Amazon to display names, addresses of sellers in US to tackle counterfeiters

Amazon is now making it mandatory for sellers in the US to display their business names and addresses. The move comes days after Amazon set up a global Counterfeit Crimes Unit.

Amazon US sellers will soon show their business names, addresses  (Pixabay)

Amazon will soon start showing business names and addresses of sellers on its e-commerce platform. The move is said to be part of Amazon's efforts to curb counterfeit products and sellers on the platform. The changes will come into effect on September 1 for the US version of the platform.

According to TechCrunch, Amazon already follows a similar practice on its store for Europe, Japan, and Mexico due to the local guidelines. It is worth noting that Amazon's marketplace is among the oldest and largest. It is said to have over 450,000 active sellers in the US. Globally, it has about 2.2 million active sellers.

Counterfeit and price gouging have become constant pain points for Amazon over the years. So far, the company has relied upon various techniques to combat this problem. It has also deployed cutting edge technologies such as machine learning to weed out such sellers.

According to a Business Insider report, Amazon's decision may have been based on a January counterfeiting report from the Department of Homeland Security that sought better transparency on the e-commerce platforms.

“These features help customers learn more about sellers' businesses and their products. Beginning September 1, we will also display sellers' business name and address on their Amazon.com seller profile page to ensure there is a consistent baseline of seller information to help customers make informed shopping decisions,” a company spokesperson told The Verge.

The announcement comes after Amazon launched a Counterfeit Crimes Unit to weed out fake products on its platform. The unit, which will be a global one, is comprised of federal prosecutors, experienced investigators, and data analysts, said Amazon last month.

Amazon revealed that the company had spent over $500 million and deployed over 8,000 employees to combat fraud. It claimed that the efforts led to the suspension of over 2.5 million “bad actor accounts” before they could sell even one product.