Court Rules That Amazon Is Liable for Safety of Third-Party Products

[Tsing]

Image: Amazon



Amazon doesn’t think that it should be responsible for the quality and safety of products that are sold by third-party merchants, but one of California’s appellate courts believes differently. As reported by the Los Angeles Times, a trio of state Court of Appeal justices in Los Angeles have ruled that Amazon should be legally and financially responsible not only for the safety of products sold directly by Amazon.com, but those from third parties as well. The ruling is attributed to a case filed in December 2015 in which a third-party seller sent a customer a hoverboard that ended up bursting into flames. While an L.A. judge initially ruled in Amazon’s favor, that ruling has now been overturned by the appellate court, which could force the Seattle e-tail giant to update its policies.



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[Brian_B]

I kind of agree. They should take some responsibility for what they are selling. I don't think they should be liable for damages or anything because a hoverboard blew up - but at the very least they should investigate, halt sales on serious issues, and if appropriate process the return and refund...

The fact that they kept on selling the item after the fact is the issue really. Those hoverboards were notorious, it's not like this was an isolated incident.

The counterfeit stuff over at Amazon is absolutely ridiculous, and they take no responsibility for that either.

Where I work, they won't even look at a vendor unless the vendor has a certificate of insurance - just in case of something like this.

The worst thing Amazon (and Newegg) ever did was open up to third party sellers and just wash their hands of anything the third party does so long as they get a cut.

 

[Burticus]

The worst thing Amazon (and Newegg) ever did was open up to third party sellers and just wash their hands of anything the third party does so long as they get a cut.

Yep I hate that they did this. I assume money has something everything to do with their reasoning.

 

[LazyGamer]

Yep I hate that they did this. I assume money has something everything to do with their reasoning.

When it comes to products that we'd expect to have some support backing, I agree; on the other hand, Amazon and to a lesser extent Newegg have become hubs for the introduction of products that would otherwise be relegated to Ebay and the like.

I'd much rather be buying from a seller in Hong Kong or Singapore through Amazon for instance, and for some markets, those sellers are the only way you're getting certain products. Lots of headphone and AMP/DAC stuff, pads and cables and so on, for instance.

 

[Brian_B]

I'd much rather be buying from a seller in Hong Kong or Singapore through Amazon for instance, and for some markets, those sellers are the only way you're getting certain products. Lots of headphone and AMP/DAC stuff, pads and cables and so on, for instance.

This is true, and in theory, this should work great.

The problem is, Amazon (Newegg) are also allowing people to sell counterfeit, scalped, outright dangerous items, and possibly worse. There's not near enough quality control, nor accountability.

If Amazon/Newegg would actually hold those third parties accountable to a tighter degree - then it would be a whole different story.

Some products ~should~ just be relegated to Ebay and the like. There, at least, there is no illusion that Ebay is making any guarantee (although they do provide that to some degree, and better than Amazon in some cases). At Amazon/Newegg, it's not exactly hidden, but it's not always readily apparent if you are buying from Amazon/Newegg, or some third party.

 

[LazyGamer]

If Amazon/Newegg would actually hold those third parties accountable to a tighter degree - then it would be a whole different story.

This is the big one.

1) tell me it's a third-party seller; I don't actually mind this for the most part, because it allows me to use Amazon's/Newegg's infrastructure and sorting (better for each, respectively) to find what I need

2) don't let sellers get away with selling trash

That's going to happen a little regardless as the retailers themselves get scammed on occasion, but in general if something's truly counterfeit, these companies should be dropping a hammer on them.

 

[Uvilla]

If a store that rents shelf space is responsible in whatever ways, Amazon should be too to the same degree. Its really the same deal, except they put some text somewhere in the online product page.
Well imagine if Amazon had their way all the way.. Then stores should just put a warning in their doors and made a mininal effort to distinguish the rented shelf, then I would argue, its now the same as online 3rd party, hence I can weaken protections, reduce my liability.
If im making any sense.

 

[AntiQuark]

I rarely buy from Amazon because
1) of the above typically, much of what they sell is ****e.
2) you can often buy quality products cheaper, sellers know many people only go to Amazon so do nothing with the price.