WeChat, AliExpress added to US Notorious Markets list

An updated US Trade Representative's Office register of online and physical markets that reportedly sell or facilitate fake goods has added AliExpress and WeChat to its already China-heavy list. Released on Thursday, the 2021 Notorious Markets List names 42 online markets and 35 physical facilities accused of copyright …

[Potemkine!]

the country with the greatest number of products made with forced labour

... products made for Apple, Nike, GAP and many others

Why don't western countries make these companies accountable for this?

Human Rights are not a valid reason to stop business, aren't they?

[Anonymous Coward]

Because the western companies created the conditions that required this cut throat anything goes environment.

[Anonymous Coward]

Don’t be so hard on Gap. Only Gap Kids clothes are made by Kids.

https://youtu.be/OXb3dzNLebk

[Dan 55]

Amazon

One assumes they've never even so much as glanced at Bezos' online tat emporium.

[heyrick]

Re: Amazon

Came here to write exactly that. Had an interesting exchange a few years ago when buying a little oscilloscope kit (for fun) which turned out to be a counterfeit (*). Amazon assured me that they don't provide fake stuff and agreed to send me a replacement...which was the exact same thing. I let the matter drop as I wanted something to do on my winter holiday.

The next time, I ordered from Banggood and got an authentic real JYE kit (this sort of thing: https://jyetech.com/).

Shall we talk about the replacement Phillips shaver heads?

There are certain categories of product that I avoid Amazon for, and I'm sure to buy via Prime and shipped from themselves, so if it's a knock-off it can go back at their cost.

* - at those prices, you'd not have thought there would be sufficient margins to make faking worthwhile.

[DevOpsTimothyC]

Re: Amazon

Amazon has gotten too big to police the counterfeit themselves. After all why aren't trading standards regularly shutting down Amazon distribution hubs like they shutdown market traders who have counterfeit tat.

It's surprising that Amazon has gotten away with being able to charge a premium to brands to be able to police other traders on Amazon.

[Captain_Cretin]

Re: Amazon

Amazon CANNOT BE BOTHERED to sort out its own sellers of fakes.

I spent TWO YEARS reporting a fake seller, all I got for my troubles was a daily email full of their listings, as I had expressed and interest in their products.

I find more fake stuff on Amazon than I do on Ali Express; and why in hell is there no mention of Wish ??

[Alan Brown]

Re: Amazon

Amazon never bothered in the first place

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Amazon

> Came here to write exactly that.

That's two of us. I closed my account when it became easier to buy counterfeit and / or get scammed, with Amazon doing SFA about it, than to get proper goods.

Like you, I actually have much better success buying straight from China these days.

[DS999]

Not to mention Newegg

Which used to be a very reputable company many people trusted, until they were bought out by a Chinese company and turned into a "marketplace". You don't know what you're getting and customer service took a bit trip downhill as well.

Pretty much any site that operates as a marketplace is a scammers haven. At least with something like eBay you know that going in, and if you buy similar products again and again you can use sellers you've had good experiences with in the past. That's worth a few extra percent in my book for peace of mind.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Not to mention Newegg

Newegg isn't the only place that's turned into a marketplace and gone downhill

Insight has turned into a fulfillment house - and they charge vendors who want to provide accurate/live stock levels, so you're never quite sure if what you're ordering is actually going to be available

It's irritating to say the least

[M.V. Lipvig]

Re: Amazon

Ain't it the truth. And, they INSIST on only offering the chinese trash. Even if you put company name/part number into a search engine, Amazon sites come up first and it's rare that the link shows what you are looking for. It'll show 20 Chinese alternatives though. It's gotten to where I'll add -amazon to searches to keep them from wasting my time.

Anyway, it's not just amazon, it's the search engines themselves making it hard to find non-Chinese stuff.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Amazon

> I'll add -amazon to searches to keep them from wasting my time.

Yeah, same here. I don't mind Chinese stuff though, it's pretty amazing quality these days.

[Alan Brown]

Re: Amazon

There's the rub - a lot of this(*) is FUD to try and dissuade people from buying where "USA" products aren't up to snuff

(*) On the technology front at any rate, The thing about clothing is that most of the brand name stuff is made in China anyway and in many cases the same item may have half a dozen different band labels sewn in under different supply contracts - you're seldom if ever paying higher prices on "brand name" tat for actual higher quality

[John70]

In a canned statement, US Traade Representative Ambassador Katherine Tai

That looks like a Chinese knockoff to me

[Psmo]

Somewhat under powered with weight added to give the air of legitimacy?

[Pascal Monett]

"high end" counterfeits ?

So you're acknowledging that the stuff you're selling openly is shit ?

[_LC_]

Same stuff sold on Amazon and e-Bay

Same stuff sold on Amazon and e-Bay is okay. Yeah, makes total sense. US rules are what we say. :-P

[mark l 2]

I have found Aliexpress customer service to be pretty good at refunding you if you do receive dodgy stuff. Ive taken to making a video of me opening the package when it arrives just in case as I need that as evidence when I have to opened a dispute.

Ive learned to just open a dispute and not even bother to involve the seller on Aliexpress though, as whenever I have tried to resolve it with the seller first, they try and run down the clock for you to open a dispute or offer partial refunds etc.

[_LC_]

Often enough that “running down the clock” simply stems from them not understanding you. I kid you not! Many do not speak a word of English, nor “proper Chinese”. Hence, they only get garbled auto-translations.

[werdsmith]

AliExpress and Banggood both 100% perfect in all my dealings with them.

I buy a lot of gadgetry, electronics project stuff, it's all been excellent. Oscilloscope, sig gen, frequency meter, bench power supplies all solid and excellent value.

[Winkypop]

Tat?

I thought that was the entire point of those sites.

[seven of five]

78% of counterfeits from china

I would expect 78% of all goods imported to the US to be from China, so hardly a surprise. Anyone got some numbers?

[John Riddoch]

Re: 78% of counterfeits from china

https://letmegooglethat.com/?q=us+imports+by+country

Various links from there show about 18-20% of imports come from China.

[DenTheMan]

Top 3 are ....

Ebay

Amazon

Aliexpress

Ebay wins by a mile by also having some very notorious buyers.

[DougMac]

Re: Top 3 are ....

Yep, I've received counterfeit goods from all of them, and then include NewEgg, and other computer resellers that are no longer around.

I'd say # one was Amazon for selling counterfeit goods though. eBay is more tame, only the deals that are too-good-to-be-true are bad. On Amazon, you could pay the normal price and still get shafted.

[Jason Hindle]

Pot, kettle and name calling

I love the smell of double standards in the morning.

[Anonymous Coward]

To be fair to China, they are spending at least 50% of the tax paid by these "rights holders" on enforcement. Or maybe 99%. I think the number is the same either way.

What more can they expect?

[YetAnotherJoeBlow]

So buying a hardened brake caliper cap screw from China a bad idea?

[Anonymous Coward]

> So buying a hardened brake caliper cap screw from China a bad idea?

Depends who's driving.

[M.V. Lipvig]

If you're good with it really being a grade 5 bolt with grade 8 markings, made by slaves, then I guess that's OK for you.

[dafe]

Notorious

The Trade Rep was careful to note that the list [does not] reflect legal violations, government analysis of intellectual property, or enforcement-related matters.

So being listed does not mean you violated trademarks (counterfeiting) or otherwise broke any laws.

Does it actually mean anything at all?

[Jedit]

"has added AliExpress to its list"

Add Kickstarter as well, then. If I had a dollar for every project I've seen that was someone pushing an AliExpress product (knockoff or otherwise) at 300% markup, I'd have enough to buy the real article at retail.

(The IT angle? Kickstarter are themselves moving in to blockchain, which is Scammer-Helping Information Technology.)