Amazon Sees Dip in Sellers Signing up to Sell Counterfeits, Company Says

Amazon stated it ramped up investments in 2021 to maintain counterfeit merchandise off its retail website and noticed indicators its efforts are working, based on an annual model safety report it launched Wednesday. 

The corporate spent greater than $900 million on its anti-counterfeit packages and employed over 12,000 folks targeted on the issue in 2021. That is up from $700 million and 10,000 folks within the prior yr. On the similar time, Amazon stated its automated techniques detected and stopped fewer makes an attempt from unhealthy actors to arrange shops on the positioning in 2021 and that one measure confirmed fewer manufacturers on common flagged instances that turned out to contain counterfeits.

The rising funding of cash and manpower from Amazon is important, stated Mary Beth Westmoreland, vice chairman of expertise at Amazon. 

“That sadly speaks to the very fact the issue of counterfeit is not going away,” Westmoreland stated, including, “it is an industry-wide drawback.”

Counterfeiting has plagued e-commerce for years. On-line purchasing makes it simple for purchasers to purchase merchandise from everywhere in the world and for small companies to discover a world market, but it surely additionally makes it easy for counterfeiters to promote shams to hundreds of thousands of individuals. As the most important e-commerce platform within the US, Amazon has confronted criticism from shopper safety advocates and enterprise teams for exposing buyers to probably harmful knockoffs and damaging companies by offering a platform for fraudsters. 

Along with hiring AI scientists tasked with rapidly figuring out fraudulent merchandise and shady sellers, Amazon has responded by making a model registry that establishes a line of communication with the e-commerce big and streamlines instruments for reporting issues. It is also created a system for manufacturers to suppress listings which might be believed to be counterfeits of their merchandise.

Amazon has additionally sued sellers it alleges are promoting counterfeit merchandise, asking courts to organize them to cease promoting on Amazon. In April, Chinese language authorities raided a warehouse containing counterfeit luxurious items after Amazon and style home Salvatore Ferragamo shared intelligence on the alleged operation.

US lawmakers have tried to deal with counterfeits with laws, however Amazon has acquired their efforts tepidly. The corporate endorsed the Home of Representatives’ model of the INFORM Act, as have Etsy and eBay, which might require e-commerce platforms to confirm details about sellers on their websites. But it surely has opposed the Senate model of the invoice, which might create the chance of lawsuits if corporations do not comply with an inventory of finest practices.

Amazon has carried out a model of vendor verification, requiring in-person or on video periods with sellers, who should present identification paperwork as a way to open up on-line shops that promote within the US, UK, the European Union, Canada and Japan.