Shopping Amazon Prime May Land You A Counterfeit

Amazon Prime is no protection against fakes, fraud, and scams.

July 11, 2019 - Los Angeles, CA – Most consumers would be shocked to learn that Amazon's touted (and expensive) Amazon Prime program is no protection against counterfeits and scams With the upcoming Amazon Prime Days July 15th and 16th., a full 48 hours, the mantra of the event is "buyer beware."

Most products sold on Amazon.com actually come from “third-party sellers” -- even products marked with “Prime” and from Amazon’s own warehouse may be simply “Fulfilled by Amazon,” but not inspected or verified to be authentic. Sellers just send their counterfeit products to Amazon’s fulfillment warehouse to lend credibility while obscuring the source (often China), and implying endorsement by Amazon.

The Counterfeit Report®, an award-winning counterfeit awareness and consumer advocate, has removed over 60,000 counterfeit items from Amazon on behalf of brand owners. Even with the assigned oversight of two Amazon Global Brand Relations Managers, an alarming pattern of deceptive practices and inaction emerged. Counterfeits remain, sellers relist, and communications were ignored.

Amazon is a free-flowing conduit that enables Amazon, and facilitates third-party global sellers, to flood the consumer market with an inexhaustible supply counterfeit, fraudulent, pirated, and replica merchandise, books, medical devices, and OTC drugs. Consumers are easily deceived into spending good money for bad products while Amazon takes its transaction fee for each item sold.

Consumers would be shocked to learn that Amazon's own reports reveal they receive an infringement notice for 1 of every 100 customer page views, and over 100,000 brands have signed in to fight counterfeits on Amazon -- a shocking revelation of the enormity of Amazon's counterfeit problem. Amazon responds with its illusory policy, "Products offered for sale on Amazon must be authentic. The sale of counterfeit products is strictly prohibited," but that claim is patently false.

• Amazon is a direct retailer of counterfeit and fraudulent goods, e.g., "ships from and sold by Amazon.com." Amazon Prime, Amazon Warehouse Deals, and the Fulfilled by Amazon "FBA") offerings are plagued with counterfeit, fraudulent, and replica items, some of which are endorsed with Amazon's coveted "Amazon's Choice" designation.
• Amazon seller evaluations (feedback) and product reviews are virtually worthless. Negative reviews are removed by Amazon, while sellers hire businesses to create dummy accounts, purchase products, and write fictitious reviews and complaints. The Counterfeit Report's product reviews to warn consumers have been repeatedly removed or blocked.
• Amazon Corporate Counsel Annasara Purcell recently wrote; "trademark rights are jurisdiction specific and the fact that a brand has rights in one country is not indicative of comparable rights worldwide." In other words, if it's counterfeit in one country, it's still OK to sell on other Amazon global websites and deliver worldwide. The Counterfeit Report did just that -- purchased counterfeits from Amazon U.S. sellers listing on Amazon UK and delivering to the U.S.A. -- Amazon says that's OK.

How dangerous can an Amazon purchase be?

The fraudulent 6000mAh Li-ion batteries shown below have an explosion and fire risk. Li-ion batteries have been involved deaths, thousands of injuries requiring emergency room visits, acute injuries, several Amazon lawsuits, and 241 air/airport incidents (fires and smoke) reported to the FAA when carried as cargo or baggage. The batteries are prohibited on Amazon, yet despite legal notice from The Counterfeit Report, dozens of purchases from Amazon as a direct seller, and repeated complaints to Amazon management that there are no legitimate Li-ion batteries over 3800mAh (items shown are 6000mAh), the dangerous items and sellers remain. Here they are offered through Amazon Prime, Fulfilled by Amazon, and with Amazon's coveted "Amazon's Choice" endorsement. How serious is Amazon about consumer safety?

Amazon's shady counterfeit and business practices captured the attention of federal investigators.

• The U.S. Government Accountability Office ("GAO") conducted an undercover investigation of e-commerce counterfeit goods sales. The GAO reported that about 50% of the items it purchased from e-commerce websites, including Amazon (AMZN), were counterfeit.
• The Federal Communications Commission ("FCC") sent a letter to Amazon's CEO, Jeff Bezos, telling him to knock off the counterfeit electronics. And, the recently assigned FTC oversight of Amazon could indicate there's potential for future antitrust investigations.
• Peter K. Navarro, White House assistant to President Trump for trade and manufacturing policy, wrote a harsh condemnation recently in the WSJ; "when you purchase brand-name goods through online third-party marketplaces like Alibaba, Amazon, and eBay, there’s a good chance you’ll end up with a counterfeit."

America has matured its complexion blemished with corporate fraud, corruption, and scams; Enron, Tyco, Madoff, Lehman Bros., Cendant, HealthSouth, WorldCom, Theranos, and more. Will Amazon be added to the growing list?

Still, Amazon offers its all too often dismissal: "We have zero tolerance for abuse of our systems and if we find bad actors who have engaged in this behavior, we will take swift action against them, including terminating their selling accounts, deleting reviews, withholding funds, and taking legal action."

When?