If you’ve ever dealt with a hijacked listing on Amazon, you know it can be a nightmare. There are plenty of horror stories out there. Although it’s one of those unfortunate things that can happen on the Amazon platform, there are some steps you can take to fix this and prevent it.
In order to get to the bottom of the issue, we reached out the the top expert in America regarding this issue… the top lawyer for Amazon sellers!
We had CJ Rosenbaum on the FBA Lifestyle podcast. He isis a top Amazon lawyer and the founder of AmazonSellersLawyer. They handle all your legal stuff if you’re an Amazon seller from Amazon Accounts Suspension, Amazon Listing Suspension, Amazon Hijackers, Intellectual Property (IP), Brand Protection & Monitoring, Arbitration Against Amazon, Business Law for Sellers, Attorneys for Sellers in Litigation and all the good stuff if you’re an Amazon seller.
There is a change coming to Amazon!
Amazon is going to put a company’s name and address on their listings. And CJ is going to tell you all about the changes, what it means for you, Amazon hijackers, and some tips and tricks on all the legal side of Amazon selling.
So What Exact Information is Amazon Putting Out There?
Nobody knows exactly, because every time Amazon implements a new program it’s done erratically it’s always problematic and they pivot very quickly.
We think it’s going to be on the listing and the storefront where it’s going to have the name of the account so whether that be your name or the LLC or corporation you have and they’re going to put the address they have for you… but we’re not sure if they’re going to be putting any email addresses and phone numbers or not… we just don’t know yet because consumers are going to want to contact you and Amazon is putting up your ID but we don’t know exactly what it means yet until it rolls out.
But sellers identification is coming out.
When Will This Amazon Update Roll Out?
Amazon will be launching this update on the 1st of September 2020.
What Does This Mean For You?
You can be expected to be contacted by consumers, seller vs sellers dirty tricks are going to ramp up, and brands and rights owners who will know who you are a lot easier than before. I and my team have anticipated a boatload of things that could happen too.
This is going to be good news for US sellers because it will show they’re based in the US and it will be a disadvantage for Chinese and other foreign sellers. Now consumers will be able to see that.
But even sellers outside the US could start filing their own LLC and operate as a US company too. However, the government has made it difficult for corporations to get a tax ID owned by a person or company in China.
So if you’re in the US then this is a bonus for you but it’s really the product that will give you the boost and not this little address thing.
Amazon Hijackers and Counterfeiters Exposed
If you’re a mature and established brand and someone hijacks your listing or counterfeits your products. Thanks to this update, all the hijackers and counterfeiters will be exposed now. You’ll be able to easily get their name and address.
So if you have you’re a private seller and you have your own brand then this is good news for you. But this is bad news if you’re reselling other people’s products.
A lot of big sellers on Amazon really try to remain anonymous even though they have their own brand. So unfortunately for them, anonymity is going away from Amazon.
Cause For Account and Listing Suspension
The number 1 cause for a suspension either an account suspension or listing suspension is “Amazon’s Inauthentic”. Is Amazon want copies of your invoices. Invoices are usually made out to different addresses than the ones given to Amazon. So if you were using a home address and then moved to a business address, are those older invoices going to be accepted by Amazon? So get ready and make sure addresses line up.
Amazon Expects You to Get Insurance
As more Amazon sellers register for more LLCs, Amazon requires you to get liability insurance coverage. I only trust one insurance broker when it comes to this her name is Ashlin Hadden Insurance, she’s in Indiana and focuses on our industry.
But create LLCs, create Corporations, and get the right insurance who pays if anyone gets hurt and also hire lawyers for you if you get in trouble.
What Most Amazon Sellers Are Selling
Most Amazon sellers are selling other people’s products. They’re acting as retailers, they’re getting their products from other sources and then you’ve got large law firms who send them these ridiculous threatening letters and they would have had to do a lot of legwork to find you, now they’ll find you from the outset.
So if you’re buying stuff from a brick and mortar store and then selling them on Amazon, you better watch out because your relationships are certainly going to be an issue when your source didn’t realize you were selling on Amazon or you tell them you weren’t selling on Amazon when you really are. So this disclosure is certainly going to be problematic and it feels like Amazon is sort of cleaning up the ranks a little bit… like they’re going to wipe up a lot of sellers who their sources don’t want them to be selling and open them up to IP complaints and even open them up for litigation potentially.
They’re going really hard with trying to avoid counterfeits and copycats, and the sellers who are doing the grey hat selling and selling what they shouldn’t be selling. So Amazon is definitely trying to clean house and get organized by this move.
Planning for the Future
In terms of planning for the future, creating your own brand is the way to go if you’re reselling other people’s products then now’s the time to plan on creating your own private label brand. Sourcing in India is a good idea and India Sourcing Trip is a tremendous resource for that.
So everyone knows about the Amazon brand register and registering an LLC. You should do that… even getting a brand trademark.
There’s a lot of things you could do but I’ll boil it down to a couple of this.
Number #1: Take your IP rights and own them using a company that has nothing to do with Amazon and then have that company license it back to your sellers company. So you need to have 2 companies.
Number #2: You need to have insurance. Contact Ashlin for that.
Number #3: You need to do electronic listing monitoring so you know instantaneously who is selling your product and you can contact them to point out to them why they shouldn’t be selling your product. We have special software built for us to monitor the listings.
If you go to our site and check out the brand protection section, we have a couple of hundred videos on there. Specifically on how private label sellers can protect their brands.
What Is Hijacking & How Does It Work?
Amazon hijackers cause a problem for private label sellers. If you’re a private label seller and your selling your product and it comes with a post-sale warranty or post-sale benefit that only you can deliver, then somebody else starts selling it, they’ve hijacked your listing and sales.
The problem here is that the consumer is not receiving the same things a consumer would receive if they bought the product from you, not the same warranty, not the same quality control, not the same post-sale benefits… so we refer to these people as hijackers. And this is where Amazon hijackers can actually hurt your brand and reputation this way.
So we monitor your listings electronically for any Amazon hijackers and when we see a hijacker selling your product we reach out to them and try to amicably persuade them to stop selling your products. And when it’s necessary and only when its necessary we file an IP complaint with Amazon but only as a last resort because we’re not looking to put sellers out of business.
So basically an Amazon hijacker is someone who lists a product with your same ASIN and appears in your buy box and the sale would go to them if they have the lower price. And this goes on with millions of products. Where the consumer is receiving identical products and warranties.
Most Amazon hijackers are third-party sellers who either buy your products in bulk and resell it, counterfeit your product and manufacture it using cheap materials in China or drop ship your own product.
Put A Wall Up
So first we make sure there’s something that a private label seller is delivering something nobody can deliver and then we try and get Amazon hijackers to stop selling amicably. I can’t tell you how many emails and phone calls just speaking with hijackers.
As sellers have developed their own private label brands we teach sellers to build something into their product that other sellers cant deliver. We sort of put a wall up between the private seller and everybody else. I’m surprised big brands haven’t figured this out yet but private label sellers we can do it for you.
For example, Wusthof knives sell these really high-end knives and you get a warranty where if someone buys their knives from an authorized seller, and the product ever needs repair it gets sent to the factory in Germany.
If you’re selling a shampoo or a razor then consumers could get to a consultation call with a cosmetologist.
So if you add those sort of things to your products will help because a 3rd party seller cannot deliver those things. You can always find something that only you can deliver to a consumer than another seller can’t.
Even an eBook or guide could work. Any extra step you can take to make your product unique and harder for Amazon hijackers to deliver on.
You don’t need to copyright an eBook because under copyright law you automatically have a copyright interest as soon as you create it.
You can upload your warranty on Amazon in the Warranty section in the backend to stand out from the hijackers. You can even add the warranty in the images. Warranties are an easy add to products.
You could even put a warranty card in the packaging with a link to your website and people could then register with their email to activate the warranty. To the best of my knowledge, there’s nothing in the Amazon terms and conditions which prohibits that.
And the warranty has to be written in a way that nobody else can deliver upon it as per best amazon agency. The warranty has to also be between a year and a lifetime to be effective against Amazon hijackers. Short warranties don’t have such a great effect.
If your warranty is a money-back guarantee then forget it, it’s useless because anybody can return money.
My team has yet to find a product where they can’t add something unique to it that nobody else can deliver. Every product has something.
Is Your Amazon Listings Copy Protected?
Your listing copy which includes the title, bullet points, and description are automatically yours under copyright law. So if someone uses them then they’re in infringement of copyright. However, you don’t own copyright on generic language so if the verbiage is generic such as ballpoint pen then you don’t own the copyright on that.
But if you have this really great description of a product or create something and it’s frozen in some type of media then you have a copyright interest in it.
Only Complain As A Last Resort
Always make the complaint to Amazon as a last resort. Not just from a moral and ethical standpoint but also because if you caused them a lot of damage they could come after you and really hurt your brand if they’re angry.
You don’t want to put yourself in that position. So always try to resolve the issue directly with the Amazon hijacker (person or company) who is hijacking your Amazon listing or copying your listing.
What Should You Do If Someone Copies Your Stuff
Contact the seller directly, if that doesn’t work out then you can contact us because people tend to get scared when it comes from a law firm and we also tend to be more persuasive than the average person and finally file a complaint with Amazon.
But explore all options firms because you can really destroy their Amazon account with a complaint and they can come back to trash your business.
Positives About the Update
So some of the positives of this update for Amazon sellers are…
If you own your own brand and you’re a good seller, you’ll be developing brand loyalty. Because Amazon has always considered Amazon consumers to be Amazon’s customers but brands like Anker have built their brands solely on Amazon… and by Amazon revealing information about the seller, they’re allowing smaller sellers to do the same thing. That you know if you’re shopping from a particular seller, you’ll know they’ll sell you genuine products, they’re always going to stand behind it, they’ll always give you a refund. So it’s going to give smaller sellers who wouldn’t have had the opportunity otherwise to develop a brand even if they’re selling other people and other company’s products.
Patents for Private Label Sellers
There are two types of patents: design patents and utility patents.
For design patents the product needs to look different enough before it can be eligible for a design patent. And the question here is, did the seller change it enough so it doesn’t violate another design patent?
Then you have utility patents and it’s like a brand new invention for example bone conduction headsets so you can listen to music and still hear everything around you. A utility patent is for products that have a new function and usefulness about it. And if anyone violates that then Amazon has a system in place called the neutral patent evaluation system where for $4,000 (rather than spending $50,000 in court) you can get a decision by an arbitrator to either uphold your patent or say no they’re not violating it.
Amazon also has an IP accelerator program for trademarks which is faster than the USPTO.
What If You Have a Patent Idea?
If you have a design patent idea then it’s going to cost you $2,000-$5,000 and if it’s a utility patent idea then you have then it’s going to cost you around $5,000-$20,000 to get it done based on the complexity of the product.
You need a specialized patent lawyer for these if you’re not comfortable filling up the application yourself. Because not any lawyer can fill in the patent applications properly.
Basically the patenting process involves searching to see if there’s nothing that already exists that is similar than your products and then assuming it’s clear then you proceed with the application.
If the idea is too close to something that already exists then it’s too close. Give it the duck test: If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck and it’s got feathers like a duck then it’s probably a duck. So then use common sense here.
What About Reviews?
Obviously the best Amazon reviews are those that are organic but of course, those are hard to come by. You are allowed to use coupon codes and that sort of thing. I can tell you where the problems are:
If you are incentivizing reviews and you get caught, you are dead in the water. Amazon has been monitoring Facebook and Facebook groups more carefully so if you’re doing a launch on Facebook and incentivizing reviews then you better be careful.
So you can’t promise something in exchange for a review. So “Get X if you leave a review” or “Free if you leave a review”. You can say reviews are very welcome and appreciated. As long as you don’t say reviews are required, then my understanding is that’s good.
And if you’re using a third party vendor like a launch service just do your homework. And if it’s too good to be true then it’s too good to be true.
Review manipulation can get you suspended and it’s tough to get those accounts back. Which means you can’t sell on Amazon at all.
In your appeals you should never ever admit to violating the terms of service unless you get caught. Because once you do that you’re giving Amazon all the power by then saying yes or no. You can say you’re going to study the rules better but I would never write I broke the rules. Unless you did and you got caught.
How About 10%-20% Off Coupon Codes?
Well if it starts on Facebook and then leads you to Amazon then that’s okay. But if it starts on Amazon and you lead the user outside of Amazon to get the coupon code then that’s not good because Amazon doesn’t like when you lead users off of its website.
I’ve read the entire terms of service for Amazon and even done some videos on them. But I can’t remember anything specifying a certain threshold on how much the coupon code can be. They like to keep things very amorphous so they can use it however they want to use it on any seller at any time erratically.
No friends and family you have on Facebook should review your products if they buy them. Because Amazon can send you a warning. So if they buy it then tell them not to leave a review.
Conclusion
So Amazon will always roll out new updates. That’s the life of an entrepreneur, you’ll always face new things. You just have to find a way to work it to your advantage.
If you’re an Amazon seller new or intermediate then we’ve got 6 free books and thousands of pieces of content and videos. We’ve gone through all the legalities related to Amazon. We learn from sellers and experts around the world and we share it with the world.
Create an LLC, get the right insurance, make sure you don’t incentivize reviews and if your listing gets hijacked by those Amazon hijackers you know where to find us. Always here to help.
