Amazon’s Counterfeit List Grows with Music CD’s, Computer Memory
Website stumbles with counterfeit enforcement
November 2, 2016 - Los Angeles, CA – Amazon just can’t knock off the knockoffs. Still reeling from Apple’s report that 90% of Apple® items it purchased from Amazon Direct were fake, and Birkenstock pulling the plug on Amazon sales of its popular sandals, Amazon faces yet another problem.
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) placed orders with Amazon and found that 44 of the 194 top CD’s delivered were counterfeit. Amazon Fulfillment provided 18 of the counterfeits and RIAA’s Executive Vice President Brad Buckles commented “Amazon should not be playing host to illegal items that would normally be found on the black market.” The RIAA added “The artwork, packaging and inserts are carefully copied in fine detail. The untrained eye would not even be able to identify them as counterfeits.”
The Counterfeit Report®, a popular consumer advocate and watchdog monitors counterfeit sales and has identified and removed over 10-million counterfeit items from e-commerce websites including Amazon, eBay and Alibaba.
The Counterfeit Report conducted dozens of name-brand test purchases from Amazon Fulfillment and Amazon Marketplace sellers, but never received an authentic item. Infringement notices submitted to Amazon removed 8,429 counterfeit items offered on its website. Despite Amazon’s claim that the listings were removed, some listings still remained, or the sellers were allowed to relist the inarguably fake items. Amazon allows multiple sellers to list against “permanent catalog page” images (stock photos) making identification of counterfeit products difficult.
Many Amazon consumers do not recognize that Amazon listings present three distinct global product outlet channels, including its 2-million Marketplace account holders who can ship counterfeit products, which are never inspected by Amazon, from all over the world.
Amazon policy claims “The sale of counterfeit products, including any products that have been illegally replicated, reproduced, or manufactured, is strictly prohibited” but Amazon is inconsistent in how they treat counterfeit complaints -- a continuous source of frustration in removing counterfeit listings. Complaints are processed through Amazon’s system in an arbitrary manner. One complaint may result in a listing being removed, yet a submission for the exact same thing again may fail -- an experience common with manufacturers and The Counterfeit Report.
Counterfeit sales are an issue for all types of goods on Amazon, not just the well-known fakes; watches, shoes and handbags, but a vast counterfeit universe of auto parts, cosmetics, drugs, electronics, sporting goods, toys, and much, much more. Consumers can see the authentic and deceptive counterfeits on The Counterfeit Report® website.
Counterfeiting supports organized crime, terrorists, and criminals who avoid taxes, destroy an estimated 750,000 US jobs, and cost US businesses over $250 Billion annually. Illegal counterfeiting activity is profitable, difficult to track and widely unpunished.
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