I know this is the Seller Forum, but I have exhausted every other area.

Who here has heard of the Kevin Smith film “DOGMA”? I bet a lot of you have not only heard of it, many of you probably own a copy yourselves. It’s a classic!

Being such an influential movie, “DOGMA” was licensed for multiple products, and probably the best, most fitting one was/is the “Buddy Christ Dashboard Statue” manufactured by Graphitti Designs.

This is a VERY popular item on Amazon, and the details page for this item (ASIN B000AP5974) was an Amazon Retail Team listing, meaning that Amazon set it up themselves and controlled access to editing the page.

Until Thursday…

Well, as of 04-14-22 the Amazon details page NO LONGER is for the Graphitti Designs Buddy Christ Dashboard Statue, NOW it is for three different products (paintball guns), all being sold by a Chinese company in Wu Han, China.

Somehow, this China-based company, ZhiErXing, aka WuHanZhiErXingDianZiShangWuYouXianGongSi has changed the following:
BRAND NAME
PRODUCT TITLE
BULLET POINTS
IMAGES
PRODUCT DESCRIPTION

However, you can still find the original “Customer questions & answers” AND “Customer reviews” that still refer to the “Buddy Christ Dashboard statue”, including Buyer provided images.

I even tried the “Fix” found on a previous similar thread on how to Re-Edit the listing, but to no avail.

Now, before anyone asks me about our “Brand Registry” status, we have none, as we are a Retailer, not a Manufacturer, and we are under the impression that we are not able to “Brand Register” a product that is not Trademarked or Registered to US (only). There are MANY Amazon Sellers who offer the exact same products, and we all are supposed to share the same details pages so Buyers can make a choice. It is ridiculous to expect that EVERY Amazon Seller would be able to “Brand Register” items that MANY other Amazon Sellers are also selling on Amazon.

So HOW can Amazon allow ANY company to Brand Register a product without having to first prove that they have the Legal RIGHT to do so?

The rights to this particular item belong to Graphitti Designs, who paid to license them from the original Owner, and those Resale rights pass-along to ALL authorized Sellers of this item IF legally purchased from a Vendor that was solicited to by Graphitti Designs.

No one is legally authorized to usurp the Selling rights of a Trademarked property belonging to someone else. This is simply THEFT, and it is OBVIOUS to anyone with eyes and a brain.

I attempted to contact Amazon about this:
Seller Central
Seller Help - Call Back
Seller Support Team
Amazon case filed
Report a Violation to Amazon

So far, every human being I have reached has been very quick to disengage and tell me that THEY can’t do anything about it, and they pass me along to a different Department (who also cannot help).

It is EXTREMELY frustrating that not only someone can so successfully defeat Amazon security and Product editing systems to be able to HACK an existing Amazon details page and completely alter it, but that Amazon itself does NOT seem to care AT ALL about this is BEYOND BELIEVABLE!

Additionally, this details page NOW offers THREE different products for sale on the SAME PAGE. This is ALSO a violation of Amazon policy…

AND, they also kept Buying every unit I showed in inventory until it read “0”, and there was an HUGE list of Orders / Amazon Cancellation of this item every 15 minutes until it was exhausted. AND WHENEVER I ADDED MORE INVENTORY, A FEW MINUTES LATER IT WAS BACK TO ZERO, ALMOST AS IF THEY HAD CONTROL OVER NOT ONLY THE LISTING, BUT MY OWN INVENTORY PAGE AS WELL!

Clearly, the ONLY reason for someone to do this is to be able to Sell a product on Amazon that does NOT have a legitimate UPC code, so they take-over one for their own products. If the item HAD a UPC code than they could just create a new Amazon page for the item.

This is not only a violation of copyright and trademark U.S. law, but it is ALSO an extreme SAFETY HAZARD! Clearly NONE of these products has a UPS code meaning that ALSO have not passed any Safety Testing of ANY kind! For all anyone knows, the “Paint” could be toxic, or the “Gun” could explode in the shooter’s hand! Considering ALL of the LEGITIMATE U.S. approved toys that have been Deactivated by Amazon simply because they do not have CURRENT Child Safety Test documentation, HOW THE HECK DOES AMAZON TURN A BLIND-EYE TO THIS OBVIOUS SAFETY ISSUE?

Now, add to this fact that the Chinese Company displays only a “10% positive in the last 12 months (42 ratings)” AND a “100%” Negative Feedback in the last 90 days. Isn’t Amazon supposed to PROTECT Buyers from Sellers like this? Isn’t Amazon SUPPOSED to “Suspend” Sellers whose Seller Metrics reach this abysmal level?

So, while this particular ASIN doesn’t directly affect any other Amazon Seller currently except us, the PROBLEM is UNIVERSAL for ALL Amazon Sellers! If this ASIN can be hijacked than ANY ASIN can be hijacked!

If Amazon cannot be bothered to police their own website EVEN when provided documentary evidence to PROVE the problem, than WHERE do we turn? I am honestly thinking that my next step should be the Newspapers and TV news. After all, does Amazon REALLY want the world to know how they allow criminals to perpetrate fraud and theft with ZERO consequences? What would happen to Amazon IF the world REALLY knew how much has been turned-over to poorly-written software AND there was no longer any meaningful Seller help available?

I KNOW that I have read here about this happening many times before, and even happening to Sellers who ARE Trademarked, and even those Manufacture the item in question, and STILL they come here in frustration and agony…

I KNOW this is not a unique problem…

What I NEED to know is, IS THERE A SOLUTION?

HAS ANYONE GOTTEN AMAZON TO FIX THIS SITUATION?

WHO DO I REACH-OUT TO?

IS THERE A HAPPY ENDING IN THE DISTANCE?

HELP, PLEASE!