Thanks for sharing valuable information. I have recently started selling on Amazon and this would really help me in future to protect my listing.
24 Comments (page 1)
Hey Steve, thanks for the read. I'm having an issue with an Amazon seller of the same ASIN as me creating alternate buyer accounts, purchasing my ASIN on multiple orders and repeatedly leaving negative feedback to lower my metrics. He's been doing this to multiple sellers actually and now has started filing policy complaints, etc. All of his orders are shipped to the same address, so he's not even trying to hide these tactics. Any input on what I can do? I've already contacted all of Amazons departments, provided screen shots of the orders addresses and the sellers location being in the same area, etc. But they seem to do nothing.
Your first tip of using a different email as a buyer and as a seller may get people into trouble. I had a buyer account for years, and created a seller account with a different email. A few weeks later Amazon found out and banned me from selling permanently. It took me months to finally convince them to allow me back in, and this was only possible if I kept the same email. Hope this helps!
I run a t-shirt business on Amazon and just had 30 designs hijacked by a Chinese scammer today. This is the third time in a month this has happened. The first two hijackers quickly took down the listings after I contacted them. Hopefully this hijacker does the same, because i know Amazon will never do never do anything about it. If this continues my business will eventually be ruined.
Same thing now happens with my accout. Have 3 hijackers to fight with. Sent them a letter - no result. Reported to Amz form/phone - no result.
As someone who is new to the game, I'm a little confused by what a hijacker is. Aren't a lot of products on Amazon these days just sourced from China? So what would make someone a hijacker if I'm just sourcing from China as well? Or is this for more original products that then get copied by Chinese manufactures? If so, how do I as an out-sourcer, ensure that I'm not the one being the hijacker? And if there isn't a trademark or patent in place, what makes it illegal or is it more of an ethical game? I certainly don't want to do anything illegal or unethical so I'm trying to learn.
Hello, Thank you for all the great ideas. I have a bigger problem than I ANSI being hijacked. What I have tried so far is bundling my listings to keep them away, talking to them B2B, had my pictures U.S. Copyright protected and watermarked my pictures with the file number. All this did was piss him off and he is now on 80% of my plus or minus 200 listings. I tried Amazon's infringement forms twice and all I get is the runaround. What is the next level I need to go to without branding my logo? Or is that the next level? Thank You For Your Time, Dave
Okay, so I have a registered LLC through which I sell. It has its own domain with own emails with that domain and of course I've registered my seller account through a business email, which is different from my personal email that I use as a buyer. What can we do in such a case? They can't force me to tie my personal account with my legal entity - they have nothing to do with each other
Hey David you're absolutely right, it's tough and you would do better with a patent. But we have been able to work with Amazon and send a letter to the seller with some success. It's possible, personally, I think Amazon is improving.
Hey Ketan, thanks for reading the article :) If you ever need to report a seller on Amazon you know where to go now!
Hey Daniel, has your situation improved at all? We partner with AMZ Alert and they have helped us out of some difficult situations. I would say that you can reach out to their support and they would be more than happy to help!
Hey Federico, it's possible that people might get penalized but we have spoken with a representative from Amazon and they said it shouldn't be a problem anymore :) But thank you for keeping an eye out and helping all of us out!
Hey Nathan, any update on this situation? Have you tried reporting the sellers to Amazon even though you think they won't help?
Hey Serge, any update on your situation? Has it improved? I would consider reporting multiple times.
Hey Nick, two people can sell the same product on Amazon and create 2 different product listings without hijacking each other. When you list a product on Amazon you need a UPC code to create the listing. Then once your listing is created you get an ASIN which is an Amazon number that identifies your particular listing. If the other person used their own UPC code and got a different ASIN then you both have the same product being sold but with unique and separate listings. Now, if that other seller decided to create a listing with no UPC code but instead create it using your ASIN then he would be hijacking your listing because he is selling the same product on your listing. I hope this makes sense! Let me know if you have any questions :)
Hey Dave, yes the next step would be creating a brand and registering your brand. That way only you can sell under your own brand.
Hey Dan, it shouldn't be a problem anymore. That was something that we have worried about in the past but Amazon is smart enough to know who you are based off your IP address and different emails shouldn't get you banned.
Will, I see that Amazon now blocks messages through Buyer/Seller Messaging that have other language besides Buyers asking questions about their product. They also have a statement at the bottom saying that an attempt to use the messaging for other purposes is against their terms. Although, there is no where else in their official terms of service where this is stated. Do you know of another way to reach out to the hijacker? I was thinking to try to use the "Attachment" section of messaging rather than the message box. My listing will be invaded in 2 days as their inventory will be arriving. Please respond soon if you can. Thank you.
Hey Andrea, yes absolutely we can help! Do me a favor and email bros@startupbros (dot) com and we can talk about it more in depth!
why don't try a service in fiverr which can remove very quickly : https://www.fiverr.com/davidshi904/remove-any-amazon-asins-hijacker-for-your-listings-fba-fbm
Hi Will! I found that using the brand registry reporting tool and claiming our trademark is next to useless in our experience. What worked for us was reporting the "seller" to customer service for Amazon terms of service violation. The support person transferred our ticket somewhere and they removed the hijacker within about 48 hours. I think if you frame it like Amazon is the harmed party they will act on it right away. I mean, we've been reporting the hijackers and claiming trademark infringement for about 3 months and this is the only thing that worked for us.
Hey great tip! I'll keep that in mind, maybe for an update :)
What can we do with hijackers if our brand is not registered yet?
How can I remove a hijacker who is using my ASIN so I can't report a violation with brand registy because the forms won't allow me to proceed because when I enter the hijacker url it says I can't report my own product iv also sent emails and cease letters to the hijacker