The INFORM Consumers Act made marketplaces verify the identity of high-volume third-party sellers: bank details, tax ID, and working contact information, with suspension for sellers who do not comply. It did not end counterfeit listings, but it ended the era of the fully anonymous high-volume seller, which changed what enforcement can trace.
The INFORM Consumers Act, in force since June 2023, targets a specific profile: the high-volume third-party seller, defined by transaction counts and revenue over a rolling period. Marketplaces must collect and verify bank account information, a tax identification number, and contact details for those sellers, re-verify on a cycle, and suspend sellers who fail to provide or certify their information. Sellers above a higher revenue threshold also face disclosure to buyers: name, address, and a way to contact them.
The FTC enforces it, and the enforcement is not theoretical. The Commission has already penalized a major marketplace over failures tied to protecting consumers from counterfeit goods under this framework. That penalty is the detail that changed platform behavior more than the statute text did.
Verification proves a seller is a traceable person or business. It does not prove their goods are genuine, and treating a verified badge as an authenticity signal is the consumer-side error this law accidentally created. A verified seller can still list counterfeits, by intent or by buying a poisoned wholesale lot. The law's contribution is upstream: when a listing is confirmed fake, there is now an identity, a bank trail, and a tax record attached to it.
That traceability is what makes repeat-offender enforcement possible. Before verification regimes, a suspended seller reappeared under a fresh name within the hour. Now re-entry requires a new verified identity, which is a cost, and costs are what actually thin out the volume counterfeit trade.
For buyers and brand watchers, the practical checks shifted. Look for the seller disclosures the Act requires at higher volumes: a real name and address, and a contact path. Vague or missing disclosures on a clearly high-volume seller are a compliance smell worth reporting on their own. Check whether the marketplace offers its reporting channel for suspicious listings, which the Act also requires to be clear and conspicuous.
Keep your judgment split in two. Identity risk is what verification reduced. Product risk is unchanged, and it is settled the old way: price against distribution reality, listing history, and, for anything expensive, authentication on arrival. Our authentication-clue guides linked below work through that second half category by category.
The open gap is enforcement data. Marketplaces hold the verification records; outsiders see only the storefront. The filings that move policy, USTR's Notorious Markets comments among them, are the ones that document outcomes: listings reported, time to removal, sellers who returned after suspension. If you monitor a category, log those numbers. They are the difference between another opinion about a platform and a record a regulator can use.
Keep going with Counterfeit Espresso Machines: Authentication Clues in Marketplace Listings, Counterfeit Hair Dryers and Styling Tools: Authentication Clues in Listings, and Counterfeit Action Figure Listings: Authentication Clues for Collectors.
Verify high-volume third-party sellers by collecting and checking bank account details, a tax ID, and contact information, with annual certification and suspension for non-compliance. Larger sellers must also be disclosed to buyers by name and address, and marketplaces must provide a clear way to report suspicious listings.
No. Verification establishes that the seller is a traceable identity, not that their inventory is authentic. A verified seller can still sell counterfeits. Judge the product separately, on price, history, and authentication for higher-value goods.
Under the Act, a seller meeting transaction and revenue thresholds on a marketplace over a rolling 12-month period, generally 200 or more sales totaling at least $5,000. Marketplaces must verify sellers in that class and keep the information current.
Yes. The FTC has penalized a major marketplace in a case involving failures to protect consumers from counterfeit goods under this framework. That enforcement record is a large part of why platforms tightened verification and suspension practices.