undefined | Better HN

0 pointsgnicholas5y ago0 comments

I find Amazon’s system very confusing. I recently bought a Magic Keyboard for my iPad Pro ($100 off!) [1] on Amazon. The purchase page didn’t show a return policy, and at the top it said “visit the Apple Store”. This made it seem like the device was being sold by Apple.

But of course there’s no way Apple would take a return in store if I purchased via Amazon.

So I chatted an Amazon rep to see what the return policy would be for that item. She looked at the link and said “because this item is sold and shipped by Amazon, there’s a 30 day return period, and return shipping is covered.” I had the rep email me a chat transcript just in case her interpretation turned out to be wrong.

This system makes no sense to me. What does it mean when you see the “visit the Apple Store”? I thought this indicated that this was the seller?

I should note that I wouldn’t buy most Apple peripherals through Amazon, but I’m pretty sure no one is making knockoff Magic Keyboards just yet...

1: https://www.amazon.com/Magic-Keyboard-11-inch-iPad-Generatio...

0 comments

amscanne5y ago

Brands often have a “store” on Amazon, which is a dedicated landing page. You’re likely the victim of confusion between that and “The Apple Store (tm)”.

gnicholasOP5y ago

Oh I’m aware this isn’t the Apple Store (as in the physical buildings). I just don’t understand what the brand store is if this item is considered to be sold by Amazon (as the rep said). Is it just a collection of items sold by Amazon and others that are manufactured by one company? I assumed that the company was involved in the selling.

For example, I would be more likely to trust an item is legit if it supposedly comes from “the Apple Store” on Amazon, as opposed to some random Amazon seller. But if it’s just a collection of items from various different sellers, then it’s pretty much meaningless to me.

EDIT: can someone explain the downvotes here? I'm just replying to the comment above, describing what confuses me about this. If this is super obvious to other people, then what does "visit the Apple Store" on Amazon mean?

judge20205y ago

Ships from Amazon.com

Sold by Amazon.com

These two indicate who holds the stock and who delivers the product. All prime-eligible items are shipped by Amazon.com (although some other shipping methods provide 'prime free shipping', without a 2-day guarantee), while Amazon also will wholesale buy and sell items themselves if they're high-volume enough, which is indicated by 'Sold by Amazon.com'.

The whole 'Visit the <Brand> Store' is a way to go to a page that only shows products sold under that brand/company. For example, this Corsair ql120[0] has "Visit the Corsair store" under the product name which shows all Corsair products. Amazon generally limits the amount of off-Amazon linking done, although it's not strict and it's not off-limits in product images or the description.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07Z9SQX7M

1 more reply

qazxcvbnmlp5y ago

“Visit the Apple store” is a link. You can click on it and see.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse