Has Aquarium Co-op started selling on Amazon?

[shelbyd.mattison]

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… 

[FrozenFins]

They sell on Amazon Canada. However they only sell Easy Green, Easy Iron, Easy Root Tabs. I dont think they sell on amazon.com, however I did search it up and it looks like they have been sold out for quite some time. I dont think this actually them selling on amazon.com.

[shelbyd.mattison]

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. 

[Streetwise]

I have alerted @Cory. Thanks @shelbyd.mattison for looking out for the Co-Op!

[Cory]

We do sell some products on amazon Canada. As aquarium co-op. We are aware of this other business and I don’t believe there is any law that stops them from doing this. To the best of my knowledge they must be buying from us at full price and reselling it at that mark up.

[shelbyd.mattison]

😞 

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 🤦🏼‍♀️

Edited August 11, 2021 by shelbyd.mattison
Tagged Cory

[HH Morant]

My guess is that it is not illegal because they are not competing with Co-op if they are buying from Co-op. If they call them Co-op products, they are just telling the truth.

Co-op does not lose a sale when they make a sale. In fact, Co-op makes a sale every time they make a sale on Amazon.

Co-op almost certainly makes more money because of the Amazon seller because some of the buyers on Amazon would never have seen the product on the Co-op website and so would never have purchased it.

Maybe it is a good idea to leave a review pointing out that the Amazon buyers are getting ripped off because they could buy directly from Co-op. But that could cost Co-op a sale if they don't buy on Amazon but then end up buying somewhere other than Co-op.

[StevesFishTanks]

Amazon reviews are reviews of the actual items and not the seller. 

[Torrey]

@s1_ has the gist of it, if we leave bad reviews they will be counted against the Co-op.

 

I'm trying to find the live feed where Cory actually discussed the business selling Co-op merchandise. Someone answered that they drive from Virginia to Washington to buy fish from the store, and they order quite a bit during the summer to be delivered (sponges, etc) to VA for them to resell.

While I agree that ethically it's a major grey territory, do we want to blast someone who is doing what they can during the pandemic to support the Co-op?

 

Is there a more productive approach than trying to drag the individual, and then leaving Cory and Candi to deal with the person's hurt feelings?

Just something to think about. 

The livestream was recent, so July or August?

Cory noted that the sponge filters were Co-op filters, and the picture of the fish was his fishroom.

The person was not in the live stream chat, but responded a day or two later. 

Typically, I have found that people either make decisions out of love or out of fear. The ones made out of fear harm everyone. 

The ones made out of love can lead to misunderstandings if conversations to clarify expectations, boundaries, and needs don't happen. 🤷‍♂️

[HH Morant]

The Amazon sellers, if they are buying the products from Co-op at full price, are salesmen who work to sell Co-op products at no cost to Co-op.

They make money for Co-op. Maybe it is best to leave them alone. That is apparently what Co-op has decided to do.

[Gideyon]

On 8/11/2021 at 8:03 PM, HH Morant said:

Co-op does not lose a sale when they make a sale. In fact, Co-op makes a sale every time they make a sale on Amazo

I think the co-op makes even more than what these guys resell, because the reseller is stocking up. 

[TankofFish]

On 8/11/2021 at 7:22 PM, shelbyd.mattison said:

😞 

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 🤦🏼‍♀️

LOL....co-op is making money if they are buying from co-op. 

The seller is doing nothing wrong on amazon

[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. 

[anewbie]

By the time you factor in shipping the price isn't that high; still to make it work something else is probably going on here. coop might be able to determine if they are buying from them directly since there is only a single seller on amazon. Would it be possible they are buying them via the whole sale distributor? With regards to @shelbyd.mattison it doesn't matter if this helps or hurt the aquarium-coop as long as it isn't illegal it is inappropriate to complain (imho). Probably the worse of it is if they are obtaining the items via whole sale distributor and profiting off of aquarium-coop name but as long as they break no laws and these are genuine products review bombing (and you can review third party sellers without reviewing the product) is inappropriate.

[gardenman]

Reselling happens a lot, and I mean a lot on Amazon. As an author I know multiple other authors who have found resellers buying their books and then marking them up, often absurdly high, and reselling them on Amazon. It's not bad for the original provider as those reselling had to buy them to resell them, so most people just let it go. It can be funny though to find a paperback book of yours suddenly listed for $20 (or much, much more) when a reader could buy it new from you for $4.99 at the same place. The resellers hope to find naive idiots, and sadly there are a lot of them out there, to exploit. You see it a lot with hard to find video game consoles, computer hardware, shoes, and other collectibles also.