Amazon Rips Off Peak Design

Hamiltionian · Mar 3, 2021

Amazon has made a direct copy of the Peak Design Everyday Sling to sell as their own under the 'basics' line. This is incredibly disappointing to see a large company, which makes a lot of money selling Peak Design gear, try to make an extra buck by screwing their much smaller business partner.

1392c8b923f14ce5adb7268d57002b45.jpg.png

At least Peak Design decided to have some fun with it:

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robgendreau · Mar 3, 2021

Wow.

Kind of interesting to go to the site and read the reviews. There are some verified reviewers hammering it as the knock-off it is, but some others who claim knowledge of Peak Design gear that extol its virtues.

I'm no Peak Design fan, quite the opposite actually, but this IS pretty crappy behavior by Amazon. I think they probably have no choice but to continue to sell there. The good news is that I doubt anyone who really wants Peak Design is in any way going to be taken in by this yet-another-bag for a camera.

Be funny if Peak Design retaliated with the Peak Designs Basic Amazon Everyday Sling doggie doodoo bag, that in every way mimicked Amazons, but was for dog waste. People could use it as a decoy bag for thieves....

And I suppose my conscience will be tested more thoroughly when I see the Amazon Basics Alpha 1 full frame digital camera for $500....

tbcass · Mar 3, 2021

The bag looks so generic that it's hard to use the term rip-off. Maybe the peak design is of better quality.

Hoxton Bridge · Mar 3, 2021

Hamiltionian said:
Amazon has made a direct copy of the Peak Design Everyday Sling to sell as their own under the 'basics' line. This is incredibly disappointing to see a large company, which makes a lot of money selling Peak Design gear, try to make an extra buck by screwing their much smaller business partner.

At least Peak Design decided to have some fun with it:

I've seen some reviews of other 'basics' items which were roundly shown to be utter rubbish. I can't speak for the above, but anyone spending money on any of this stuff is going to be disappointed. But you are right, the copying is disgraceful - I wonder where it is made?

--
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Fazal Majid · Mar 3, 2021

Yes, Peak Design has an Amazon store, which means Amazon has deep insight on their sales data. Both the US and EU are investigating this under antitrust law:

Loading…

judiciary.house.gov

(page 274 and following)

Loading…

www.theverge.com

Fazal Majid · Mar 3, 2021

tbcass said:
The bag looks so generic that it's hard to use the term rip-off. Maybe the peak design is of better quality.

Look at details like the trapezoidal brand tag on the left side of the bag, which is literally identical (except the Amazon is gray and the PD brown).

OpticsEngineer · Mar 3, 2021

The contracts sellers sign with Amazon say that Amazon will not use sales data they collect to make decisions to make knockoffs that will compete directly with the original sellers. But company insiders are saying it has long been common practice and continues to be common practice.

sybersitizen · Mar 3, 2021

Hoxton Bridge said:
... I wonder where it is made?

This report says most AmazonBasics products are made in Asia, which should surprise no one:

Loading…

www.cnn.com

At least a camera bag won't accidentally ignite (will it?).

Fazal Majid · Mar 3, 2021

sybersitizen said:
Hoxton Bridge said:

... I wonder where it is made?

Click to expand...

This report says most AmazonBasics products are made in Asia, which should surprise no one:

Well, so are the Peak Design bags, which are designed in San Francisco but made in Vietnam.

sybersitizen said:
https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/10/business/amazonbasics-electronics-fire-safety-invs/

At least a camera bag won't accidentally ignite (will it?).

I think Amazon may be closer than people think to Day 2:

Loading…

www.fool.com

sybersitizen said:
"Day 2 is stasis. Followed by irrelevance. Followed by excruciating, painful decline. Followed by death," he said. "And that is why it is always Day 1."

Between the widespread counterfeiting, review fraud, the antitrust scrutiny, the refusal to take responsibility for selling dangerous products, its reputation is now worse than eBay's was in the 2000s. I only buy electronics from B&H or other authentic sources, never from Amazon, and my shopping with them has fallen 6x compared to its peak in 2011.

justmeMN · Mar 3, 2021

Fazal Majid said:
I only buy electronics from B&H or other authentic sources, never from Amazon,

I buy electronics from a retailer that has a restocking fee. That reduces the chances that the new product I order will end up being someone else's used return.

Dennis · Mar 3, 2021

Fazal Majid said:
Between the widespread counterfeiting, review fraud, the antitrust scrutiny, the refusal to take responsibility for selling dangerous products, its reputation is now worse than eBay's was in the 2000s. I only buy electronics from B&H or other authentic sources, never from Amazon, and my shopping with them has fallen 6x compared to its peak in 2011.

We made it a point to avoid Amazon this past year (although we keep our Prime account - it's still handy for times you need something quick) just because it's so discouraging to search for something and find nothing but endless rebrands of cheap Chinese versions of whatever it was you really wanted. If they even sell the well-known brand name that you searched for, it often doesn't show up on the first page. It's become the world's biggest "dollar store".

- Dennis
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Doug Haag · Mar 3, 2021

Peak Design's Response

tbcass · Mar 3, 2021

Fazal Majid said:
tbcass said:

The bag looks so generic that it's hard to use the term rip-off. Maybe the peak design is of better quality.

Click to expand...

Look at details like the trapezoidal brand tag on the left side of the bag, which is literally identical (except the Amazon is gray and the PD brown).

That stuff doesn't matter to me but if the name tag is copy righted then they could be sued.

FrancoD · Mar 3, 2021

tbcass said:
The bag looks so generic that it's hard to use the term rip-off. Maybe the peak design is of better quality.

No ,it isn't "generic", the Amazon version is a straight copy of the one from Peak Designs.

There are many bags that are somewhat of that style (sling bags) but not EXACTLY the same design.

For example

BTW, you need to consider familiarity . I delt with gadget bags for decades so it is pretty easy for me to tell similarities and differences, but, for example, I can't tell a racing bike from another because I don't know much about them.

One day I saw a Chinese lady on the shop floor looking puzzled. So I asked how I could help. She told me that one of the guys helped her earlier on but could not see him. So I commented : we all look the same , don't we ? She looked at me , smiled and said : yes you do...

kaphinga · Mar 3, 2021

Two hours ago Amazon was calling it the "Amazon Basics Everyday Sling." I just looked again, and they had changed the name to the "Amazon Basics Camera Bag."

FrancoD · Mar 3, 2021

Yes, they have changed the name.

Fun to read the comments there , with the most voted the one that asks why would anyone buy a non sustainable knockoff.

Loading…

www.amazon.com

But it looks like some here would be happy enough to have others coping their work.

I hope they don't mind when their photos are used by someone else.

foot · Mar 3, 2021

Fazal Majid said:
Yes, Peak Design has an Amazon store, which means Amazon has deep insight on their sales data. Both the US and EU are investigating this under antitrust law:

https://judiciary.house.gov/uploadedfiles/competition_in_digital_markets.pdf

(page 274 and following)

https://www.theverge.com/2020/11/10...ges-competition-commission-margrethe-vestager

I hope this goes viral so people will be aware of these issues...

Amazon is also ripping off software

search: "amazon rips off open source software"

I know it seems weird to call it "ripping off" for open source software. However some companies develop software, put it out as "open source" then charge for their expertise in development and support. Amazon just cuts them out of that, and doesn't "give back" to the developers.

This is a link to an overview of the "Peak Design" features

"Everyday Sling 3, 6, and 10L - Non-Humorous Feature Overview"

Overrank · Mar 3, 2021

foot said:
Fazal Majid said:

Yes, Peak Design has an Amazon store, which means Amazon has deep insight on their sales data. Both the US and EU are investigating this under antitrust law:

https://judiciary.house.gov/uploadedfiles/competition_in_digital_markets.pdf

(page 274 and following)

https://www.theverge.com/2020/11/10...ges-competition-commission-margrethe-vestager

Click to expand...

I hope this goes viral so people will be aware of these issues...

Amazon is also ripping off software

search: "amazon rips off open source software"

I know it seems weird to call it "ripping off" for open source software. However some companies develop software, put it out as "open source" then charge for their expertise in development and support. Amazon just cuts them out of that, and doesn't "give back" to the developers.

Theres a long history of people selling support for free software, that was never one of Stallman’s issues is setting up the FSF. Look up Cygnus Solutions for an early example. RedHat and all the other people selling packaged versions of free software with support are doing that too.

If companies want to be the sole provider of support for free software that they’ve written, and it doesn’t work out for them, then that is not Amazon ripping off free software, it’s just competition. It’s not really the same as what’s happening here

foot said:
This is a link to an overview of the "Peak Design" features

"Everyday Sling 3, 6, and 10L - Non-Humorous Feature Overview"

Wigelii · Mar 3, 2021

FrancoD said:
tbcass said:

The bag looks so generic that it's hard to use the term rip-off. Maybe the peak design is of better quality.

Click to expand...

No ,it isn't "generic", the Amazon version is a straight copy of the one from Peak Designs.

There are many bags that are somewhat of that style (sling bags) but not EXACTLY the same design.

For example

BTW, you need to consider familiarity . I delt with gadget bags for decades so it is pretty easy for me to tell similarities and differences, but, for example, I can't tell a racing bike from another because I don't know much about them.

One day I saw a Chinese lady on the shop floor looking puzzled. So I asked how I could help. She told me that one of the guys helped her earlier on but could not see him. So I commented : we all look the same , don't we ? She looked at me , smiled and said : yes you do...

the lady needs glasses?

FrancoD · Mar 3, 2021

Wigelii said:
FrancoD said:

tbcass said:

The bag looks so generic that it's hard to use the term rip-off. Maybe the peak design is of better quality.

Click to expand...

No ,it isn't "generic", the Amazon version is a straight copy of the one from Peak Designs.

There are many bags that are somewhat of that style (sling bags) but not EXACTLY the same design.

For example

BTW, you need to consider familiarity . I delt with gadget bags for decades so it is pretty easy for me to tell similarities and differences, but, for example, I can't tell a racing bike from another because I don't know much about them.

One day I saw a Chinese lady on the shop floor looking puzzled. So I asked how I could help. She told me that one of the guys helped her earlier on but could not see him. So I commented : we all look the same , don't we ? She looked at me , smiled and said : yes you do...

Click to expand...

the lady needs glasses?

No, it's exactly like me not been able to tell one Nigerian from another.

Amazon Rips Off Peak Design

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