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Sellers printing counterfeit books and selling under Amazon's brand

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Re: Sellers printing counterfeit books and selling under Amazon's brand

#241

Post by ThrustVectoring »

tadblarney wrote: post #179
Animats wrote: post #40

There's no way to report a counterfeit on Amazon unless you're claiming a violation of your own IP rights. I've complained about fake solid state relays. There are lots of fake "Fotek" solid state relays. UL has noticed.[1] The fakes are usually marked with much higher amp ratings than they can handle safely. Look at this "100 amp" fake "Fotek" relay on Amazon.[2] Fotek doesn't even make a 100 amp relay in that packa…

"There's no way to report a counterfeit on Amazon unless you're claiming a violation of your own IP rights" I feel this is problematic - one would think that AMZN would want to at least have a 'heads up' with respect to these issues very quickly to look into them, you know, to protect their brand? Because if Amazon is selling you 'XYZ' and it's a knock-off - they are part of the crime. Rather odd.

Noooooo, they definitely would NOT want to know about this. It turns unknowingly trafficking in counterfeit goods (not a crime) into knowingly trafficking in counterfeit goods (definitely a crime).

Re: Sellers printing counterfeit books and selling under Amazon's brand

#242

Post by ansible »

chipperyman573 wrote: post #143
jessaustin wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

By the same process in which Amazon has sold counterfeit NoStarch books, Amazon could also sell counterfeit "Basics" products. At this point, we're pretty sure it has something to do with commingling...

Why would Amazon let anyone sell an Amazon Basics product? It's not a "Basics" category, it's the "Amazon Basics" brand. Nobody else could produce those.

If Amazon doesn't have good controls to prevent people from selling fake Apple products, I wouldn't assume they have good internal controls to prevent the seeking off their own products either.

Re: Sellers printing counterfeit books and selling under Amazon's brand

#243

Post by szanony »

themagician wrote: post #178
blobbers wrote: post #63

Counterfeits in comingled inventory has become pretty common on Amazon these days. "Fulfillment by amazon" has led them to comingle inventories on common products, meaning every seller's product gets jumbled together. I've gotten counterfeit huggies diapers from amazon (invalid serial number for huggies 'points' and different build quality), Mach 3 razor blades, GE MWF Water filters, even a counterfeit baby bath. The…

I've been running into his problem personally. About 25% of our business now is done via Amazon. We sell to Amazon retail directly and also use Amazon FBA internationally. The problem is that "other sellers" keep beating us to the buy box for certain SKUs. Amazon keeps asking us to sell to them for a lower price. The funny thing is, Amazon already gets the lowest price, by far, compared to all other distributors. I k…

Consider the possibility that your factory is manufacturing your product for their own account. This is a common problem where I live. Unauthorized, nighttime manufacturing runs are often the source of these problems.

Re: Sellers printing counterfeit books and selling under Amazon's brand

#244

Post by sjs7007 »

fapjacks wrote: post #153
HoppedUpMenace wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

J5 Hyper V Tactical Flashlight. Was really bright as advertised. No complaints but its hard for anyone to understand how bright a flashlight is until you actually use it, but youtube videos definitely help and so do legit reviews.

These specific flashlights can be bought from AliExpress for two or three dollars a piece. I totally agree that they're a great light, just don't pay more than a couple bucks for one. I bought a pack of five for ten dollars.

link?

Re: Sellers printing counterfeit books and selling under Amazon's brand

#245

Post by Twisell »

ThrustVectoring wrote: post #204
themagician wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been running into his problem personally. About 25% of our business now is done via Amazon. We sell to Amazon retail directly and also use Amazon FBA internationally. The problem is that "other sellers" keep beating us to the buy box for certain SKUs. Amazon keeps asking us to sell to them for a lower price. The funny thing is, Amazon already gets the lowest price, by far, compared to all other distributors. I k…

>And ideally, actually, I'd like Amazon to offer a feature that essentially "bans" third parties from listing a SKU at the manufacturers request. I'd gladly pay to few thousand a year to ensure that the only one that can sell our products is Amazon themselves. Isn't this what owning a trademark is for? Can people advertise that they have M&M's for sale without the permission of Mars Candy Inc?

In the OP case copyright laws are sufficient.

So yeah is it to much to ask from amazon to respect trademark and/or copyright. Specially considering they are the dominant online book sellers.

I think people should start considering that when the DOJ hitted hard on Apple last year as they proposed an altenative to the near monopoly of Amazon maybe they hit the wrong target.

Re: Sellers printing counterfeit books and selling under Amazon's brand

#246

Post by bonestamp2 »

dawnerd wrote: post #110
mhb wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed that Amazon should make it clearer when it is the actual seller, but, in your example, you knowingly bought from a third party. Why would this affect your future purchases from Amazon when Amazon is the seller?

What I dislike is when something has prime listed on it and when you look closer it's not even sold or shipped by amazon. Just some company that "meets the requirements". I use amazon's prime because their warehouse in 30 minutes away and I get stuff same day or overnight.

I used to get my stuff that quickly, now they just wait a day or two before shipping it so it's still 2 days before it arrives.

Re: Sellers printing counterfeit books and selling under Amazon's brand

#247

Post by cookiecaper »

ThrustVectoring wrote: post #240
cookiecaper wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think Amazon is going to make a lot of noise about this, because users who are unaware of this issue (which are still the vast majority) would then start to worry. They've sent out some light PR around it in business-oriented press outlets like Forbes. Ask any FBA seller, especially those who do product arbitrage, and they'll tell you that Amazon is getting very aggressive with account suspensions and requiri…

>authentic products, but "not authorized" because they were factory overruns These are counterfeit products. When you contract with a factory to make 10K units with your brand on them, they aren't allowed to use your brand to sell any number of "overruns" past that.

I'm not familiar with the legal definition of "counterfeit" so you may be correct. I'm using the common definition of counterfeit, meaning a falsified imitation product that is usually low-quality and always produced by a third party who has "reverse-engineered" the target product.

To most people, "counterfeit" does not mean literally the same product, produced by literally the same people, even if the company who commissioned the build didn't want some of those units to be released onto the market.

Personally, I dislike the suggestion that an identical product is "counterfeit" merely because the company that commissioned the product is seeking to constrain supply and keep their price point artificially high.

The contracts between the manufacturer and the client are unknown to buyers. If the contract is being breached, the client would probably be wise to seek to enforce the agreement.

I understand there are potential trademark implications (but afaik they're not necessarily cut and dry, IANAL), but IMO this doesn't classify something as a counterfeit product, at least as far as general usage is concerned. I make no comment on the legal classification/terminology.

Re: Sellers printing counterfeit books and selling under Amazon's brand

#248

Post by Twisell »

ThrustVectoring wrote: post #241
tadblarney wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"There's no way to report a counterfeit on Amazon unless you're claiming a violation of your own IP rights" I feel this is problematic - one would think that AMZN would want to at least have a 'heads up' with respect to these issues very quickly to look into them, you know, to protect their brand? Because if Amazon is selling you 'XYZ' and it's a knock-off - they are part of the crime. Rather odd.

Noooooo, they definitely would NOT want to know about this. It turns unknowingly trafficking in counterfeit goods (not a crime) into knowingly trafficking in counterfeit goods (definitely a crime).

So if some layer gather enough evidence of "redacted" return complains this should provide a ground for a big class action?

Re: Sellers printing counterfeit books and selling under Amazon's brand

#249

Post by binarysolo »

themagician wrote: post #178
blobbers wrote: post #63

Counterfeits in comingled inventory has become pretty common on Amazon these days. "Fulfillment by amazon" has led them to comingle inventories on common products, meaning every seller's product gets jumbled together. I've gotten counterfeit huggies diapers from amazon (invalid serial number for huggies 'points' and different build quality), Mach 3 razor blades, GE MWF Water filters, even a counterfeit baby bath. The…

I've been running into his problem personally. About 25% of our business now is done via Amazon. We sell to Amazon retail directly and also use Amazon FBA internationally. The problem is that "other sellers" keep beating us to the buy box for certain SKUs. Amazon keeps asking us to sell to them for a lower price. The funny thing is, Amazon already gets the lowest price, by far, compared to all other distributors. I k…

I run a few Amazon stores with about 10,000 SKUs -- don't re-SKU, what you want to do is brand gating... IF you are the brand owner and/or manufacturer. I can give you a few tips if you just need some advice. I'm guessing you don't have a vendorcentral account manager, but if you do, they can VERY effectively start banhammering the 3P knockoff companies.

Also, check out sellercentral forums for a community of folks there too. It's not HN but it's pretty active.

Re: Sellers printing counterfeit books and selling under Amazon's brand

#250

Post by Chathamization »

The problem with quasi-monopolies like Amazon is that they lose any pressure to behave properly. Issues like this should encourage people to look at Amazon alternatives. I'd be happy to pay a bit more and wait a bit longer for goods if I'm able to make sure that I'm buying legitimate products and not counterfeits.

Are there any promising Amazon alternatives people would recommend?

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