Protect Your Amazon Brand And Product Listings From These 6 Threats

Amazon is nothing short of a goldmine for brands and businesses. The e-commerce platform has created a highly profitable ecosystem for sellers - beginners and veterans alike. Amazon sellers are privy to a lot of features and benefits such as FBA, seller performance metrics, and more. But more importantly, Amazon continues to maintain its authority as a highly competitive and safe market. Nonetheless, you can never be too careful about your business and brand image being tarnished on Amazon at the hands of unfair competitors. While you may always be earning your pay the honest way, there is always a possibility of certain dishonest sellers crawling in the marketplace. These scrupulous sellers often resort to unethical practices and take advantage of the fair candidates' efforts.

In this blog, we take a look at 6 scrupulous practices that impose a critical threat on your Amazon product listings and brand image. 

1. Hijacked Listings

The Amazon Buy Box is responsible for almost 80% of the sales on Amazon. This implies how important it is for a seller to win a share of the most coveted Amazon Buy Box. But certain sellers leverage the ranked product listing of other sellers to sell their own products.

In simple terms, a product listing is hijacked when some other seller takes away the buy box from you (the original seller) by selling a counterfeit version of the same product. Hijacked listing is a serious issue as it can result in negative customer feedback, adversely impacting your seller performance.

 In case of hijacked listings, keep these points in mind:

(A) Identify the seller name on the product listings page and click on the “Ask a question” button. Use this option to send the seller a cease and desist letter explaining how you’re the original owner of the product/listing and that their unlawful practices are against Amazon’s Terms of Services.

(B) You can also file a formal complaint with Amazon itself whether you have signed up for Amazon Brand Registry or not.

(C) Hiring a lawyer can prove to be the most effective solution as they can guide you through the detailed specifics of how to move forward.  

2. Piggybacked Listings

This is eerily similar to ‘hijacked listings’. The difference here is that the merchant(s) sell the actual product instead of a counterfeit. So how does this happen?

When a competing seller creates an exact replica of your product listing and sells the product at a lowered price or with any other added incentive, it is known as a piggybacked listing. The seller can even take a step further and source the product from the same manufacturer as yours, to make it look 100% legit.

In most cases, it’s next to impossible to identify whether the listing is originally yours or belongs to a piggybacking seller. However, there are a lot of tools available in the market that send hijacking and/or piggybacking alerts to you and keep your listings safe.

Amazon’s seller guidelines have a clear and strict policy against duplicate listings same ASIN. Upon identifying the culprit, you can send them a cease & desist letter or take the issue with Amazon.   

3. Copyright or Trademark Infringement

When it comes to selling on Amazon, the term copyright typically covers your business’s creative assets such as logo, images, product packaging design, and listings. As long as these assets are created by you and are original, you have complete control over their copyrights.

At the same time, the trademark concerns itself more with the company details such as the brand name, tagline, product name, and more.

Copyright or trademark infringement can happen in any form or at any level on Amazon. There is ASIN-level infringement where sellers use your text or image on a product or packaging without asking permission for the same. Then there is seller-level infringement wherein the offer made by the seller violates your copyright/trademark. You can also report a violation for unauthorized use of a specific image or piece of text that legally belongs to you.

If you catch a seller in the act of exploiting your copyright or trademark, you can simply follow approach the seller with a cease & desist letter. Alternatively, you can reach out straight to Amazon with your issue and ask for an intervention.

However, you must remember that your chances of winning the legal battle depend on your ability to prove that you were the original designer/owner. Make sure that you have gathered as much data as possible while filling the infringement violation form.

4. Patent Infringement

While copyright and trademark deal with the misuse of creative assets and proprietary information, patents are responsible for protecting innovations and inventions. Broadly speaking, there are two main types of patents: 

(A) Utility Patents: Utility patents defend the use or operation of an item. Since these patents work at the fundamental level, they are rather technical in nature and can take a long time to secure. 

(B) Design Patents: Design patents safeguard the structural appearance of an item. In other words, they protect the design rights of an item at the blueprint level. These patents are easier and more affordable to acquire but demand evidence that some or all of the design is 100% novel/original. 

You can deal with patent infringements the same way as copyright and/or trademark violations. A key difference is that you’ll be handling the issue via Amazon’s Patent Neutral Evaluation Service.  

5. Fake Reviews

As mentioned earlier, Amazon maintains strict seller decorum and Terms of Services to ensure a highly competitive market. However, this hasn’t discouraged certain sellers from engaging in unethical practices to maximize their profits. One such black hat strategy is posting fake reviews on other sellers’ listings.

Despite Amazon’s stringent and swift policies, the threat of fake reviews still looms at large. But there are certain tips that can help you differentiate the fake reviews from a cluster of authentic ones.

One of the simplest and clearest ways is to check for the verified badge or the absence of one. Further, you can identify common language patterns that keep emerging across a chain of reviews as a way to distinguish spamming reviews.

But you must remember to gather hard evidence before taking any legal action. Take a screenshot of all the reviews that you suspect are fake and move forward with your case.

You can combat the menace of fake reviews by contacting Seller Support and providing them with necessary details along with the screenshots. 

6. Intellectual Property (IP) Infringement Claims

Intellectual Property (IP) is basically an umbrella term that is used to define any intangible creations. These include copyrights, trademarks as well as patents.

So far, we have led the discussion from a victim's point of you. But now, let’s discuss the possibilities of you being an (involuntary) perpetrator. What happens when you’re on the receiving end of an IP infringement claim?  You could even lose your seller privileges if the claim turns out to be legit. However, if you are confident that the claim is false, follow these steps to avoid any mishaps:

(A) First and foremost, reach out to the seller via the email that’s been provided to you by Amazon. In the email, ask them to outline exactly which aspect violates their IP. Make sure that you keep a formal and calm tone throughout the interaction. The end goal is to resolve the existing issue and not birth another one.

(B) Get as much and as precise information from them as possible. There’s always a chance that you inadvertently misused their IP.

(C) If your investigation draws a conclusion that the IP infringement is baseless, be sure to file a counter DMCA notice with Amazon to bring the false claim and the respective seller to Amazon’s attention. 

Amazon Brand Protection: Essential Tips To Protect Your Listings & Brand Identity

 1. Place your company logo everywhere, including on the product itself and its packaging. This will ensure the legal protection of your copyright and make it difficult for other sellers to make a profit off of your brand.

2. Using Amazon-provided barcodes (FNSKU) for your products instead of the ones provided by manufacturers is another great way to ascertain your brand authenticity.

3. Securing your Amazon account on Seller Central with a two-step verification login goes a long way in mitigating the risks.

4. There are several third-party tools and software in the market that send automated alerts of suspicious activities such as IP infringement, changes in your descriptions, etc. Make sure to keep those in handy.

5. File a formal trademark for your brand and logo.

6. Perhaps the most effective way of securing your brand on Amazon is by joining the Amazon Brand Registry program. The main benefit here is that your brand and your work are regularly cataloged & identified back to you. 

Concluding Thoughts

Selling on Amazon has its fair share of merits as well as demerits. And the presence of certain dishonest, ethical sellers should not deter you from using the platform to scale your business. Certainly, juggling between the tasks of protecting your brand and increasing your sales on Amazon can be quite daunting. But having a helping hand at your disposal does make things easier for you.

As your backend Amazon support team, YourSeller shall assist you with all the strategic aspects to grow your business on Amazon. Our dedicated team of Amazon experts will take up the marketing and management responsibilities off your shoulder, freeing up all the time & resources for you to protect your brand on Amazon.