Mis-selling phones on Amazon

Isolis

So, following my bad experience buying a Samsung phone intended for the UAE from an Amazon listing specifying a UK spec model, I decided to ask a different seller about a different phone.

As you can see from the conversation below, they were quite happy to admit they are mis-selling an "international model" as UK spec, but claim it is because they don't have the ability to change the Amazon listing.

I blurred the name out because there are 27 other sellers on the listing selling for a similar price, most likely doing exactly the same thing, so singling out one seller when the situation is endemic seems unfair.

Should Amazon be doing more about this?

DullGreyGuy

Where is the link to the listing? Does the listing state its UK model?

Isolis

Here is the link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CTH16HB8

Product details has UK model code:

EnPointe

nut  sure  howe Amazon are  getting  away with this unless , to be honest, they a allowing people  to claim a different Samsung  SKU and UPC for the Gulf / international   versions are the same as the EU  / UK  models

Isolis

That's exactly what they are allowing marketplace sellers to do. There are a whole host of sellers on that listing selling well below high street prices and I suspect a large number of them if not all are selling non UK/EU models with no NFC or warranty.

As my screenshot shows, it's the #1 selling phone on Amazon right now. Mis-selling seems to be profitable.

booneruk

Isolis said:

That's exactly what they are allowing marketplace sellers to do. There are a whole host of sellers on that listing selling well below high street prices and I suspect a large number of them if not all are selling non UK/EU models with no NFC or warranty.

As my screenshot shows, it's the #1 selling phone on Amazon right now. Mis-selling seems to be profitable.

I guess the 30 days standard returns policy applies though? I had similar with a Samsung Watch the other year, it was very cheap and when I got it I realised it was an EU model meaning I couldn't activate Samsung Pay.

Isolis

Another thing is that Amazon rejected my product review because I said I was sent a non UK/EU model. They said this is seller specific information even though the whole listing is dominated by merchants selling grey-market imports.

They allow such reviews to be made for individual marketplace sellers, but this is much less visible and I suspect most people just check the main reviews within the listing itself.

Isolis

booneruk said:

I guess the 30 days standard returns policy applies though? I had similar with a Samsung Watch the other year, it was very cheap and when I got it I realised it was an EU model meaning I couldn't activate Samsung Pay.

It does, although if you buy the phone and six months down the line it malfunctions, Samsung will tell you it's not covered for repair, and there's a good chance the marketplace seller has disappeared by that point.

Or you might not need NFC initially, but when you decide to start using it six months later, you find out the phone doesn't have it.

Murmansk

Seems to me you need to report it to Trading Standards or maybe the You and Yours programme on Radio 4 - or both!

Scruff1977

I am sorry to say this, but finding that there are other consumers that have had the same issues with Samsung Smartphones bought from Amazon, has made me feel some relief, after months of problems from a phone I bought from Amazon UK.
I bought mine from Amazon UK, not from another seller on their marketplace. I only started to notice problems when I was unable to install the FreeStyle Libre 2 App- Diabetic Blood Glucose monitor - from Google Play Store, which displayed that my device - Samsung A14- was not compatible. I was led to believe that as the phone was a cheap mode, it would not have NFC.
The next App I had issues with, was Co-Op Banking, which informed me that their App was not suitable for devices that may have been Rooted, stating that there would be security issues.
As the phone was brand new, delivered sealed from Amazon, advice from the Samsung Forum suggested that the phone might be fake or refurbished due to the Rooted message.
Checking the settings show the phone to be of Official Status and with up to date software.

In the past 2 weeks, I have not been able to open the settings options and have had to factory reset twice, just to sync some Bluetooth devices. This led me to contacting Samsung as the phone having been bought in February 2025, would still be under warranty. I skipped contacting Amazon UK, as I have difficulty understanding their customer service agents - I am hearing impaired and find non-UK accents hard to follow- Samsung advised that there were issues, but an engineer may charge me for work if the phone was not in compliance with their warranty. It was only noticed by myself that the phone was issued in the UAE -I found this out when checking the IMEI number online - I figure any repairs would not be much cheaper than what I originally paid for the phone?

I will not be buying a Samsung phone from Amazon UK again, and I am very wary of mobile phone shops on the High Street, as I presume that independent retailers may have sourced their stock in the same way Amazon had? 

Isolis

Scruff1977 said:

I bought mine from Amazon UK, not from another seller on their marketplace.

My UAE model was from an Amazon marketplace seller, who typically sold them around 40% cheaper than Amazon. Apparently the practice is still ongoing, for instance:

Amazon non-marketplace: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0DK1YCM6Q
Amazon marketplace: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0DPHC4RQW

I've bought several phones from Amazon (non-marketplace) and they've always been UK models.