My listing was hijacked
My listing was hijacked yesterday. Overseas sellers had complete control over MY listing. I had gotten a low inventory alert which was impossible as I had 400 units in stock. The hijacking seller (from china) showed (3) units left in stock on my listing. I purchased all 3, at the advice of our attorney. I then look at tracking and it shows as shipping from our warehouse in the US. I continue researching and click the "buy again" tab. A different seller name popped up (all chinese "words") with our listing. We began selling on Amazon last year. We have been selling via our website for the past 7 years. We waited to sell here due to all the negatives but due to consumer demand here we are. We, and our attorney, have reported on RAV form over 150 ASINS, for copyright violations and patent infringement in the past 5 months. China sellers have made a knockoff of our product. Now getting hijacked is the last straw. What they were allowed to do by Amazon is fraud. We have a patent, manufacture our own product and it is not available for anyone else to sell on this platform. I have heard that these sellers get a paid order and then place an order from us to be shipped to their buyers - more notably we have found they either ship nothing or the knockoff.
We had to go through the whole verification process via live chat to show my drivers license in 10 different angles plus submitting all the address & business verification forms they required. How do overseas sellers not have to comply with the same rules we had to follow in order to sell here.
Every legitimate seller on this platform is here to make a living not to let thieves make money off of our backs.
Thoughts and answers, please.
My listing was hijacked
My listing was hijacked yesterday. Overseas sellers had complete control over MY listing. I had gotten a low inventory alert which was impossible as I had 400 units in stock. The hijacking seller (from china) showed (3) units left in stock on my listing. I purchased all 3, at the advice of our attorney. I then look at tracking and it shows as shipping from our warehouse in the US. I continue researching and click the "buy again" tab. A different seller name popped up (all chinese "words") with our listing. We began selling on Amazon last year. We have been selling via our website for the past 7 years. We waited to sell here due to all the negatives but due to consumer demand here we are. We, and our attorney, have reported on RAV form over 150 ASINS, for copyright violations and patent infringement in the past 5 months. China sellers have made a knockoff of our product. Now getting hijacked is the last straw. What they were allowed to do by Amazon is fraud. We have a patent, manufacture our own product and it is not available for anyone else to sell on this platform. I have heard that these sellers get a paid order and then place an order from us to be shipped to their buyers - more notably we have found they either ship nothing or the knockoff.
We had to go through the whole verification process via live chat to show my drivers license in 10 different angles plus submitting all the address & business verification forms they required. How do overseas sellers not have to comply with the same rules we had to follow in order to sell here.
Every legitimate seller on this platform is here to make a living not to let thieves make money off of our backs.
Thoughts and answers, please.
9 replies
Seller_Z6BmUuINlfK2A
This has happened to us many times - there really is no good answer we've found after spending hours with seller support, leadership teams, escalation contacts etc.
Amazon is a free marketplace, so anyone claiming to also sell your product can legally TRY and get on your listing even if you are branded. It's not trademark infringement because technically amazon owns everything once you agree to sell on their platform. BS, I know, but thems the rules since we're on their platform. Technically speaking, you are within your rights to copy any product you see on amazon and list it for one penny cheaper to win the buy box and steal the original sellers business. Will that be a successful long term...probably not, but you/anyone is technically welcome to try.
Amazons regulatory authority in china is awful/non-existent, so as much as they want to say they're 'cracking down' on these Chinese hackers, they have limited resources and authority to do so. I would suggest that you lower your price to win the buy box, take the loss in proceeds for a bit to scare these hackers off your listing. It sucks, it's not fair, but welcome to amazon.
We are trying out the transparency program...not sure how/if that'll work but seems like the only real option left.
good luck
Sandy_Amazon
Hello @Seller_lYhFEOBoUtWaH
This is Sandy from the Community manager team here on forums. Thank you for creating this post.
Would you please send me any case IDs for this issue you raised so I can investigate your brand status, ASINs involved, account status, etc. so see which escalation path or suggestion may be appropriate?
Thank you.
Sandy
