Whetstone Scam on Amazon

[TheLegalRazor]

I enjoy honing straight razors and knives. For years, I've thought about a Suehiro Gokumyo 20,000 grit whetstone. This year, I decided to get one They are difficult to source. In the past they were available from Tools From Japan, an online store in Japan owned by Stuart Tierney. Additionally, Chef Knives To Go used to stock them. Regrettably, Tools From Japan closed down, and Chef Knives to Go can no longer get them. I couldn't find this stone anywhere, and was left with Amazon as the only source. I ordered the stone, at a price of $309.98.

Here is the box, after I unwrapped it ftom the bubble wrap.

There was something odd about the 2-part box. The top would not lift off. The top had been intentionally glued on in such a way that the only way to open the box was to tear it. Thus, there was no way to open the box to inspect the contents, unless you tore it apart. That's just what I did, and this is what was in the box:

The box contained only paper, and two latex gloves filled with what feel like small synthetic stones, added for weight. I'm not going to open the latex gloves to see what is actually in them, as I have no idea what it could be.

I'm getting a refund, but it's troubling this happens.

 

[brandaves]

Wow. I was expecting at the very least some very cheap knock off of a stone...that is insane. Too bad. Thank you for the heads up!

 

[ScottChapin]

It’s getting to the point that I’m leery of third party sellers. Who wouldn’t expect to be giving a refund?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[musicman980]

Dang that is BOLD, I hope the refund is painless for you.

 

[stone and strop]

Wow, crazy.
I would think Amazon could stem this once aware. Terrible though.
I wonder if someone intercepted it.
A little while back I had what was supposed to be a nice razor delivered and the box showed up empty. I contacted the seller and asked if maybe he just forgot to put the razor in the box. Nope, someone took it and wrapped it back up.
I got a full refund but man, I wanted that razor.

 

[kelbro]

Might have been a return to Amazon. Common scam. Buy high priced item, get an RMA. Return 'sealed' carton full of ballast.

 

[xiletero]

Let me guess: another stellar amazon china scam..... Starting to copy Ali Expre$$

 

[David]

That’s unbelievable.

Might have been a return to Amazon. Common scam. Buy high priced item, get an RMA. Return 'sealed' carton full of ballast.

thats what I was thinking.

 

[Namkcakram]

You guys all went to the seller or a previous purchased scamming... I thought “let’s take a peak inside those gloves juuust to be sure this isn’t an amazon mule operation”.

I’m military and drug free but since I have a chemistry background I’d have to satisfy my curiosity.

 

[brandaves]

Might have been a return to Amazon. Common scam. Buy high priced item, get an RMA. Return 'sealed' carton full of ballast.

That makes way more sense...hadn't thought of this. Scammers are just the worst kind of people. How can people do things with such disregard for others? Its infuriating.

 

[totorlekiller]

FYI, if you still want the stone. I just bought the same one. I got it on eBay from a Japanese Vendor

Security Measure

www.ebay.com

Price was $302 shipped to California.

...and the stone was actually in the package in my case.

 

[stringer bean]

FYI - MTC Kitchen is a Japanese knife shop in NYC. They have the Gokumyo 20k in stock for $280. It's definitely on my wish list.

 

[TheLegalRazor]

FYI, if you still want the stone. I just bought the same one. I got it on eBay from a Japanese Vendor

Security Measure

www.ebay.com

Price was $302 shipped to California.

...and the stone was actually in the package in my case.

FYI - MTC Kitchen is a Japanese knife shop in NYC. They have the Gokumyo 20k in stock for $280. It's definitely on my wish list.

Gentlemen, thank you for this useful information. I was unaware of these other sources.

 

[tonich]

Let me guess: another stellar amazon china scam..... Starting to copy Ali Expre$$

Aliexpress?
How do you tell it's a scam website? Are you sure?
I order frequently from them and never have I come across to such a thing.

 

[Pattorashu]

Aliexpress?
How do you tell it's a scam website? Are you sure?
I order frequently from them and never have I come across to such a thing.

Lots of people are impatient or get hustled once and think it's Amazon's or Ali Express' fault. Never the direct seller, even though you're covered under the website's protection plan (Amazon A-Z and whatever Ali has).

That's a bold friggin move though. What they do is try to dump as many ****e packages as they can for high priced items as fast as they can, grab the money into a shell account, and spend it, then Amazon refunds you due to their guarantee, and they're left chasing a ghost account. Pretty common back in the day, but rarer now.

 

[Namkcakram]

One of the best tweets I’ve seen in a long time was “You’re concerned because I never learned to write in cursive, grandma? Get back at me when you can turn on your computer without getting 6 viruses and wiring half your Life savings to Nigeria.”

I haven’t seen nearly as many internet scams in the last few years, but it made me almost reminisce on ye olden days when online shopping was the Wild West.

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

Line up front to back all the crooks of this sort and shoot 'em all with one bullet. After their trial of course, and only legally.

 

[alpster]

Keep your eye on the BST. They will turn up there from time to time. I bought my G20 there and got a great deal. Best finisher there is in my opinion.