In the months since Chinese e-commerce behemoth Alibaba began trading shares in its Cayman Islands-based holding corporation on the New York Stock Exchange, entities ranging from the Chinese government to the owner of Gucci have accused the company of knowingly profiting from counterfeit branded goods. Alibaba has promised to improve its capacity to ferret out fakes, and now says that it will take down some brands’ items more quickly. [More]
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KFC Sues Three Chinese Companies For Allegedly Starting Rumors It Uses Eight-Legged Chickens
By 6.1.15
Kentucky Fried Chicken wants customers to know that it hasn’t created mutant chickens with eight legs and six wings to fill its big ol’ buckets. While one might think the notion of a chicken with more than two wings and two legs is a bit farcical, a rumor of such genetically modified birds has been circulating in China, leading KFC’s parent company to file lawsuits against three Chinese businesses for allegedly concocting and publicizing fabricated stories about the chain’s products on social media. [More]
Chinese Luxury Car Buyers Shop The Very Unglamorous Gray Market
By 4.17.15
Here at Consumerist, we’re fascinated with the global gray market: the system of parallel imports that gives us Omega watches from Paraguay at Costco and a pirate Trader Joe’s store in Canada. There are even bigger things that trade on the gray market, though: in Shanghai, there’s a place where luxury car buyers can save money by purchasing cars that haven’t been imported through official channels. [More]
Alibaba Vows To Step Up Efforts To Prevent Online Sales Of Counterfeit Goods
By 1.30.15
It’s been a whirlwind week for the relationship between e-commerce giant Alibaba and the Chinese government. After one agency released a report criticizing the company for allowing fake goods to be sold online through its vendors, and another government group promised to crack down on such practices in general, Alibaba is now pledging to shape up its business practices. [More]
China’s Ministry Of Commerce Pledges To Crack Down On Counterfeit Items Sold Online
By 1.29.15
After another Chinese government agency scolded e-commerce giant Alibaba and its eBayesque subsidiary Taobao over its mismanagement of its business and for selling or allowing bogus goods to be sold to the public, the country’s Ministry of Commerce has pledged to crack the whip on the online industry and try harder to prevent the sale of counterfeit goods. [More]
Chinese Government Accuses Alibaba Of Selling Fake Goods, Taking Bribes
By 1.28.15
China-based e-commerce megasite Alibaba is catching heat in its home country following a government report that scolds the company for lax controls over the sale of bogus goods to consumers, along with allegations of bribery and using its size to bully merchants from working with Alibaba’s competitors. [More]
Alibaba Promises To Help CPSC Keep Banned Merchandise Out Of The United States
By 1.13.15
Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba is the world’s largest online marketplace, and its wide reach has a downside for consumer safety. Retailers and consumers alike use the site to source parts and products directly from factories abroad. The lack of intermediaries makes it very easy to order products that have been banned in the United States for safety reasons, and that’s why the Consumer Product Safety Commission has teamed up with the site. [More]
Really Cheap Tires? Surprise: They Might Be Risky Counterfeits
By 11.17.14
Everyone knows that the “genuine designer handbag” going for $20 from a street vendor is neither genuine nor designer, and indeed may not even hold up as a bag. But when you go to a reputable retailer and spend what it costs to replace the tires on your car, you expect to get what the real goods. Alas, Consumer Reports has found: just because there’s a brand name you know on the outside of a tire, doesn’t mean you’re getting what you should be. [More]
Pizza Hut Is Losing Sales In U.S., Doing Awesome Everywhere Else
By 8.7.14
Have Americans finally had enough cheese-stuffed crusts? That could be. We just aren’t flocking to Pizza Hut restaurants like we used to in past decades. Instead, competing chains like Papa John’s and Little Caesar’s are munching on slices of what used to be the Hut’s business. [More]
Samsung Suspends Work At Supplier Over Child Labor Concerns
By 7.14.14
Last week, a group called out a Samsung supplier for alleged exploitation of child labor in a Chinese factory. This morning, Samsung announced that it has suspended its business with this contractor after its own investigation turned up some sketchy hiring practices. [More]
Burger King China’s PooPoo Smoothie Is Apparently Better Than Its Name Would Imply
By 4.14.14
Here’s another to add to the list of product names that don’t travel well: Burger King China’s PooPoo Smoothie, which may conjure up images of… well, I’d rather not say, but your inner grossed-out 8-year-old knows what I mean, but which has nothing to do with excrement and is apparently not awful. [More]
Volvo Uses Malaysia Airlines Tragedy To Brag About Car Safety, Angers Everyone
By 3.10.14
It doesn’t matter who you are or where you’re located. Whether you’re a company marketing canned pasta rings or cars, the lesson holds true. Never, ever, ever, ever, ever use a tragedy to promote your product. Automaker Volvo learned that the hard way when a post to microblogging service Sina Weibo angered readers, who accused the company of taking advantage of an airline tragedy. [More]
Imagine How Upsetting It’d Be If Donkey Meat You Bought At Walmart Was Actually Fox
By 1.2.14
If I had a nickel for every time my donkey meat snack turned out to be fox meat instead, I’d have no nickels. But there would be plenty of coins coming in for customers at some Walmart stores in China after tests showed that what was labeled as “Five Spice” donkey meat was tainted with the meat of other animals. [More]
Can We Import Chinese Shopping Holiday “Singles Day”?
By 11.12.13
Monday was a holiday here in the United States, but many people are still comfortable with the idea of honoring our military veterans with crass commercialism. You see “Veteran’s Day” sales here and there, but it’s not the commerce powerhouse that it could be. Over in China, though, November 11 is the biggest online shopping day of the year. [More]
Inside The Chinese Labor Camp That Made Halloween Decorations Sold At Kmart
By 11.7.13
Last year, reports surfaced of a woman in Oregon who bought Halloween decorations from at Kmart, pulled the unopened package out of storage a year later, and found a letter inside from the factory worker in China who packaged them. This was no lighthearted note. It was a desperate cry for help secretly written at night inside a Chinese labor camp. [More]
Foxconn Admits To Working Unpaid Student Interns Overtime To Push Out PS4
By 10.10.13
Foxconn, the world’s largest electronics manufacturing firm, is at the center of controversy once again after admitting to pushing student interns to work overtime in advance of the release of the upcoming Sony PlayStation 4 gaming console. [More]
Apple Charging 33% More In China For “Cheap” iPhone 5C
By 9.11.13
While some Apple enthusiasts might have been put off by the colorful plastic shells of the new iPhone 5C, it’s hard to complain about the $99 price point. Even the full, unsubsidized price of $549 is lower than what you’d pay for many new, comparable smartphones. But customers in mainland China are scratching their heads and wondering why they are being charged $733 for what is supposed to be a bargain phone. [More]
A Hamburger Is Not An Appropriate Place To Stash Your Turtle For Air Travel
By 7.31.13
Who doesn’t miss their pets while on vacation? If you can take them along to a critter-friendly locale, that’s excellent. If you can’t, it’s better to find a sitter. And if you’re trying to smuggle your pet turtle onto a plane inside a hamburger, it’s time to rethink your entire life. [More]
