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Amazon establishes new Counterfeit Crimes Unit

blog.aboutamazon.com

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Re: Amazon establishes new Counterfeit Crimes Unit

#51

Post by throwaway0a5e »

raverbashing wrote: post #46
throwaway_jobs wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here is one (plus the story of a defective product lawsuit behind it). A water slide. The type that bolts down into concrete for use with pools. If the first thing in your mind is...isn’t that something from the 70’s/80’s...yes it is. So the counterfeiter must have molded the entire slide (complete with the company logo that was embossed into the slide itself) thing is that company was dissolved back in the 80’s. So…

Edit: theory probably doesn't work, see comments below > So the counterfeiter must have molded the entire slide (complete with the company logo that was embossed into the slide itself) thing is that company was dissolved back in the 80’s. I have a simpler explanation for that. Someone bought the tooling (injection moulds?), in an auction maybe, didn't bother to change the brand and is out there manufacturing slides.…

The slide probably cut someone because it didn't fit together quite right or there was a sharp parting line because the tooling used to make it was worn out (hence why the cost was low enough that the segment of the market that doesn't give a F was able to buy it).

Re: Amazon establishes new Counterfeit Crimes Unit

#52

Post by ckastner »

I've said this before: they should look at how the finance industry deals / has been dealing with bad actors for decades before they engage in a business relationship with a client.

Assign every vendor some risk category based on their profile, for example: projected annual revenue, country of incorporation, products sold.

A mom-and-pop store located somewhere in Iowa selling pillow cases would probably be low-risk, there's not much you need to do.

A vendor selling USB cables out of China is probably very-high-risk. These need deep vetting. As in: show up in an office, bring along your lawyer, show us documentation on the working conditions in your factory, sign an agreement to let us audit your factory, etc.

Now, banks don't do this (at least, as far as I'm aware), but to play the devil's advocate: just imagine if Amazon asked very-high-risk vendors to post collateral before selling. If they get caught, the collateral is used to compensate victims.

That would take out the incentive to sell counterfeits in the first place.

Re: Amazon establishes new Counterfeit Crimes Unit

#53

Post by ummonk »

BurningFrog wrote: post #33
throwawayiionqz wrote: post #29

I ordered a well-known baby-bottom cream. The product gave her never-expanding rashes for a few days. Then I realized the color slightly differs from the same cream bought at the local pharmacy, and that many 1 star reviews also report knockoffs version of the cream. In some cases review pictures show that the packaging itself is clearly fake. I write a 1-star review explaining the above, and saying that the anxious…

This sounds litigation ready!

Second this - this needs to be litigated.

Re: Amazon establishes new Counterfeit Crimes Unit

#54

Post by Finnucane »

I don't really get the attitude of 'I don't care about counterfeits because it's easy to make returns.' I mean, you know what's even easier than that? Ordering from a more trustworthy vendor and not having to make returns. Getting the right thing the first time! If I have to go to the post office to send a thing back, I might as well just go to an actual store and buy the thing myself.

Re: Amazon establishes new Counterfeit Crimes Unit

#55

Post by amelius »

rckoepke wrote: post #11

The categories of things that I've received counterfeit versions of on Amazon have been truly mind-blowing. It's been replacement HEPA filters, cat toys, even breakfast cereal. It's not just earphones/mics, batteries, usb cables, flash drives, extension cords, and other electronics. Who counterfeits breakfast cereal??? I've had this issue with both Quaker Oats and Raisin Bran. The scale of fraud is magnificent. And i…

Someone should counterfeit the Amazon website.

Re: Amazon establishes new Counterfeit Crimes Unit

#56

Post by perpetualpatzer »

rootusrootus wrote: post #24
CobrastanJorji wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm curious about the incentive that leads to this. If you're going to print and sell counterfeit textbooks, why not use the actual content? Surely nearly every copy with a random other book will be returned. Is it possible that they meant to include the right content, but they counterfeit lots of books and have low quality control? My best guess is that they can easily grab a copy of a book's cover online, but actua…

I can't imagine there's a lot of margin in counterfeit textbooks. The publishers themselves already offer lower quality copies with the same content. They just restrict it to the Indian subcontinent, and "used, excellent condition" copies start showing up quickly on Amazon. I have one right in front of me. Paper quality is definitely lower, printing quality much lower, but the content is identical and it cost me 25%…

There is actually a LOT of margin in counterfeiting textbooks.

Even in the US a textbook costs ~$10 to manufacture. The reason prices are so high is that there's a high fixed cost up front to write/edit/typeset/design/market the book, and a small, capped number of readers over which you can hope to amortize those costs.

If publishers need to sell for $200 to break even, you can sell your counterfeit copy as "used" for $50-100/u, and get a 4-900% gross margin because you don't have to waste money on things like developing or marketing the content or paying royalties.

Re: Amazon establishes new Counterfeit Crimes Unit

#57

Post by ConcernedCoder »

snarf21 wrote: post #41
rckoepke wrote: post #11

The categories of things that I've received counterfeit versions of on Amazon have been truly mind-blowing. It's been replacement HEPA filters, cat toys, even breakfast cereal. It's not just earphones/mics, batteries, usb cables, flash drives, extension cords, and other electronics. Who counterfeits breakfast cereal??? I've had this issue with both Quaker Oats and Raisin Bran. The scale of fraud is magnificent. And i…

The issue is so simple to solve and they don't have to have a crimes unit to do it. Simply segment reviews and ratings based on seller. All you have to do is have each seller put a scannable sticker on each product based each batch going through intake. You can even still colocate. Then all the returns and bad reviews go to the right person and they can just get banned. This is not rocket surgery.

counterfeit stickers...

Re: Amazon establishes new Counterfeit Crimes Unit

#58

Post by vageli »

ckastner wrote: post #52

I've said this before: they should look at how the finance industry deals / has been dealing with bad actors for decades before they engage in a business relationship with a client. Assign every vendor some risk category based on their profile, for example: projected annual revenue, country of incorporation, products sold. A mom-and-pop store located somewhere in Iowa selling pillow cases would probably be low-risk,…

> Now, banks don't do this (at least, as far as I'm aware), but to play the devil's advocate: just imagine if Amazon asked very-high-risk vendors to post collateral before selling. If they get caught, the collateral is used to compensate victims.

Requiring merchants to be bonded for entry into high-risk categories sounds like a great idea! I know they already have hurdles for entry into protected categories like vitamins but adding a financial hurdle seems sensible for certain categories or volume.

Re: Amazon establishes new Counterfeit Crimes Unit

#59

Post by arkades »

LaserPineapple wrote: post #40
arkades wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I got a counterfeit book of knots. And I kept it. As far as I can tell, someone printed and hardbound a PDF of the actual book, which is otherwise I guess out of print. It's about the best I could hope to get under the circumstances. So ... there we are.

What book?

The Ashley Book of Knots.
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