Before, my deal for the R9′s was unilaterally cancelled by Amazon, I later discovered another deal from TGW. So not just this one set of clubs (the Taylormade R9 deal) but Amazon (TGW was the merchant affiliate again) offered a set of Adams A7 hybrid wedges. Four clubs for $62.50. Another asserted 90% off deal–which is something I move quickly on. Because it was Amazon (with a famed A-Z guarantee) I again bought two sets–one for my father-inlaw and one for me. Into my cart and bought. My debit card was processed and the money for the purchased locked down and then a friend of mine pointed out that my hybrid deal wasn’t at all special. He told me it was just one club for $62.50– a #7 Adams A7, and not four (the #3,4,5, and 6 hybrid clubs).

I was perplexed for a moment until I found the screen shot I printed out of my purchase and determined that Amazon or TGW changed not only the description of goods after I purchased them but also changed what I bought and replaced the four Adams clubs in my cart with the single number seven club. Now if that ain’t bait and switch, I don’t know what would be. I contacted the merchant and Amazon and this order too was abruptly cancelled.

One of the remarkable things here apart from the law which requires a merchant to honor and advertised price in most cases, it that Amazon purportedly has the much hyped A-Z guarantee. Paragraph 8 of the A-Z guarantee states that in a fixed price transaction the seller is obligated to sell the goods at the listed price to buyers who meet the Seller’s terms. It applies in both instances with this Amazon merchant. Merchant’s accept the risk of dealing with these terms from Amazon and live under the sword of this A-Z guarantee to do business of Amazon. But, apparently this sword is made of plastic, because Amazon selectively applies this guarantee and would not stand behind it in either of these deals. So much for the credibility of Amazon.

Yes, multiple sellers of the same products will sell under one universal product description. I had assumed that the largest/oldest/most feedbacked seller would drive the product description, so it’s interesting that Amazon pitches in. Think: who is more likely to know the product they are selling? Amazon or the seller?

We are allowed to describe the product in our own listing but we are specifically told to not deviate from the main description. In your case, I can see that the error of omission in your battery description- “OEM”, could be appealing to some sellers who might try to make things fuzzy and pass on some aftermarket unknown.

Responsibility? In this case, as you describe it, you would think that Amazon is responsible for creating the patchwork quilt of a product description. What else does the buyer have to influence his purchase other than this description?
I am all for being responsible for my items matching my descriptions, but I would shy away from that if my product message was being edited.

That being said, it does sound that your seller is not helping you out either. A seller that has 4,000 feedback ratings has most likely sold to tens of thousands of individuals, as Amazon buyers don’t usually leave feedback. I wouldn’t worry about him keeping his son fed. You might check his feedbacks to see if he has others complaining of item description “confusion”.

Also, as we sellers all know, it is our own item description that shows up on the Amazon supplied invoice that we are required to ship along with their purchases. Your seller is not being truthful there and I wouldn’t believe anything further from him.

Back to the liability issue: It would seem that if Amazon sidestepped the editing of product descriptions, they would at least be in the same legal position as Ebay. Ebay will say that the accuracy of the listings is the responsibility of the Seller.

Interesting stuff!

I went to amazon initially because of the lower fees and ease of listing items. Both of those are no longer valid reasons.

I can tell you, if you ever buy from an amazon merchant and you want a full refund. jsut ask amazon, they will give it to you…and they dont even make you send the item back to the seller. it is a scary place ti sell expensive items.