Too rampant! The seller warned the copycat seller, but was reported and the link was removed!

Amazon's follow-up rules allow buyers to compare different prices on one page, which can improve the shopping experience for buyers. But for sellers, follow-up is a headache.

The reason why copy-selling is a headache for sellers is that copy-sellers often have no bottom line, and their various behaviors cause sellers who operate in compliance to suffer heavy losses.

Malicious follow-selling has angered many sellers, so some sellers have begun to use their brands as a weapon to warn and report malicious follow-selling. But recently, after a seller sent a warning letter to a malicious follow-selling, he received an email warning from Amazon, and his store link was also removed!

Warning against copy-selling, but got reported instead!

According to the seller, he had a link that had been sold by several sellers for more than a year. Because he had a brand, he started to send warning letters to these sellers. However, the warning letters fell on deaf ears. The seller could not help it, so he placed an order with the sellers and sent another warning letter, and clearly stated in the letter that if the sellers continued to sell, he would report them to Amazon.

This time the follower responded, but to the seller’s surprise, the follower turned around and said he would report the seller to Amazon . The seller thought the follower was desperate, so he didn’t take it seriously, but he didn’t expect the follower to actually report it. In less than half an hour, the seller received an email from Amazon and the link was removed .

The seller was so angry that he almost fainted. He had the idea of ​​going to the seller's house and killing him. However, he didn't know the seller's address and there was a high possibility that he would not be able to defeat him.

The sellers were very confused. Are the copycats so rampant now? What is going on? Can brand sellers be successfully reported by copycats?

The helpless seller had to appeal to Amazon, but received the following reply from Amazon:

If you are appealing an action we took against your product for violating Amazon's product listing policies , please ensure that you have completed all corrective actions in accordance with your action plan and removed the offending content. If you believe there was an error, please let us know why. Your explanation should include why your product does not violate Amazon's selling policies and the documentation above proving the authenticity of the product.

Many enthusiastic sellers gave suggestions below the post:

Logically speaking, Amazon will not send emails or remove seller links for no reason . In addition, in disputes between brand sellers and copycat sellers, Amazon will generally favor the sellers with brands , because most copycat sellers have committed certain infringements. This seller must have problems himself, which is why Amazon removed the link. So what went wrong?

Removed from shelves for no reason? Reveal the truth!

Since Amazon’s response mentioned Amazon’s sales principles, let’s first take a look at Amazon’s sales principles:

• Always provide accurate information to Amazon and customers

• Act fairly and do not abuse Amazon's features or services

• Do not attempt to harm or abuse other sellers or their products/ratings

• Do not attempt to influence customer ratings, feedback, and reviews

• Not send unsolicited or inappropriate communications

• Contact buyers only through the Buyer-Seller Messaging Service

• Do not attempt to circumvent the Amazon sales process

• You may not operate multiple seller accounts on Amazon without a legitimate business need

▲ Picture from Amazon

As mentioned above, if the seller chooses to place an order with the follower and sends a warning letter again, the follower is likely to report the seller to Amazon with the warning letter and the seller's order, saying that the seller is trying to damage the seller's product rating . Therefore, the seller will be judged by Amazon to have violated the sales principle of "not trying to damage other sellers or their products/ratings or abusing them".

However, the seller was conducting a test buy complaint against follower sales, and purchasing the follower’s products was a compliant behavior. Therefore, we can conclude that the seller must have been misjudged by Amazon for violating the sales principle of “not attempting to harm other sellers or their products/ratings or abusing them.”

This shows that today’s copycats are very smart, and they are likely to know the bottom line of Amazon’s rules better than most sellers. So how can sellers correctly catch copycats?

The correct way to catch up with sales!

1. Brand registration page complaints

The most effective way to combat copycat sales is to use brands. Sellers can file complaints on the Amazon brand registration page.

Next, select the site and enter the brand name, URL, ASIN or keyword in the Searching box. Then enter the product link that is being hijacked, click the Show Offers button, select the hijacker you want to complain about, and finally select Trademark Infringement.

Note: Be sure to check the box for the hijacker and do not check the box in front of the ASIN, otherwise the entire ASIN will be removed.

2. Print the brand logo on the product or packaging

Printing a brand logo on the product or outer packaging is to reflect the product's differentiation, so that you will have a good reason when you file a complaint with Amazon. Then buy the hijacker's product for a test buy . After receiving it, click Customer & Help, choose to contact Amazon, and then provide evidence that the hijacker's product does not match the listing description . Be sure to take photos as evidence and do not photoshop them. Also , describe in detail the differences between the hijacker's product and your product .

Amazon's supervision of sellers is becoming increasingly strict. We hope that sellers will abide by Amazon's rules and use the rules reasonably to crack down on copycat sales.

What are your thoughts or experiences on combating follow-selling? Feel free to leave comments and share your thoughts~