What You Need to know about Amazon - Legal Advice (2020)

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What You Need to know about Amazon – Legal Advice (2020)

Amazon Tips & Tricks Masterclass by Top Amazon Lawyer, CJ Rosenbaum (Ep #20)

There is a change coming to amazon. Amazon is now going to put the sellers’ company name and address on Amazon listings. This is a big change coming. It has some implications, so today our guest is a top Amazon Lawyer, CJ Rosenbaum.

You can check him out on AmazonSellersLawyer.com. They handle all things legal for amazon sellers, from Amazon Account Suspension to Intellectual Property.

https://youtu.be/9LY-X_INubk

Watch the MasterClass here

In this Video:

Sellers Identification: what this means for you
How to stop & avoid listing hijackers
Listing hacks to prevent hijackers
How to copyright your listing title, images & copy
How to get your account reinstated after a suspension

And much more!

Now, let’s dive right in!

Sellers Identification

As of right now, the date of the release is September 1st, 2020. However, we have almost no information on the specifics. That is because every time Amazon implements a new program it’s done erratically, it’s always problematic and they pivot very quickly.

CJ and his team anticipate that it’s going to be on the listing and the storefront. Amazon is going to have the name and address behind the account, so if it’s directly under your name, it’s going to be your name and address. Similarly, if it’s an LLC then it’s going to be those details.

It’s not specific as to if this includes phone numbers and email addresses, because consumers are going to want to contact you. What we do know for certain is that Amazon is putting up your ID but no other specifics.

With this new update, you, as an amazon seller, can and will be contacted by several buyers and brands. So we’re due to expecting a storm of at least 40 different issues (according to CJ and his team.)

Made in The USA

For American Sellers, this new update is going to be a great boost. ‘Made in the USA’ is now going to be sold by people in the USA while creating and preserving jobs in the USA.

It is going to be unfair to sellers in China. But what they’re going to do is start opening up LLC and corporations in the States and shifting their addresses also, but that’s going to take some time. A Lot of people don’t realize this, but the US government has made it very difficult to get a tax ID number for corporations opened by a person or company in China.

That being said, the #1 aspect that is going to give you a boost in sales is having the best product, not your address. This doesn’t mean that Sellers Identification is a hack that’s going to make selling on Amazon easier or that your sales are going to go way up.

Anonymity of Amazon

However, if you are those sellers you only sell other company products, this update could be a disadvantage. Because now those brands are going to know exactly who you are and where you are. The anonymity of Amazon is going away a little bit.

By revealing who the seller is, Amazon is allowing smaller sellers to be noticed. Consumers now know that this particular seller gives genuine products, and stands behind it.

On a positive note. The Sellers Identification is going to allow a lot of sellers, who may not have had the opportunity otherwise, to develop a brand. Even Though they are selling other company’s products.

Invoices

As an Amazon seller, you are well aware that Amazon wants copies of your invoices. Those invoices will often be made out to different addresses and the ones that are maintained with amazon. If you move your address to a business address, so consumers don’t know where you live; are those invoices with the old address going to fly?

The #1 amazon sellers need to provide amazon with invoices, have now another potential time bomb in them because the addresses aren’t going to match out. So get prepared and make sure your addresses line up.

This will give a huge push towards sellers creating new LLCs. This time would also be optimum to buy insurance because Amazon does require you to have liability coverage. For any to do with sellers and amazon insurance, CJ only trusts one insurance broker – Ashlin Hadden.

A threat to resellers

Most Amazon sellers are selling other brands’ products, for those sellers you’ve got law firms like Voorhies’ who send them these ridiculous threatening letters. Before they had to do a whole lot of leg work to find you, but now with the Sellers Identification update, they’re going to have your address right at the outset.

This update feels like Amazon is cleaning the ranks a little bit. They’re going to wipe out a lot of sellers, who their sources don’t want them selling. It’s going to also open up those sellers to IP complaints and litigation, potentially.

If you’re selling other branded products, Amazon is following this line where it’s consumer-centric first and then brand-centric. Sellers should consider buying their own brand if they are not doing it already.

What Private sellers should keep in mind:

Take your IP rights and own them with a company that has nothing to do with Amazon. And then have that company license it back to your sellers’ company.
Have insurance
You need to monitor your listing electronically. CJ has special software that was built for them to monitor listings, to know instantaneously who is selling your product. Then use the Sellers Identification to pin them out and contact them.

Learn more about brand protection on HJ’s site – Brand Protection and Monitoring

What is Hijacking?

If you’re a private label seller and you’re selling your product with a warranty or a post-sale benefit that only you can deliver, and somebody else starts selling it they have hijacked your listings and sales. The main issue is that consumers are not receiving the same thing consumers receive if they bought the product from you.

If you’re wondering why Amazon isn’t doing anything to stop this, it’s quite contrary. There is a low called the law Digital Millennium Copyright Act that protects digital market platforms. So as long as platforms like Amazon have something called the Takedown Mechanism, the platform avoids responsibility or liability.

However, Amazon actually exploded this thing and allows anybody to make any complaint and they take down the seller, which is a lot of abuse on amazon. Sellers get loads of baseless intellectual property rights complaints. Amazon has made the system ridiculously easy.

What HJ and team do for their private label sellers, they don’t want to hurt ‘hijack’ sellers, they make sure that the private label sellers are delivering one thing that nobody else can deliver and then we try and get the hijackers to stop selling amicably.

What can private labels do provide that USP

An example, Moustafa Cutlery are high-end german steak knives that are built with really nice wood, there’s actually screws that hold the handle and knives together. If you buy one of their knives from an authorized seller and there’s something wrong with it, they actually take and send it back to Germany for repair at the original factory. No third party seller can do that, they don’t have access to the factory.

The repair provision in your warranty to send it back to the factory to fix it or a license to your website to see a certain portion of it or copyright material that nobody else can deliver. Any post-sale benefit that you can add that third-party sellers can’t have access to, would be a great way to protect your brand.

The power of warranties

Warranties used to be for the benefit of Consumers. But now they do so much more for the brand: Stop hijackers, develop customer loyalty, an upsell for future products, and more.

It blows CJ’s mind on how many brands do not upload their warranty but also don’t rewrite it in a way that protects them. The best majority of third party sellers are not hijacking because they’re delivering the same thing. But, if you think about developing your brand and what you can add to it, Warranty is an easy one.

Warranty you can rewrite only once and reapply it for your entire product line. Keep in mind that the warranty has to be written a certain way that nobody else can deliver upon.

If you mass sell your product to a brick and mortar store with the warranty card, and a third party seller gets a hold of it; you’re stuck. If it’s just a money-back guarantee, it’s useless. Money is homogeneous anybody can return the money. So your warranty has got to provide something more.

Another point to keep in mind is the warranty duration. The shorter the period the less effective the warranty is. So somewhere in between a year and lifetime, might be an ideal mix for a particular product. Keep in mind that you would be responsible for that product for the promised duration.

Copyrights in your Listing

When you write the title and description for your products you have instant copyright, you own that verbiage. However, if the verbiage is very generic like ‘ballpoint pen’, you don’t own copyrighted generic language. As long as you create something, and it’s frozen in some sort of media, you have a copyright interest in it. But it also can’t be overly generic.

If and when you find a hijacker selling your copyrighted product, here’s what you got to do:

Contact the hijacker amicably – ask them to step down
If they don’t agree to stop, Contact the lawyers next
Make a complaint on Amazon

Making a complaint on Amazon should be a last resort. When you file a complaint, you are putting that seller’s entire livelihood at risk. When you put them at risk you put yourself at risk. They can easily trash your brand with counter-attacks.

Similar laws apply to images. You own the image and do have copyright interest. Even if they take the image and alter it, it is still your image.

Patents – What you need to know

Design patents – how a product looks

The big issue is if the new product is different enough from the patented product? Did they change it enough that they no longer violated the design patterns?

Utility Patents – an invention

If someone is violating that, Amazon has a great system in place – Neutral Patent Evaluation System. Where for 4k rather than spending 50k in court, you can get a decision by an arbitrator within Amazon.

Patenting an idea

If it is a design idea, how it looks, CJ suggests going to the USPTO, find a similar one and do the best you can do on the search and try it yourself. However, if you’re uncomfortable you can hire a patent lawyer, it’s a specialized bar, not every lawyer can write a patent application.

For design patents it’ll cost you around 2 -5k to get it done. If its utility is more, so around 5 to 20k to get the application done, based on the complexity of the product.

IP Accelerator – An Amazon Service

This is a new service offered by Amazon. CJ literally closed down their trademark application business, because while Amazon guys are charging more for it, you get a brand registry within a week rather than 9 months. And that’s a plus point for sellers.

In CJ’s opinion, it’s great. However, it’s also getting abused in a very creative way. Let’s take the product Western Digital as an example. What some sellers do is they go to IP Accelerator, hire Amazon lawyers, and ask to trademark Western DIgital. They will get a brand registry for a trademark they’re never going to get. It’s never going to be approved, but they’ll get a brand registry for 9 months while the papers are working their way through the system.

In this case, the rightful owner can sue sellers who ‘borrow’ their trademark. However, the sellers who do this get in to make as much money as they can and get out. And they’re usually overseas in a country where US judgment is never going to touch them.

You can read more about brand registry here – Amazon Brand Registry: Everything You Need to Know

Reviews – Dos and Don’ts

The best reviews are organic, and those are hard to come by. However, if you incentivize reviews and you get caught you are dead in the water. Amazon has been monitoring Facebook and Facebook groups more carefully than ever.

If you are using Facebook and funneling things to amazon you’ve got to be careful. Of course, there are two sides to this: leading people towards amazon through a link or landing page is good, however leading people from amazon to another site, based on if the review is good or bad, is something Amazon doesn’t take lightly.

Basically what you can’t do is promise something free or a reward in exchange for leaving a review. But what you can do is have a giveaway promotion, as long as you don’t say “only if you leave the review” or “review required.” You can say reviews are very welcome or appreciated.

How to get your account reinstated after a suspension

Typically what happens when Amazon suspends an account due to a break of the T&Cs, you’d need to appeal to Amazon in a way that resonates with them.

When appealing to Amazon, never admit that you broke the terms of service because you are just giving amazon all the power to say yes or no. That is of course unless you did and you got caught. You can always argue things about being better without admitting that you did something wrong.

Alright, guys, that’s all for now!