Walmart just pulled back the curtain on how it polices the 500‑million–item sprawl of its third‑party Marketplace, saying counterfeits are a “tiny minority” of listings—but still dangerous enough to merit heavy, proactive enforcement. The retailer is blocking suspect products before they ever go live, ripping out dishonest sellers, and swapping intel with other platforms so bad actors can’t simply hop next door. The subtext is clear: in 2025, trust and safety aren’t side projects; they’re marketplace table stakes.
Open marketplaces democratized retail—and unintentionally democratized fraud. In the 2010s, takedowns were largely reactive: brands filed complaints, platforms played whack‑a‑mole, and consumers got stuck with fake chargers and sketchy cosmetics. The INFORM Consumers Act (2023) finally forced marketplaces to verify high‑volume sellers and give shoppers visibility into who they’re buying from, but enforcement remains uneven and counterfeit networks are nimble. Amazon’s creation of a Counterfeit Crimes Unit and seizure of tens of millions of fake items proved that scale alone can’t solve the problem; strategy can.
Walmart’s Playbook: Prevention Over Cleanup
Walmart’s stance is essentially “stop it at the gate.” AI-driven screening flags risky listings, category restrictions slow down opportunists, and a clearer IP complaint process speeds removals. Persistent offenders are booted—and their data shared via emerging cross-platform exchanges—so the same fraud ring can’t reappear under a new storefront. It’s less about playing hero after the scam and more about making sure the scam never happens.
The New Threat Surface
Fraudsters now use generative AI to craft eerily authentic listings and deepfake “brand reps.” Social commerce—micro-shops on TikTok, WhatsApp groups, private Discords—lets counterfeiters sidestep traditional listing scans altogether. Cross-border loopholes and duty exemptions help shady shipments slip through, while regulators probe everything from toxic materials in fast-fashion imports to anonymous seller networks. Counterfeiting is no longer just a nuisance; it’s a safety, privacy, and trade-policy headache rolled into one.
Most platforms now offer brand registries, serialized QR codes, or holographic labels. Helpful—but reactive. Others lean on customer reporting, which is slow and puts the burden on buyers. The leaders are embedding verification at onboarding, correlating payment flows, IP addresses, and document scans in real time, and participating in industry-wide watchlists. Cooperation, not siloed crackdowns, is emerging as the only sustainable tactic.
Friction Is the Enemy of Trust
Shoppers don’t read policy pages; they sense friction. Ask them to file a claim or wait weeks for a refund and they’ll defect to a competitor. But flood a site with fakes and they’ll never come back. The sweet spot is invisible security—heavy lifting in the background, zero hassle up front. Walmart’s bet is that smarter filters and back-end intelligence beat visible locks and hoops.
The Road Ahead
Expect more collective-defense alliances, tougher enforcement of seller identity rules, and pressure on social platforms to play by marketplace-grade standards. Lawmakers will likely tighten INFORM and revisit import thresholds, while European-style liability rules creep into U.S. debates. This is the moment for retailers to think like security companies and act like customer-obsessed brands. No one is “winning” the counterfeit war yet, but Walmart’s move signals what winning will eventually look like: transparency, preemption, and industry collaboration.
References
Amazon. (2024). Brand protection report 2023–2024. https://www.aboutamazon.com
Axios. (2025, July 22). Walmart says counterfeits are a tiny minority on its Marketplace, but safety remains a top priority. https://www.axios.com
Global Anti-Counterfeiting Group. (2024). Anti-Counterfeiting Exchange (ACX) initiative overview. https://www.gacg.org
McKinsey & Company. (2023). Countering e‑commerce counterfeits: Strategies for marketplaces and brands. https://www.mckinsey.com
National Retail Federation. (2024). INFORM Consumers Act: Compliance guidance for marketplaces. https://nrf.com
U.S. Federal Trade Commission. (2023). INFORM Consumers Act: Implementation and enforcement (Docket No. P214800). https://www.ftc.gov
U.S. Government Accountability Office. (2022). Intellectual property: Agencies can improve efforts to address counterfeit goods (GAO‑22‑104264). https://www.gao.gov
U.S. Senate Committee on Finance. (2024). Hearing on de minimis loopholes and counterfeit imports. https://www.finance.senate.gov
Walmart Inc. (2025). Trust & safety on Walmart Marketplace [Press release]. https://corporate.walmart.com
World Intellectual Property Organization. (2024). Trends in counterfeiting and piracy 2024. https://www.wipo.int
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