Normally, I'm a big fan of Amazon, but this time, it's got a serious problem on its hands. Its a giant flea market posing as a traditional store. The difference is that traditionally, a store's buyers would check out their suppliers to make sure they were legit and provided what they promised. Amazon just provides a marketplace where buyers and sellers can meet and do deals, with Amazon taking a cut of the transaction.
If Bezos wants to get ahead of this problem, he has two choices. First, he could make sure Amazon behaves more like a traditional store and actually checks out the products it sells. Or he could put a big banner on the top of every Amazon product page which says something like, "Buyer Beware! We don't know who these people are, just some guys who signed up as merchants online. They're paying for sales space from us, and we sometimes ship their stuff to you. We're definitely not vouching for any of them, but if we ship it, we'll help with returns."
Instead, Bezos and company are laying low, hoping the dust will settle. I doubt that's going to work because there are a lot of Amazon haters out there, and they'll keep stirring the dust up again.
And this issue of fake and misleading sales info on Amazon's site poses serious problems from a consumer protection standpoint. For years, people have been pushing government agencies to regulate Amazon on c*ckamamie antitrust theories, but state attorneys general and the Feds certainly have the power to regulate false and misleading sales information. They also have the power to issue massive fines for recurring misconduct. Amazon Beware!
