Amazon.com Inc, which has been under pressure from shoppers, brands and US lawmakers to crack down on counterfeits on its site, yesterday said that it last year blocked more than 10 billion suspected phony listings before any of their offerings could be sold.
The numbers were released in Amazon’s first report on its anti-counterfeiting efforts since it announced new tools and technologies in 2019. The number of blocked phony listings last year was up about 67 percent from the year before.
The Seattle-based e-commerce behemoth said the number of counterfeiters attempting to sell on the site rose as scammers tried to take advantage of shoppers who were buying more online during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Photo: Reuters
Amazon has been wrestling with counterfeits for years.
However, since 2019, it has warned investors in government filings that the sale of phony goods poses a risk to the company and its image.
Brands might not want to sell their items on the site if they know there are fake versions being offered and knock-offs could cause shoppers to lose their trust in Amazon.
Counterfeiters try to get their products on Amazon through its third-party marketplace, where sellers can list their items directly on the site.
The company destroyed 2 million counterfeit products sent to its warehouses last year before they could be sold.
It said fewer than 0.01 percent of all items bought on the site received counterfeit complaints from shoppers.
Amazon said it can stop counterfeiters before they can sell anything thanks to machine-learning technology, which automatically scans listings to remove suspected counterfeits.
The company also gives brands a way to remove fake items from the site themselves, rather than reporting them to Amazon and waiting for it to do something.
The company’s efforts come as lawmakers are looking at ways to reduce counterfeits online.
US senators Bill Cassidy and Dick Durbin, both Democrats, reintroduced a bill this year known as the INFORM Consumers Act. It would require third-party sellers to be verified and to disclose their name and address to shoppers. The bill was introduced last year, but was not voted on.
Amazon and smaller online stores, such as eBay Inc and Etsy Inc, oppose the bill for reasons including concerns that it could discourage people from starting a small business and selling online.
However, groups that represent big-box physical retailers, such as Home Depot Inc and Lowe’s Companies Inc, support it because they say it levels the playing field, as physical retailers already make sure their shelves are free of fakes.
Amazon said it last year spent more than US$700 million on its anti-counterfeiting efforts and has 10,000 people working on it.
SEEKING CLARITY: Washington should not adopt measures that create uncertainties for ‘existing semiconductor investments,’ TSMC said referring to its US$165 billion in the US Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) told the US that any future tariffs on Taiwanese semiconductors could reduce demand for chips and derail its pledge to increase its investment in Arizona. “New import restrictions could jeopardize current US leadership in the competitive technology industry and create uncertainties for many committed semiconductor capital projects in the US, including TSMC Arizona’s significant investment plan in Phoenix,” the chipmaker wrote in a letter to the US Department of Commerce. TSMC issued the warning in response to a solicitation for comments by the department on a possible tariff on semiconductor imports by US President Donald Trump’s
The government has launched a three-pronged strategy to attract local and international talent, aiming to position Taiwan as a new global hub following Nvidia Corp’s announcement that it has chosen Taipei as the site of its Taiwan headquarters. Nvidia cofounder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Monday last week announced during his keynote speech at the Computex trade show in Taipei that the Nvidia Constellation, the company’s planned Taiwan headquarters, would be located in the Beitou-Shilin Technology Park (北投士林科技園區) in Taipei. Huang’s decision to establish a base in Taiwan is “primarily due to Taiwan’s talent pool and its strength in the semiconductor
Industrial production expanded 22.31 percent annually last month to 107.51, as increases in demand for high-performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence (AI) applications drove demand for locally-made chips and components. The manufacturing production index climbed 23.68 percent year-on-year to 108.37, marking the 14th consecutive month of increase, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said. In the first four months of this year, industrial and manufacturing production indices expanded 14.31 percent and 15.22 percent year-on-year, ministry data showed. The growth momentum is to extend into this month, with the manufacturing production index expected to rise between 11 percent and 15.1 percent annually, Department of Statistics
An earnings report from semiconductor giant and artificial intelligence (AI) bellwether Nvidia Corp takes center stage for Wall Street this week, as stocks hit a speed bump of worries over US federal deficits driving up Treasury yields. US equities pulled back last week after a torrid rally, as investors turned their attention to tax and spending legislation poised to swell the US government’s US$36 trillion in debt. Long-dated US Treasury yields rose amid the fiscal worries, with the 30-year yield topping 5 percent and hitting its highest level since late 2023. Stocks were dealt another blow on Friday when US President Donald
RSS