Amazon's Counterfeit Policy a Sham

Consumers deceived, jobs destroyed by counterfeit sales.

June 16, 2017, Los Angeles, CA – Amazon would like consumers to believe that Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) provides an honest and safe place to buy name-brand goods – and only authentic name brand goods - but that is not true. Amazon is enabling and facilitating the sale of counterfeit products.

Amazon operates 13 websites worldwide (e.g. amazon.com, amazon.fr, amazon.co.uk, etc.) and makes about $2.6 billion in net income.

About 50% of Amazon sales are not from Amazon, but from outside global sellers, many from China, who can list just about anything they want, including counterfeits. Amazon receives a transaction fee on each sale.

Counterfeit products appear right next to authentic items conveying Amazon’s endorsement, and the illusion the products are from Amazon. Consumers don't know they have a very real possibility of receiving visually indistinguishable counterfeit goods from unknown and unvetted global sellers. Some can be dangerous or deadly.

Despite trademark infringement, Amazon posts this illusory policy claim; "The sale of counterfeit products, including any products that have been illegally replicated, reproduced, or manufactured, is strictly prohibited."   The truth is that counterfeits and replicas can be, and are, easily listed and sold on Amazon.

Even worse is Amazon presenting prohibitively time consuming and expensive obstacles for manufacturers and rights holders attempting to protect their trademarked items and remove counterfeit products.

While a recent Amazon PR stunt touted Amazon initiating lawsuits against two Amazon counterfeit sellers, sharply contrasting activity was occurring in the background;

• Amazon argued and won a U.S. Appeal’s Court decision to disavow itself from any responsibility for 'offering to sell' counterfeits products.
• Apple reported that 90% of Apple® products it purchased directly from Amazon were counterfeit.
• The Recording Industry Association of America® (RIAA) placed orders with Amazon and found that 44 of the 194 top CD's delivered were counterfeit.
• Birkenstock® pulled the plug on Amazon sales of its popular sandals citing counterfeit enforcement problems.
• Smaller manufacturers, regularly featured in the news, highlight the jobs being destroyed by Amazon’s counterfeit practices

Investigation

The Counterfeit Report^®, a consumer advocate and watchdog, sent formal infringement notices authorized by the trademark holders to Amazon for 14,021 counterfeit items offered on Amazon just this year, and then audited Amazon's response to the latest 200 infringement notices sent. Notices were often resent, some over a dozen times for weeks, until the listing was verified removed.  

In response, The Counterfeit Report received a dizzying assortment of thousands of arbitrary, inconsistent and even absurd email responses. In summary; 1,150 responses were received in unintelligible foreign languages, 1,077 responses refusing to remove the counterfeit item, 1,966 responses claiming the item had been removed, when many were not, and 230 Amazon claims “We could not locate the trademark you provided on the reported item or detail page.”

• After a counterfeit listing was removed, consumers could still purchase the exact same counterfeit item, with the same listing ID on other Amazon global websites as Amazon requires that; “Your trademark, patent, or design must be in "registered" status in the country or territory were the infringement is happening; counterfeit or not.”
• Despite the counterfeit notifications, Amazon does not inform buyers they have received counterfeit products - even dangerous or potentially deadly items. Of course, buyers would then be entitled to a refund under “Amazon’s A-Z Guarantee.”
• Amazon seller profiles do not indicate punitive action by Amazon for counterfeit sales. Sellers may remain and continue selling despite repeated counterfeit complaints, even sellers with over 50 complaints from The Counterfeit Report.

After notifying Amazon of the problems and inarguable counterfeit listings for months, Amazon's Head of Product Integrity, Melissa Kriz, claimed the issues would be resolved, but that promise was simply lip service.

Manufacturers simply do not have the time and resources to deal with the obstructions presented by Amazon, nor can they suffer the consequences and financial devastation from lost sales incurred from Amazon’s counterfeit practices.

A recent CNBC report says it best; “In Amazon's quest to be the low-cost provider of everything on the planet, the website has morphed into the world's largest flea market — a chaotic, somewhat lawless, bazaar with unlimited inventory.”

If Amazon wants to maintain any consumer trust, they need to cleanse dishonest and fraudulent sellers and close counterfeit loopholes. Web platforms that facilitate criminal activity and benefit from the proceeds of dishonest actions which impact jobs, consumer safety and public trust create a public perception of deception with impunity. However, reputation damage is only a small part of the problem: counterfeiting costs U.S. manufacturers over $250 billion, and U.S. workers over 750,000 jobs.