

I bought some counterfeit Shimano bike parts last year. They were a combination of two different models that doesn't exist in any Shimano catalog. I left a review accordingly, with pictures, and they took it down "after verifying with the supplier". Never trust the reviews, because they take down the ones that try to warn you.

Even when I get goods that are not counterfeits, they aren't as good. I have no idea how this happens but I bought some Leviton GFCI receptacles off Amazon when they were out of stock locally. I don't think they were counterfeits and had the retail box, all the stickers, everything and looked perfect. But the failure rate was about 50%. I had to go to my local Home Depot, buy the exact same part number, and they all worked. So even when they aren't counterfeits, there is some way where QC rejects are getting mixed in or something.

Never buy anything important from Amazon. Never buy storage media from Amazon. Never buy X from Amazon...the list of things that I WILL buy from them is getting shorter and shorter.
Agreed, some safety products just need to be bought first hand, locally from a big box store. You don't know what happened in the chain of custody on Amazon or Ebay.
 
Never buy anything important from Amazon, period.

I bought some counterfeit Shimano bike parts last year. They were a combination of two different models that doesn't exist in any Shimano catalog. I left a review accordingly, with pictures, and they took it down "after verifying with the supplier". Never trust the reviews, because they take down the ones that try to warn you.

Even when I get goods that are not counterfeits, they aren't as good. I have no idea how this happens but I bought some Leviton GFCI receptacles off Amazon when they were out of stock locally. I don't think they were counterfeits and had the retail box, all the stickers, everything and looked perfect. But the failure rate was about 50%. I had to go to my local Home Depot, buy the exact same part number, and they all worked. So even when they aren't counterfeits, there is some way where QC rejects are getting mixed in or something.

Never buy anything important from Amazon. Never buy storage media from Amazon. Never buy X from Amazon...the list of things that I WILL buy from them is getting shorter and shorter.
Amazon.com is now just Ali Express with "free" shipping and video/music streaming.
 
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