Examination Of Amazon Reveals Shocking Business Practices

Commingled products, counterfeits, worthless endorsements, and false claims are all part of Amazon's marketplace

April 02, 2020, Los Angeles, CA – Amazon describes itself as "the world's most consumer concentric company." However, recent email responses from Amazon executives reveal Amazon is not making a better marketplace that serves consumers. Amazon is no more than an arena of creative destruction, leaving consumers on their own to sort the legitimate, honest sellers from a flood of "bad actors" operating under an umbrella of legal immunity.

The coronavirus pandemic further illustrates Amazon's ongoing environment of bad behavior and price gouging as consumers seek scarce items from Amazon, already flooded with counterfeits and bad actors ready to dupe the unsuspecting public.

Counterfeit Complaints Ignored

The Counterfeit Report, a global award-winning consumer advocate and counterfeit watchdog, found over 230,000 counterfeit, fraudulent, and replica items on Amazon and submitted complaints at the request of brand-owners. Amazon ignored thousands of infringement complaints, allowed counterfeits to languish for months or remain, and sellers to relist. Amazon acknowledged but ignored legal notice to remove dangerous and fraudulent products prohibited by its own policy. Hardly representative of a company engaged in proactive counterfeit and consumer protection.

Email complaints to Jeff A. Wilke, Amazon Worldwide Consumer Vice President, went unanswered.

Danielle Jenkins, Amazon Executive Relations, responded on behalf of CEO Jeff Bezos after Amazon failed to respond to over 3,000 brand-owner counterfeit product complaints submitted on Amazon's own form;

Shocking Email Response From Amazon Executive

Brandon Garcia, Account Manager for Amazon's 'Pay to Play' counterfeit protection 'Transparency Program,' and Amazon's assignee responsible for proactively removing counterfeit items from its website, offered the alarming response;

Amazon is a voracious churner of counterfeit, fraudulent, and replica items, indifferent to the damage they cause to consumers, legitimate sellers, and manufacturers while fulfilling their desire to be the sole source of items for purchase. There is no incentive to clean up their websites -- they make too much money.

It's not for the lack of resources or money -- the global juggernaut, headed by the world's richest man, made $11.2 billion in profit in 2018, but paid no federal income tax.

Dharmesh M. Mehta, Vice President of Worldwide Customer Trust and Partner Support, represented Amazon before the United States House of Representatives Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Commerce on March 4, 2020. Mehta is responsible for, and leads the team dedicated to preventing fraud, counterfeits, fake reviews, and other forms of abuse from harming Amazon customers, brands, and selling partners. His testimony about Amazon's business practices and behavior is a shocking confirmation of Amazon's reprehensible and manipulative global system of counterfeits, fraud, deception, misrepresentation, and false advertising.

Amazon and Mehta have exhausted Amazon's illusory policy claim, "As part of our commitment to ensuring only authentic and safe products are offered in our store, Amazon strictly prohibits the sale of counterfeit products, and we require all products in our store to comply with all applicable laws, regulations, and Amazon policies."

The claim is patently false.

Amazon's efforts have failed, while brand-owners and consumers continually receive confirmation that their long-standing, but ignored, complaints of Amazon's fake reviews, commingled products, worthless endorsements, and counterfeits are well-founded. Consumers are the victims, spending good money on bad products on Amazon.

Even if consumers wisely avoid Amazon, they are still at risk of injury or death from other shopper's counterfeit and fraudulent product purchases. Before buying any product on Amazon, consumers should be aware that;

• Consumers may not receive products from the sellers they order from, but commingled products from Amazon's closest fulfillment center, says Mehta.
• The "Amazon's Choice" endorsement is awarded to counterfeit and fraudulent products. "Amazon does not manually curate products. There is no unique safety testing for the "Amazon's Choice" products. There is no unique screening for authenticity to receive that badge," states Mehta.
• Amazon rarely notifies consumers they purchased a counterfeit or fraudulent product. The Counterfeit Report purchased over 500 counterfeit, fraudulent, and dangerous products, yet has never received a notification. Amazon has blocked and removed product and seller reviews and refused refunds for confirmed counterfeits. "Amazon also proactively notifies and refunds customers when we suspect they have purchased a counterfeit product" and "we remove unsafe products when we identify them," states Mehta.
• Mehta also claims, "We have no tolerance for false advertising claims or price gouging. We proactively are looking for any seller using false claims." Laughable.

“Online counterfeit trafficking is defrauding consumers at the very least and harming or even killing Americans with the fakes coming into our homes and businesses,” says Peter K. Navarro, Ph.D., top economic and trade advisor to the President. “For all practical purposes, these e-commerce hubs are basically laundries for counterfeits,” adds Dr. Navarro.

America's security and future are at risk. Amazon is destroying US businesses and endangering consumers. While waiting for Congress to act, consumers would be better served to shop at local retailers or online with the major authorized retailers (Kroger, Costco, Home Depot, Target, Lowes, Best Buy, etc.) who offer consumers competitive purchase options for authentic products. Buyer beware.