Amazon Is Complicit in Online Sales of Counterfeit Goods: Report

http://www.thefashionlaw.com/home/amazon-is-tricking-consume...

I have to disagree with you on that. I've personally not had an issue seeing who the seller is, and to double check I went to Amazon, clicked on the very first thing, a moon lamp, and it clearly stated right under in-stock, who it was sold by and that it was being fulfilled by Amazon.

If another merchant is offering the same item on the listing I don't think it's possible to be certain. Does anyone know a way to be sure?

This has made me more bullish about non-Amazon e-commerce.

This is the most apt, insightful description I've seen so far of what is evidently a growing problem for Amazon: more and more retail consumers no longer trust the merchandise being sold by Amazon.

I write this as a longtime Amazon Prime member who, recently, for the first time ever, decided to buy a relatively inexpensive product (filters for a fairly expensive espresso machine) from a bricks-and-mortar retailer instead of Amazon, because I could not trust that the products listed for sale on Amazon were genuine (as opposed to knock-offs) or even the right kind (made with the right kind of silicon).

If I want nicer headphones I can go to a brick and mortar retailer (or their online counterpart) and get a selection of curtailed products from known brands provided by known suppliers with all the information about the products listed with a good search so I can compare. I have a choice but I don't have to slog through dozens of private label brands or poorly listed products with missing or incorrect descriptions/information. Or irrelevant products listed in the wrong product category.

If I go to Amazon I have to wade through pages of bad search results full of junky unsafe products from questionable sources (paradox of choice) with bad/missing information just to roll the dice that I don't get something counterfeit and/or unsafe.

What purpose does Amazon service now in this situation?

Thankfully, many places now price match with Amazon, so the need to use them is becoming less and less.

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_1_13?url=search-alia...

It's arguably wrecking intolerable damage to customer trust, the one thing that is supposed to be being held above all others there.

It’s a shame that just about the only stores that don’t have this problem are target and Best Buy as they don’t have third party merchant results.

I ask because I recently started using Amazon since I moved to the UK and it's been fantastic. I haven't ran into any of these problems.

I recently came across a case[1] where a set of Marshall headphones that usually retail at USD$249 were being sold at USD$96. Reviews seemed legit, but it wasn’t the first party seller.

I reached out to Marshall over Twitter, and it looks like something has been done, but how does a manufacturer police this without dedicated staff? Amazon is undermining its customers (both you & I, and its merchants) by seemingly ignoring this.

[1]: https://twitter.com/elithrar/status/1005606803118252032

They're definitely a growth-focused company. At times in their history, and for certain aspects of the business, that has made them customer-focused.

In many other regards (like making sure the customer gets the product they want) they're clearly not at all customer-focused.

They won't address this until it begins to visibly impact their marketplace dominance.

If the product is quality, and the price is good, the consumer is happy. Period. And that's all that Amazon cares about.

Those UIs aren't merely neutral between the customer and Amazon, they're deliberately deceptive. Even among very large tech companies, not that many have released UIs as deceptive as some of Amazon's. Try buying a medium-size or larger item without Prime to see some of them.

They are absolutely fantastic at convincing some of the public (and a much smaller percentage of employees…) they're uniquely customer-centric.

Amazon seems determined to co-mingle its products, and to confront the problem of counterfeiting head on. One thing I would like to see is a feature that allows a buyer to "delete" or ignore a seller - I want Amazon to remember my "anti relationships" with sellers so I don't have to. Buying and selling is about relationships and reputations.

Another observation about marketplaces is that many buyers don't want quality. Some are extremely selfish. Not because they're bad but because they're desperate either emotionally or financially. We all enjoy getting a good value but some people are consumed by their selfish needs and are not interested in building a healthy balanced society or encouraging quality products. A successful attack on counterfeits has to filter [the behavior/reviews of] some buyers as well as some sellers, because some people can't see past their own selfish needs.

Finally, counterfeiting is an extreme form of re-implementing the designs of others. A large part of Free Software, for example, is historically rooted in re-implementing other people's designs (Linus & Unix, Stallman & LMI, Linus & Bitkeeper). It's not altogether destructive but if your only differentiator is that you're cheaper, then that's similar to Samsung's business. Making something that takes another's work and does something a little different with it, that's a lot better than a copy and also it's by definition not what we mean by "counterfeit". I think it's important to draw a distinction between someone who is competing with a possibly superior product and eroding a brand name (i.e. using a brand name as a descriptive word), versus someone who is making a product that is identical in appearance.

For batteries, cables, earbuds, paper, dog toys, etc etc etc - the customer does not care who the manufacturer is as long as the item is good quality.

A seller can easily submit many fakes into inventory on amazon. But someone who returns a fake to best buy, but keeping the real device had to risk getting recorded, and can only do so at a slower rate of one item at a time.

1) Steal one QR code, it can then be duplicated.

2) Works well for the situation where Amazon is not simply connecting you directly to the seller, but not when the seller ships directly to you.

(2) could be potentially modified to have brands insist that amazon themselves act as the final shipper (so it would be sent to their warehouses and verified).

(1) is tough one to crack. A transaction ledger would prevent the duplication problem; but may have scaling issues since you'd potentially need to verify the physical objects on receipt. It also doesn't deal with the situation where the product itself can be decomposed for parts and sold separately (like some electronics). Then the QR code can be used to sell an inferior replacement product (an empty box).

Though the QR code + transaction ledger is probably a necessary first step to dealing with this issue.

The National Park Service, at least, put up guide wires and a warning sign on dangerous trails.

The only thing I cannot give Amazon a benefit of doubt for is when an item is sold under prime shipping but is commingled with the same items from different sellers and making it pure luck whether you receive a genuine item or a counterfeit.

I’ve received counterfeit flash drives, headphones, batteries and chargers, toiletries and some skincare items - all sold by Amazon and shipped/fulfilled by Amazon.

That’s pretty much textbook fraud.

Another example is Apple’s app store that seems to be well managed, even though the number of apps is absurdly high.

When another party lists as “New”, counterfeit goods on her listings or Trademark-stuffs her brand name onto their listings, it should be quite simple to determine the other people are in the wrong and their listings should be deleted.

Here’s what really happens. First email mom sends clearly mentions all pertinent facts and requests the takedown. Five or so email exchanges (and about 4 days) later, all spent re-answering some subset of questions that were answered by her initial message, Seller Support finally refers the case to Amazon Legal (aka "Seller Performance"). And even then it's hit or miss if Seller Performance will delete the infringing listing.

She's even emailed jeff@amazon.com about all these shenanigans. So yeah, he's complicit.