Account deactivation - final appeal support

Dear Sir/Madam,

This letter is a Plan of Action to remediate our account issues and reactivate our seller account.

I acknowledge that our seller account was deactivated due to a violation of the following policies:

• Amazon Anti-Counterfeiting Policy
• Amazon Intellectual Property Policy
• Unknowingly violating the Seller code of Conduct which provides “a trustworthy experience for Amazon customers”

These were violated because of product authenticity complaints surrounding ASINS:

• X
• X
• X

Root cause

As a new merchant on Amazon, we have found that there is a lot to learn. As such, we were unaware of the policies mentioned above and apologise for failing to read the full set of Amazon’s policies.

After engaging with your colleagues, we contacted our supplier for these X branded products, “X”, to supply us with full invoice documentation, which includes taxpayer identification numbers, a full address, and stamp. Amazon has rejected this invoice as you are unable to verify the supplier, highlighting our inability to provide a valid invoice that demonstrates a full supply chain / Rights Owners authorisation. This is the reason why we now believe that our supplier was not trustworthy and that we were unknowingly selling counterfeit X products.

This product was sourced by a new employee with little experience in supplier management. He did not look thoroughly enough into the legitimacy of the Chinese supplier in question.

These are the explanations behind our purchasing and sale of counterfeit X products. I would like to acknowledge this error which is a direct violation of Amazon’s Anti-Counterfeiting Policy. I know this is unacceptable and it will not happen again. I will outline how we plan to rectify this in the next sections.

Corrective measures taken

We have deleted the product listings for the 3 ASINs in question (X) and have requested removal orders. These products will be destroyed once they get back to our warehouse.

Preventative measures taken

I will now provide a go-forward plan to ensure that these types of policy violations will not occur again, namely authenticity complaints.

• X category products

We have deleted all X listings, including the 3 ASINs in question. We promise to never sell these items again, or any under the X category.

Selling counterfeit products

I have mentioned that we could not supply a valid invoice which demonstrates a full supply chain, Amazon approved distributor, or permission to sell from the Rights Owners. From this point onwards, we will only buy and sell products for which we have verifiable invoices or Rights Owners authorisation.

All three ASINs were purchased from “X”. We will not use X again for future product sourcing, starting immediately. We have made a formal authenticity complaint to Alibaba.

For the issue regarding the new employee, I have personally trained him and will train any new employees on how to correctly source from reputable suppliers. This includes, but is not limited to: checking supplier ratings/feedback, the websites they are advertised on, and obtaining samples before purchasing bulk orders.

I have ensured that myself and all employees have read up on Programme Policies on the Seller Central website - https://sellercentral.amazon.co.uk/help/hub/reference/G521. We will continue to monitor this page for any policy updates, reading any new content that is posted.

Future sourcing of products

To ensure we only work with legitimate suppliers in the future, I have created new selection requirements that all employees must adhere to. All suppliers must:

• Have a legitimate physical address, website and phone number
• Be either:
  • An Amazon approved distributor that can provide a complete tax invoice for their products, or:
  • a Letter of Authorisation from the manufacturer
• Be able to immediately provide any necessary documentation that Amazon requests.

We will only list a product on Amazon once all of the documentation mentioned has been provided. As the products always come into the warehouse before we send them off to FBA or directly to the customer, I will also double check each one to ensure that they are authentic and match the listing description.

We have recently purchased new products from one of our suppliers, XX , and hope that this invoice can be verified by Amazon as they are an authorised supplier. We have used them in the past and have had no problems with ungating products. The invoice includes full supplier details as requested, namely:

• Invoice is issued post the initial action date of our account.
• Invoice contains 12 units of quantity. ASIN: B0045N6BTM, Product: Bostik Blu Tack Handy Size
• Invoice includes contact information for supplier and buyer, including name, phone number, address, and website.
• The invoice comes from an authorised supplier.
• File format is a .pdf file.

I am happy to provide any additional information or documentation around this supplier if it is required.

Please do not hesitate to contact me via email or telephone if you require any further assistance in this investigation. I hope to be able to continue selling on Amazon again.

Yours faithfully,

X