Every month, over 197 million people around the world visit Amazon. That is more than the whole population of Russia! However, while Amazon has undoubtedly made the online shopping experience generally easier and more affordable, there are several products sold on Amazon that you should avoid purchasing.
Chargers and Cables for Apple Devices
Despite Amazon being one of the largest and most reputable retail stores online, not all products listed on the site are genuine. According to Apple, over 90% of Apple chargers and cables that are sold as genuine on Amazon are actually fake. It is not only items sold by third-party vendors. Even some products sold directly by Amazon are not legitimate Apple items. No one wants to buy a counterfeit item, so avoid buying Apple chargers and cables from Amazon. After all, in addition to the products not being as high-quality as genuine articles, fake chargers and cables have probably not passed safety tests.
Paper Products
With Amazon’s popular Subscribe & Save program, you sign up and get paper goods like paper towels, diapers, and other household items sent to you automatically on a pre-scheduled basis. It may sound like a good deal. However, you can actually end up paying a lot more for paper products that you can buy cheaper elsewhere. For instance, a box of four rolls of paper towels costs $27.54 as part of the Amazon service. In comparison, you can buy a similar product for only $5.98 at Walmart. Do the math. You can also compare the price of paper towels on sites like Buyer’s Guide, which may help you save a lot of money in the long-run.
Batteries
Seeing as batteries are needed for a wide variety of gadgets, they are items you will probably need to purchase regularly. However, buying standard batteries like AA and AAA on Amazon can actually be much more expensive than purchasing them from your local store. But the danger of buying batteries on Amazon is not only about the price. Many third parties on the virtual shopping platform sell cheap and poorly manufactured batteries. They will not last anywhere near as long as batteries that you can buy from reputable manufacturers elsewhere. But more importantly, they could damage the products you use the batteries in, or even worse, poorly manufactured batteries could catch fire or explode.
Mercedes Benz Wheel Caps
Although only specialist buyers tend to buy Mercedes Benz wheel caps, the items are still hugely problematic when bought from Amazon. A lawsuit was filed in 2017 by the German automaker Daimler, which alleged Amazon refuses to take any reasonable steps to prevent infringement of intellectual property, enabling counterfeit items like Mercedes Benz wheel caps to be bought from third-party vendors and Amazon itself.
Stationery
Some items on Amazon may seem like fantastic deals until you start shopping around and you realize the deals are anything but good! This often applies to low-cost items like stationery. For instance, you can buy a 100-sheet notebook for $9.94 on Amazon, plus shipping costs, while the exact same notebook is available in Walmart for only $2.76. Stationery items like notebooks can often be more than 300% more expensive on Amazon.
Cosmetics Products
Although you may find good cosmetics bargains on Amazon, you need to be aware of third-party sellers offering counterfeit cosmetics and beauty products. The problem is not just on Amazon. You will also find ingenuine cosmetics products on sites like eBay and Alibaba. Despite Amazon being aware of the problem of counterfeit cosmetics, there is only so much the company can do to stop the items from appearing. As a buyer, it is best to simply avoid counterfeit cosmetics. Not only are they fake. They can even contain toxic levels of chemicals like mercury and arsenic.
