Amazon is piloting “live verification” program through video conferencing for third-party sellers to prevent fraud

Amazon is piloting the use of video conferencing to vet third-party merchants who wish to sell goods from its platform according to media reports.

The tech giant has been piloting the use of video conferencing sinch February according to a Reuters report.

Amazon had begun its verification pilot program earlier this year and had included in-person appointments with prospective sellers. The program has now exclusively been switched to video-conferencing to follow social distancing guidelines in light of the coronavirus pandemic.

The video conferencing interview is an additional verification process apart from its other risk-screening processes. The program has been piloted with over 1,000 merchant applicants from China, the United States, United Kingdom and Japan, as per the report.

Amazon is using its Chime video conferencing technology to make the scheduled calls for its live verification pilot program, GeekWire reported. A trained Amazon representative vets the identity of each seller on these scheduled calls along with the documents provided by them in the application.

The additional scrutiny comes after the tech giant has drawn flak in the past for counterfeit goods being sold on its website by third-party sellers. Counterfeit goods imitating popular brands such as Apple had placed the platform under scrutiny.

The additional verification is an attempt to reduce fraud on the platform by not allowing fraudulent third-party sellers to sign up on its website.

The company last year had launched a legal program for legitimate third-party sellers to protect their products from being counterfeited. Third-party sellers make up for almost 50 per cent of unit sales on the platform, the report said.

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