Amazon dumpster
Attractive young man putting out rubbish standing with the lid up on a bin in a row of garbage bins at the side of a street

Dumpster Dive: Investigation Discovers Amazon Third-Party Sellers Who Repackage Actual Trash

We’re not trash-talking here, we’re just talking trash. An investigation into suspicious activity on Amazon has revealed that third-party vendors are repackaging items they found in the garbage. After confirming multiple parties involved in this practice, the Wall Street Journal went undercover to see for themselves how easy it would be to sell products recovered from a dumpster.

As it turns out, it was easier than a kindergarten crossword puzzle. By simply providing a driver’s license and some bank information, the WSJ team had an Amazon vendor’s account set up in no time. In the two days that it took to process their paperwork, the team did a little dumpster diving behind a local mall and came home with a treasure trove of still-packaged goods. After just a few minutes of cleaning, they were able to sell all of their items to Amazon as an official third-party vendor, where the products then shipped to a fulfillment center to await their new home.

While this investigation may appear as though certain vendors are taking advantage of Amazon’s massive lack of oversight, the real scandal here is just how much waste ends up in the landfill. So next time you come across a secondhand good that has firsthand appeal to you, go ahead and buy it. Purchasing existing products helps cut down on waste on both sides of an object’s lifespan. Just be sure you learn the difference between dumpster gold and dumpster mold by referencing our training manual below.

Photo: Art-Of-Photo (Getty Images)

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