Amazon, third-party sellers spur fake goods, group says

Amazon said it invested more than US$700mil (RM2.90bil) last year and employed over 10,000 people to protect against fraud and abuse, with the goal of driving counterfeits to zero. — Photo by Wicked Monday on Unsplash

Third-party marketplaces like the one created by Amazon.com Inc are flooding the US market with imitation goods, according to a report commissioned by a group of retailers and manufacturers.

Imports of such goods cost US retailers about US$54bil (RM224.31bil) a year in lost sales, according to the study for the Buy Safe America Coalition, which includes members such as 3M Co and the Retail Industry Leaders Association, which is backed by Walmart Inc, Target Corp and others. Most of the contraband products come from China, the group said in a statement Wednesday.