Amazon is responsible under federal safety law for hazardous products sold on its platform by third-party sellers and shipped by the company, a U.S. government agency ordered Tuesday.
In a unanimous vote, the Consumer Product Safety Commission said it determined that the e-commerce company was a “distributor” of faulty items sold on its site and packed and shipped through its fulfillment service.
That means the company is on the hook, legally, for the recalls of more than 400,000 products, including hairdryers and defective carbon monoxide detectors, the agency said. It ordered Amazon to come up with a system for notifying customers who purchased faulty items and to remove the products from circulation by offering incentives for their return or destruction.
Amazon said it planned to appeal the decision in court.
You used to be able to filter the seller to InsertsitenameIactuallywentto.com, but increasingly sites have removed that option. Like fuck off, I went to your website to buy from you specifically so I don’t get wonky Chinese knockoffs. I want to give you my money. Fuckin let me ffs.
Oh yeah that is so frustrating as well. eRetailers: If you want to be a broker, stop selling products directly and just live the dream of being that grifty middle-man. You can’t have it both ways.