Counterfeit trade is a widespread problem, costing the economy more than $500 billion each year, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce website.

As a leading e-commerce marketplace, eBay is committed to making our platform a place where buyers don’t have to worry about purchasing counterfeit items and retailers can feel confident their brands aren’t undermined. We’ve invested billions of dollars in technology and programs to ensure the trust and safety of our goods. Our multi-layered security includes AI tools, algorithms and human reviews that look for counterfeit products — leading to the removal of millions of fraudulent listings each year.

Last year, eBay built on this work by purchasing 3PM shield, which provides AI marketplace tools, to help ramp-up our ability to track and address counterfeit items and illegal sellers. In 2023, 99.2% of prohibited item violations were blocked before ever appearing on eBay.

Here are more ways eBay is cracking down on counterfeits and keeping buyers and sellers safe:

Partnering with IP Holders

Since our beginning, we’ve prioritized ensuring our platform is secure for all users. eBay launched the Verified Rights Owners (VeRO) Program shortly after our founding in 1998. The program allows intellectual property (IP) rights owners to report suspected counterfeit listings to eBay. When that happens, we immediately remove the listing, notify the seller and review the account to potentially take criminal action. eBay collaborates with outside partners to collect information and better track and take down counterfeit items. Plus, our strong partnerships with brands help us improve our tools and methods to protect our brands and buyers.

We have more than 68,000 active IP rights owners registered in the program. In 2023, eBay proactively removed approximately 3.2 million potentially counterfeit and prohibited items.

eBay partnered with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and Cisco to bring down the largest counterfeit cases the DOJ had ever seen in 2023. The offender had used eBay and other e-commerce platforms to sell $1 billion of fraudulent Cisco products.

Joining with Law Enforcement

eBay created a Criminal and Regulatory Investigations (CRI) team to protect our community from counterfeits, fraud and other criminal activities. CRI collaborates with local, national and international law enforcement to investigate and prosecute potential crimes carried out through our platform. eBay produced more than 26,000 records in response to law enforcement requests in 2023.

Whether it’s fake designer handbags or electronics, eBay is working every day to ensure our products are real and trustworthy for our consumers to purchase. We invest in technology and programs so brands and buyers can rely on our platform and feel at ease. It’s why, for decades, we’ve been a leading online marketplace for buyers, sellers and brands.