Please sign this petition to see if we can make a difference and shed some light on this website's business practices. Alibaba.com: Please help stop alibaba.com from selling counterfeit coins
From the Petition They aren't IN the United States. also they don't make the counterfeits, nor do they sell them, they provide a venue for sellers to present their "products" similar to what ebay does. US law does not apply in China. What rules would these be? ALL of them? A bit of an exaggeration. They don't have enforcement jurisdiction against a company in China. They CAN go after US citizens here buying counterfeits from the Chinese company, but that has no effect on them offering the fakes.
Alibaba is not really a serious threat. The forgeries sold there are low quality and easily recognizable as such to most collectors. And even if someone is fooled, they are paying fake coin money for them, not genuine coin money.
From their own website, the first few rules are broken: http://rule.alibaba.com/rule/detail/2047.htm www.alibaba.com and www.aliexpress.com websites (each a "Site") functions as a global marketplace, thus the selling or posting of items may be prohibited because of laws outside of the jurisdiction where you reside. Below, we have listed some categories of prohibited or restricted items. However, this list is not exhaustive; you, as the seller, are responsible for ensuring that you are not posting an item that is prohibited by law in any jurisdiction. 1.2 Alibaba.com has chosen to also prohibit the posting of other categories of items which may not be restricted or prohibited by law but are nonetheless controversial including: (a) Items that encourage illegal activities; (b) Items that are racially, religiously or ethnically derogatory, or that promote hatred, violence, racial or religious intolerance; (c) Giveaways, lotteries, raffles, or contests; (d) Stocks, bonds, investment interests, and other securities; (e) Pornographic materials or items that are sexual in nature; (f) Items that do not offer a product or service for sale, such as advertisements solely for the purpose of collecting user information. 1.3 Alibaba.com, in its sole and exclusive discretion, reserves the right to impose additional restrictions and prohibitions. 3. CURRENCY AND STAMPS 3.1 Alibaba.com strictly forbids the sale and purchase of currency, coins, bank notes, bonds, money orders, currency in digital or any intangible form (e.g. crypto-currency) and other securities, as well as the equipment used to produce such items. 3.2 Counterfeits of the identified articles in 3.1, legal tenders and stamps are strictly prohibited. 3.3 Reproductions or replicas of coins as collectible items must be clearly marked with the word "COPY", "REPRODUCTION" or "REPLICA" and comply with all relevant local laws. They state themselves that the items must be clearly marked as in U.S. law. So how can a publically traded company get away with this? They certainly don't want to stop the hand that is feeding them... @Numismat - If you don't think that Alibaba is a serious threat you are mistaken, they are aiding the counterfeit operations and this junk is ending up everywhere and they are only getting better.
http://service.alibaba.com/ensupplier/faq_detail/13860138.htm I wonder if this only apples to Chinese currency...
Except that they have an office in the U.S. and solicit money from U.S. investors, and you can even find their SEC filings on their site. Usually I would agree with you, but I think having a domestic case would subjugate them to U.S. law. OP, I would try contacting the FTC, U.S. Secret Service, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Be sure to include that there is a domestic office, that they are selling counterfeit coins, and may be selling other counterfeit items (jewelry, etc.) in your complaint.
The Alibaba site links to the Alibaba Group, which lists an address in California. http://www.alibabagroup.com/en/contact/offices P.S. I suggest anyone with interest to file complaints as above, rather than the petition which is subject to have little effect. The more people that file formal complaints, the better the odds of accomplishing something. At the very least, Alibaba has opened itself up to a civil suit under the Hobby Protection Act and potential fines in my opinion.
https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/#crnt I suggest you select "other" and "no match found" to allow you to be manually directed to the correct department.
