Amazon will not remove sellers violating its own policy
We are a brand owners and despite several requests to Amazon are getting absolutely no where removing a plethora of Hijackers who are selling our product in direct breach of Amazons own conditional guidelines.
We can't do a test buy as many of them are FBM and will not ship to us.
This is the standard response received when a report abuse claim is lodged
Thank you for your report of a suspected policy violation. We cannot take action on the report as no violation has been identified on the reported B0B4T2CFM9 for the violation type selected.
ASIN: B0B4T2CFM9
Order ID (if applicable):
Complaint ID: 15436037031
@Dougal_Amazon
Amazon will not remove sellers violating its own policy
We are a brand owners and despite several requests to Amazon are getting absolutely no where removing a plethora of Hijackers who are selling our product in direct breach of Amazons own conditional guidelines.
We can't do a test buy as many of them are FBM and will not ship to us.
This is the standard response received when a report abuse claim is lodged
Thank you for your report of a suspected policy violation. We cannot take action on the report as no violation has been identified on the reported B0B4T2CFM9 for the violation type selected.
ASIN: B0B4T2CFM9
Order ID (if applicable):
Complaint ID: 15436037031
@Dougal_Amazon
19 respuestas
Dougal_Amazon
Hello @Seller_pixSY1g97J4aL,
Dougal from the Community Manager Team here and I can definitely assist you with reporting the potential IP violations.
Most of the recommendations I will make below, come from the Intellectual Property for Rights Owners help page. This is a really robust page and has a ton of information, but focus on the "Types of notices not accepted on Amazon," and "Reporting Infringement," sections to start with. Also, please note that I am unable to view Complaint ID's submitted via Report Abuse, but I can see complaints submitted via Brand Registry and I've looked at your most recent that was not accepted.
Here is a bulletized list of feedback for complaints submitted via Brand Registry:
- Stick to facts only when submitting IP complaints - assumptions about where another seller obtained their stock will not be accepted
- Complaints submitted via Brand Registry are specifically IP, so mentioning distribution channels in your submission will not be accepted
- Stick to the infringement type you are selecting. If you are reporting Trademark infringement on the product or its packaging, do not provide detail that the product is counterfeit (this is another infringement type) just stick to the TM infringement
Here is a bulletized list of feedback for complaints submitted via Report Abuse:
- If you are unable to receive the product because the FBM seller is not sending, you should NOT report this as an IP violation here, report it in An abuse issue that is not addressed by the other topics in this menu because a seller canceling orders is more in line with violating the Selling policies and seller code of conduct.
- Keep in mind that unlike reporting via Brand Registry, the outcome will not be shared with you
- IF you cannot report counterfeit via Brand Registry report a violation because your TM is still pending in the US, you can report via Report Abuse and select "The product received is different than the product on the detail page (different version, model or product)." Again, stick to facts only when reporting
I hope this feedback allows you to take new action. Please let me know if you have any other questions and/or let me know how it goes.
Best, Dougal
Seller_pixSY1g97J4aL
Hi @Dougal_Amazon
Thanks for your advice.
I have tried both of the methods that you have suggesting. As my trademarks are still pending with the USTPO I am not able to report a trade mark violation unless I do a test buy. Unfortunately as I am located outside of the USA many of the FBM sellers will not even allow me to place an order so it is not possible to even make a test buy.
I have found a work around by getting my US warehouse to check the product but with over 54 different sellers it is an almost impossible (an expensive!) process to place test orders on all of the sellers.
Whilst some of the product being sold is without date counterfeit I have also found many of the sellers are selling genuine product but have obtained them through means that are not approved by Amazon. (eg Free samples, Damaged stock, Stolen, Expired, Used as New).
I confirmed with one of your customer support agents that Amazon does not allow sellers to buy product which is on promotion in a retailer and relist it on Amazon as it breaches Conditional Guidelines.
I managed to do one test buy and found that the seller was selling genuine product but from a batch that had been supplied for a promotional give away.
What was interesting to note was that the product had a different bar code sticker from my manufacturer barcode.
In this situation my understanding that the correct process is to report the seller through seller abuse. Per you advice I have done that but got an immediate response as per the post saying that no violation had occurred without any investigation whatsoever by Amazon. At the very least I would have thought that Amazon should request that the seller provide some proof of purchase from the seller to establish that the product had been obtained through valid means.
I am hoping that Amazing is doing that in the background as if not what is the point of Amazon having these policies if it is not going to enforce them?
Dougal_Amazon
Hi @Seller_pixSY1g97J4aL,
Unfortunately I can only review complaint ID's submitted via brand Registry report a violation so without reading what you included in your report, I cannot provide specific guidance.
That being said, since you mention
I am thinking the Counterfeit Crimes Unit might review these types of situations. You can review the Counterfeit Crimes Unit FAQ, which does point you to reporting the violation via brand registry. Because of this, I recommend providing that level of detail (in regards to the stolen product like a police report number or expired product etc.) in your submission and that would ideally be escalated to the CCU.
I do also understand that Counterfeit is not an option to select in report a violation for a brand that does not have a fully registered TM so opening a case with Brand Registry Support, might yield a result of escalation.
Yes, but the content of your submission would matter in routing of the issue to the appropriate team to support.
I hope this helps and please let me know what happens next and I will continue to assist wherever I can.
Best, Dougal
Seller_pixSY1g97J4aL
Hi @Dougal_Amazon
Thanks for the update. I will try going down that path but wouldn't it be much easier and less costly for all concerned if Amazon just provided some really simple gate keeping processes like those described in your seller university videos to stop unauthorised sellers from creating listings in the first place.
If sellers were unable to list a product for sale without first uploading a receipt from the manufacturer or authorised seller over 80% of these hijacker/stolen product issues would go away overnight.
Maybe Amazon make too much money allowing cybercriminals on their platform!!
Dougal_Amazon
Hi @Seller_pixSY1g97J4aL,
I'm happy to help wherever I can and I do recognize that improvements can be made.
It does start in forums like this though so again, I appreciate you coming here and sharing your experience.
Best, Dougal
Seller_pixSY1g97J4aL
@Dougal_Amazon
Just thought I would give you an update that after placing 20 test orders I was able to remove 3 of the 47 unauthorised sellers from my account. 13 of the test order sellers never sent the product and despite raising seller abuse complaints I got the automated "nothing to see here folks everything at Amazon is perfect" response and no action was taken.
5 of the sellers sent product that was used or damaged and two sent completely different products from what was listed.
Of course despite numerous follow ups cases Amazon did absolutely nothing.
After taking down 3 violations I noted another 4 new ones appear. And to top it off Amazon still have not refunded the money I spent doing their job. I am intrigued as to what they will do with the counterfeit product that I was forced to return to get my money back for this pointless exercise
Perhaps the reason why Bezos is having problems with his Space Ships is because he bought it on Amazon!!
