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Ungating, platform manipulation and black hats – oh my!

April 19, 2021 Leave a Comment

Amazon sellers beware. People will lie to get into your pockets – and destroy your Amazon account in the process.

By: Lesley Hensell

Every week, we meet new clients whose Amazon seller accounts were suspended for some form of platform manipulation, review manipulation, Code of Conduct violations or forged/manipulated documents and utilizing ungating services.

In many cases, these suspensions happened because of service providers who claim their offerings comply with Amazon’s Business Solutions agreement.

Clearly, they do not.

It is a sad reality of the Amazon Seller space:

High-quality consultants and software tools
Functional consultants and software tools
Charlatans who take money under false pretenses and put sellers’ accounts at risk

In the charlatan category, three examples of risky propositions come immediately to mind:

Ungating services
Tools designed to drive reviews or boost best-seller rank (BSR)
Black hats who pay bribes to Amazon employees or attack competitors unlawfully

Ungating services: A web of lies and fake documents

An ungating service recently admitted the truth. Hundreds of its customers were suspended by Amazon.

A client came to Riverbend Consulting with a daunting suspension.

Amazon deactivated their seller account for forged or manipulated documents after they hired an ungating service. The service boasts on its web site that all of its documents are authentic and can be verified by Amazon.

Sadly, that is a lie.

Ungating services typically falsify invoices and submit them on behalf of the seller.

To understand why, it helps to know how ungating services work:

Seller gives the ungating service a third-party login to their account
Ungating service creates an application for the gated category, brand or ASIN
The ungating service magically obtains the exact invoices needed by the seller for approval by Amazon
The ungating service submits these documents to Amazon, which may be fooled into approving the application or may detect that the documents are fake

Why do I assume that the documents are fake?

Simple.

Amazon wants invoices that demonstrate a true, completed transaction between the seller and their supplier.

When sellers use an ungating service, no such transaction has taken place. The ungating service is either creating or obtaining false documentation. Perhaps they are altering real invoices. Or, perhaps they have cultivated employees at supplier companies.

They may pay bribes for false invoices, as well as to answer the phone and confirm to Amazon that the invoices are real.

Whatever method they use, this behavior is both unethical and against Amazon’s Business Solutions Agreement.

It can result in immediate account suspension or a permanent block.

Worst of all, this particular ungating service used a generic gmail address for the third-party login on each and every seller account. This puts every past client of theirs at risk of suspension.

Amazon Seller performance can easily perform a search for accounts with that login email address and reasonably assume that the ungating service submitted false documentation.

As the service admitted to our client on a chat, hundreds of their clients’ accounts went down. That didn’t prompt them to take down their web site or stop selling their scam service to new customers.

Platform manipulation: From rebates to chatbots, giveaways and more

Amazon has been cracking down on all forms of platform manipulation. Several software vendors have stepped into this unsavory space.

They “help” sellers improve their Best Seller Rank (BSR) or gain reviews by:

Featuring products on “deal” web sites, which link to Amazon. Buyers can get products at steep discounts. This boots sales volume inorganically.
Using chat bots to offer free products or refunds after a review is posted.
Providing refunds to buyers who purchase products, so they essentially become free after-the-fact.

It takes a little interpretation to understand the big picture from Seller Performance’s viewpoint.

Here are statements in the Help on Seller Central.

“The following are examples of prohibited activities. This is not an all-inclusive list:

A seller offers a third party a financial reward, discount, or other compensation in exchange for a review on their product or their competitor’s product. This includes services that sell customer reviews and websites or social media groups with implicit or explicit agreements or expectations that an incentive is contingent on customers leaving a review.
A seller offers to provide a refund or reimbursement after the buyer writes a review (including reimbursement via a non-Amazon payment method).”

Amazon considers all of these strategies to be inducements to write positive reviews and/or an inorganic way of boosting BSR.

Also, note that Amazon’s rules don’t say you cannot ask for a “positive” review. They just say “review.”

The argument people make about things like discount sites and rebate services is that there is no request for a review.

***Note the first bullet above, which says “implicit or explicit.” Services like rebates and deal sites are used either to boost reviews or boost BSR – artificially. This fulfills the “implicit” requirement.

Seller Performance will never assume that a seller was wanting to give away some free product out of the goodness of their heart. They know these strategies are intended to increase positive reviews or BSR, and they act accordingly.

And let’s not forget the U.S. Fair Trade Commission. Amazon MUST legally act when they find abuse of their platform, regardless of how or where the seller manipulated reviews or BSR.

The hucksters that sell these services will claim that nobody gets suspended for using rebates, launch services and discount sites. That is simply not true. Riverbend Consulting has worked on hundreds of platform manipulation suspensions because sellers were using these and similar tools.

Some scammers even claim that Amazon has “approved” their services, which is something that Amazon would simply never, ever do from a Risk Management perspective.

Black hats: Bribery, extortion and evil activities

There are two kinds of black hats in the Amazon ecosystem:

Those who bribe Amazon employees so that their “client” has a positive result. Bribes are paid for account reinstatement, ASIN reinstatement, account notations, ungating, and more.
Those who bribe Amazon employees or work with overseas click farms to hurt the competition. This includes modifying competitors’ ASIN detail pages with pornographic images, offensive descriptions or prohibited words. False reviews, fake upvotes, false orders that are returned, extortion … the possibilities are endless.

In both cases, using a black hat services can result in countless bad outcomes for sellers:

Loss of selling privileges
Lawsuits
Criminal charges
Civil charges filed by government agencies

Currently, several black hat “consultants” are scheduled for federal trial in January 2022 for bribery, fraud, extortion and a host of other charges that could well fall under a RICO designation.

Unfortunately for sellers, these “consultants” are still operating their businesses and putting their clients at risk.

Several sellers have signed up with Riverbend for help with suspended accounts:

One seller believes her suspension “consultant” paid a bribe to get her 3P account reinstated two years ago. (She did not ask for this bribe to be paid. The consultant proudly publicized fast results getting the account reinstated to an online audience.) After her consultant was indicted, the seller’s 3P and 1P accounts were suspended for Code of Conduct violations.
One seller paid this same “consultant” to help him get ungated – with fake invoices – for topicals. This seller also was suspended for Code of Conduct violations. The suspension notice specifically request information about the seller’s relationships with the indicted parties.
Other clients have been the victim of extortion by indicted parties – right now. The unlawful behavior has not stopped.

How can sellers avoid being caught up in this terrible net?

Be aware of arrests and indictments in the industry. You wouldn’t hire an accountant who was charged with tax fraud. It’s too risky to hire an Amazon consultant who was charged with bribery and wire fraud. Even if you think these parties are innocent (a difficult ask after reading the detailed indictment), Amazon clearly believes they are guilty. Being aligned with them puts your account at risk.
Never work with a consultant who offers to obtain Amazon’s internal account notations. This is illegal.
Never work with a consultant who explicitly or implicitly speaks of bribing Amazon employees.
Avoid any schemes to interfere with your competitors. Using overseas operations in China, Russia and Eastern Europe doesn’t make these actions any less illegal. And yes, ultimately, they can still be traced.

Save your money. Save your account. Avoid these risky services.

If you need assistance on a black hat situation give Riverbend Consulting a call 877-289-1017. A member of our team will be happy to help!

Lesley is co-founder and co-owner of Riverbend Consulting, where she oversees the firm’s client services team. She has personally helped hundreds of third-party sellers get their accounts and ASINs back up and running. Lesley leverages two decades as a small business consultant to advise clients on profitability and operational performance. She has been an Amazon seller for almost a decade, thanks to her boys (18 and 12) who do most of the heavy lifting.

How to navigate through Amazon using design and utility patents

April 9, 2021 Leave a Comment

Design Patent VS Utility Patent

By: Kayla Forrest

Amazon allows a Rights Owner to report trademark, patent, and copyright infringement. As well as counterfeit. Once reported for infringement it can be difficult to get Amazon to see anything other than the Rights Owner’s side.

That can especially be hard with patent infringements.

The types of patents:

A patent protects an invention, but there are different types of patents.

A design patent protects how an invention looks.

How an invention works is protected by a utility patent.

With a design patent, another party cannot copy the look of the item. While the overall function cannot be copied if a utility patent has been registered.

Both patents can be filed for a single invention.

Steps taken when applying for a patent:

Certain steps must be taken, and specific information should be submitted when applying for a patent.

First patent searches must be done. An invention cannot be patented if another patent already exists.

Although many things can make an invention stand out. “Claims” can be added to the patent details that point out the distinctive subject matter for the invention. The “claims” must go into enough detail that the invention could be readily reproduced.

Pictures, sketches, texts are needed when attempting to register. This also applies more to the design, but it is also used for utility.

When acquiring a design patent, the invention must be useful and functional. Art cannot be patented (that’s copyright).

When a patent has fully registered the term for a design patent is 15 years and a utility patent is 20.

Amazon and patents:

Each patent is handled differently when infringement is reported and when the Seller appeals.

When patent infringement is reported Amazon must look to ensure the patent registration is still valid. If the patent is still valid Amazon may move forward in its investigation. From there a design patent is compared to the reported ASIN. If the items could easily be confused for each other then the ASIN will be taken down.

Utility patents are very different. Because appearance does not matter with utility and there is not a way to test functionality, Amazon is legally required to take the side of the Rights Owner. The ASIN will be taken down.

Please know that Amazon does work with a legal team so that they can understand intellectual property and infringement.

Amazon attempts to work on these issues with what they feel is going to be best for buyers and Rights Owners.

Appealing different types of patent infringements:

Appealing to these types of infringement can be frustrating.

With utility patents, it is more difficult. It is best to try to work with the Rights Owner so that the claim can be removed. Admitting fault or showing that the product’s operating differently is a good route. Keep in mind that a Right Owner might not be willing to retract.

If Amazon must be contacted in order to appeal there may be some roadblocks. It must be proven to Amazon that an error occurred.

When working with Amazon they will be more hesitant to hear the rebuttal. It takes good, solid information to appeal to that issue.

Design patents on the other hand can be appealed by showing Amazon the exact differences between the product and the patent. If it can be proven that the items look different then the enforcement was invalid. The different patent types must be approached differently. Keeping the strategies separate is going help resolve these issues more effectively.

***Always try to reach out to the Rights Owner first when attempting to appeal for any intellectual property infringement claim. Getting a retraction is the best way to get reinstatement. ***

If you have any questions about patents or appealing infringements give Riverbend Consulting a call 877-289-1017 and a member of our team will be happy to assist you.

Kayla focuses on appeals for Amazon account and ASIN reinstatements. Kayla has 4 years of Amazon experience where she worked in Seller Support and as an Investigation Specialist. In those roles, Kayla dealt with escalations and focused on FBA, intellectual property rights, as well as brand and product gating. When not helping clients save their Amazon accounts, Kayla can be found gardening or cooking with her two children and husband.

Developing the correct barcodes for Amazon inventory

April 5, 2021 Leave a Comment

What does it mean when your inventory is Un-commingled, Stickered, has Amazon barcodes, or FNSKUs?

By: Alex Landry

When creating a shipment to send inventory in for FBA, you will have to choose what kind of labeling you would like for your items.

You have two options. Either use the UPC/EAN or other Manufacturer Barcode, or apply Amazon labels.

Use of Amazon labels generates an FNSKU for your listing, which must be placed on each item as a sticker with a barcode. The inventory is now considered stickered and will be un-commingled.

This means the items will belong only to your account, and will not be shared between accounts selling the same items. When a buyer purchases an item from a listing, an item supplied by the business with an FNSKU will be sent to them.

How to tell the difference between FNSKU and ASIN:

FNSKUs can be identified because they start with an X.
ASINs will start with a B.

What determines an item to be called commingled, sticker-less, or a manufactured barcode?

Conversely, items without these labels might be called commingled, sticker-less, or manufacturer barcoded. Instead of FNSKUs, they will show the ASIN on your FBA inventory page.

Sticker-less, or commingled items can be shared between seller accounts that list the same ASIN. In practice, this means that all units of the same ASIN sent in by different sellers are kept in the same pool.

Potential reasons you could get hit with a warning:

A buyer who chooses your listing may not get one of the items you sent in. Resulting in a removal order may not return your original items to you.

It also means you could be hit with a warning for an inauthentic or infringing product for example – even if the unit that was problematic was supplied by another seller.

All listings start as sticker-less when you create them. The best time to convert is when you first send inventory in for FBA. You shouldn’t convert a listing that you’ve already used for sticker-less items, as this can cause issues.

Also, once a listing is stickered, you will not be able to change it back to sticker-less.

Don’t hesitate to ask for help:

If you would ever like to change the labeling preference for an item, we recommend you start by creating a new listing.

This help page is a good place to start for more information about FBA labeling requirements.

If you have more questions about the pros and cons of stickered vs. sticker-less, reach out to a member of our team at Riverbend, we are happy to help!

Alex joined Riverbend following experience across several Amazon departments. He served as an associate in Seller Support before taking on a team leader role in software testing and training development. He finished out his Amazon career in content creator support for the Merch program. A true enthusiast, Alex has constantly changing hobbies. Currently, he is building and playing musical instrument such as electric guitars.

Navigating through confusing expiration violations

March 26, 2021 Leave a Comment

Tips and tricks to avoid a Expiration Violation

By: Angela Fleming

Amazon takes expiration violation concerns very seriously. Violations can be confusing to navigate through. The policies are hard to understand. Avoiding these violations is doable when following these tips and tricks.

A lot of products have a ‘Best Buy’ date, ‘Expiration Date’ or ‘Manufacturing Date’. Expiration dates can easily confuse a customer by the way they are written. In result, create an expiration violation in your account for these issues.

For example, a customer might receive a unit with a manufacturing date stating 3/3/20 but the product does not expire until 3/3/21. When a customer reads this date, it causes confusion.

Even though it is only a manufacturing date, it can appear to look like the expiration date and result in a expiration violation.

This can also be confusing navigating through which date it is and how to track them in general, for everyone.

Included are tips and tricks that help immensely while dealing with expiration violations.

What are Amazon’s policies for expiration dates?

Amazon goes off a general shelf date policy that depends on the product and product category.

For example, chips and snacks can have a shelf life of 90-180 days. Beauty products can have a shelf life of 900 – 1,825 days. It is extremely important to follow the expiration date policies because even if that product does not have a date on it.

If it can expire- it needs a date.

Amazon does require extra time on top of these dates to ensure each customer has plenty of time to use the product before it expires.

Please refer to the help pages below for reference:

Expiration dates on FBA products

Expiration dates on seller-fulfilled products

Labeling expiration dates on products – this extra step will help in the long run!

Expiration dates are easily confusing. Labeling the expiration date on your products for not only your reference but your customer can be a lifesaver.

This is an Amazon requirement for any products that has an expiration date. The requirement is either unknown by a lot of us or simply missed.

Please note, the dates should not obstruct any other date on the product.

Labeling products in MM/DD/YYYY format is the easiest for customers to understand.

Information on expiration violations are included in the help pages above for reference.

How do we track these dates?

Being detail oriented is the best way to avoid expiration violations. Organize regarding tracking every expiration date for products. This will avoid a headache in the future.

An easy way to do this would be to create a spreadsheet. Utilize something such as excel to track these dates using a first-in-first out method. This will ensure that expired or close to being expired products are not being sent to customers and resulting in a violation on your account.

Another great tip is to take a picture of the product. Invoice together showing the dates on the product and the invoice.

This will be a tool for reference and can be submitted to Amazon if a violation does occur.

In Conclusion

When selling products that do have expiration dates, it is extremely important to be detail oriented as well as organized.

No one is perfect. Mistakes will be made, taking precautions will help avoid expiration violations.

Hopefully these tips and tricks help to better understand these policies and make expiration concerns easily navigated in the future.

Have questions about expiration violations? Contact Riverbend Consulting or give us a call, (877) 289-1017. Our team will be more than happy to help!

Angela was with Amazon for 4 yeas as part of Seller Support with the Specialty team working with Amazon Fresh, Amazon Handmade and Amazon Home Services. She helped sellers through the application process and account management once they were up and running. Angela was also a vetting specialist to ensure that only the best and most qualified sellers were approved to move forward and sell in the specialty categories. They were high touch candidates who frequently reached out and she provided excellent customer service all the way up to handling Jeff Bezos escalations. In her free time, she enjoys books. playing with her dog Tellar and crafting.

Having the key factor such as capital can grow your business daily.

March 19, 2021 Leave a Comment

Financing the growth of your Amazon business with one key factor-capital

Guest blog written by: Yardline Capital

As an Amazon seller, you probably think about ways you can grow your business every day. And as endless as those opportunities might be, they typically come back to one key factor – capital.

For early stage businesses, capital can be just what you need to turn your side hustle business into a full-time opportunity. For more established businesses, extra capital can unlock opportunities to invest in taking on additional inventory, increasing your marketing budget, or taking on additional staff to handle issues like customer service or fulfillment.

Regardless of which opportunity (or opportunities) you pursue, you likely have equal number of options in terms of financing that growth. One of the biggest decisions you may need to make, particularly as it relates to an early-stage company, is whether you’re willing to give up equity, or ownership. Equity financing involves taking on additional investors who will own a portion of your business, in exchange
for financing you need to pursue new opportunities.

Here are some things to consider when weighing equity financing:

– For early-stage companies, equity financing might be a good option to get to scale quicker, not only through the financing that the investor(s) can offer, but also through the expertise and experience they may offer from operating a business already at scale.

– Equity financing also can help align your company’s interests with your shareholder’s interests. Your shareholders will only see a return on their investment should your business scale and become profitable.

– On the other hand, a potential downside to this type of financing is the fact that you’ll need to give up ownership in return. For some business owners, this may be a viable option as the future of the company – and its ability to become profitable – is not certain. For many others, however, shared ownership of the company means shared decision making across many key functions of your business. And depending on how much equity is given up, this shared decision making model could prove challenging as the company matures.

An alternative to equity financing is often called “revenue-share” or “revenue-based” financing. Companies like Yardline Capital offer this as an alternative to equity financing and refer to it as “growth capital”.

The simple way this often works is as follows: in exchange for an upfront infusion of capital to the business, the borrower will make automatic repayments based on a fixed portion of their sales.

When sales are up, the company will pay back a larger amount on a dollar-for-dollar basis.

When sales are down, repayment amounts will be lower.

Here is a typical scenario of how this type of financing can help your business:

If you’re a profitable Amazon business and have a comfortable margin after COGS, marketing, platform fees, and other expenses like payroll, look at taking on some growth capital, without giving up a stake in your business.

With some additional funding in hand, now you’re in a position to invest incrementally in areas like inventory and marketing. And, if you assume demand for your product is virtually unlimited, you’ll now be able to order in larger quantities, becoming more efficient on a unit cost basis. Bigger investments in inventory and marketing can result in higher monthly incremental revenues –exponentially.

The faster you grow, the more velocity you have on platforms like Amazon or your website, the higher your listings become. Remember, there is no cap on how big your business can be!

There are lots of available financing options for sellers today – from the more traditional like credit cards, lines of credit or even loans from friends or family members, to the ones we’ve discussed today.

Whatever option you choose, be sure and do research on all your available options, the costs associated with each and the expected returns you wish to see from the incremental investment.

This post was provided by Yardline Capital, a Riverbend Consulting partner and provider of growth capital to sellers across any marketplace or platform. For more information about Yardline, click here!