Counterfeits Are A Bad Choice For Mother's Day

Amazon, eBay, and Walmart a risky choice for gift givers.

May 8, 2019 - Los Angeles, CA – Mother's Day that includes a counterfeit gift isn't going to make mom happy. Online shoppers looking to Amazon, eBay, and Walmart may unknowingly end up with a fake gift.

Sadly, some shoppers may intentionally chose a fake. Laura Urquizu, CEO of Red Points, told Fortune that one in three of 1,500 surveyed Americans admitted to having intentionally purchased a fake for their moms. "The survey didn't include information on whether or not their mothers knew" added Urquizu.

Jewelry is a popular gift, but shopping online is risky, dangerous, and little, if any, actual value. The e-commerce giants are no exception with reputations and history of fakes, fraud, and scams. Gifts are no exception.

Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), Walmart (NASDAQ: WMT), and eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) are the perfect free flowing platforms to enable and facilitate distribution of an inexhaustible supply of counterfeit goods, a $1.7 trillion global criminal enterprise.

Only eBay reports actual sales figures, which reflect consumer purchases of over 831,000 counterfeit items from just a tiny sample of listings investigated by The Counterfeit Report, an award-winning industry watchdog and consumer advocate. The Counterfeit Report received over 2,300 fakes from eBay sellers, and has removed over 195 million counterfeits from e-commerce websites. The Counterfeit Report publishes an online guide: www.TheCounterfeitReport.com to help consumers identify the fakes.

• 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."
• The U.S. Government Accountability Office ("GAO") conducted an undercover investigation Amazon, eBay, and Walmart counterfeit goods sales. The GAO reported that about 50% of the items it purchased from the e-commerce websites were counterfeit.
• The American Apparel & Footwear Association (AAFA), which represents more than 1,000 brands, has recommended that Amazon be added to the Notorious Markets List. Amazon is awash in counterfeit product sales, scams, fake reviews and allegations of data leaks and employee bribes. While Amazon continues to claim it has "zero tolerance" for counterfeits and bad actors, the statement is patently false. Amazon's own reports state that over 100,000 brands are fighting counterfeit products on Amazon, and Amazon receives an infringement notice for 1 of every 100 customer page views. Hardly a testimonial to a safe consumer buying environment.
• In Operation Mail Flex, a 2017 investigation, Customs and Border Protection officers randomly examined more than half of the express-mail packages arriving daily from Hong Kong and mainland China over five days -- and seized 43% of them. These seizures included 1,297 noncompliant imports, such as counterfeit pharmaceuticals (along with controlled substances, including fentanyl).

Shockingly little protection is afforded e-commerce consumers. The e-commerce giants won't notify consumers they received a counterfeit even after the brand owner's notification and listing removal. Counterfeits are often relisted despite repeated complaints.

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.

Consumers are better served supporting their local retailers, and can shop online with the major authorized retailers (Kroger, Costco, Home Depot, Target, Lowes, Best Buy, etc.) who offer consumers competitive purchase options. "Costco is the cheapest by a landslide, with an average discount of 19% on items where there was a price discrepancy" reports Business Insider, and many retailers will price match online sellers.