Listing blocked by Amazon - Other seller reported as infringed product
Hello, I have been selling for a year on different platforms but just started on Amazon with the same products I sell. There are a lot of sellers selling the same products so I decided to use buybox and listed a few products not knowing those sellers are trademarked. To my surprise, I won the buybox and sold 5 items within hours but this morning 2 of my listings were blocked by amazon because both sellers have reported them as infringed products and now amazon wants an explanation. Just to be on the safe side, I closed all my listings for now.
Amazon now wants – An invoice, letter of authorization, or a licensing agreement from the manufacturer or rights owner demonstrating that your products are lawful.
What are my options in this situation?
I source the products from China so do I need to provide amazon with invoices etc?
Do I need other seller’s permission for buybox?
Should I ship paid orders?
Can the other seller sue me?
Should I be worried if I don’t want to sell on this listing anymore?
Is it best to get a GTIN for my product and create a new listing?
Any help will be appreciated 
Seller_7VbclcPFFRTnc
thats the issue unfortunately - when listing an item for sale, you need to make sure it matches exactly - including the EAN and Brand Name
14 replies
Seller_7VbclcPFFRTnc
Were you items the exact same brand as on the listing ?
Seller_Nci7G1KO8VX7N
I don’t have a brand name yet so no but the same product is sold by many sellers under their brand name.
Seller_7VbclcPFFRTnc
thats the issue unfortunately - when listing an item for sale, you need to make sure it matches exactly - including the EAN and Brand Name
Seller_Nci7G1KO8VX7N
Is there an easy way to find out if any other seller selling the same product is not branded so I can list mine under theirs?
Seller_7VbclcPFFRTnc
firstly you check the EAN on the product itself and go to inventory - add a product and enter the EAN number
If it comes up with the same item, click on the listing and just double check that the details match - Brand, size, colour etc - then you can list yours
If your item doesn’t have an EAN number, then you can see if it is already on amazon by searching for the product however, you should only list on the same listing if the Brand is listed as n/a or generic - even then be careful as some sellers retrospectively register their brand and change the brand name and report you - even though this is against policy
that is the downside of PL bulk purchases direct from China
Seller_Nci7G1KO8VX7N
the problem is that my products don’t have EAN numbers. That’s why I am thinking of getting them from GS1, trademark my brand and create a new listing. Will that be enough or I also need to register my brand with Amazon?
Seller_7VbclcPFFRTnc
you can either do that and register your brand with amazon or you can apply for gtin exemption
Seller_Nci7G1KO8VX7N
Thank you very much. I really appreciate your help and advice. Another question if you don’t mind, If i search a product with ASIN and it does not have an EAN number, does it mean that they are not branded?
Seller_Nci7G1KO8VX7N
I guess it’s best to be patience, trademark my brand name, register with amazon brand registry and then start selling. Thanks again 
Seller_DTufFoxJuMU0M
It is likely that the other sellers have purchased the same unbranded items, rebranded them as their own and started their own listing.
As you have sold your unbranded item on their branded listing you are technically selling a counterfeit item (even though it may be identical in every way)
Its unlikely you will get a letter of authorisation from the sellers, so your best course of action is to explain your mistake (its actually very common) buy your own barcodes (from GS1) or look up the EAN and see if there is an unbranded listing which you can list correctly under.
Make sure for any future products you are selling you make sure that the listing is not branded.
Should I ship paid orders? - Hmm this is a tricky one and I’m honestly not sure its highly unlikely that the buyer purchased this item due to its brandname (assuming that I am right about an unbranded item being branded by a random seller and you didn’t jump on a well known brandname) so if it was me I would probably send them.
Can the other seller sue me? - Highly doubtful they will as long as you don’t make the same mistake again
Should I be worried if I don’t want to sell on this listing anymore? - You now have the infringement marks on your account, regardless of this listing you could be stopped from selling altogether, so you need to explain to Amazon the mistake you made and what you will do to make sure you don’t make it again.
Seller_4jeZD40ha7u4o
We have a case where there was a listing for a mains lead with no brand, logo, packaging, EAN or anything showing. There was no bullet points or description / Specification , just that it is 1.8m . We listed the same looking, length under this ASIN. Few days later we had an intellectual property infringement in our account health. We appealed and the want the same ;’ An invoice, letter of authorization, or a licensing agreement from the manufacturer or rights owner demonstrating that your products are lawful. ’
There was a gmail email address under the notice to contact the ‘Right Owner’ . So we email them and explained , requesting retraction and even offered them not to list so they can sell at inflated price . They did not respond despite 2 polite emails. In the meantime, they changed the listing added bullet points, Description some unrelated specification and even added 2 more images to justify their claim. The images are all different . close inspection shows different details, obviously just copying images from internet.
Amazon keeps sending the same template and ignoring our explanation.
We even think that when we first listed, there was no brand name in the title and they just added their name that has no relation to the product in the middle of the title before raising the complaint.
Why is it they if an ASIN is registered to a brand , Amazon allows others to list . Surely if it is registered, it should need permission anyway.
Any suggestions on this ?
