PRODUCT COUNTERFEITING: A SELLER’S COMPLETE GUIDE

Brands and businesses are centered around providing quality products and services to customers, who do not patronize mainly for the best price, but for the trust in the uniqueness and originality of a brand.

It’s a digital world, and there are adverse effects on the sale of counterfeit products as a negative comment can spread like wildfire, thus harming the reputation of a company.

What then is product counterfeiting? How do you identify counterfeits? How can it be managed? Where does Jumia stand on this? Are there policies?

I bet you are wondering about this and more, you will discover that in this update.

Product Counterfeiting entails the manufacturing of fake products released for purchase.

Jumia’s promise “to win the love of customers” remains unchanged. Everyday, we strive to provide products and services that are genuine and original.

Our policies are targeted at protecting our customers, genuine sellers and the reputation of Jumia. You trust us to provide you with the best and in return, we give you value for your money.

Here are our anti counterfeiting policies which vendors should note as they are penalties for listing fake products on the platform.

• Delisting the products from our website.

• Suspending or terminating the seller’s shop on Jumia.

• Applying financial penalty of 50,000 on the seller’s account and withholding all payment to the seller

• Commencing legal actions against the seller.

The listed policies go a long way in maintaining the confidence our customers have in us.

We understand your need for satisfaction which is why identifying counterfeits has been made easy by our production department, and the following are ways we identify and manage them.

• At the product Quality Control level, counterfeit products are rejected and blocked.

• Products received at the warehouses are inspected for fakes during physical inspection.

• We go further to check for listings of fakes under alternative brand names.

• Evidence of authenticity is requested to detect forbidden and prohibited brands.

• Through customer feedback, brands and manufacturers’ reports, we get to fix issues relating to product counterfeits.

Below are ways we spot fake brand names on products at the Quality Control level:

• Logos on some products look like real brand logos from a distance, but are merely distorted versions.

• Also, brand names intentionally misspelled on products are methods to bypass our blacklisted words.

• Some sellers use an assumed name with a branded image when listing counterfeits.

• Products that are unrealistically priced below the Recommended Retail Price (RRP) are flagged as counterfeits.

However, it is important to mention that not all counterfeit products are easy to identify, so we created a counterfeit grid by considering the brand classification, product details and category to help navigate these grey areas.

Here are the grey areas;

• Logo Infringement- products branded with logos, but are unrelated and not manufactured by the brand.

• Design Copy- products with exact design of an original, but without a logo or with a different brand logo.

• Trademark Infringement – products with trademarked elements of a different brand.

• Product Image Distortion – products deliberately distorted to hide logos and trademarks of a brand.

How do you as a Seller identify counterfeits?

• Check the product packaging

• Beware of fragile packaging

• Spelling mistakes

• Mismatched Logos

• Inspect product quality

To foster the relationship between you, a Seller and Jumia, we decided to share this update. I bet you have gained more insights.

Together, we ensure you have great experiences with Jumia.