Amazon tests screening new merchants for fraud via video calls in pandemic

Inside an Amazon fulfilment centre in New Jersey, United States in December last year. — Reuters

Amazon.com Inc is piloting the use of video conference calls to verify the identity of merchants who wish to sell goods on its websites, in a new plan to counter fraud without in-person meetings in the pandemic, the company said on April 26.

The world's largest online retailer has long faced scrutiny over how it polices counterfeits and allegedly unsafe products on its platform. Fakes have frustrated top labels like Apple Inc and Nike Inc and discouraged some from selling via Amazon at all.