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IP

Agents in Amazon Brand Registry should tread carefully

December 18, 2020 Leave a Comment

Don’t file IP complaints if your seller account will benefit

By: Lesley Hensell

Third-party sellers who have close relationships with brands may be putting themselves at risk, if they are using Amazon Brand Registry in a way that Amazon doesn’t like, causing them to file an infringement report.

A recent review of Amazon’s Code of Conduct for sellers reveals this tidbit: Filing Infringement Reports as an Agent or Brand Protection Agency

Amazon understands that many brands may choose to have brand protection agencies or agents report intellectual property infringement on their behalf and accepts submissions from authorized agents.

However, Amazon does not permit individuals with active selling accounts to file infringement notices as an agent of a brand when the filing of those notices could benefit their own selling account (through removing competing listings, for example). Any sellers filing notices as an agent to benefit their own status as a seller may have their selling account terminated.

This is one of those easy-to-overlook bits and pieces of policy that can go completely unnoticed. It also attempts to draw a bright line in situations where sellers may be doing absolutely nothing wrong – but Amazon doesn’t care.

 

So what’s going on here?

In some cases, brand owners choose a third-party seller as their preferred reseller on Amazon.com. These brand owners may not want to be involved in the day-to-day mechanics of selling on the platform. They simply want a familiar storefront they trust to be the face of their products on Amazon.

Brand owners have ownership of their Amazon Brand Registry, but they can allow others to act as “agents.” These agents can take actions such as editing listings, uploading photos, and reporting counterfeiters and other infringers.

Amazon has decided that it’s fine to use an agent to report intellectual property violations – such as those for counterfeit, trademark, copyright and patent. But the reporting party cannot be a third-party seller who is also selling on the ASIN in question.

Amazon Brand Registry

 

Wow, that’s confusing

Frankly, this makes little to no sense. Why?

Well, in many cases, brand owners big and small also sell their own products on Amazon.com. They use brand registry to manage their listings and report infringers.

So Amazon has decided that a brand owner who sells on a specific ASIN can report infringers on that ASIN. But third-party sellers who are trusted agents of the brand cannot. In the end, the effect is the exact same.

I can hazard one guess as to this hazy enforcement decision. If a brand files false infringement reports, the brand can lose its selling privileges (if it’s also a third-party seller) or its brand registry privileges. Perhaps Amazon doesn’t have an adequate enforcement mechanism to specifically punish an agent that goes rogue and files false reports.

Yet, if that agent is a third-party seller, wouldn’t it be easy enough to suspend their account? Inquiring minds want to know.

Where do we go from here?

If you represent a brand on Amazon and manage their ABR as an agent, you have a few options:

  1. When you spot infringers on the brand’s listings, report it to the brand. They can report it from there.
  2. Hire an agency or law firm to file your ABR infringement reports. If they are also an agent on ABR, Amazon will not know the genesis of the reports about infringement.
  3. Most importantly, only file genuine infringement reports. ABR is not a cudgel to be used for mass actions against competing sellers. It should only be used to knock others off of listings in true cases of infringement. Do test buys. Research. Inspect the products you receive. Be responsible. Brand Registry is not there to limit competition or distribution. It’s there to keep bad actors off of your listings.

Have questions? Ask Riverbend Consulting or give us a call! 877-289-1017


Lesley Hensell

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 13) who do most of the heavy lifting.

Filed Under: Account Health, Amazon, Amazon Appeal, Amazon seller, Amazon Seller Central, Appeal, Customer Serivce, General, Linked Account, Seller Central, Seller Fulfilled, Seller Performance, Seller Support Tagged With: 3P, ABR, Agent, Amazon, Amazon account, Amazon seller, Amazon Seller Central, Brand registry, Infringement, Intellectual property, IP

Amazon Now Requires Separate Funds Appeal after 90 Days?

March 11, 2020 Leave a Comment

By: Lesley Hensell

In the past, Amazon automatically released the funds for most suspended sellers about 90 days after their account was blocked. That seems to be changing. Now, Amazon is telling suspended 3P sellers they can appeal separately to get their money after 90 days, and a fresh investigation will be launched. This makes it more important than ever for sellers to get their appeals right the first time.

If you’re left with more questions than answers, Riverbend can help. You can contact us here.

Filed Under: 3P, Account Health, Amazon, FBA, Fulfillment, General Tagged With: 3P, 3P seller, Amazon, Amazon FBA, Amazon seller, ASIN, Box, Copyright, Counterfeit, Deactivation, FBA, Fulfillment center, Inbound, Intellectual property violation, Inventory, IP, IP violation, Lost inventory, Patent, PL, Private Label, Product recall, Refunds, Refurbish, Refurbishment, Reimburse, Repackage, Repackaging, Shipment, Trademark, Warehouse

Wrestling with intellectual property violations on Amazon

February 9, 2020 Leave a Comment

Why did you receive this intellectual property violation? What do you do now?

By: Kayleigh Cockerill

No Amazon seller is safe, even those who sell private-label goods. Intellectual property violations can pop up for just about any listing.

You might be thinking, “Amazon is a platform for reselling; how am I violating intellectual property (IP), and why is my ASIN suppressed?  I thought I was protected under the First Sale Doctrine!” 

Unfortunately, the First Sale Doctrine no longer applies on Amazon. The First Sale Doctrine, which is part of U.S. code, states that an “individual who knowingly purchases a copy of a copyrighted work from the copyright holder receives the right to sell, display or otherwise dispose of that particular copy, notwithstanding the interests of the copyright owner.”

But because Amazon owns the platform where products are listed, it is required by law to take down products if rights owners report their intellectual property has been violated. They give the reporting party the benefit of the doubt and leave it to you, the honest, legitimately operating seller, to sort it out. 

What is an intellectual property violation, anyway?

Let’s start by identifying the different types of IP Infringement Amazon recognizes:
  1. Trademark infringement. Trademark is a report against sellers who have listed against another entity’s (possibly another seller’s) brand. There are some common mistakes sellers make that result in complaints for trademark. These include listing a generic product against a branded good, incorrectly list replacement parts using the wrong naming convention, or wrongly using the brand name of another product in your listing’s keywords or description. 
  2. Counterfeit. Counterfeit IP violations occur when a seller is offering an inauthentic product that does not match the good on the product detail page.  This is different from a standard inauthentic complaint a seller would receive from Seller Performance, since the brand owner is directly making the complaint. 
  3. Copyright infringement. These violations can occur for media, such as books or movies. But they can also occur for non-media if the rights owner claims that the listing’s images or text were unlawfully copied. Don’t upload an image to which you don’t have the rights – even if it matches your product 100 percent.
  4. Patent infringement. This is a report on a good that too closely resembles another product for which there is an existing patent. Some sellers may receive patent violations if they sourced a product from China, where many manufacturers have no qualms about using another entity’s design. Even if you purchased the violating inventory in good faith, you can’t sell goods that violate existing patents.  
ntellectual property violations
Are all IP violation reports true?

Look at  Amazon’s page on Infringement Reporting https://www.amazon.com/report/infringement. If you read the third paragraph on this web page, you will see that Amazon does not intend or allow its IP reporting process to be used to enforce distribution agreements. Amazon requires “sellers to only list against detail pages that exactly match their items,” and unless your products are incorrectly matched, you may not have done anything wrong.  

Despite these rules, rights owners frequently report sellers purely to control distribution. Whether you are certain of the problem, or you can’t identify any wrongdoing on your part, many sellers are left to wonder, “what am I to do now?”

How can I get my ASIN reinstated?

When it comes to IP issues, to be considered for reinstatement, Amazon generally wants at least one of the following: 

  1. An invoice from the brand owner/manufacturer – this legitimizes your inventory and your right to sell their goods
  2. A letter of authorization from the brand owner identifying you as a permitted seller of their products
  3. A rights owner retraction

In addition, Amazon typically asks for a Plan of Action explaining why the violation occurred, how you’ve remedied the violation, and how you will prevent similar violations in the future. 

For these kinds of appeals, persistence is key. The team that handles IP complaints oftentimes doesn’t accept even ideal documentation the first time around. Be prepared for a long battle, including multiple responses to the “notice dispute” team, as well as executive escalations.

When you have more questions than answers

Riverbend has widespread experience navigating intellectual property violations.  We often hear our clients say:

  • “I bought my inventory from a reputable seller. I know it’s not counterfeit. How do I prove it?”
  • “The reporting party’s email seems suspicious; this looks more like a competing seller, and I know they won’t retract their complaint. Why does Amazon keep asking me for the same thing?”
  • “The violation is only on my Product Policy Compliance scorecard – I didn’t receive a performance notification or an email notifying me of the person who reported me.  What now?”
  • “What if I don’t want to sell this ASIN anymore? How do I get it off my scorecard and will this violation cause my account to be suspended?”

If you’re left with more questions than answers, Riverbend can help. You can contact us here.

Filed Under: Account Health, Amazon, FBA, Fulfillment, General, Quality Control Tagged With: 3P, 3P seller, Amazon, Amazon FBA, Amazon seller, ASIN, Box, Copyright, Counterfeit, Deactivation, FBA, Fulfillment center, Inbound, Intellectual property violation, Inventory, IP, IP violation, Lost inventory, Patent, PL, Private Label, Product recall, Refunds, Refurbish, Refurbishment, Reimburse, Repackage, Repackaging, Shipment, Trademark, Warehouse

Amazon’s refurbishment services: A recipe for disaster

February 9, 2020 Leave a Comment

Sellers should turn off Amazon’s refurbishment services option ASAP to prevent their sending out adulterated inventory

By: Lesley Hensell

Imagine that you sold a gorgeous designer sweater on Amazon via FBA. Your buyer wore it, spilled wine on it, let their dog take a nap on it, and returned it.

You likely expect an industrious Amazon fulfillment center employee to open the box, be hit with the scents of wine and dog, notice the red splash of color, and throw the sweater into your unfulfillable inventory. Unfortunately, you may be wrong.

cloud of flour

Your inventory is being refurbished, unless you opted out

Amazon’s refurbishment services setting is auto-enabled on all accounts. Unless you turn off the setting, your inventory may be “refurbished” when it is returned to the fulfillment center.

What, exactly, does “refurbished” mean? I’ll let Amazon speak for itself, from the Help Center:

“Depending on the item, FBA can re-tape, re-glue, and re-staple boxes; remove excessive tape, non-product labels, and stickers; and re-box branded and unbranded corrugated boxes. Shoes and apparel refurbishment can include steaming and removing stains and odors.”

Let’s go through these one at a time, shall we?

  1. Re-tape, re-glue and re-staple boxes. Isn’t this a formula for Used Sold as New complaints? Are customers blind – so blind that they won’t notice a box has been cobbled back together after being torn open? 
  2. Remove excessive tape, non-product labels and stickers. At first glance, this seems reasonable. But unlike careful sellers, who use products like Un-Du and Goo Gone, Amazon FC personnel probably scrape stickers off without a lot of concern about damaging product boxes – or products. Again, this seems like a huge risk factor that could result in complaints for Used Sold as New.
  3. Re-box branded and unbranded corrugated boxes. In other words, your branded products can be thrown into generic brown boxes. Then, your customers can think you’re selling them counterfeit products. Awesome.
  4. Steaming and removing stains and odors. This cannot be serious. If an item is stained or smells bad, it is no longer new. Period. End of story. No amount of steaming or stain removal will change that. Most confusing about this step? It certainly doesn’t lead to a great customer experience and will almost certainly create complaints against both 3P sellers and Amazon.

You can no longer escape repackaging

In the past, sellers could choose to opt out of Amazon’s repackaging service for FBA returns. No longer.

“FBA repackages your eligible customer returns so that they can be sold as new. The service applies both to retail and FBA return items, and cannot be disabled in your settings.

Each returned unit is evaluated to determine whether it can be repackaged. Repackaging can include replacing the poly bag or bubble wrapping, or re-boxing the item. It can also include repackaging of branded and unbranded boxes, and poly bags.”

This is deeply troubling. It ensures that customers will receive items they believe have been tampered with, are generic, are inauthentic, or are used. And now, thanks to Amazon, there is absolutely no way to turn it off.

Your best strategy? Manage your returns.

Let’s face it – the FBA crew does a lousy job at deciding whether an item should go back until fulfillable. And now, with required repackaging, there’s no way for a seller to know if a returned item has been resold in a condition that would make customers unhappy.

Here are some strategies sellers can use to try and mitigate the damage:

  • If you have a small quantity in stock or are nearing the end of your “lot” of inventory, pay attention to repetitive returns for the same ASIN. This could indicate that the same bad-quality item is being resold again and again. At that point, it’s definitely worth recalling your remaining inventory for inspection. Remember, every return is a huge blow to your overall profitability.
  • Monitor your feedback, customer comments and product reviews (if applicable) for quality complaints that could be related to repackaging or re-sold returns. Key words might be plain box, generic box, no tags, dirty, worn, used, loose in the box, etc. Again, if this happens repetitively, you may need to remove your inventory for inspection.

If you have questions about Amazon’s refurbishment services or their repackaging, give Riverbend Consulting a call! 877-289-1017

Filed Under: Account Health, Amazon, FBA, Fulfillment, General, Quality Control Tagged With: 3P, 3P seller, Amazon, Amazon FBA, Amazon seller, ASIN, Box, Counterfeit, Deactivation, FBA, Fulfillment center, Inbound, Inventory, IP, Lost inventory, PL, Private Label, Product recall, Refunds, Refurbish, Refurbishment, Reimburse, Repackage, Repackaging, Shipment, Warehouse

Huge ABH Pharma recall snafu leads Amazon to take down wrong supplement ASINs

February 7, 2020 Leave a Comment

PL sellers who once used ABH Pharma to manufacture their items see whole catalog deactivated

By: Lesley Hensell

A massive pharma recall in the supplements category has essentially put many Amazon third-party sellers out of business – even though their products should never have been subject to the recall.
ABH Pharma is a contract manufacturer that has worked with hundreds of private-label supplements brands in the past several years. Unfortunately, the company violated good manufacturing practices regulations, resulting in the recall of dietary supplements they created over the last six years.
The consent decree information released by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was sparse. Instead of the typical level of detail such as lot numbers, dates and specific products affected by the recall, only a list of brands was provided.
That’s where the trouble started. Last week, Amazon began suspending some or all ASINs belonging to the brands listed by the FDA. But in some cases, these products were completely unrelated to the recall. In fact, for our clients, the vast majority – or entirety – of ASINs suspended for the recall were never manufactured by ABH Pharma.
The situation is much more dire for these sellers than simply having suspended ASINs. Amazon has sent out emails to customers who ever purchased any of these sellers’ brands, telling them the products were recalled (even if they were not) and offering refunds. Some sellers have already seen automatic refunds topping a half-million dollars.
pharma recall

The problems go even deeper.

Inventory has been thrown into stranded status. And Amazon is sometimes insisting inventory be recalled for inspection – though it seems impossible to actually place the removal order in some cases.
The path to solving this issue is crooked and different for each seller. Multiple Amazon departments are involved, from Recalls and Legal to Seller Support and Credit Ops. There is no simple appeal letter to Seller Performance. There is no common sense being applied internally at Amazon.
If you need help with recalls related to ABH, please contact us here. Or call us 877-289-1017. Don’t wait. It could take some time to solve all of the issues related to this gargantuan Amazon error, including bad reviews, damaged brand reputation and more.

Filed Under: 3P, Account Health, Amazon, General, Private Label Tagged With: ABH Pharma, Amazon, Amazon FBA, Amazon seller, ASIN, Box, Deactivation, FBA, FDA, Fulfillment center, IP, PL, Private Label, Product recall, Refunds, Reimburse, Shipment, Supplements, Warehouse

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