Amazon Counterfeit Policy: What It Is and Consequences

Policy Details

Amazon's counterfeit policy prohibits selling any product that uses a brand's trademark without authorization to make buyers believe they are buying the genuine article. Counterfeit violations are treated more seriously than most other Amazon policy issues — they can result in immediate permanent account suspension, seizure of inventory, and referral to law enforcement. How counterfeits enter FBA: sellers sometimes source products from unauthorized suppliers who produce convincing replicas; commingled inventory (where multiple sellers's units of the same ASIN are stored together) can result in authentic products being confused with fakes; brand licensing arrangements that are not properly verified; and sellers who unknowingly buy counterfeit inventory from distributors who bought from unverified sources. How Amazon detects counterfeits: brand owner test purchases through Amazon's automated buying system; brand owner reports through Brand Registry; buyer complaints about product authenticity; and Amazon's machine learning models comparing product images, packaging, and descriptions to known authentic product data. Your defense: maintain complete supply chain documentation for every product — invoices from authorized distributors or the brand manufacturer, showing recent purchase dates and quantities matching your inventory levels. If a counterfeit complaint is made, this documentation is the primary evidence in your response. If your supplier cannot provide documentation proving their products are authentic, that is itself a warning sign.