AliExpress is the marketplace most brands under-monitor and the one where counterfeits are easiest to find. Its reporting system does work, but it works differently from Amazon's: the evidence bar is specific, the process rewards rights holders who file correctly the first time, and most brands waste months filing the wrong way. Here is how to report counterfeits on AliExpress so the listings actually come down.
Most brand protection effort goes to Amazon, eBay, and the social commerce apps, because that is where the revenue damage is most visible. But AliExpress is where a large share of counterfeit supply originates: the same listings that show up on other marketplaces often start as AliExpress product pages with stock photos and bulk pricing. Ignoring it means fighting counterfeits downstream while the source keeps shipping. The platform also matters for evidence: an AliExpress listing with your product photos and your trademark in the title is often the cleanest proof of willful infringement you will find anywhere.
The scale is the challenge. Search your brand on AliExpress and you may find hundreds of infringing listings across dozens of sellers, many using slightly altered brand names to dodge naive keyword searches. Manual reporting cannot keep up with that volume, which is why the process has to be systematic rather than heroic.
AliExpress runs its IP complaints through the Alibaba IP Protection Platform, the same system that covers Alibaba.com and Taobao. Rights holders register once, submit proof of their trademark or copyright, and then file complaints against specific listings. Each complaint needs the listing URL, the IP right being infringed, and evidence: typically a side-by-side comparison, proof of ownership, and an explanation of the infringement. The platform reviews and, for clear cases, removes the listing within days.
The part most brands get wrong is the registration. An incomplete or sloppy rights-holder registration slows down every complaint you will ever file, because the review team has to re-verify your standing each time. Register with complete trademark certificates, clear authorization if you file through an agent, and product photos that match what you sell. A clean registration turns future complaints into a fast lane. A messy one turns every filing into an argument.
The reviewers are looking for one thing: unambiguous proof that the listing infringes your specific right. The strongest filings include your trademark registration number, screenshots showing the infringing use of the mark on the listing page, and a short, factual statement connecting the two. Side-by-side images of your genuine product and the listing's product help when the counterfeit copies your design. Keep the language neutral and factual; emotional language about fakes and thieves does not speed anything up.
File against the listing, not the seller, on the first pass. Listing-level complaints are processed faster and succeed more often than seller-level complaints, which require a higher evidence bar. Once you have multiple removed listings tied to the same seller, escalate to a seller-level complaint with the removal history attached. That sequence, listings first, seller second, is how you get repeat offenders shut down instead of just pruned.
The biggest time sink is reporting listings that use your product category but not your IP: a generic phone case is not infringing your trademark just because it fits your phone. Reviewers reject these instantly, and a history of rejected complaints hurts your credibility on the platform. Be precise about what right each listing violates. The second sink is filing once and never following up. Removed listings reappear under new seller accounts constantly; without recurring monitoring, you are mowing a lawn that grows back weekly. The brands that win on AliExpress treat it as an ongoing process with a weekly cadence, not a one-time cleanup project.