$200 Fucci ≠ $2K Gucci… New legislation dubbed the “Inform Act” went into effect yesterday, marking the latest effort to stamp out counterfeit sales and tamp down retail theft. The law requires major online marketplaces like Amazon and eBay to verify third-party sellers’ personal and financial info. Going forward:
ID’d: Online vendors who’ve had 200+ sales and earned $5K+ in any continuous 12-month period in the past two years must provide platforms a gov’t and tax ID as well as bank account info.
Price tag: Marketplaces that don’t comply could be forced to pay $50K+ for each violation, and unverified sellers may have their accounts suspended.
FYI: US Customs and Border Protection seized $1B worth of counterfeit items last year — up 38% from 2021. And that’s just part of the puzzle…
Retail Whac-A-Mole… As shopping online becomes ubiquitous, retailers from Home Depot to Best Buy have pushed lawmakers to crack down on sites that let resellers set up digi-storefronts with little oversight. Those storefronts can provide additional outlets for IRL thieves to offload stolen goods. An estimated $500B worth of stolen and counterfeit stuff is sold through online marketplaces each year.
One loose string can undo a whole knot… While checking IDs may seem like a tiny speedbump, it could trip up bad actors flooding marketplaces with boosted merch or illegal dupes. Meanwhile, in-store retail theft could become less attractive if legislation successfully makes it harder to resell pinched products.