shelbyd.mattison

For starters, we don’t know that these are co-op products. They could be cheap fakes. Second, they’ve been marked up almost double. Selling any item at a hugely inflated price makes the Co-op look BAD. Third, they appear as though they are the co-op, or they’re acting on behalf of the co-op, and this is done intentionally to use the co-op’s good reputation to their benefit. If someone has a bad experience with this completely unaffiliated and unidentifiable seller, that could seriously damage the co-ops reputation. They might lose a customer forever over something dumb that this seller did. Finally, the video that everybody is referencing where Cory comments about this is exact scenario, if I’m not mistaken, Cory doesn’t say that he approves of it or he doesn’t care. He says that they don’t have the man power to challenge every fake. And when someone is selling Cory’s items without permission, we need to assume it’s fake. As far as everybody giving me grief for not leaving it alone or for leaving a bad review, I left a bad review for the seller and his fake. I gave a glowing review of Cory’s original, and I told them where to find it. I also verified that this was indeed a seller who was reselling without permission before I did anything at all. Did y’all miss the part where Cory himself responded to my inquiry and said that the seller didn’t have permission, and that he didn’t know how to stop them? He didn’t respond saying that the seller has permission, or that he didn’t care because the seller MIGHT be buying the products from him instead of faking them. I’m honestly a little disappointed, does everybody just not understand the potential harm that this can do to Cory’s business? Obviously, the person that’s selling these items doesn’t care. If they were actually trying to support the co-op, they would have AT LEAST asked Cory’s permission. It’s not like he’s hard to get a hold of. They also would’ve made an attempt to make it affordable, like Cory does, instead of this ridiculous profit margin. And again, all of this is giving them the benefit of the doubt by assuming that they’re actually buying it from Cory instead of selling a fake. This person doesn’t give a crap about supporting Cory, they’re just trying to make a quick buck. Hopefully, they’re not making a quick buck at Cory’s expense, but if they’re providing poor customer service, selling a fake item, or if somebody feels ripped off by the inflated price, that’s exactly what’s happening. They would be making a quick buck at Cory’s expense. I really hope y’all are right, though. I really hope it’s just a co-op fan trying to spread the love. But I really doubt it, given the profit margins, and the fact that they didn’t even try to get Cory’s blessing.

😞 Sorry, @Cory . That’s rather tacky of them. I left them an ugly review on the stuff I found and I’ll do some research about what can be done to have them removed. Do you have a patent on the sponge filters and the root tabs? My brother is a patent lawyer. I can start my research by talking to him. I’m out of work right now because of an injured back, and I don’t have anything better to do than figure out how to be a major pain in their butt. But worst case scenario, if it’s not illegal and I can’t convince amazon to take it down anyway, the only review they’ve ever had is mine, and it’s not the least bit complimentary of the seller. I was also gonna throw in a less-than-complimentary comment about the seller’s mother, but I forgot 🤦🏼‍♀️

Ok, Thanks James. I’m not in Canada. I’ll go ahead and report it on Amazon. Should I notify anybody at Co-op about it? I don’t know if there are any laws about reselling products as though they’re yours, or if this counts as a patent violation or whatever. Maybe it’s not technically illegal or anything because NYC Wholesale is “reselling” a product he bought and he’s not renaming it to claim as his own invention, but I’ll at least leave a negative review so people don’t buy them at a considerable markup thinking that they’re getting them straight from co-op instead of a middle man.

Has Co-op started selling online? I’m suspicious because the seller is labeled as “NYC Wholesaler.” It looks like they’re buying and reselling co-op products or they’re selling fakes. They’ve got root tabs and two sizes of sponge filters for sale right now and it’s a good bit more expensive than the ones from co-op. I’ll report them and whatnot if they’re not legitimate. I’m extra concerned on co-ops behalf because they actually listed it as a co-op product. They didn’t just steal the picture of the filters and root tabs. They’re listed as “aquarium co-op course sponge filter,” and “aquarium co-op easy root tabs,” so it looks like the actual store selling them, but I’m pretty sure I heard Cory say that they refused to sell on Amazon, and I also pretty sure they wouldn’t go by “NYC Wholesaler” if they did…