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The Amazon Transparency Program Is a Counterfeiter's Worst Nightmare

forbes.com

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Re: The Amazon Transparency Program Is a Counterfeiter's Worst Nightmare

#41

Post by ProZsolt »

sdinsn wrote: post #28
dmwallin wrote: post #9

So create a system that encourages abuse, profit from that abuse at the expense of brands, and then charge those companies to use your proprietary tracking system if they want to eliminate it? This is straight out of a racketeering playbook, "It would be a shame if someone counterfeited your products and ruined your brand..." This is Amazon's problem and they should be responsible and accountable for this. This artic…

It's strange how you attack specifically Amazon for this, while every e-commerce platform that allows 3rd party sellers has this problem. Amazon is the only one doing something about it; they should be applauded.

Amazon caused the problem by mixing inventory. You are a legit seller who sells product A and there is another seller who sells a counterfeit product A. Even if a customer buys from you it can receive a counterfeit product.

Re: The Amazon Transparency Program Is a Counterfeiter's Worst Nightmare

#42

Post by F00bart »

throwaway_tech wrote: post #16
danesparza wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How badly are you being counterfeited and how much do you want to avoid lost sales?

Enough to sue Amazon for facilitating and profiting off the sale of products infringing on my IP, but not enough to pay Amazon to police their own platform. Policing Amazon's platform is Amazon's job and is a cost Amazon should bear. I don't have to pay Walmart for them to not sell products infringing on my IP, they do that on their own and when they fail, they are liable for my damages. Example, my Dad published an…

I think most people are simply ignorant of the sheer volume of transactions of counterfeit goods on Amazon and similar platforms. The platforms benefit from each transaction regardless, so the platforms often evolve to encourage volume, nothing else.

Re: The Amazon Transparency Program Is a Counterfeiter's Worst Nightmare

#43

Post by sdinsn »

me_me_me wrote: post #33
sdinsn wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's strange how you attack specifically Amazon for this, while every e-commerce platform that allows 3rd party sellers has this problem. Amazon is the only one doing something about it; they should be applauded.

let's not go into whataboutism. Amazon is the biggest player so of course it has to be scrutinized the most.

It's not whataboutism to state that Amazon is the only one actually trying to fix things.

Re: The Amazon Transparency Program Is a Counterfeiter's Worst Nightmare

#44

Post by cgriswald »

tidepod12 wrote: post #26
harimau777 wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't necessarily know their validity one way or the other, but the points that tend to be made are: - In today's world, Amazon isn't just a marketplace, it is THE marketplace. For many brands, not selling on Amazon isn't a realistic option. - Amazon's marketplace makes it very easy to counterfeit due to co-mingling, the difficulty of holding foreign sellers accountable, and the prevalence of fake reviews. - Amazon…

>Amazon has done little if anything to combat counterfeiting. This article is entirely about Amazon doing something to combat counterfeiting...

Yes, finally. And they’re putting the cost on the manufacturers, even though it’s a problem they created. In effect, manufacturers are now paying for commingling and Amazon is reaping the benefits.

Re: The Amazon Transparency Program Is a Counterfeiter's Worst Nightmare

#45

Post by sudhirj »

fredley wrote: post #14
deelowe wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How practical is it really? Having to print and track individually serialized barcodes for every product you sell, sounds like it can be anything from a nearly 0 cost step to a complete logistical nightmare depending on the manufacturing process.

In order to not be trivially defeatable, it sounds quite hard. You can't, for example, use sequential blocks of ids — far too easy for a counterfeiter to reverse-engineer valid ranges. Which means that you either generate them through some cryptographic signing process - non trivial and the risk of compromised keys, or just generate random guids centrally meaning there's a request/response somewhere in the production…

The article says each SKU gets its own codes (and my understanding is that Amazon maintains SKU metadata internally and all resellers sell against it). My guess would be a variation of skuUUID:itemUUID:sha1(skuUUID+itemUUID+skuSecret), encoded as a QR code. UUID could be a smaller int ID, hash could be a base64 encode if you need to save space.

Re: The Amazon Transparency Program Is a Counterfeiter's Worst Nightmare

#46

Post by kube-system »

asah wrote: post #12

Seems like any e-commerce aggregator (e.g. eBay, craigslist, etc) has the same counterfeiting problem - at least Amazon is offering a solution.

I don't have the same magnitude of issues on eBay as I have had on Amazon. Much of the problem is exacerbated their commingled inventory and consolidated product pages.

On eBay it is two clicks to see the negative feedback for the seller who is shipping me the item, and I have the confidence that I am going to get the item from that seller.

On Amazon, users post much of the negative feedback on the consolidated product page which doesn't give any indication about the seller, and might not even be for the right product. And in the end, fungible FBA inventory is a roll of the dice. This is a problem that never existed on eBay.

Re: The Amazon Transparency Program Is a Counterfeiter's Worst Nightmare

#47

Post by tidepod12 »

cgriswald wrote: post #44
tidepod12 wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Amazon has done little if anything to combat counterfeiting. This article is entirely about Amazon doing something to combat counterfeiting...

Yes, finally. And they’re putting the cost on the manufacturers, even though it’s a problem they created. In effect, manufacturers are now paying for commingling and Amazon is reaping the benefits.

What a hilarious notion that Amazon "created" the problem of counterfeiting. Counterfeiting has been an issue for centuries, long long before Amazon existed.

Re: The Amazon Transparency Program Is a Counterfeiter's Worst Nightmare

#48

Post by nimajneb »

ProZsolt wrote: post #41
sdinsn wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's strange how you attack specifically Amazon for this, while every e-commerce platform that allows 3rd party sellers has this problem. Amazon is the only one doing something about it; they should be applauded.

Amazon caused the problem by mixing inventory. You are a legit seller who sells product A and there is another seller who sells a counterfeit product A. Even if a customer buys from you it can receive a counterfeit product.

I think this happened to me a long time ago on Amazon (2015). I ordered a bicycle tail light. When I got the package it was some cheap bad non brand name product. I'm not sure what Amazon did on the back end, but they refunded me. I just looked at my order history, it appears to be one of the items Amazon sells from multiple vendors, like what you describe.

Re: The Amazon Transparency Program Is a Counterfeiter's Worst Nightmare

#49

Post by Nasrudith »

chance_state wrote: post #5

So not only does Amazon co-mingle inventory to cause this problem in the first place, but then they turn around and charge brands if they want to enter this anti-counterfeit program. Incredible.

That is quite the inversion of burden of proof there. Amazon is a marketplace in the first place as opposed to a portal of stores. They sell by product. They have no obligation to do otherwise or to bar all secondary sellers. It is a privledge in the first place and they are entitled to demand that it not be used to shut out secondary markets.

Re: The Amazon Transparency Program Is a Counterfeiter's Worst Nightmare

#50

Post by bumbledraven »

gketuma wrote: post #10
Jamwinner wrote: post #2

I hope they rush this. They are already a retailer I systematically avoid, dispite being a prime member, when authenticity matters. When I have time I ocassionally gamble, but have been less and less successful getting authentic items as time passes. Even if you dislike amazon (i am personally, torn), getting this right benefits everyone selling things online if it proves practical to implement.

This is the reason why I cancelled my Prime account. I could not trust the electronics I buy on Amazon. Too many fake items sourced directly from shenzhen. Now I go directly to the manufacturer's website and pay full price (which is usually about $10 more), and at least I know I'm getting the real thing.

Yeah. I just bought an $800 pair of binoculars for my dad's birthday from bhphotovideo.com. Normally I would use amazon, but I didn't want to risk getting a counterfeit, and I trust bhphotovideo more.
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