Chinese authorities targeted online marketplace Pandabuy, seizing millions of shipments

Two million people watched a video of young influencer Brandon Lee King driving around Birmingham. In the video he posted on social media with TikTok in December, he unpacks shoes with the Nike logo, Palm Angels sweatpants, a T-shirt with the Dior inscription, a tank with the Goyard logo, an AMI Paris sweater, a Manchester City jersey and a Kaws figurine. The total cost would be £6,700 (K197,000), Bloomberg reported.

All of the bag items came from our store Pandabuy, which sells a variety of brands at a fraction of the price. Don’t look bad, Lee King said in his December newsletter, in which he evaluated individual items. You can assume that they are not right, but by the look, I think you wouldn’t know it, he added.

@brandonleeking_ ♬ original sound – Brandon Lee King

They soon sent complaints against online shopping Pandabuy. According to the comparison of copyrights, there were several signs. Tens of thousands of people were arrested and millions of pounds confiscated. Among the confiscated items were a number of fake designer sports shoes, The Guardian portal wrote.

It is the first time that cooperation between brand owners, law enforcement agencies, first companies and service providers around the world has resulted in action of such a scale against a commercial agent with counterfeits, inspector Andrew Masterson told the World Trademark Review server.

After six months of hard work, it was found that the activities of Pandabuy, which infringes copyright, had spread to five cities abroad, said the Russian company Cantoop, which, on behalf of unnamed brand owners, alerted the police to the counterfeiting in November of last year. According to Cantoop, Pandabuy’s activities involve more than 2,200 employees and a warehouse with an area of ​​100,000 square meters, equivalent to 20 football stadiums.

Pandabuy does not manufacture or sell its own products. Psob acts as an intermediary that provides a sales platform and services such as photography and product dispatch to independent sellers of human products. It’s not just about money, you can also find home furnishings on the online marketplace.

ok between influencers and followers

The raid caused an uproar among influencers and their followers. These guys regularly post videos of their purchases not only on TikTok, but also on other social networks, such as Discord. Thanks to Pandabuy, it was a relief, said a Discord user who goes by the name Spamsilog. All good things must come to an end, he lamented.

The Bloomberg agency drew attention to the fact that on one Discord chat channel with 416,000 users, many Pandabuy fans felt cheated, as some said that they had made a purchase and had not yet received the ordered products. Pandabuy did not immediately respond to Bloomberg for comment.

Some customers reported in an online survey that Pandabuy’s customer service sent them conflicting information about whether packages ordered before the raids would be sent to them.

A review of the Cantoop company indicated that some would spend several months inspecting the force. All products infringing copyright will be confiscated and stored in warehouses designated by law enforcement agencies, the company said.

Influencer Brandon Lee King did not respond to Bloomberg’s request for comment, but he said on his TikTok channel that he received all the items for free to promote them. He gave his followers links to specific ads and gave them tips on how to help photographers look for quality characters.

I suspect the store has stopped, but it will most likely be a bike. According to World Trademark Review, which was the first to report on the raid, Pandabuy employees are back in stock. The Bloomberg agency thus pointed out that sellers of counterfeits of various brands have moved to other websites.

The American company Nike took the Pandabuy brand to task, and in December hired influencer Eben Fox. He didn’t like that he was promoting fake Nike products on his social media in front of a large audience and that the product was profiting from the promotion. His first representative responded in December that he disagreed with the allegations and would work with Nike to address their concerns.