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Hardware

Amazon Appears To Have Removed RavPower, a Popular Phone Battery and Charger Brand (theverge.com) 95

Posted by msmash from the how-about-that dept.
A month ago, Amazon-first gadget brands Aukey and Mpow suddenly and mysteriously disappeared from the giant online retailer's storefront, with almost all their electronics vanishing from Amazon's shelves. Today, popular battery and charger brand RavPower has completely disappeared as well. From a report: All of the company's product listings have disappeared, leaving blank white spaces in RavPower's Amazon storefront. Searches for "RavPower" don't bring up any listings for products made by the company. Existing links to RavPower products either point to Amazon's "Sorry, we couldn't find that page" cute 404 dogs, or listings that read "Currently unavailable." By and large, this is exactly what happened to Aukey, Mpow, and other lesser-known electronics retailers last month -- except here, whoever did this has been a bit more thorough.
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Amazon Appears To Have Removed RavPower, a Popular Phone Battery and Charger Brand More

Amazon Appears To Have Removed RavPower, a Popular Phone Battery and Charger Brand

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  • End of an era. (Score:3)

    by Ostracus ( 1354233 ) on Wednesday June 16, 2021 @02:06PM (#61493468) Journal

    Shame, from the era when batteries were removable, it's still going strong in my Samsung.

    • Um, what? They make battery banks and chargers. Not phone batteries.

      • They made phone batteries as well.

        • Re: (Score:1)

          by Shmoe ( 17051 )

          I always forget to add "when that was a thing" to these

        • Ooops, my mistake! Apologies! I thought they were just one of those fly-by-night Chinese manufacturers of powerbanks that change their name every couple of years to avoid lawsuits and debts.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Shmoe ( 17051 )

        Anker made replacement phone batteries at one point too you know :P

        • I always thought all those manufacturers were the same company, just with different names to create the illusion of choice.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by Shmoe ( 17051 )

            Or just shopping at the same reseller/wholesaler, who knows. Anker's stuff does seem to be pretty good if you go third-party.

            • Iirc anker, as opposed to aukey, is a western (American?) company founded by former google staff.

              • I always assumed Anker, Aukey, Mpow were the same ten guys in Shenzhen that just made up company names from random letters and ship out rebranded stuff from some wholesaler.
                • They took two galvanized garbage can lids, threw them up in the air toward eachother, and the sound they made was the new company name!

                • They sound too much like an attempt at a real name for that. Contrast that with a recent Apple laptop battery I bought from a brand called Puredick.

              • Re: End of an era. (Score:4, Informative)

                by EvilSS ( 557649 ) on Wednesday June 16, 2021 @02:59PM (#61493662)
                Anker is owned by an LLC out of HK (ANKER INNOVATIONS LIMITED LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY HONG KONG), but yes, the founder was a Google software engineer before starting the company. Aukey used to be a German company but was either sold or just up and moved to China at some point.
              • Anker is Chinese, based in Shenzhen. So are Aukey and the others, however both have good-quality products, not the usual cut-every-corner-possible cheapies. Makes like Satechi and Adam Elements (no idea where they come up with these names) are also decent, and in any case better than name-brands like the ridiculously ovepriced Belkin products.

  • Good quality, questionable business practices (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Coopjust ( 872796 ) on Wednesday June 16, 2021 @02:08PM (#61493474)
    RAVpower has been a pretty good brand for me in terms of USB-C PD equipment like batteries and GaN wall chargers. Better prices than Anker without the reliablity issues (and sometimes outright fake certification marks) of Aukey.

    However, they've had a habit in more recent times of putting in cards into item boxes offering direct Amazon GC reimbursement for positive reviews. Wonder if that finally caught Amazon corporate attention/ire...

    • Re:Good quality, questionable business practices (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Ostracus ( 1354233 ) on Wednesday June 16, 2021 @02:13PM (#61493502) Journal

      Nice thing about Anker is their replacement policy when one port of my charger went out.

    • Still it feels kind of odd for them to be "disappeared" instead of a notice like, 'this account has been suspended for violations of our terms of service.' Of course for that matter we would like more specifics, but perhaps that veers too easily into libel lawsuit territory.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by fermion ( 181285 )
      These have been my go to power banks. If they have gone, they are the victim of having to use aggressive tactics because they are not the lowest price. I never had a faulty device, and I have a lot of these.

    • RAVpower has been a pretty good brand for me in terms of USB-C PD equipment like batteries and GaN wall chargers. Better prices than Anker without the reliablity issues (and sometimes outright fake certification marks) of Aukey.

      That's funny I had the opposite experience. I've tried 2 RAVpower devices, a USB-C PD charger, and a USB-C Powerbank. The PD charger failed to deliver the advertised power, and the Powerbank the advertised charge. No problem with the Anker devices I bought to replace them. ... Have no tried Aukey.

    • I have several of their batteries for portable chargers. They made decent stuff
    • That's what the story said, but they also point out:

      Itâ(TM)s weird to think that RavPower would need to stoop to this behavior, though: weâ(TM)ve regularly featured good products that the company makes, including our favorite wireless charging pad.

      Which leads to a second, less-likely possibility: The products with cards were sold and shipped by Yu-Shiang Whole Fish Happy Golden Luck Electronics (Shenzhen), who have now removed their main competitor from the Amazon marketplace...

      • They've been included in products shipped and sold by Sunvalleytek (which is RAVpower's corporate parent) and products sold directly through RAVpower's own website, so they were clearly doing it themselves...
        • Fair enough. Was just thinking of that Florida whistleblower who was kicked off Twitter when someone violated Twitter's policies on her behalf, and how easy it'd be to misuse this capability to get someone you didn't like banned, but in this case it seems it really was RavPower. Which, as the original article said, is odd since they're a reputable product that shouldn't need to engage in these sorts of shenanigans.
    • Maybe it is the GC thing. My wife ordered two chargers for travel, and an Amazon GC was in each box.

      Of course it could just be that they engaged in other chicanery.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by torkus ( 1133985 )

        RavPower solicited paid 5* reviews in addition to the gift-card-for-review tags in every box that's against amazon policy.

  • Confirmed (Score:3)

    by 89cents ( 589228 ) on Wednesday June 16, 2021 @02:12PM (#61493494)
    You can search for external battery power bank on Amazon and can even select RAVPower from the list of brands, but then get no results, just suggestions for other brands.

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by mapecof374 ( 8220104 )
      Good thing you can still order from their own website. ravpower.com. I just ordered some powerbanks to help them out!

      • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

        by Anonymous Coward

        Too bad their own website uses Amazon to fulfill orders.

        Shipping Hubs
        Orders for The United States:

        Most RAVPower.com orders will be processed by Amazon, and shipped directly from Amazon distribution center in California.

        Orders for The United Kingdom:

        Most RAVPower.com orders will be processed by Amazon, and shipped directly from Amazon distribution center in West Midlands.

        Orders for Germany:

        Most RAVPower.com orders will be processed by Amazon, and shipped directly from Amazon distribution center in Berlin.

        Good luck with the future refund! :)

  • Why Amazon (Score:4, Interesting)

    by speedlaw ( 878924 ) on Wednesday June 16, 2021 @02:26PM (#61493552) Homepage
    I don't need to give Bezos money and subsidize another inhuman management by algorithm (which we all know is just a hidden boss you can't talk to). You can get just about anything there elsewhere and a magic box truck will drop it at your door. Buy from a smaller retailer-or a big retailer traditionally in that business. I recently bought something from someone on Amazon, and they were more than happy to take my money via PayPal and save me the $30 commission Bezos would have devoted to Union Busting. Amazon likes to identify businesses others have built and then kill them with an Amazon House Brand-is this part of this play ?

    • Re:Why Amazon (Score:5, Interesting)

      by dark.nebulae ( 3950923 ) on Wednesday June 16, 2021 @02:48PM (#61493628)

      Why Amazon?

      • One stop shopping for everything. No separate accounts all over the place, no buying one thing from here and another thing from there.
      • Limited data exposure - no multiple places sites my mailing address and/or credit card info and other details.
      • No extra spam or advertising - since I don't have accounts at all of those other smaller businesses, I don't have to worry about additional unsolicited emails.
      • Less risk of data leakage - Amazon actually has a security team and does all the right things from a security perspective to ensure they don't lose my data or everyone else's. You can't say the same at smaller shops which may or may not take security as seriously as amazon does.
      • Little desire to sell my info - Amazon makes money off of me, but they are less inclined to monetize me by selling my info to others. At a smaller retailer, they are forced to make profit where they can and will therefore be incentivized to sell my info.
      • Prime - Used to be 2 day shipping, but covid allowed them to suspend (likely forever is my guess) guaranteed 2 day shipping. That said, if I order prime I'll get it in about 2 days, won't be a mix of delivery windows offered by other sellers (often at a markup to make money off of expedited shipping).

      As to "why give my money to bezos", you'd be giving it to somebody anyway. Bezos is the devil you know, but often times you won't know the devils behind the other sellers. I don't have to worry about Bezos putting money into alt-right causes or whackjob candidates...

      • Re:Why Amazon (Score:4, Interesting)

        by speedlaw ( 878924 ) on Wednesday June 16, 2021 @04:32PM (#61493988) Homepage
        Disagree. Part of my dislike was that I DID order things, a few years ago, never a lot, and I'm glad I didn't. One day an unsolicited package shows up...not in my purchase history...I call, offshore CSR says toss it. A week later, same thing...and the packages had a Head Hammock and a shaver for a bald man. I'm not bald, and had no idea. Charges appear on my CC statement. I call CC company, and Amazon. Still no entry on my history, so how did I order this and pay for it ? Get new CC numbers, argue with Amazon, reverse charges. No answer, no excuses, no We're Sorry. Their security sucks....I know I'm one anecdote but it's MY anecdote....

      • Re:Why Amazon (Score:4, Informative)

        by thegarbz ( 1787294 ) on Wednesday June 16, 2021 @06:07PM (#61494352)

        One stop shopping for everything.

        Not everything, and especially not if you want legitimate stuff. These days Amazon is the ebay of online shopping. If you are going to buy something which doesn't have electronics in it then you stand a chance of not burning your house down. But if you want something with electronics you may want to look elsewhere. Even if it's just a shitty USB-C cable which you don't want blowing up your laptop.

        Amazon for me is a quick supply of cheap and nasty shit. That's about it.

        You can't say the same at smaller shops which may or may not take security as seriously as amazon does.

        What is this security thing you're worried about? email address leaking, well that's just an inbox you should advertise that anyway. password? Why aren't you using unique ones? Banking details? Let me guess, in America you still hand out your credit card number online?

        Little desire to sell my info - Amazon makes money off of me

        Your info gets shared with the seller and they absolutely sell it, as evident with the number of spam messages I get at amazon@mydomain.com (I use a custom email for every company I deal with).

        Prime - Used to be 2 day shipping

        I don't think I've ever ordered something in Europe that has taken longer than a day to arrive. Prime was special... back in 2005. 2 day shipping is a minimum expectation for anything in stock these days regardless of seller.

        Bezos is the devil you know

        The devil I know purposefully stifles competition and steals ideas from innovative companies exploitatively. My general assumption is that most human beings are not raging arseholes, the devil I know however is. I'll take my chances.

      • Bezos treats his workers like shit, pays them shit wages, won't let them unionize, refuses to provide a decent working environment, etc. etc

        Oh and let's not forget he bought Washington Post and bombards all you pseudo-lefties with constant neolib propaganda. And it's worked brillantly! Weak minds are easy to influence.

        In case you're wondering, lefties used to be about power to the people, fuck the oppressive system run by billionaire oligarchs with politicians in their pockets. But somehow Bezos and his ilk

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by Pieroxy ( 222434 )

        Another one, the most important for me:

        - No question asked return policy. Just mail it in and it will get refunded. For expensive stuff (read, above $500), you need to call them but the refund gets thrown your way in less than a couple of days.

      • Why National Socialist government?

        One stop rules everything. No separate parties all over the place, no getting one guy telling you what to do here, and another guy there.

        Limited data exposure - no multiple places sites my mailing address and/or credit card info and other details.

        No extra spam or advertising - since I don't vote for all of those other smaller parties, I don't have to worry about additional unsolicited emails.

        Less risk of data leakage - Nazis actually have a security team- the SS -

      • at the end of the day? The vast majority of people would gladly take their chances with "risk of data leakage" or someone desiring to "sell your info" if the alternative vendor to Amazon is offering a better price, including shipping.

        My point is, Amazon retains their dominance with all of these online sales only because of the attractive shipping options. (If you already paid for "Prime", you're kind of a captive audience for the whole year after that, because you want to get your money's worth out of the P

      • Why Amazon?

        • Little desire to sell my info - Amazon makes money off of me, but they are less inclined to monetize me by selling my info to others. At a smaller retailer, they are forced to make profit where they can and will therefore be incentivized to sell my info.

        As to "why give my money to bezos", you'd be giving it to somebody anyway. Bezos is the devil you know, but often times you won't know the devils behind the other sellers. I don't have to worry about Bezos putting money into alt-right causes or whackjob candidates...

        Amazon sells ads and sponsored listing. They also sell your info https://joindeleteme.com/blog/does-amazon-sell-your-personal-information/ [joindeleteme.com]

        However, Amazon can, and does, share some of your data with any third parties involved in your transactions. This includes businesses with which Amazon offers either joint or co-branded offerings, like “Starbucks, OfficeMax, Verizon Wireless, Sprint, T-Mobile, AT&T, J&R Electronics, Eddie Bauer and Northern Tool + Equipment.”

        We can debate endlessly about their business practices, but I would counter your list with consumer reasons

        • Most items ARE NOT cheaper on Amazon.
        • Scalpers polluting search results means you have to keep a running tally of prices in your head and check retailers like a paranoid person. Does a bottle of iburprofen cost $20? Yeah...I hate playing the fucking Price is Rig

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by hey! ( 33014 )

      I used to be conflicted about buying on Amazon. I don't like their employment practices or corporate culture, but they sure did make things easy, convenient and quick for the customer. I'm less conflicted these days because Amazon's performance is getting sloppier and more inconsistent, and you often can't track shipments at all.

      These days I'm increasingly using Amazon as a research website, getting an idea of what's available at what price when I'm looking for something then ordering from a more specializ

  • Aukey made 6 foot long braided right-angle USB to lightning cables that last a really long time. Every bedroom in my house has one.

    Sucks Amazon has removed them

    • It's strange how Americans think you can't buy something without Amazon: https://www.aukey.com/ [aukey.com]

      • It's strange how Americans think you can't buy something without Amazon: https://www.aukey.com/ [aukey.com]

        It's strange how you make assumptions about what Americans think. Aukey doesn't offer those cables on that site.

        • Aukey doesn't offer those cables on that site.

          So is your complaint about Amazon or the fact that you can no longer get a product no longer manufactured, or cannot get a product that was potentially counterfeited by another company (yes the Chinese even rip off each other).

          • Aukey doesn't offer those cables on that site.

            So is your complaint about Amazon or the fact that you can no longer get a product no longer manufactured, or cannot get a product that was potentially counterfeited by another company (yes the Chinese even rip off each other).

            Every day you can make a choice to stop being a troll. Why not do it today?

            • Ahhh, the old go on the attack when your bullshit is called out? I can't help but notice you didn't answer the question. The only person trolling here is you, trolling yourself.

  • Kicked for pay for play (Score:5, Informative)

    by MNNorske ( 2651341 ) on Wednesday June 16, 2021 @02:32PM (#61493582)
    Did a quick search and found this article: Aukey kicked off Amazon following fake reviews allegations [tomsguide.com] It appears that they got caught doing pay for play with reviews for free merchandise.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      So the important question is where can I still buy them? Everyone knows Amazon reviews are bunk, but these products are good.

      • They have their own website.

      • Is Amazon the only shop left in America?

        Though (don't take this the wrong way if I'm wrong) I thought you were British. Doesn't the UK have plenty of Amazon alternatives?

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

          I am British, and no not really. Shopping is really crappy here. There is eBay... Physical shops have little choice and don't carry these brands.

          Since we shot ourselves in the dick with brexit the options are even more limited than before.

          • Interesting to know. I always assumed they were a bit like the rest of Europe in that they had smaller local equivalents. Like Bol and Coolblue in the Netherlands, Otto in Germany, Cdiscount and Fnac in France, Allegro for Baltic states...

            I did a quick search and came across OnBuy who are apparently British (though I've not heard of them until now). Are they no good? It seems they cover these kinds of products. https://www.onbuy.com/gb/searc... [onbuy.com]

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

              For physical shops we basically have Currys and that's it. Currys is really bad, although occasionally has a decent online sale.

              I have not used OnBuy, I will take a look. There are a few other online ones like Ebuyer or AO for appliances. They are okay, sometimes competitive, but don't seem to carry these brands.

              Banggood and the like used to be good, but now it's hit and miss. They have warehouses in Europe which used to allow us to get items delivered without paying import duty or tax, but since brexit we

    • I've had much better luck with Aukey charger/cables than Anker. They did not need to "pay" for reviews but it's hard to get thousands of people to actually post good reviews. People seem to like to complain more than complement. It's too bad...

    • Neither the article you linked to or the original article make any reference to RavPower.

    • And people on the other article about Amazon fake reviews today were saying that Amazon NEVER took action against any of these Chinese companies. WRONG!

  • So far the Amazon.co.uk RAVPower store [amazon.co.uk] seems ok.

  • You offend Little Lord Bezos at your peril!

  • Apparently Amazon isn't worried about the current investigations into monopolies run by "big tech". Perhaps they figure it will stop with Apple and Google.

    • > Apparently Amazon isn't worried about the current investigations into monopolies run by "big tech". Perhaps they figure it will stop with Apple and Google.

      Mr. Luthor owns the Post. Politicians aren't going to touch it.

  • Can't have it both ways (Score:3)

    by stikves ( 127823 ) on Wednesday June 16, 2021 @03:52PM (#61493832) Homepage

    RavPower had some really good stuff (I have a few of their products), but like every other Amazon store, they were gaming their reviews.

    Remember the story from this morning: https://tech.slashdot.org/stor... [slashdot.org]

    They would:
    - Include a card to ask for a review (with a 5 star review photo on them)
    - If you have problems, they would ask to contact them (instead of writing a review)
    - For any small complaint, they would send a free replacement (to avoid bad reviews)

    Overall I actually like no questions asked replacements for defects, as long as products are safe. However this heavily skews the review ratings.

    (Same happens everywhere. Reddit app: Do you like us? Yes -> Please write a review on Play Store, No -> Please send us an email).

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Hodr ( 219920 )

      2 of those three issues you listed are not "gaming" they are providing good customer service.

      "Oh no, these guys wan't to replace my defective item for free, whatever shall I do!"

    • - If you have problems, they would ask to contact them (instead of writing a review) - For any small complaint, they would send a free replacement (to avoid bad reviews)

      Overall I actually like no questions asked replacements for defects, as long as products are safe. However this heavily skews the review ratings.

      (Same happens everywhere. Reddit app: Do you like us? Yes -> Please write a review on Play Store, No -> Please send us an email).

      If the product is good and you're unhappy, you may be the issue. You may be poorly informed or not know how to use it. It's mildly frustrating to get a defective product, but I do appreciate it when a company does what they need to to make it right. Your item could have been damaged after leaving their factory by Amazon, UPS, etc. It's not fair for them to get a bad review if your UPS driver dropped it on the road while unloading. Also, many customer complains are just dumb. I saw a review for a phon

  • Non-shite USB cables/batteries/power bricks are precious.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by torkus ( 1133985 )

      I had the same feelings ... Anker has been my go to for high quality items. I haven't come across their direct gaming of reviews, but it wouldn't shock me.

      I've seen multiple instances of Ravpower outright paying for reviews and at least one or two for Aukey. (aside from the built-in GC for review cards)

      It's interesting how Amazon is such a mess of cut-rate, knock-off equipment that decent manufacturers pretty much have to resort to this...lest they disappear into oblivion.

  • junk anyway (Score:3)

    by awwshit ( 6214476 ) on Wednesday June 16, 2021 @06:31PM (#61494434)

    I purchased a Ravpower charging device, had like 5 USB ports and a USB-C port. The USB-C port died within the first 30 minutes of use. They sent a replacement and it died within 30 minutes too. I sent it back. The Anker product I replaced it with has worked perfectly for 3 years now.

  • TaoTronics is gone too =( (Score:3, Interesting)

    by SyZ ( 56783 ) on Wednesday June 16, 2021 @06:45PM (#61494486) Homepage

    I had an order in-flight and it got cancelled ... sad day.

  • Ravpower's site comes up top of a DuckDuckGo search, followed by a number of local (OZ) distributers.
    Why do we have to use Amazon ??

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by PPH ( 736903 )

      WalMart carries them here in the USA.

      Who is this Amazon that people speak of?

  • It got mixed reviews but they improved over time so I hope the firmware got good enough.

    It has Outemu Red keyswitches, red backlight, and doubleshot caps and it cost $35. The feel is really great, and it's reasonably quiet even at high speeds.

    I hope it doesn't asplode

  • Every time i've ordered something bigger than a cable or a battery from Amazon, it has gone wrong. Twice I've tried to buy a laptop through them. Double checked that the vendor had stock in-country. Read through some of the vendor's reviews (which we know are bullshit, but it's still sue diligence)

    Each order I placed, I paid for fast shipping. After about a week, neither laptop had showed up. The first one eventually arrived, but the second never arrived. I didn't get a straight answer about what happened t

  • I had bluetooth earphones from them and was going to buy another pair. They're gone.

  • Firik also... lots of brands gone. (Score:3)

    by Fringe ( 6096 ) on Thursday June 17, 2021 @09:58AM (#61496218)

    Amazon seems to have removed quite a few brands. I use a "Litter Genie" when scooping the cat boxes. The generic refills are not only far less expensive, but better, especially the 21' instead of 14' length, which makes a huge usability difference. Been buying them for at least five years. Love the Firik brand.

    Discovered last week, they're not on Amazon anymore. None of them except the Litter Genie brand itself. But I was able to order direct from Firik [firikshop.com], just slightly higher price than I used to pay from Amazon.

    No idea what happened, but Amazon seems to be simplifying the product landscape while they still allow companies to miscategorized their products.

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