5 ms·

Amazon Japan ordered to pay 35M. yen for allowing listing of fakes

170 points by resonious 1y ago

laughing_man 1y ago
Less than a quarter million dollars. That might be enough to motivate your local car wash, but Amazon Japan?
- grugagag 1y ago
  Hey, it’s a start. Maybe other suchs fines crop up allover.
- deleted 1y ago
  [deleted]
- tjpnz 1y ago
  If it continues to happen the Japanese government can force them to cease business for a set number of days.
- Delk 1y ago
  Looks like it's damages and not a fine. Also, I don't know the Japanese system but lots of jurisdictions don't have a US-style concept of punitive damages. So the sum is probably what it is because it's intended to compensate those particular plaintiffs for demonstrable damages rather than to deter Amazon.
- koito17 1y ago
  The companies suing Amazon Japan requested damages of approximately 280M JPY, or approximately 2M USD. Of course, this is not a lot of money given Amazon's scale, but the companies tried to recuperate lost profits. With that said, the discussion on Yahoo News is mostly in agreement with the opinions shared in this thread: given Amazon's scale, a fine of 35M yen is equivalent to no penalty.
openplatypus 1y ago
I wish this was more common. I rarely, like once every 6 months, look for some obscure thing on Amazon. First thing I do after finding products, I research which one of the listing has any chance of not being a fake/dud/scam. I can't imagine buying anything of value on Amazon.
- wombat-man 1y ago
  Yeah Amazon is my last stop these days.
  - mrweasel 1y ago
    Well, I'd probably shop at Amazon before Temu, but yeah, Amazon is the option of last resort. I do wonder how common that sentiment is, probably not very, even if it seems like at least the people around me never really use Amazon anymore. It varieres from region to region obviously, but here there's no point in ordering from Amazon. Everyone else is cheaper, have faster shipping and don't have a ridicules number of scamming sellers with fake, defective and dangerous products. It seems like Amazon should be failing, but I don't think they are. The Amazon store really have become an absolute shitshow.
    - ChrisMarshallNY 1y ago
      I don’t buy anything over $50, on Amazon. Been burned by fakes and gray-market stuff (sold as legit brand). Amazon definitely explicitly supports this. What I do, is go directly to the product Web site (not the Amazon page for the manufacturer), and order from there. Sometimes, the fulfillment is via Amazon, but I know I’m getting the real thing. The difference in price is often smaller than you might think. Amazon prices aren’t that good, anymore.
      - amanaplanacanal 1y ago
        If the fulfillment is by Amazon, how do you know what you are getting? I thought Amazon commingled all their stock in one bin no matter where it came from.
ilrwbwrkhv 1y ago
I stopped using Amazon around 2015. I don't want to buy goods from AliExpress with extra steps so I just directly buy from there. And if I need something urgently I go to a local store.
- 2muchcoffeeman 1y ago
  Amazon is often the most reliable shipping for me though. I just generally never get anything of real value from Amazon.
  - olyjohn 1y ago
    You spend money on things with no real value?
    - dharmab 1y ago
      Yeah, like, bulk wet wipes, or some spatulas, or a counter scraper.
      - zargon 1y ago
        Buying any of those things from Amazon is a serious health hazard.
- shinryuu 1y ago
  Where do you buy instead?
  - olyjohn 1y ago
    Is this a loaded question? Amazon sells everything. You literally buy things everywhere else.
  - dharmab 1y ago
    There's a ton of online stores that specialize in specific categories of product- the better question is how to discover those stores instead.
ChrisMarshallNY 1y ago
That’s not very much money. It probably cost Amazon more to cut the check.
- JKCalhoun 1y ago
  They're out a measly $250K but some expensive, shitty PR.
yapyap 1y ago
244 thousand dollars is really nothing though for Amazon JP
mjmas 1y ago
> Excel Plan reported the situation and requested Amazon take appropriate action, but the page listing the genuine oximeter was deleted and the company was unable to sell it, according to the suit. How very nice and kind of Amazon.
AraceliHarker 1y ago
It's not uncommon to see pirated, uncensored anime character dakimakura covers and books being sold on Amazon Japan.
rootsudo 1y ago
Yes I hated parallel imports so much. Some sellers are open about it but many would include fake receipts along fake products to show they were purchased in USA or whatnot. What’s shocking is in Japan this is pretty new / rare (not Amazon fucking up supply chain /comingling) but generally ordering A and getting a fake itself. There is a lot of ecomm change happening now in Japan with the rise of Mercari, junk items selling more than new / real (makes no sense) etc. Pre pandemic, it was a dream to order online in Japan. No fakes, low prices, great quality.
steveBK123 1y ago
It's unfortunate that legal systems worldwide haven't figured out a better way to deal with the committing-crime-at-scale mentality we see out of a lot of Big Tech. 35M yen to a brand or two here or there when they lose in court is nothing for them. Walmart etc big retailers do lots of sketchy stuff, house label products, and squeeze suppliers.. but you don't see blatant counterfeit good sales. Amazon and other "online marketplace" types want to have it both ways - collecting obscene fees to list, stock and ship your goods.. while taking no responsibility or risk. They have turned the retail model on its head where they win either way as they are just taking fees on 3rd parties taking the risks, inverting the supplier-retailer relationship.

170 points by resonious 1y ago

laughing_man 1y ago

Less than a quarter million dollars. That might be enough to motivate your local car wash, but Amazon Japan?

grugagag 1y ago
Hey, it’s a start. Maybe other suchs fines crop up allover.
deleted 1y ago
[deleted]
tjpnz 1y ago
If it continues to happen the Japanese government can force them to cease business for a set number of days.
Delk 1y ago
Looks like it's damages and not a fine. Also, I don't know the Japanese system but lots of jurisdictions don't have a US-style concept of punitive damages. So the sum is probably what it is because it's intended to compensate those particular plaintiffs for demonstrable damages rather than to deter Amazon.
koito17 1y ago
The companies suing Amazon Japan requested damages of approximately 280M JPY, or approximately 2M USD. Of course, this is not a lot of money given Amazon's scale, but the companies tried to recuperate lost profits. With that said, the discussion on Yahoo News is mostly in agreement with the opinions shared in this thread: given Amazon's scale, a fine of 35M yen is equivalent to no penalty.

openplatypus 1y ago

I wish this was more common. I rarely, like once every 6 months, look for some obscure thing on Amazon. First thing I do after finding products, I research which one of the listing has any chance of not being a fake/dud/scam. I can't imagine buying anything of value on Amazon.

wombat-man 1y ago
Yeah Amazon is my last stop these days.
- mrweasel 1y ago
  Well, I'd probably shop at Amazon before Temu, but yeah, Amazon is the option of last resort. I do wonder how common that sentiment is, probably not very, even if it seems like at least the people around me never really use Amazon anymore. It varieres from region to region obviously, but here there's no point in ordering from Amazon. Everyone else is cheaper, have faster shipping and don't have a ridicules number of scamming sellers with fake, defective and dangerous products. It seems like Amazon should be failing, but I don't think they are. The Amazon store really have become an absolute shitshow.
  - ChrisMarshallNY 1y ago
    I don’t buy anything over $50, on Amazon. Been burned by fakes and gray-market stuff (sold as legit brand). Amazon definitely explicitly supports this. What I do, is go directly to the product Web site (not the Amazon page for the manufacturer), and order from there. Sometimes, the fulfillment is via Amazon, but I know I’m getting the real thing. The difference in price is often smaller than you might think. Amazon prices aren’t that good, anymore.
    - amanaplanacanal 1y ago
      If the fulfillment is by Amazon, how do you know what you are getting? I thought Amazon commingled all their stock in one bin no matter where it came from.

ilrwbwrkhv 1y ago

I stopped using Amazon around 2015. I don't want to buy goods from AliExpress with extra steps so I just directly buy from there. And if I need something urgently I go to a local store.

2muchcoffeeman 1y ago
Amazon is often the most reliable shipping for me though. I just generally never get anything of real value from Amazon.
- olyjohn 1y ago
  You spend money on things with no real value?
  - dharmab 1y ago
    Yeah, like, bulk wet wipes, or some spatulas, or a counter scraper.
    - zargon 1y ago
      Buying any of those things from Amazon is a serious health hazard.
shinryuu 1y ago
Where do you buy instead?
- olyjohn 1y ago
  Is this a loaded question? Amazon sells everything. You literally buy things everywhere else.
- dharmab 1y ago
  There's a ton of online stores that specialize in specific categories of product- the better question is how to discover those stores instead.

ChrisMarshallNY 1y ago

That’s not very much money. It probably cost Amazon more to cut the check.

JKCalhoun 1y ago
They're out a measly $250K but some expensive, shitty PR.

yapyap 1y ago

244 thousand dollars is really nothing though for Amazon JP

mjmas 1y ago

> Excel Plan reported the situation and requested Amazon take appropriate action, but the page listing the genuine oximeter was deleted and the company was unable to sell it, according to the suit. How very nice and kind of Amazon.

AraceliHarker 1y ago

It's not uncommon to see pirated, uncensored anime character dakimakura covers and books being sold on Amazon Japan.

rootsudo 1y ago

Yes I hated parallel imports so much. Some sellers are open about it but many would include fake receipts along fake products to show they were purchased in USA or whatnot. What’s shocking is in Japan this is pretty new / rare (not Amazon fucking up supply chain /comingling) but generally ordering A and getting a fake itself. There is a lot of ecomm change happening now in Japan with the rise of Mercari, junk items selling more than new / real (makes no sense) etc. Pre pandemic, it was a dream to order online in Japan. No fakes, low prices, great quality.

steveBK123 1y ago

It's unfortunate that legal systems worldwide haven't figured out a better way to deal with the committing-crime-at-scale mentality we see out of a lot of Big Tech. 35M yen to a brand or two here or there when they lose in court is nothing for them. Walmart etc big retailers do lots of sketchy stuff, house label products, and squeeze suppliers.. but you don't see blatant counterfeit good sales. Amazon and other "online marketplace" types want to have it both ways - collecting obscene fees to list, stock and ship your goods.. while taking no responsibility or risk. They have turned the retail model on its head where they win either way as they are just taking fees on 3rd parties taking the risks, inverting the supplier-retailer relationship.