Counterfeit Alerts – Counterfeits Await Amazon, Walmart And eBay Holiday Shoppers

LOS ANGELES — Buyer beware. Holiday shoppers expect their online shopping experience will provide authentic and safe products — but that confidence is misplaced. Amazon, Walmart and eBay are flooded with counterfeit, replica, and fraudulent products. Consumers who shop online websites are unaware of their exposure to dangerous products, fraud, and scams.

Walmart and Amazon are both direct retailers of counterfeits, fraudulent, and replica items, in addition to enabling and facilitating third parties to sell an inexhaustible supply of fakes. 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. There are big profits with little consequence to the e-commerce giants who skirt liability, leaving consumers 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 listings for over 400 million counterfeits on Walmart, eBay, Amazon, Wish, Newegg, DHgate, and Alibaba — only a tiny fraction of fake goods destined for or reaching consumers. Amazon and Walmart often ignore brand-owner complaints, and sellers may relist when listings are removed. 500,000 brands are fighting fakes on Amazon, an alarming revelation of the enormity of Amazon’s counterfeit problem.

• Numerous press and investigative reports document Amazon, eBay and Walmart’s pattern of selling banned, unsafe, counterfeit, mislabeled or stolen products. Some include the AmazonBasics brand or the deceptive “Amazon’s Choice” endorsement.
• The protections offered retail store shoppers are not available for online shoppers. For years, websites have abused Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, claiming they have no liability for the counterfeit or defective products they sell, even when the items injure or kill consumers. Amazon removes negative product feedback and reviews, and manipulates listing content, adding to the consumer deception. Amazon offers its patently false and illusory claim, “Products offered for sale on Amazon must be authentic. The sale of counterfeit products is strictly prohibited,” when challenged with complaints of counterfeit items.
• An undercover investigation by the U.S. 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.

Counterfeiting is now the largest criminal enterprise in the world and is forecast to grow to $4.5 trillion and cost 5.4 million net job losses in 2022. U.S. 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.

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 U.S. companies and retailers, destroying U.S. jobs and duping consumers.

Consumers would be better served to shop at local retailers or online with the major authorized retailers offering consumers competitive purchase options for authentic products.