Counterfeiting: Amazon is taking more than three million products out of circulation

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Amazon logistics center in California: Fraudsters are said to have a hard time

Photo: KEVORK DJANSEZIAN/ AFP

Amazon certifies that it has made significant progress in the fight against the sale of counterfeit goods on the platform.

According to a company report, more than three million counterfeit products were lifted last year with the participation of the group.

It is about items that should be brought into the logistics cycle of the world's largest internet retailer, as well as cases in which Amazon companies and authorities were able to give information about counterfeiters' warehouses.

In 2020, according to earlier reports, Amazon was able to filter out more than two million counterfeit products that were sent to the group's fulfillment centers.

Amazon not only sells goods itself, but also acts as a platform for other retailers.

Product counterfeiters often try to use the latter route as a gateway.

Last year, the group therefore expanded the controls when setting up a dealer account.

Amazon wants to screen fraudsters beforehand

In the USA, Great Britain and the EU countries, among others, all applicants have been personally verified since last year.

That's a deterrent, said Amazon manager Anna Dalla Val. That's why the number of attempts blocked by Amazon to register a new merchant account fell from 6 to 2.6 million within a year.

The range of existing dealers is also automatically searched for signs of counterfeit products.

Among other things, Amazon offers companies affected by product piracy the opportunity to register and report violations of their trademark rights.

According to Amazon, more than 700,000 brands took part in this program last year.

The year before it was 500,000.

At the same time, they reported a quarter fewer violations on average.

Amazon explains the decline with the success of the proactive measures.

More than $900 million for fraud prevention

However, Juozas Kaziukenas, the founder of e-commerce research firm Marketplace Pulse, told the AP news agency that it was difficult to assess whether Amazon's policies led to the declines or whether other factors played a role.

Counterfeit products are a major problem for Amazon and other e-commerce retailers such as Ebay.

Amazon has ramped up its anti-counterfeiting efforts in recent years as brands and lawmakers push for anti-counterfeiting legislation.

In 2021, the company says it spent more than $900 million fighting fraud, suing or investigating more than 600 sellers in the US and other countries like China.

Amazon doesn't disclose where most counterfeit products come from, but China is identified as a problem.

According to Marketplace Pulse, the share of China-based top sellers on Amazon's third-party marketplace has steadily decreased since late 2020.

Experts say pandemic-related supply chain issues are at the root, as well as the company's recent efforts to crack down on banned activities.

This also includes the fight against fake reviews.

Last year, the company suspended several prominent Chinese sellers and reportedly banned 50,000 merchants for violating rules.

Marketplace Pulse data shows that 55 percent of the top sellers on Amazon's US marketplace are US-based companies.

In November 2020, their share was still 48 percent.

Amazon does not want to be held liable for counterfeits

Amazon is backing a US House bill that would require online marketplaces to collect contact and financial information from high-volume sellers and share some of that information with consumers.

On the other hand, Amazon and Ebay, as members of the TechNet lobby group, are opposing another bill that would make e-commerce platforms liable for counterfeit goods sold on their websites.

An Amazon spokesman said the company recognizes the legislation's intent to stop counterfeiting and looks forward to working with Congress to achieve that goal.

mmq/dpa/AP