On the right is a sample of the fake Python for Kids book. On the left is the original of the publisher No Starch Press, it is printed with full-color printing, on better paper, with a better binding that is not glued to the spine. Photo: Bill Pollock

Founder of the independent publisher No Starch Press, Bill Pollock drew attention to the problem of selling counterfeit books through Amazon. Unscrupulous dealers take other people's books, print their own circulations - and sell through Amazon under the same SKU (stock keeping unit). The photo shows a pirated copy of the popular programming book “Python for Children”, which fraudsters printed on lower quality paper, with black and white illustrations and without a good binding.

The saddest thing is that Amazon mixes in its warehouse products from different suppliers that have the same SKU.

A comparison of the original and pirated versions of the book “Python for Children” is shown in the photographs. The main difference is the absence of full-color printing.
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Photo: Bill Pollock


Photo: Bill Pollock


Photo: Bill Pollock

Pirated books are shipped directly from Amazon warehouses - the largest retailer is unable to track down and block counterfeit in time, and is now distributing it.

The investigation showed that the book “Pytnon for Children”, as well as the book “ The Linux Command Line ” ( The Linux Command Line ), most likely, were printed in the book printing service for the order of CreateSpace .


The book "Command Line Linux". Photo: Bill Pollock

It is not the first time that Bill Pollock has encountered the problem of piracy of books by publishers on Amazon, he said in an interview with Inc. In September 2016, the author of the book “Linux Command Line” reported that a fake version is being distributed through Amazon. The publisher immediately sent a complaint to Amazon. When this happened, Amazon removed from the sale all the versions of the book, both pirated and original. The publisher No Starch Press suffered from such actions by Amazon, because reviews with one star persisted for a long time after the book was still restored for sale.

Now the story is repeated. After a complaint against Amazon's pirates, on March 21-22, 2017, Amazon again blocked the sale of several books by No Starch Press.

The roots of the problem lie in the excessive automation of the Amazon business, says Pollock . Suppliers are poorly checked, and the quality of books' seals is not checked. The same goes for other products. With such volumes it is impossible to check everything.

Counterfeit problem

At the Hacker News forum, users told many stories about receiving counterfeit goods from Amazon. According to them, the order of electronics from Amazon is a lottery, even if the goods are delivered through Amazon warehouses, that is, marked with the FBA mark ( "Fulfillment by Amazon" ). For example, one deceived user ordered several iPad Mini tablets to distribute prizes in the competition - and received plastic dummies.

Few people know that even when ordering a product using the "Fulfillment by Amazon" program, the company mixes the "identical" products from different manufacturers - products with the same SKU (stock keeping unit). If you buy the same Huggies diapers, you can get the original product from Amazon, which came to Amazon directly from the manufacturer's warehouse, or you can get the product from the same SKU from a third-party company. In this situation, no one is immune from getting fake, and the whole system undermines user confidence in the Amazon brand.

To solve the problem, Amazon plans to create an intellectual property registry . The registry should earn from April 2017. Each company will be able to add their own logo and intellectual property. Amazon Farmers Vice President Peter Faricy (Peter Faricy) said that Amazon will be able to withdraw counterfeit goods from its own sales and potentially even block the supplier. Now the "brand registry" is being tested, and in North America it will work for free for sellers.

Some independent merchants fear that Amazon might be too tight on the nuts - and get a monopoly on selling replicas of popular products under their own private brand.

Today, about 100,000 private merchants work through Amazon, the number of buyers exceeds 300 million people.

Programming Books

Programming books are one of the main targets for a contract because they have a relatively high cost with a relatively low cost of making a fake. American developer Vlad Didenko recalled that a few years ago on Amazon were selling pirated books by Björn Straustrup.

In addition, digital copies of programming books are easy to get. Some of them are distributed free of charge on the Internet, and the same publisher No Starch Press gives the files along with the purchase of a paper book. From these digital files, you can quickly print a small print run that Amazon will easily take to implement.