Way past its prime: how did Amazon get so rubbish? (Guardian)

[progree]

53. I've been screwed so many times by 3rd party sellers on Amazon, in the last few years

that I will no longer buy from 3rd party sellers unless it's some basic commodity type of thing that isn't easy to screw around with

Electronics particularly --

A Dell external DVD - the description said the software was downloadable online, but it wasn't

A Brothers color ink cartridge set that supposedly was in original packaging (and showed a picture of the box), but came without the box. The key thing is that the box has the expiration date on it, so there was no way to know how old these cartridges are.

A Brothers black ink cartridge, where the expiration date was covered by a "recycle responsibly" sticker, and when I peeled that off, the expiration code was blacked out. But I could hold it up to the light and see the expiration date, and of course it was long past expired.

A NEW Dell monitor with built-in speakers. What I got was a different model without speakers, and the box had "Refurbished" on it.

In all cases, I always buy things "sold by" Amazon and ships from Amazon, unless they don't have the item I need. (I would never think of going with a 3rd party seller to save a little money, or even dumber to try to save a lot of money)

From now on, if Amazon doesn't sell it directly, I will order direct from the manufacturer and likely pay a higher price plus a shipping charge, and will have to endure watching for separate packages for each such thing I buy, which is a PITA.

Edited to add I've never been screwed by the Guardian