We have received several reports related to purchase problems via Amazon using sellers from the so-called marketplace. It is one of the forms through which products are offered for sale on Amazon: on the one hand, the official channel, with Amazon managing the order, logistics, shipping and invoicing of the product. On the other, the marketplace, a real internal Amazon showcase for the sale of products by the American company's partners, taking advantage of the latter's platform but managing billing and shipping on its own account.
It is precisely through the marketplace that some sellers can present bitter surprises to the less prepared buyers. The simplest and most used form is that which sees the seller ask the buyer, directly from his Amazon page with the product concerned, for contact him at an email address to proceed with the purchase.
So in fact the seller asks to leave the classic and consolidated purchase procedure through the tools that Amazon provides to its partners to start a commercial transaction which apparently is within the Amazon fees but which in practice is external to them and refers to a unique relationship between seller and buyer.
And here are many times to surprise the buyer, who proceeds unaware of the order not using the Amazon platform but other channels, such as a payment via Paypal or a bank transfer. Once the seller has received the payment, he takes time for the shipment but in fact, we can say, he takes the money and runs away leaving the unwary buyer with the perception of having made a safe purchase through a consolidated and familiar platform.
So what to do? Simple: stay away from those offers, perhaps with a very attractive price, but for which the dealer requests to be contacted by email to proceed with the payment. Staying within the Amazon platform, there is no risk of surprises and in case of problems, Amazon itself will intervene with its assistance service. And it is good to remember that very often when an offer seems to be too good to be true it is because it is precisely this: not true.