I just found a very large US seller on Amazon selling a small percentage of our items that we have the trademark and brand registry on. The odd thing is that we haven’t had any sales on any of these items in years so we aren’t going to lose sales because of it so not really sure why they picked these particular items.
What is the best way to deal with this? Can I email them through Amazon and ask them to remove their offers from our brand listings or is that a no-no?
Are they on your listing or did they create a listing?
Amazon doesn’t have a good track record of policing or taking action on this type of issue.
If they created a listing to sell it, you can use the Report a Violation tool.
If they are on your listing, be careful on using the Report a Violation tool as Amazon might hit you with the violation and not them (had that happen to us). In this case, a letter from your lawyer to Amazon may work better.
Either way above, doing a test buy before reporting (on Report a Violation) and then returning it as item not as described (do not leave feedback or review) is what most do. Take pictures of item before returning, package before open, package open with item beside it … document with pictures.
No, they jumped on the listing we made.
If I do a test buy and then they just buy it from us…..is that still considered inauthentic for purposes of the test buy?
What you mentioned is my biggest fear….that somehow Amazon dings us when we report them. I’m almost thinking of just contacting them direct….
If you haven’t had any sales in years, what makes you think that they will buy from you when you do a test buy?
We would go ahead and do the test buy. If they buy from you, then they have not used proper methods of purchasing inventory as they will not have an invoice for the product. If they send you something without buying it from you, then it is fake product.
Either way … you can document what they are doing and return the item as not as described and then follow up with Report a Violation on the seller.
In the mean time, talk with your lawyer to see what it will take for him to write a letter for the seller and/or Amazon.
It’s just odd that they would pick such random items that don’t sell…..not sure where they get their info from.
Amazon should match 1st ASIN … 2nd UPC / GTIN to get a match. However, it is Amazon and a bot could mistake match anything as it does with classifications.
Sometimes sellers will target old, inactive listings with good reviews to hijack, replacing the original product info for their own junk, but that doesn’t sound like what’s happening here.
I don’t think there is any downside to making a test buy. If they do turn around and purchase it from you, you know they are just dropshipping from you, so you can either take the sale knowing that any potential buyers are at least getting your authentic items, or you can take more aggressive action to get them off the listing. If they don’t buy it from you and ship something else, then you have an easy case to make against them.
Test buy and verify. If counterfeit or different in any way to include packaging use brand registry to report counterfeit and have removed.
Yes, if you want it to depending on several factors to include moral character. If they bought it from you and sold it to someone else (or back to you) many consider that used in regards to warranty.
Just don’t leave any product or seller reviews and you will stay off the radar for manipulation. You can even return it as wrong item shipped, not as described, etc to hit their metrics and be sure to put in “used sold as new” to try and trigger the bot that requests an invoice from the seller to Amazon which they won’t have.
Yeah, none of these listings had any reviews so that can’t be the motivation, either.
I did a test buy, I’ll see what I receive:)
Any updates yet @Jenga244 ?
If you made the purchase from your business account, I would not file any claims of any kind. I would have recommended against making the return either, but that’s less dangerous and water under the bridge. If you made the purchase from an unrelated buyer account you might have a little more leeway to file a claim, but not much since Amazon is pretty good at connecting accounts.
You said you were making a test buy, I thought you meant you were going through the steps of filing a counterfeit claim against the seller. Notably, those steps do not include returning the item.
Bit confused here.
No one ever mentioned not to do the test buy with my same account. No one ever mentioned not to return the item, either.
I initiated a return request but haven’t actually returned anything yet. So don’t return anything?
OK to start, let’s be clear about exactly what it is you want to accomplish.
If you just wanted to see what they would send, you did that. You can send the item back, get your refund, end of story. No problem using whatever account you want, but you should avoid filing feedback or claims unless the issue is egregious, like they withhold a 90% restocking fee for some reason. You don’t want to get hit with any manipulation claims, those are bad.
If you want to file a claim against the other seller for IP or trademark infringement or something, then you need to do your test buy from your seller account so Amazon has a clear record of the purchase. Don’t return the item, don’t file any claims or leave feedback. Open a claim appropriate to what you are accusing them of. You said you have brand registry and own the trademark, so you should have a strong claim, especially since what they sent wasn’t even the right item.
I think there was a guide for test buys and filing counterfeit claims somewhere on SAS, but I can’t find it right now. I will try to find it when I have some time. Maybe someone more organized that I am knows where it is.
You did nothing wrong.
We do all our test buys (100+ over the years) with our company account. We return items that are not kept for IP claims like with lawyers. Some of our items are $500-$1000 we are not keeping drop shipper inventory or counterfeits at those dollar ranges.
This is part of the Brand Registry claim process and is correct.
IMO it does not matter if you return an item. As a matter of principle we return the item in an attempt to trigger an invoice bot request on the seller hopefully. We know it works because we have been asked for proof of purchase from a drop shipper after a test buy return.
except for the IP infringement one
Definitely do not leave feedback.
Yep, perfect, on the same page here then.
Except for when a low IQ buyer leaves a review instead of feedback. Then your product rank falls or if they drop the price and then your inventory gets hit with the high price buy box loss.
Remove all non authorized sellers from your listings.
I would keep it just in case I need it for something, if Amazon comes back and wants more pictures or something. I am not suggesting that returning it will cause damage to the seller account.
I keep all items I am filing any kind of claim for, even if it’s trash I get back from FBA, until the claim is resolved. I never know when the claim will require more information, or be decided against me and I will need the item again for an appeal.
Yes, except that one 
You never know that kind of problems other sellers can cause for you, and I always expect the worst once other people get involved. There is no advantage to leaving them alone other than not having to do the work of filing the claim, and potential downsides, especially if they are defrauding customers who don’t understand that a seller may not be the brand owner. I would file the claim and get them off your branded listing, even if you don’t use it anymore.
Good advice guys, thanks.