Be careful when buying books off Amazon

Forums › Off topic › Be careful when buying books off Amazon - it can be a fake

turtleattacks

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#311910 26-Feb-2024 09:11

I purchased what I thought was a book by Peter Zeihan, but then realised that it was by Peter Walters and was surprised that it had the exact title and book cover and title as the original.

It appears that the content is 98% similar to the original and a few words has been swapped out with other words of the same meaning.

The seller was from Amazon Direct (Amazon Commercial Services Pty Ltd) and on the back it amusingly has "Manufactured by Amazon.com.au Sydney, New South Wales, Australia"

The book was pretty bad quality, printed in copy paper (A4) feeling and just bound together.

Has anyone encountered something like this and how is something like even possible?

How weird! I almost want to keep a copy of it for the shit and giggles.

The book even has an ISBN: 9798366650830 (https://isbnsearch.org/isbn/9798366650830)

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johno1234

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#3200047 26-Feb-2024 09:15

Wow. Did you notify Amazon?

turtleattacks

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#3200050 26-Feb-2024 09:17

johno1234:

Wow. Did you notify Amazon?

When I purchased it Feb last year, I felt it was a bit off but didn't really think much of it and threw it on my bookshelf.

I picked it up yesterday and noticed the author name is different so did a bit more digging.

I reached out last night and they were so "generous" to offer me a "one time" goodwill gesture refund if I return the book.

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dryburn

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#3200054 26-Feb-2024 09:28

No necessarily fake, amazon a print on demand model. Maybe some authors take advantage of similar book titles?

turtleattacks

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#3200055 26-Feb-2024 09:32

dryburn: No necessarily fake, amazon a print on demand model. Maybe some authors take advantage of similar book titles?

The author is different, Peter Walters instead of Peter Zeihan and the text is mostly the same, with some words replaced with others of the same meaning.

Print is overall really bad quality with some graphs and maps being really low-res.

I had originally thought it was one of the "Print on demand" books but don't think this is the case this time.

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Inphinity

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#3200063 26-Feb-2024 10:07

Looks like Amazon Print on Demand to me, from a self-published author. I'd be surprised if it's still for sale if it's been a year.

xpd

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#3200068 26-Feb-2024 10:18

Sort of the reason I'm reluctant to purchase any sort media from Amazon anymore.... never know if you're getting a legit item or a counterfeit/questionable copy.

XPD / Gavin

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wellygary

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#3200069 26-Feb-2024 10:30

Inphinity:

Looks like Amazon Print on Demand to me, from a self-published author. I'd be surprised if it's still for sale if it's been a year.

Yip, Someone created a look-a-like book and are producing it via Amazon's Print on Demand Service,

The actual author, Peter Zeihan is published by HarperCollins in Australia,

https://www.harpercollins.com.au/cr-152113/peter-zeihan/

Once you are Finished with Amazon,

i'd flick HCollins an email and tell them that Amazon are facilitating knock offs on their platform,

I am sure a lawyers letter from a large publishing house will get more traction than an individual complaint from a Amazon customer,

Bung

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#3200070 26-Feb-2024 10:30

turtleattacks:The author is different, Peter Walters instead of Peter Zeihan and the text is mostly the same, with some words replaced with others of the same meaning.

Print is overall really bad quality with some graphs and maps being really low-res.

I had originally thought it was one of the "Print on demand" books but don't think this is the case this time.

Maybe the author's name keeps changing but apart from presumably you on reddit there's no comment on Peter Zeihan/ Peter Walters.

mudguard

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#3200075 26-Feb-2024 10:44

Weirdly I just read that book. But on my Kindle. I recognised the author's name.
I assume it was the correct book!

snj

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#3200083 26-Feb-2024 11:24

Sadly this has been around for at least 5 years ago, seen multiple articles over the years about various authors discovering this problem. Ars on one such case in 2019: https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2019/02/amazon-caught-selling-counterfeits-of-publishers-computer-books-again/

Another more recent example: https://nypost.com/2022/07/31/pirated-books-thrive-on-amazon-authors-say-web-giant-ignores-fraud/

Somewhat "funny" (in a bad way), each time this comes up Amazon promises to do more, but each time authors are quoted as saying despite trying Amazon don't do anything about their reports while they get bad reviews/etc about their books due to their fakes. I know not always practical, but I guess another reason to support local booksellers.

neb

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#3200310 26-Feb-2024 18:27

dryburn: No necessarily fake, amazon a print on demand model. Maybe some authors take advantage of similar book titles?

Amazon is overrun with POD fakes, and with scams in general since their lack of enforcement makes it so scammer-friendly. There are two types of books scams, the first is a scan or OCR of a real book which you seem to have got, there are quite a few counterfeits of real books on there. You can get caught by these no matter how careful you are because if the same SKU is sold by Amazon and the scammers they mix them into a single sorting bin, so you can buy the real thing and end up with a counterfeit. Go Amazon!

The other type is outright fakes cobbled together from Wikipedia pages and stock photos and ranked highly through SEO manipulation. For those you just need to check to make sure it's from, and sold by, a real, recognised publisher.

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ezbee

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#3200333 26-Feb-2024 19:27

Amazon becoming an emporium of crap with five stars?
Not just books... Connectors, Fuses.

The Downfall of Amazon: Dangerous Products, Fake Reviews & Vanishing Brands
Louis Rossmann
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y83BS_mK9GE

The Downfall of Amazon, pt.2: Top Ranking Electrical Fuses Show Dangerous Results
Louis Rossmann
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B90_SNNbcoU

Louis got results of 4x-5x and 2x current continuously, and one closer to what you should expect.

There are number of other videos on Amazon and no name fuses.
Some fuses that carry 4x their rating forever.
Great you never need to buy replacements as they never blow.

neb

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#3200340 26-Feb-2024 20:32

ezbee:
The Downfall of Amazon: Dangerous Products, Fake Reviews & Vanishing Brands
Louis Rossmann
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y83BS_mK9GE

Louis is great value, and since his stuff is essentially a podcast you can just run it in the background while working.

Although his more... uncensored podcasts are the most entertaining ones.