Trump's ultimatum for eBay on counterfeits. What do you think?

[walkingupwards]

You may have heard about the Trump administration plan to curb the sales of ⊗⊗⊗⊗ goods on major online marketplaces.


Do you think eBay and Amazon will soon start flagging and hitting 3rd party sellers and ask for invoices in order to push the blame off themselves?


What about sellers who sold items in the past that could have been ⊗⊗⊗⊗? Are they also going to see some sort of restriction?


What do you think about this in general? Is this enforceable or is it not?

I haven't seen the official announcement (if there has been a new one). But I believe their main focus would first be on websites like aliexpress, they've already added some chinese websites to the US blacklist

[walkingupwards]

The black list is for shaming purposes, it can't do nothing else.

US platforms along with Alibaba are the main focus.

[agent006140]

Alibaba is a Chinese company based in China,it is up to Chinese government to deal with.
What the US government is going after are merchants who sell counterfeits and the ultimate consignees which offer fullfilment service for these sellers and the venues which provide sales platform for these sellers.
It sounds like someone who knows ecommerce and how major ecommerce venues operate has been providing a lot of information on how it works

[walkingupwards]

They said they will impose fines and make eBay and Amazon liable if they don't clean up their markets from counterfeits, if they really go that far and force them to do so, then I guess thousands if not millions of sellers will be kicked off the market.


I sell mainly in the mobile-phone-accessories category and I can tell you that 99% of the sellers over there are selling Chinese knockoffs, that means an entire category and its sellers will be shut down for good if eBay decides to clean house which is very bad for business.


If they successfully shut down the distribution of knockoffs via Amazon and eBay, all of that contraband will be distributed via other channels and big tech will end up losing billions in commission fees.


This is a trillion dollar industry we are talking about, nobody in the world will stop it, it is simply a question of distribution and the CEOs of eBay and Amazon know this.


People think that the Chinese government is god or something, but in reality even China can't go after all the factories in China even if they wanted to and customs are helpless in this fight due the sheer volume of things.


Anyway, I will believe it when I see the floods of fentanyl brought to a halt or when the wall is built!!

[yankee]

It was very specific to Electronics this time around. Next will be cosmetics and supplements. Electronics for the obvious massive revenue. Cosmetics and supplements is hugely for the health aspect along with financial.

China has started to clean up Alibaba. My items can not be listed there and they do not infringe on a trademark.

[agent006140]

wHAT is that fancy ALIABABA CYBERMALL called?
French highend cosmetics and fragrance companies do not want to sell there because they see counterfeits,so they are kicking those little guys out,just like AMZN kicked out the refurbished AAPL sellers when AAPL starts to sell on AMZN.
eBAY could do the same,welcome Macy,JCPenny,Nordstrom,Kohl,JCREW,Tiffany,Nike,Adi das and kick the others to the curb.
You know Donahue went to work for Nike ,I am sure he has considered selling on Ebay .
You know there are many websites which find it hard to get traffic and wont mind selling on EBay,for some reason they dont want to sell on AMZN or they sell on both sites/
As for the counterfeit sellers,where would they go,IOFFER is shut down,there is hardly any sale on Bonanza,Rubylane is for collectibles.
If a sales venue is liable for third party sales,then they run the risk of being fined by the goverment.
Those sellers may have to find another job flipping burgers !

[agent006140]

There is a place outside Dubai,called Dragon Mall.
You know Dubai has many migrant workers making pennies,each Saturday they go there like going to MEcca,Dragon Mall shops sell Chinese made goods,not counterfeits but names you have never heard of,cheap batteries,plastic persian rugs,lamps,bowls,toy fans,et etc,all within the budget of a migrant worker from Pakistan,India,Philipines,the shopowners sleep at the back of the stores.
They are not counterfeits,they are just made by Chinese manufacturers !!
Kind of like our 99 cents only stores.

[walkingupwards]

Originally Posted by yankee

It was very specific to Electronics this time around. Next will be cosmetics and supplements. Electronics for the obvious massive revenue. Cosmetics and supplements is hugely for the health aspect along with financial.

China has started to clean up Alibaba. My items can not be listed there and they do not infringe on a trademark.

Just did a quick search on Alibaba, all listings for counterfeits are still up and running


The Chinese are just fooling around and buying time, there is no way they will stick to that deal


To be fair though, they will purchase more farm products from the US, but they won't jeopardize their factories to appease nobody and there is no way to force them to do it.


Anyway, I truly think this whole trade war had one goal after all, that is to force China to open its market to financial firms and to buy more US products.

[agent006140]

So the Chinese are selling counterfeits of US and European goods in China on Alibaba?
Does Chinese govt care?
Do the Chinese buyers care?
Some may welcome it as the real thing is too expensive.

[walkingupwards]

Originally Posted by agent006140

So the Chinese are selling counterfeits of US and European goods in China on Alibaba?
Does Chinese govt care?
Do the Chinese buyers care?
Some may welcome it as the real thing is too expensive.

Look, if it were not for counterfeits, consumership would be down to hell. People are not making much money after all nowadays, if every item or accessory you want to buy would cost you 20-30$, your salary would be over long before you bought anything.


You know what my friend... I think this planet is doomed because of how corrupt and selfish people are. I do realize the implications of the counterfeit industry and how much economic opportunity it has destroyed along the way, but Americans have facilitated this problem simply by being ignorant and greedy. The counterfeit industry is simply an unintended consequence of exploiting Chinese cheap labors.


Americans have built China with their own dollars and now everyone is complaining about the fascist communist party of China being unresponsive to their wishes.

[animekings99]

If that happens this place will be Flooded with new members.

[rsot]

Originally Posted by animekings99

If that happens this place will be Flooded with new members.

Anytime animekings99 - anytime

[walkingupwards]

Originally Posted by animekings99

If that happens this place will be Flooded with new members.

I don't think Amazon and eBay will bow down without a court fight. Trump can't just make new laws out of the blue and start fining them


40% of the products sold on Amazon are counterfeits, so shutting that down will crash Amazon's stock price and drive investors away.

[james13v]

Originally Posted by walkingupwards

I don't think Amazon and eBay will bow down without a court fight. Trump can't just make new laws out of the blue and start fining them


40% of the products sold on Amazon are counterfeits, so shutting that down will crash Amazon's stock price and drive investors away.

and 90% of statistics are made up on the spot.

[agent006140]

One does not have to buy counterfeits ,there are always affordable brands out there,some depts have their own brands,but people want the name brand they cant afford,so they buy counterfeits ,like wearing a Rolex watch knowing damn well their Rolex is counterfeit or how many have you see with designer handbags and you dont have to be a genius to tell they are not well made?
No one dies from wearing non designer label clothes,shoes,handbags,think back in the old days,what do middle class family buy?
They wear Timex watches,they buy costume jewelry,they drive chevy !

[agent006140]

Originally Posted by walkingupwards

I don't think Amazon and eBay will bow down without a court fight. Trump can't just make new laws out of the blue and start fining them


40% of the products sold on Amazon are counterfeits, so shutting that down will crash Amazon's stock price and drive investors away.

I dont think this is the way it works,you mean AMZN and Ebay will go to court and said it is our rights to provide a platform for counterfeits sellers?
The last thing AMZN FBA needs is US customs coming to their warehouses searching for counterfeits which have evaded customs clearance!

[walkingupwards]

Originally Posted by james13v

and 90% of statistics are made up on the spot.

There you go

https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2019/4...ion-memorandum

[james13v]

Originally Posted by walkingupwards

There you go

https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2019/4...ion-memorandum

Did you even read the article?

[walkingupwards]

Originally Posted by james13v

Did you even read the article?

Luxury brands lose about $30 billion worth of income a year to ⊗⊗⊗⊗ goods sold online, and the money that fuels the industry has been linked to terrorism, among other criminal activities. And counterfeits plague just about every corner of the web; according to one study done last year by the Government Accountability Office, in a sample of commonly counterfeited products bought on the websites of Amazon, Sears, Walmart, eBay, and Newegg, about 40 percent were ⊗⊗⊗⊗. Now, counterfeits have a new opponent: the Trump administration.



You are missing the point and changing the subject, let's suppose the number is 25%.. so what?

I was shocked to know that the US military has been a victim of Chinese counterfeits too!!

[james13v]

Originally Posted by walkingupwards

There you go

https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2019/4...ion-memorandum

And if you actually read the study, that 40% number, is based on a total of 47 items, from 4 categories. from FIVE different websites, not just all from amazon. Shoes, travel mugs, cosmetics, and phone chargers. Shoes were 100% real. Phone chargers were 9 real 1 ⊗⊗⊗⊗. Cosmetics were all 13 ⊗⊗⊗⊗, and travel mugs were 3 real and 6 ⊗⊗⊗⊗. what a horrible sample size lol. less than 10 items from each retailer, from only 4 categories that supposedly sell counterfeits.

What an amazing study lol. only 4 categories tested, 2 of which were almost all real. This is not how a study works. It doesn't define how many ⊗⊗⊗⊗ are on these platforms. It only shows that this one study just happened to get that many ⊗⊗⊗⊗. How did they choose the sellers? I can buy products on ebay and it will be 100% all ⊗⊗⊗⊗. Or I can buy and make sure it's 100% real.

So even if we take the 40% number as fact, it STILL doesn't say that 40% of all products sold on amazon are ⊗⊗⊗⊗, the way you implied. All is says is that out of these 47 items we bought, from only 4 categories, 40% were ⊗⊗⊗⊗. If they only bought from shoes and phone chargers, then that number would show 95% real. But because they included one category that is more than likely ⊗⊗⊗⊗, magically, the number is now 40%.

We don't know HOW they went about buying these! They would have set it to show the lowest priced items, and just bought the top 10 lowest priced.

This is a bull**** " study", just like the majority of studies main stream news puts out there as fact.

[james13v]

Originally Posted by walkingupwards

Luxury brands lose about $30 billion worth of income a year to ⊗⊗⊗⊗ goods sold online, and the money that fuels the industry has been linked to terrorism, among other criminal activities. And counterfeits plague just about every corner of the web; according to one study done last year by the Government Accountability Office, in a sample of commonly counterfeited products bought on the websites of Amazon, Sears, Walmart, eBay, and Newegg, about 40 percent were ⊗⊗⊗⊗. Now, counterfeits have a new opponent: the Trump administration.



You are missing the point and changing the subject, let's suppose the number is 25%.. so what?

I was shocked to know that the US military has been a victim of Chinese counterfeits too!!

I didn't miss any points or change subjects. You made an absurd assertion and I corrected it. I know counterfeiting is a problem, but to imply that almost HALF of the products being sold are ⊗⊗⊗⊗, is disingenuous at best. I'm not going to "suppose" anything. 25? What if it's 5%? 2.5%? I like to work with facts, not conjecture.

And by the way. I work directly with ebay VERO to take down counterfeiters in my category. So trust me when I say, I know it exists, and I'm no fan of counterfeiters.