Yea, you’re right…
Shein tried to recruit us a couple weeks ago to sell there. I laughed at them. Knockoffs and Alibaba sourced supplements only there.
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I just bought some of your friends at Carlyle’s knockoff of Balance of Nature.
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And I just got my monthly delivery of the real thing today… Haha
That Carlyle product, like all the other knockoffs are extracts, most likely processed in a way you wouldn’t appreciate.
The way BON does it is very different and truly preserves (in the best way possible), the natural state of the fruits and vegetables.
I sort of question the validity of BON based on where they advertise now but they have been doing this for 20 years.
The only downside with BON is it has soy in it. Wish they would take that out. It’s also possible with the way their blends are that the cheapest ingredients make up the bulk of the blend.
Off Topic but interesting I think…
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@TheMoonRing I agree that a class action will be difficult to round up, mostly because there aren’t very many Sellers in your specific position (IP rights holder, popular product, demonstrable claims) but who are also too small to tackle the counterfeiters and knockoffs directly via your own in-house team lawyer team.
I’m concerned that this lawyer suggested this route because they know that you do have a case but can’t really afford it, and that even if damages are awarded to you that they can be paid from, you will be unlikely to collect those from the defendants.
Rather than you doing the legwork to populate a class action, it seems like the lawyer should be networking with frequent ecommerce lawyers for possible plaintiffs…but maybe not.
I agree, but I doubt the US would ever institute such a requirement at the governmental level because then other countries would do the same for US-based companies doing business non-domestically.
Think of how many US-based Amazon Sellers offer global selling through Amazon–and the uproar if even just Mexico, Canada, and Brazil suddenly required that to sell on those marketplaces, you must have a representative agent domiciled in that nation.
And while private ecommerce sales platforms like Walmart and Amazon could require that for non-domestic Sellers, they also won’t because $$$.
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Isn’t there a government agency who should oversee things like this? Any one know what agency that is?
MOD Edit: Political comment removed
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It could be done in a way where someone in the US must be appointed to be personally liable for the company’s actions if they are found to be fraudulent. For most companies that’s not a problem since they hire people inside the country they’re doing business in. Whether that be someone who’s in charge of importing or what not.
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Walmart made the conscious decision to allow Chinese sellers to enter the marketplace, lured by all the cash Amazon was raking in with the same in March of 2021.
Their enforcement sucks compared to Amazon and their support team is exponentially worse, if that’s even possible.
I wrote about just one example of the fraud here
That seller knocked off the trade dress of 25 brands with formulas / forms that didn’t even match what they were supposedly selling.
We reported it directly to 2 “executive” contacts we had there who agreed and promised to look into it. Never heard back. For some reason those 2 sellers (there were 2, probably the same person / group), didn’t knock our trade dress off. I find it hard to believe that the other brands (some bigger than ours) didn’t report the issue themselves or in concert with their lawyers.
This first started in March of this year. I wrote about it in June. I’ve been watching it closely. Finally, this week, they were taken down. Here’s the kicker - I think they got taken out by the feedback / reviews left by the poor suckers that fell for their BS. Product that took 6 weeks to get to them in bottles without labels, lot codes, or expiration dates in a form that wasn’t advertised (got tablets instead of capsules, etc.)
It all comes down to not properly vetting anyone on these marketplaces and giving favor to those in far away places for profit. Amazon and Walmart pretend to care about their customers, but they don’t. They only care about $, and more specifically, Ad $.
It’s almost impossible to sell something in even a mildly saturated category on Walmart without PPC. First 8 of 10 listings ranked are sponsored. Amazon used to be top 2 sponsored and then the top 5 Organic listings. That’s been cut down quite a bit, depending on the device / sign in. It’s all about the $. Pretty soon it will be hard to sell something that isn’t a reorder without paying for it on either marketplace.
Afterall, Amazon makes more money on their advertising than anything else for their entire retail operation.
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Walmart all “hold my beer” over here
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