Amazon’s Chinese counterfeit problem is getting worse.

…the counterfeiting issue has exploded this year, sellers say, following Amazon’s effort to openly court Chinese manufacturers, weaving them intimately into the company’s expansive logistics operation. Merchants are perpetually unsure of who or what may kill their sales on any given day and how much time they’ll have to spend hunting down fakers.

Critics say Amazon hasn’t put the necessary checks in place to manage the influx of counterfeits.

To unsuspecting consumers, fake products can appear legitimate because of the Fulfillment by Amazon program, which lets manufacturers send their goods to Amazon’s fulfillment centers and hand over a bigger commission, gaining the stamp of approval that comes with an FBA tag.

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Generally speaking in our experiences, Amazon does not remove counterfeit items, copyrighted images/text or trademark violations – eBay on the other hand has the VeRO program that works well, so it’s possible and likely Amazon will eventually be forced to have a similar program.

What can maker businesses do? We decided -not- to sell on Amazon directly, we have resellers that do and we’ve focused on not relying or depending on Amazon for our direct sales.