To stop the sale of counterfeit Apple products in Latin America, the tech giant has partnered with a major online store “Mercado Libre” to impose harsher punishments for guilty vendors.
Mercado Libre is an Argentine e-commerce company that operates online marketplaces and online auctions. It is known as the region’s most popular e-commerce site because of the large number of visitors. As of 2016, the online store is said to have 174.2 million users in several regions of Latin America including Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Bolivia, Dominican Republic, Peru, Panama, Venezuela, Mexico, and others.
From February 22, 2021, Mercado Libre threatens to remove vendors selling counterfeit Apple products from its platform
It is not uncommon to find counterfeit (fake) Apple products, especially accessories like AirPods, chargers, and others. Some vendors sell these inferior products at cheaper prices but others sell them at original prices to trick the consumers into believing that they are buying an authentic product.
This illegal industry costs the tech giant huge sums of capital. Therefore, Apple has deployed teams to crack down on sales of counterfeit accessories on Facebook and Instagram. And Amazon has a ‘brandgating’ policy that requires third-party vendors to register and pass the set criteria to sell original branded products. This policy prevents vendors from selling counterfeit products. Now, the Latin American e-commerce giant is also working to prevent such scams on its digital marketplace.
In an email sent to Mercado Libre’s vendors, the company has warned them of serious consequences if they are found selling counterfeit Apple products. 9to5Mac writes:
Mercado Libre says that these measures will be taken “if Apple confirms a report of counterfeit products,” which suggests that both companies are working together to stop sales of such items.
Among the new measures, Mercado Libre will take down all listings of Apple products from a seller if one of them is identified as counterfeit. The seller will also be prohibited from selling any other Apple products through Mercado Libre in the future. The company asks sellers to review their listings in order to avoid restrictions on their accounts once the new measures take effect.
Like on Amazon, Apple officially sells its products on Mercado Libre as well.
