IP Complaints- How to Avoid Them
I’ve been with Amazon for about six months and listed more than 300 products.
In that time I’ve received two IP complaints. In both cases, they were products that I had purchased from local retailers and was reselling on my seller account (receipts to show purchase).
How do we avoid IP complaints? Amazon allowed me to list the product and I simply attached myself to existing listings (did not create it myself). The idea that the product is “counterfeit” is silly unless my local retailer is selling fake goods.
And, of course, Amazon won’t remove the complaint because I don’t have an invoice from the actual manufacturer.
Suggestions? I do want to follow the policies, but it’s hard to know what to avoid.
Thanks.
IP Complaints- How to Avoid Them
I’ve been with Amazon for about six months and listed more than 300 products.
In that time I’ve received two IP complaints. In both cases, they were products that I had purchased from local retailers and was reselling on my seller account (receipts to show purchase).
How do we avoid IP complaints? Amazon allowed me to list the product and I simply attached myself to existing listings (did not create it myself). The idea that the product is “counterfeit” is silly unless my local retailer is selling fake goods.
And, of course, Amazon won’t remove the complaint because I don’t have an invoice from the actual manufacturer.
Suggestions? I do want to follow the policies, but it’s hard to know what to avoid.
Thanks.
9 replies
Seller_4RRTjOpWG0qkj
Get invoices from authorized suppliers or the manufacturer itself. Receipts are often as good as wet paper.
Get authorization from the actual brand owner. Amazon can’t authorize you to sell brands, it can allow you to offer them in the marketplace, but Amazon doesn’t have rights over the brand.
Only the brand representatives can withdraw the complain
Seller_qIY1zDxKNWKmI
IP Complaints- How to Avoid Them
Stop sourcing your items from retailers.
Seller_wTgwf7Qu931Jl
Greetings, go to Seller University and study the section on how to properly source goods for sale on Amazon. You are currently on the path to account suspension.
Charles_Amazon
Hello @Bright_Click
Charles from Amazon here.
Thank you for posting to the forums community for insight. The community can provide insight as to obtaining permissions for selling branded products, having a good supplier, and submitting your appeal to us for resolution – within policy guidelines which are created following government intellectual property law.
We provided an add-a-product method for listing an offer. This does not mean that you have obtained permission from the brand or manufacturer of a product to sell those items prior to listing that branded item for sale in the marketplace.
In most cases, an explanation is in order:
What went wrong and why
- Do you have permission as an authorized reseller of these items?
- Are you adding your offer to an existing detail page?
- Do you fully understand the definition of the policy that is being referred to and why your ASIN was removed?
What did you do about it
- Do you have an intellectual property owner, or authorized distributor, that can provide you with the appropriate documentation, for example, an authorization letter?
- Does your supplier provide documentations for authenticity and reselling authorization?
- Have you audited your current inventory for any other potential infringements?
How will you do things differently
- Before you list your items on the platform, how are you going to check if you have permission from that brand to sell their items?
- How will you ensure that you will not infringe upon other’s intellectual property?
- Before you upload your listing, how are you going to conduct a second review of the product detail page?
The above notes should provide you with strong considerations in regards to composing an effect plan of action in response to your intellectual property violations.
The forums community is here to support you. Please let us know how we can help you from this point forward.
Regards,
Charles
Seller_jb67FUavciAkI
Thank you for the replies everyone- I appreciate the insight.
Seller_hA060q8nqygew
Amazon allowed me to list the product and I simply attached myself to existing listings (did not create it myself).
Suspected counterfeit has nothing to do with who created the listing. It means, basically, that Amazon suspects you don’t have the brand owner’s permission to list the item on Amazon.
Which you wouldn’t, since you bought it at a retail store. It doesn’t mean they think the item is a fake, it means they think you can’t prove that it’s NOT a fake. It may very well be a legit product, but they’re questioning if you have the documentation to prove it.
See this explanation of ‘chain of control’.
An important thing to understand about Amazon is that, just because they make it possible for you to sell something, it doesn’t mean you should sell it, and it’s your responsibility to know what you should, and shouldn’t sell, and act accordingly.
I like to use an analogy of a grocery store that sells peanut butter. The store puts the peanut butter on the shelf for anyone to purchase, but shoppers with a peanut allergy should definitely not buy it to consume. Who’s responsibility is it to decide if a shopper should buy the peanut butter or not? Each individual shopper’s. The store (Amazon) isn’t in charge of knowing each shopper’s (seller’s) particular allergies. The store just puts the peanut button on the shelf and expects shoppers to make the right decision for themselves.
Similarly, Amazon makes the Sell Yours button (peanut butter) available, but it’s up to each seller to know if they are safe to click it for any particular product.
Seller_qsjXhUS6U3FXD
Just because you are able to list a product does not mean that you won’t receive an IP complaint. Brand owners are getting more and more determined to stop unauthorized sellers from selling their brands. In simple terms, if a product has a legal mark, that mark owner controls who is allowed and who is not allowed to sell the product. So if you start selling it without their written permission, they can file an IP complaint.
If you did not purchase directly from an authorized source, you have no idea if the product is genuine. It may be…but then again, it may not be. Although many sellers do resell products purchased via retail, it can be a very slippery slope.
While you did not mention it, it is worth saying that Amazon will not accept receipts of any kind (as far as I know), or approve products purchased from discount stores, liquidation sales, and many other “cheap” sources for purchasing the items.
IP Complaints- How to Avoid Them
I think the best way to avoid IP complaints is to make sure you purchase only from authorized sources, that you receive an invoice for your purchase (not a receipt), and that you have permission to resell from brand representatives.
