How to protect yourself on Amazon. Amazon is one of the biggest retail operations in America. Does this mean Amazon can protect the consumer from expired food or other possibly dangerous products? If the news reports are to be believed the answer is MAYBE. Why maybe? The answer lies in how Amazon does business. If you are buying from Amazon itself, that is when Amazon is the buyer and the seller of the product it is in their best interest to only sell you quality products. If you are buying from one of many third party sellers on Amazon, if something is out of date or dangerous you have little recourse with the seller or Amazon. About the only thing Amazon can do is suspend the account of the seller. It is unlikely you will receive your money back.
How does Amazon allow individuals to sell expired foods or potentially dangerous products on their site? The answer is Amazon does not verify every product a third-party seller is listing on Amazon. This is because Amazon is not responsible for what a third-party seller is offering to sell to you on their site. Amazon is merely an intermediary. Amazon provides the selling platform. If you are buying from a third-party seller it is always Caveat Emptor. Here is a link to a recent article about this problem. https://gizmodo.com/amazon-is-reportedly-selling-loads-of-expired-and-inedi-1839228825
Back to the original question for the post. How do you protect yourself from unscrupulous third-party sellers on Amazon. There is a section on the left side of any Amazon product page that says SELLER. Listed under the Seller heading is all of the different companies that sell the same item, Usually the first seller listed is Amazon.com. This tells you that Amazon buys and sells the product. Click the box next to the Amazon.com. You will only see products that Amazon itself buys and sells. If there is a problem with your item you know you are dealing with Amazon and not a third-party. This will give you a measure of confidence that you are getting the product you ordered. Of course this example applies to all websites you are buying from. If you are not sure who the seller is it is better to pay a little more than to lose all of your money for a bad or dangerous product.