I'm wondering if it's not a regional issue with California or something. I live in the Midwest and buy alot off Amazon, and I have never received a counterfeit to my knowledge. Maybe I don't buy enough name brand stuff to notice or maybe it's all too high quality counterfeits but I also know Noone in real life complaining about it.

It depends on the type of goods. E.g., don't even think of buying any kind of battery on Amazon.

It now takes less time to hunt down a reliable specialist online supplier, e.g., [1] than it does to wade through all the fraudulent listings and fake reviews on Amazon to find even a plausibly reliable product/vendor.

At this point, despite being a 20+year loyal Amazon Prime customer, I'm finding It's a better use of my time to find a good vendor, often family owned.

[1] I currently use batteryjunction.com, seems reliable, in my region for quicker shipping, no connection other than customer, and there seemed to be others of similar good quality in other regions.

Trying to get batteries in Ireland is a pain, most places won't ship as the majority of stuff goes by air, just tried batteryjunction and its the same issue there, Amazon has the same issue to be fair

Ouch - yup, that's another whole ball of issues!

Does seem like a big opportunity too! Ofc, need financing for inventory, but maybe partner with an existing supplier...?