Amazon.co.uk listing my product but "temporarily out of stock"
I am the author and manufacturer of a number of study guides for sale on Amazon - I own the copyright, trademark to the name, exclusive distribution rights etc. We sell through FBA.
For our best selling text, there is now a listing from amazon.co.uk as ‘new’ - they have the buy box, but claim to be “temporarily out of stock.” This means my sales have plummeted as no one looks to see if there are any other offers. I can’t get the buy box anyway as I am a third-party seller of books, which makes me ineligible I believe, so dropping my price won’t remove Amazon from the buy box.
As I said, I have exclusive distribution rights so amazon.co.uk don’t have any stock, never will have any stock, and yet they are still taking orders that they will never be able to fulfil.
I have tried a test purchase - the claim they are out of stock and will email me when they have a dispatch date. I have contacted customer services to see if they have a date for dispatch - they have no idea when it will be in stock (as it won’t!) - the person on the phone said “maybe June.”
I have contacted seller support 10 times over the past 15 days - each time they say they will pass it on. I have contacted the Notice department; contacted seller performance department via email; contacted the Managing Director via email; filled out listing violation forms; listing abuse forms; copyright and trademark infringement forms. Nothing has been done.
I did receive one email reply from Amazon after submitting a copyright/trademark infrigement form which said they looked in to it and had removed the listing, but it would take 1-2 business days. A few hours later I received another reply to say they couldn’t remove the listing as it didn’t violate anything, and that I should contact the other seller directly to tell them to remove it - but the other seller is amazon.co.uk!!!
I am not overly precious about my product, and tend to leave other sellers who list my product as “used” alone even thought it violates a number of rights; I am the only person who can ever sell as new so am not worried by kids selling their old copies once they’re done. This listing however is directly killing my sales and I have no idea how or why it happened, or what to do about it?
Any help gratefully received.
Kind regards
18 replies
Seller_mBENc0rmDmw5W
Amazon’s systems are all automated and no doubt their bots picked up on the publication and lised it. Amazon does this frequently - even for books that have not actually been finally published.
The new format / layout of the catalogue main page is really annoying - for the reasons you mentioned. Buyers have to know where to look for the “other” offers.
Perhaps you should escalate your complaint to both the MD uk and Jeff Bezos himself. In the end Amazon is losing out on sales fees because of this. Provide evidence of the “before” and “after” effects on your sales and their loss in fees.
Seller_6sxtIS0RbZ5k7
I can’t offer any advice but did it feel all a bit JR Hartley?! 
Seller_3nYDEKuPvlpTC
That can happen sometimes with FBA, when you send the shipment to Amazon warehouse, amazon put the shipment under reserve and starts redistribute it to different warehouses to widening the coverage. This sometimes take few days.
Seller_Pj6dZ0nZv25DA
I am completely at my wits end!!!
I just received the following email from Amazon:
Hello,
_We reviewed the information you have provided and determined that we must decline your request to remove the listings of your work from Amazon.co.uk. You have not alleged that any of the copies of your work sold by third parties on Amazon.co.uk were illegally manufactured, re-copied, or unlawfully obtained when first transferred. _
_Once a copyrighted work is legally purchased or acquired by another owner, it may subsequently be sold and resold without restriction. _
If you believe there are recopied versions of your work on Amazon.co.uk, please write to notice@amazon.co.uk with all of the following information:
– An electronic or physical signature of the person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the copyright interest.
– A description of the copyrighted work that you claim has been infringed.
– The ASIN/ISBN of the item’s detail page and the product title.
– The store or business name of the seller you are reporting.
– Your address, telephone number, and email address.
– A statement by you that you have a good-faith belief that the disputed use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.
– A statement by you, made under penalty of perjury, that the above information in your notice is accurate and that you are the copyright owner or authorized to act on the copyright owner’s behalf.
Sincerely,
They just don’t seem to get it. The listing from amazon.co.uk states they are selling new items, but are out of stock. I have repeatedly told them they will never have any stock that is ‘new’ - I am the only distributor, so know where every single copy goes - they don’t have any!!! They have the buy box despite being “out of stock” which means my sales have tanked, and they are receiving no fees from me because they have hijacked the buy box meaning customers don’t see my offer.
As I said, I don’t think third party sellers of new books are eligible for the buy box - could I stock a few ‘used-like new’ and sell them cheap to try to win the buy box, sell those and hope that amazon don’t immediately take the buy box back when I’ve sold the ‘used’ ones?
Seller_WOY4XXtfRM500
What it looks like is someone is selling to amazon, through vendor central.
Its impossible to find out who is supplying Amazon, it could be someone in the uk, or their sourcing office abroad
Seller_Pj6dZ0nZv25DA
Thanks for all the replies - I have tried managing director, and the email response I posted came from Jeff@amazon, plus all other email routes, so I seem to have exhausted all avenues. As you say This_time_next_year, ‘out of stock’ is emblazoned on the product page, and will forever be by the sounds of it! My FBA stock is there, but as I said, not eligible for the buy box.
I think it is odd that third party sellers of new books can’t get the buy box; and last time I looked at brand registry media/books were not eligible (despite me owning the trademark), so little I can do there either.
I will try a few more creative solutions and get back to you all!
Seller_Nxzrq7UKazn6g
Emails don’t do anything anymore, open a case, get a case ID and then send a recorded delivery to their Holborn address in London. Humans will read it and take action not somebody from another planet behind emails
