Keystone Today

As more shoppers order with a click online, they are discovering that numerous products are not what they want. The problem with counterfeit goods sold online is a multimillion dollar matter.

“The rise of counterfeit goods and other phony products sold on the internet has been swift, and it has largely gone unnoticed by many shoppers,” according to a Feb. 11, 2020, New York Times report.

“Make no mistake, the problem is extensive,” writer Ganda Suthivarakom reported in the 2020 story. “Most people don’t realize this, but the majority of listings on Amazon aren’t actually for items sold by Amazon. They’re run by third-party sellers. And even though many, many third-party sellers are upstanding merchants, an awful lot of them are peddling fakes."

State Rep. Kathleen “K.C.” Tomlinson (R-Bensalem) is trying to help consumers and stop the crooks. Tomlinson sponsored Pennsylvania House Bill 1594, the INFORM Act, to combat the growing problem of online counterfeit goods.

It requires high-volume third party sellers hawking consumer goods on online marketplaces to provide certain information to the marketplaces and disclose certain information to consumers on product listings.

In addition, online marketplaces must verify information provided by high-volume third party sellers and occasionally require those sellers to verify or update the information.

The bill, which would amend the Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law of 1968, will allow the Bureau of Consumer Protection within the Office of Attorney General and district attorneys to use their powers and duties on the collection and verification of information from high-volume third-party sellers.

On June 10 the bill was referred to the House Consumer Affairs Committee in the Pennsylvania Legislature.

O.H. Skinner, executive director of Alliance For Consumers, said this is a national issue.

“I understand the INFORM Consumers Acts across the country to be focused generally on the problem of counterfeit, ‘fake,’ or otherwise mislabeled goods on major online sales platforms like Amazon,” Skinner told Keystone Today. 

“I cannot speak to the details of the Pennsylvania version, or for that matter any version of this type of law. And I do not generally speak to the value of specific legislation,” he added. “However, I can tell you the following. Online consumer fraud is perhaps the most pervasive consumer protection problem now. Online consumer-focused schemes are a huge problem for consumers and consumer advocates. And online bait-and-switch routines are very dangerous, and can lead to substantial consumer harm.”

The Buy Safe America coalition says the sale of fraudulent goods is a $600 billion criminal enterprise, according to a recent report by the Department of Homeland Security. News stories are replete with stories of consumers buying products on dominant online marketplaces that are stolen, unsafe, deceptively labeled, expired or even banned by federal regulators.

Major companies are aware of the growing problem. In 2020, Amazon destroyed $2 billion of counterfeit goods that were slated for sale on its site.

Skinner, a 2010 Harvard Law School graduate, previously worked as solicitor general for Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, defending constitutional questions and serving as the state’s lead counsel in a U.S. Supreme Court case. He also led Arizona's consumer protection lawsuit against Google over the tracking of consumers’ location, and the successful case against Volkswagen over well-publicized diesel-related consumer deception.