Potential account deactivation most likely caused by brand owners, Advice needed.
Here's the email:
Why is this happening?
We have taken these measures because we believe that your account is offering items that are unsuitable and may have been used to engage in deceptive or illegal activity that harms our customers, other selling partners, and our store. Our unsuitable inventory policy can be found here: https://sellercentral.amazon.com/help/hub/reference/GH4YYXNDRW9BSZEN.
How do I verify my identity and inventory supply chain?
To complete your identity and supply chain verification for your inventory you need to complete virtual identity and supply chain verification over a video interview.
- We are not new sellers. We purchase all legitimate, authentic items with genuine serial numbers and transparency codes on every single one of our items.
- They are ALL purchased directly from the Brands Authorized distributors (we have invoices.)
- Before we list the product, we went through the whole brand approval thing Amazon makes sellers do, which we followed by sending them invoices from the authorized distributor and sometimes even sending them the serial numbers of a handful of our products. All have been approved to be sold on Amazon.
- Despite the initial brand approval being approved by Amazon, we still received this email - stating that if we do not follow the links, they will deactivate our account in the next 2 weeks.
- Not sure if it matters, but our Product Policy Compliance is healthy, anytime we receive any violation for brands, we dispute it and it gets fixed.
- Lately, we have been receiving a ton of messages from "buyers" which have been actually, big name brand owners telling us we are not following their MAP (Pricing) policy. After speaking to several legal councils, we've learned that because we never signed any contract or anything with any brand to maintain MAP, we are allowed to continue selling the items at the price listed. Of course, we work with them and try to meet in the middle, but I fear this entire issue may have been caused by brands as it feels it isnt a coincidence the increase in brands reaching out daily on Amazon to fix our pricing and now this. We even had a brand owner email us saying he bought one of our items in order to "see if its really authentic or not" after initially, going back and forth on how our pricing on their item is "far too low". After we stated that we never signed any contract with them, they resulted in using an "authenticity" threat towards us. Keep in mind, this is NOT Amazon policy pinging us for the items being unfairly low, this is just random buyers messaging us on Amazon telling us we NEED to change the pricing.
- Last note - I want to emphasize that we have never dropshipped ANYTHING. We ship everything directly out of our warehouse and have everything in stock, as show on listings, inside our warehouse. We've never dropshipped or have done anything of that sort.
- We do not have more than one account or anything like that. This is our only account.
So my question is - is this a new thing now with Amazon, are we witnessing Amazon change the rules? Are proof of invoices from authorized distributors (again, these are genuine distributors that are authorized with the brand to sell their items to us) no longer enough? Does it now have to be DIRECTLY by the brand or at the very least, written approval by the brands? I ask this because after searching far and wide on these forums, it seems some folks are being denied completely after providing invoices from the authorized distributors.
I know Apple products are one of those cases - you simply cannot sell Apple unless you are either Amazon themselves or Apple. But these other brands have never been an issue to sell - as again, they are purchased directly from authorized distributors for these brands. Typically, if a brand does not want sellers to sell their item, they have contracts with their authorized distributors to ONLY SELL to authorized resellers. IE: Apple - authorized distributors who sell Apple products can only sell to those (very few) authorized Apple resellers.
If the brands aren't the issue, then I am at a loss as to how we got here.
" We have taken these measures because we believe that your account is offering items that are unsuitable and may have been used to engage in deceptive or illegal activity that harms our customers, other selling partners, and our store. " This just sounds terrible. We've followed every rule on Amazon and aren't some overseas drop shipping company. We're a small family owned business in Florida, we have our own little warehouse and everything is done legally and genuinely. Our items are electronics - they aren't harmful or have some sort of hidden fraud scheme going on.
Any advice will be appreciated. Mods please engage.
Seller_4zBzdtgCyS9EI
I just posted about this not long ago...
There is a LOT out there about yay or nay when it comes to needing a LOA. Plays right along with RA and "first-sale doctrine"
Lot's of confused people here when it comes to Amazon's yay or nay's!
Do you need a LOA (Brand's letter of authorization for you to sell their brand on Amazon) to list a product?
No, according to Amazon "in writing", you just need an authorized distributor invoice showing you purchased 10 items of the same product to get approved to sell most brands
You most often don't even need that, to just list many other products.
So why would I need a LOA? Because as soon as there is a complaint, from a buyer or competitor, claiming your item is not authentic,
Amazon will now request and demand....your LOA!
Amazon "assumes" you are authorized to sell the product, but they don't ask. They actually don't mind you to sell however you can and pay your fees, but will throw you under the next passing bus, at the first sign of trouble.
That means without LOA and proper distributor invoice, your account will remain suspended for selling "counterfeits", any sales proceeds in your account will be confiscated and any products you have at FBA and cannot produce these documents for, will be destroyed as counterfeit.
First-sale doctrine is meaningless on Amazon, as you cannot proof the product is authentic without the manufacturer being able to follow the supply chain. (People do not read that doctrine as it was intended, but rather as they want to read it.)
That supply chain ended, when you purchased it at retail. The manufacturer lost all control over the product at THAT POINT, the sale to you, the END CONSUMER.
That means all warranties and product backing also ends with you, holder of the receipt (not an invoice!!), and your product cannot be resold as new, as it now lacks that FULL warranty and backing.
First-sale doctrine allows you to resell anything you buy, (and applies to media anyways) but it does not state you can resell it in new condition, even if there is no warranty or less warranty time left. First-sale doctrine also does not discuss authenticity issues.
Seller_LVZcgxAgZ2xBv
Sorry to hear about this. Sounds like you did everything right (including Transparency labels!) and the core dispute is really between the brand and the distributors you are using. The brands can't get MAP satisfaction through that route, so they turn to Amazon to come down on you.
(I had a longer reply but can't post it because of "This post contains inappropriate language" - no clue as to what offended Amazon's bots, so I am sharing on LinkedIn instead.)
Webb_Amazon
Hello @Seller_N9NlLGhL5MmT4,
I understand you have been having issues with a Responsible Sourcing documentation request. Based on my observations from your post, I want to provide you with a sense of direction moving forward.
"They are ALL purchased directly from the Brands Authorized distributors (we have invoices.)"
"Does it now have to be DIRECTLY by the brand or at the very least, written approval by the brands?"
Invoices from brand authorized distributors help Amazon determine your business relationship with your source of products. They do not convey any implicit transfer of Intellectual Property authorization or rights. Letters of Authorization can only come directly from the Rights Owner.
Intellectual Property Policy for Sellers
Sellers are expected to follow the law. Amazon takes claims of IP infringement seriously. Even if a seller is infringing IP without knowledge, we will still take action and the seller’s account might receive a warning or be suspended. You should consult an attorney for help to ensure that you have the right procedures in place to prevent IP infringement.
Responsible Sourcing documentation request requirements
Your documents should be able to trace your products to the original manufacturer even if you did not purchase them directly from the original manufacturer. This may require requesting additional invoices or supply chain documentation from your supplier if you are not sourcing directly from the manufacturer.
I hope my response is beneficial towards your business.
The forums community and I are here to support you. Please let us know how we can help you from this point forward.
Regards,
Webb
