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Last updated on June 5th, 2023
Written by Mohamed Aden
If you're a seller on Amazon, you've probably encountered counterfeiters and hijackers. They’re a massive headache to sellers like you, plus you often have to compete with them for the Buy Box. You’ll know more about the importance of the Buy Box as we go along this post.
Protecting your brand is of the utmost importance when dealing with black hat behavior. Perhaps the thought of how to protect your brand might have crossed your mind. Fret not because Amazon has created a protection plan for you. Amazon's brand protection program will help you protect your brand from counterfeiters and hijackers.
To learn more about the Amazon protection plan, keep reading.
Amazon counterfeiters are sellers who copy your product and sell them as their own. They would purchase your product and copy the branding, the packaging, the product design, and ship it to Amazon to be sold in the same listing for a lower price.
For example, a counterfeiter will buy new Nike Air shoes and manufacture it on their own. They will keep Nike's brand logo on the shoes and sell them as original Nike Air shoes.
An Amazon hijacker is a seller or distributor who offers the same product as private label sellers but at a lower price. They can be sellers who bought your product at a discounted price or manufactures and counterfeiters who sell the same product.
When your listing has been hijacked, this means another seller copied your product and sells the same version of it. Think about all the hard work you did to research your winning product. You spent time inquiring about the best manufacturers, designing your packaging, and advertising your product to find out that some sellers latched onto your success.
These hijackers are piggybacking off of your investment, hard work, and sales! Besides that, you now have to work hard to compete with these hijackers to earn the Buy Box spot.
Hijackers and counterfeiters are sellers who use your product listing instead of creating their own to undercut your price and steal the Buy Box from you. The Buy Box is automatically given by Amazon to one default seller of a product.
The Buy Box is the small box to the right of the screen that makes the check-out process easy for Amazon's customers. The one with the Buy Box usually has the best price and a larger amount of sales.
Every time a customer clicks the “Add to Cart” button, the one who owns the Buy Box will get the sale - unless the buyer specified the seller. Usually, sellers of the same product have to compete for the spot, but hijackers will steal your listing and sell a similar or counterfeit product of your listing.
Below are 5 tips on how you can protect your brand on Amazon.
When you enroll your brand with Amazon Brand Registry, it will help your brand’s product listings and give you the power to have complete control of your brand. This system eliminates fake products and only allows the registered brand to own the Amazon Buy Box.
You'll also be given access to a ton of marketing and counterfeit tools such as Amazon Transparency and Amazon Project Zero.
The Amazon Brand Protection Program uses expert protection and advice from experts to help you protect your brand from counterfeiters and hijackers. Seller Interactive offers its own brand protection program where they detect unscrupulous behavior and inform you of the steps you have to take to protect you. We’ll talk about this in-depth in a minute as we discuss the specifics of their program below.
A hijacker will less likely copy your brand if your logo and brand are clearly marked in your product photos. Retake your product photos if necessary so- your brand can easily be seen. For example, if you're selling a beauty product, make sure the brand name and logo are placed in the top-level of the picture.
You can also consider bundling your products. This will make it harder for the hijacker to piggyback on your sales since they have to find another product to add to the current product listing. For example, you are selling yoga clothes. You can add a yoga mat to the bundle.
Once you have activated your hijacker alert or noticed a hijacker in your listing, you can send them an email telling them to remove their product. If not, you can email Amazon, and they will talk to them for you. If the hijacker ignores or resists your request, you can message them that you may take legal action against them.
Amazon Transparency is a program that gives sellers unique barcodes that they put in their products to authenticate them. To use this process, the seller will enroll their products in Transparency, apply the transparency codes on the product, Amazon will scan the transparency codes, and the customers can use their Transparency apps to see the authenticity of the units.
An Amazon protection plan can help protect you from Amazon hijackers and counterfeiters. There are tons of shady sellers doing black hat practices that threaten honest sellers like you. By entering your brand into the Amazon Brand Protection Program, you can use their services to secure your brand from threats.
The benefits of getting their services are the following:
For anyone who isn't an expert on the field, a hijacker or counterfeiter can easily be missed. But with their trained and expert team, they can easily see hijackers and counterfeiters. They do leave a tell-tale sign of their activities that makes it easy for experts to hone in on. They'll spot the presence of this improper behavior long before they can do any damage to your business.
Their ability to quickly detect these Amazon hijackers and counterfeiters is backed by an approved standard to apprehend them. Their measures are in accordance with Amazon's guidelines. Hence, you won't have to worry about burned bridges when they detect and talk to these sellers. They are also quick to respond to avoid any damages to your brand.
With their years of experience on Amazon, the team is knowledgeable about Amazon's rules and regulations. They will carry out their task of protecting you as well as adhering to Amazon's rules. They will be your first line of defence, ensuring that your brand is well-protected. You can also count on them to do the best they can with their work and give 5- star services.
Dealing with hijackers and product counterfeiters is a severe and unfortunate problem when selling on Amazon. There will always be people who will feed on your hard work and success; however, instead of focusing your energy on these people, try to direct it in the growth of your business.
Follow the steps we have listed above to help you combat these sellers, and continue to grow your brand. Better yet, enroll at our Amazon Brand Protection Program. We'll be the one to do all the work for you!
If you focus your energy on building and gaining knowledge to scale your brand, you will indeed surpass your hijackers. By taking part in Seller Interactive's Amazon Brand Protection Program, you are on the right path to knock down these unscrupulous sellers.
If you want to know more about the Amazon Brand Protection Program and its other benefits, we have a fantastic team of expert consultants that you may call. For inquiries, email [email protected].
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