Amazon is reportedly in the process of re-verifying the identities and business details of hundreds of thousands of third-party sellers selling in the US marketplace. Starting June 27, the Federal Trade Commission will enforce the INFORM Consumer Act, according to a new U.S. federal law that protects online consumers from unknowingly purchasing counterfeit or stolen goods and prevents criminals from taking advantage of the anonymity of online marketplaces. In addition to Amazon, eBay, Etsy, Walmart and other marketplace platforms are required to “collect, verify and make public” certain information about third-party sellers of high-volume products. The bill defines a high-volume third-party seller as one with more than 200 orders and sales of more than $5,000 in a 12-month period.
Amazon has hundreds of thousands of sellers who sell more than $5,000 worth of goods in a year. All sellers are required to update and verify information including bank accounts, phone numbers, business addresses and tax numbers in the month before the new law takes effect. The bill targets all sellers who sell on U.S. e-commerce marketplaces.
In the past few weeks alone, nearly 100,000 Amazon sellers have changed their business name or address, according to Marketplace Pulse. Amazon has long made changes and improvements to its identity verification, but it has not completely stopped offending sellers, nor has it conducted rigorous re-checks of the validity of the information of its numerous, long-established sellers. Given the scale of the action, it’s likely that some sellers will be blocked for failing to verify their information, but overall, the law urges marketplace platforms to do a better job of protecting consumers and small businesses.
Post time: Jun-05-2023