Where Are The Honest Sellers On Amazon?

Fraud, fakes and scams are common on the internet giant

March 13, 2019, Los Angeles, CA – Amidst all the Amazon fakes, fraud and scams, there are some honest Amazon sellers. These legitimate manufacturers and retailers struggle to compete in Amazon's hyper-competitive marketplace that enables and facilitates an inexhaustible supply of counterfeit, fake and replica products. However, these retailers and the authentic products just can't compete against China knockoffs with low prices, fraudulent endorsements and phony product reviews.

Consumers are on their own to sort the legitimate honest sellers from Amazon's bad actors. To make matters worse, Amazon is also a direct retailer of counterfeit goods, e.g.; "ships from and sold by Amazon.com" and freely places its coveted "Amazon's Choice" designation on counterfeit and fraudulent products. A better consumer choice is to shop elsewhere, or make sure you are buying directly from the manufacturer or verified authorized dealer if shopping Amazon.

How bad is it? 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's counterfeit policy is a sham, and it's recently touted "Project Zero" counterfeit program failed to mention that only about 15 brands are participating in the “invite only” counterfeit removal program.

Most consumers ignore the warnings, confident that they won't be fooled by an online fake. That consumer confidence is misplaced -- consumers are easily fooled into throwing away good money for bad products. The Counterfeit Report, an award winning consumer advocate and counterfeit watchdog, has removed over 190 million counterfeits from e-commerce websites. Are you sure you didn't buy a fake?

The Amazon counterfeits shown below can hurt your health, infect your computer, destroy your car and even kill you. Would you think to suspect a fake?

For example;

U.S. based Fullips, LLC is a family owned business producing popular beauty and cosmetic products under the registered fullips® trademark. Unscrupulous counterfeiters will produce anything to deceive consumers and make a fast dollar, including the counterfeit Fullips product shown. Almost visually indistinguishable from the authentic product, consumers are easily deceived into purchasing a poor quality, unsanitary counterfeit that may contain dangerous lead and other suspect ingredients.

Tiny microSD® computer memory cards are used in cell phones, cameras and laptops. Memory on counterfeit cards is usually not the capacity of what is published on the card, and the fake items may install malware on your computer or fail. When that happens, you are likely to lose your data, passwords, images, and damage your equipment. The counterfeit Adata 64GB microSDHC shown (right) is not offered in the authentic Adata® product line. An authentic Adata 8GB microSDHC card is shown (left) for comparison.

Drew Technologies' $495 Mongoose® Pro interface cable and software kit is used by vehicle technicians, dealers, and hobbyists to program vehicle computers including braking, steering, emission and safety equipment. Counterfeit Mongoose products may severely damage your vehicle, and install malware on your computer. Hopefully this wasn't used to alter the cars around you.

The Combat Application Tourniquet® (C-A-T®), has been supplied to the U.S. Military, police, first responders and the public worldwide for the past decade. Counterfeit and replica C-A-T tourniquets have catastrophically failed during actual life-saving applications, yet the fakes and replicas flood Amazon. The Counterfeit Report removed 7,073 counterfeits from Amazon, but the replicas remain.

Consumers might place their confidence in Amazon's guarantee; "We stand behind the products sold on our site with our A-to-z Guarantee." That could be true, but only if consumers were informed by Amazon (or knew) they received a counterfeit product. However, Amazon does not notify consumers they received a fake, even after being notified by the brand owner. Of course, consumers would then be entitled to a refund. Is Amazon America's biggest consumer fraud?

The value of counterfeit and pirated goods is forecast to grow to $2.8 trillion, and cost 5.4 million net job losses by 2022 states a 2017 International Chamber of Commerce Report. Amazon commands 50% of e-commerce sales and is a part of that number.