Counterfeit Products Await Amazon, Walmart, And eBay Holiday Shoppers

E-commerce marketplaces are the nightmare before Christmas for holiday shoppers.

December 16, 2020, Los Angeles, CA – Holiday shoppers expect their online shopping experience will provide authentic and safe products -- but that confidence is misplaced. Walmart, Amazon, and eBay are flooded with counterfeit, replica, and fraudulent products. The coronavirus pandemic adds additional obstacles for consumers who wish to avoid stores and crowds and flock to online sites unaware of the dangers and scams.

Walmart and Amazon are both direct retailers of counterfeits, in addition to enabling and facilitating the sale of an inexhaustible supply of China fakes and replica items. eBay is not a direct seller of merchandise, but its website has morphed from a garage sale of private party merchandise to hosting third-party sellers who can list just about anything they want, including counterfeit, fake and replica products.

Decades ago, counterfeiting was about selling fakes on the street corner. The explosion of e-commerce and platforms including Walmart, Amazon, Newegg, Wish, and eBay has channeled counterfeit and dangerous products directly into consumers' homes. Consumers are spending good money on bad products.

How big is the problem?

The Counterfeit Report, a global award-winning consumer advocate and industry watchdog, found and removed over 400 million counterfeits from Walmart, eBay, Amazon, Wish, Newegg, DHgate, and Alibaba. These are only a tiny fraction of fake goods destined for or reaching consumers. Amazon often ignores brand-owner complaints, while sellers often relist when listings are removed. 200,000 brands are fighting fakes on Amazon.

An undercover investigation by the US Government Accountability Office ("GAO") of counterfeit consumer goods on e-commerce websites, including Walmart (WMT), Amazon (AMZN), Newegg, and eBay (EBAY) found that about 50% of the items they purchased were counterfeit.

Numerous press and investigative reports document Amazon's pattern of selling banned, unsafe, counterfeit or mislabeled products, including some under its own AmazonBasics brand, and with the deceptive "Amazon's Choice" label. For years, Amazon has abused Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, to claim that it has no liability for the defective products it sells, or when they injure or kill consumers. Amazon removes negative product feedback and reviews, further deceiving consumers.

US Customs Assistant Area Port Director, Hans Leiterman, says, "We see 57 million parcels between November and January. We consider it our holiday peak season." The items are very often counterfeit commodities.

Counterfeiting is now the largest criminal enterprise in the world and forecast to grow to $2.8 trillion and cost 5.4 million net job losses by 2022.

Everyone knows selling counterfeits is illegal, yet through huge legal loopholes and virtually immune to prosecution, IP laws and safety standards, the e-commerce giants continue to enable and facilitate criminal activity with impunity. The consequence is a rigged e-commerce system that is crushing US companies and retailers, destroying US jobs, and duping consumers.