Amazon recruits more Chinese sellers and puts consumers at risk

The Wall Street Journal takes a look at the rising number of Chinese sellers on Amazon and the problems they make

The percentage of China-based sellers directly supplying products on Amazon has risen to 38% from 25% three years ago, according to The Wall Street Journal analysis of the 10,000 most-reviewed accounts.

That increase has been accompanied by more problems. More than half of the problematic items sold on Amazon uncovered earlier by the Wall Street Journal—including items banned or declared unsafe by the government, or deceptively labeled—came from these Chinese accounts.

The move by Amazon makes commercial sense, writes The Information. Cutting out a lot of the U.S.-based middlemen means both higher margins for the Chinese sellers and lower prices for consumers. But enforcing quality and safety issues with companies based in China is much harder.

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