A new, possibly sketchier cloth diapering at bargain-basement price online retailer has popped onto my radar, and I can’t sit idly by and let customers and brands be ripped off.
AmazingClothDiapers.com: How to Be the Sketchiest Retailer in 7 Simple Steps
1. Photoshop your logo onto brand photos:
AmazingClothDiapers.com carries a brand of diapers called “Sunninglight.” The product images are simply BumGenius stock photos photoshopped to have a “Sunninglight” tag.
They do the same with their knock-off gDiapers, called “GladBaby.” The folks at gDiapers, perhaps thanks to my post on their Facebook page, have already responded to the issue.
2. Copy & paste brand descriptions for your knock-off products, including hard-earned certifications:
As if inserting their logo onto gDiapers’ images wasn’t enough, they’ve also copied (word for word) the text from gDiapers’ website, including a claim to Cradle-to-Cradle certification. (Which only applies to gDiapers’ disposable inserts, which GladBaby isn’t even selling, but that seems irrelevant.) You know how I feel about false certification claims!
3. Copy & paste cloth diapering articles to populate your website:
Why bother writing your own “Cloth 101″ text when you can conveniently borrow what’s already been written? A quick Google search showed me that their “Cloth 101″ section is ripped straight from Parents.com.
4. Copy unique (and easily recognizable) graphics from other brands:
Despite the fact that GroVia’s iconic images don’t even correspond to the type of diapers being peddled at Amazingclothdiapers.com, they’ve still stolen them.
5. Offer a too-good-to-be true, brand-name item free with purchase:
If every other sleazy rip off from other brands and other websites is innocuous to the consumer (though I don’t really think it is), the biggest concern I have about Amazingclothdiapers.com is their claim to offer a free Ergo Baby Carrier with purchase. I shudder to think what untested and poorly manufactured counterfeit baby carrier they would send, and fear it could actually be dangerous to the end user.
6. Claim to be associated with the same manufacturers as trusted brands:
Amazingclothdiapers.com claims to be working with the same manufacturers as GroVia and Thirsties.
7. Get the lowest possible trustworthiness score for online retailers:
ScamAdviser.com awards Amazingclothdiapers.com the amazing score of 0% trustworthiness, citing these factors:
The owner of the website is using a service to hide their identity
High Number Of Suspicous Websites On This Server (check the server tab)
This website is 154 Days old
The website expected life (365 days) is relatively short.
The website appears to be less than six months old
This website setup involves countries known to be high risk
This website is likely to be operating from a high risk country
Brands Respond
Being the tattle tale do-gooder that I am (Can you tell I was super popular at school?), I immediately contacted the brands being ripped off by AmazingClothDiapers. It seems like gDiapers has taken action, saying in their recent blog post:
The materials, construction and performance are a far cry from a genuine gDiaper and so they just don’t work. We had some in the office and the off-gassing from the plastic was overwhelming.
It’s one thing to knock off a product. But Glad Baby has had the cojones to cut, copy and paste our text and photoshop our photos.”
GroVia, whose name is directly cited in the “How did it start” passage shown above, has told me:
GroVia thanks Maman Loup’s Den for reaching out to us regarding the claims made by the anonymous AmazingClothDiapers.com manufacturer. GroVia is not working with this manufacturer; we never have, and we have no plans to. This manufacturer is absolutely not working with any entity in our production facility. Our legal team is aware of this situation and the false claims about our brand published on the manufacturer’s website.
I have sent messages to Ergo Baby about the “free Ergo” claim, and have been told my message is being directed to the appropriate people. BumGenius also thanked me for bringing this to their attention via Facebook messenger.
Conclusion:
If you want to save money on cloth diapers, there are tons of options available. If you absolutely want brands like Alva, GladBaby and BabyWizard (honestly, not my recommendation, but I also am not going to stop you), buy them from a reputable retailer even if, on paper, they cost a few dollars more. I have a feeling Amazingclothdiapers.com does not offer the best customer support, and I personally wouldn’t give any of my personal information or payment information to this website.
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