Account Health Violation before I've even started selling- what should I do?
Goodness, I am planning to launch a a brand on Amazon, and recently just got brand registry approval for my trademark and my first five ASINs set up. This morning at 2:40 am, I received the below email from Amazon, and I am very worried:
"We found that you have violated our Seller Code of Conduct policy. If this issue continues, we may deactivate your Amazon seller account.
Why did I receive this message?
We have taken this measure because we observed that you or someone acting on your behalf has requested to add a brand name that you do not own or have access to for a product we have deemed to be a generic product."
I believe I received this in error, and submitted and "explanation" in the form of my USPTO trademark registration document which clearly lists my email, LLC, and address as the owner, as well my supplier agreement that has both my brand name and LLC included, a invoice of the branded products I've placed a deposit for, and the USPTO email saying I've successfully submitted my documents for trademark registration.
However, I am incredibly worried about the future of this account. I don't know what could have flagged this error. I originally planned to send all my inventory to FBA, use the multichannel fulfillment for my other channels, and bet heavily on Amazon FBA sales and invest significantly in ads, but I would be devastated if my account were flagged for some other esoteric reason early into selling. This is especially in mind that I have a seasonal product, and cannot risk any account suspension.
I have been, and will continue to follow the seller guidelines closely. But I worry for the future of my account. Should I be worried? Should I not plan to send all my inventory into FBA for fear that since I've already someone been flagged once, my account is vulnerable to suspension?
7 replies
Seller_f7easeMp2SvTk
I wanted to provide an update on this for anyone who may be facing a similar problem or for someone on the Amazon support team if you would be so kind to review.
I originally submitted an appeal that I got this performance notification by error, and submitted a multitude of documents including:
1) A download directly from the USPTO website showing that my llc is the owner of my brand trademark
2) A download of GS1 showing I own the prefix for the five new items I set up, and the a screenshot that shows those item GTINS are registered under my brand, Low Rider
3) A contract between a factory I partner with and my LLC regarding the production agreement for the five items I set up, as well as a invoice in the past two weeks showing a bulk order deposit for those specific products.
Unfortunately, Amazon replied back with this message:
"Thank you for submitting your appeal.
We received your submission but do not have enough information to reactivate your account at this time. To reactivate your account, please send one of the following:
-- A letter of authorization from the brand owner for making the brand name, title, product detail page, or brand attribute changes.
-- Evidence that you own the brand by providing supporting documentation. This includes but is not limited to any brand registry document.
The document must meet the following requirements:
-- Valid (not expired, revoked, or closed)
-- Be high quality, in color, and unobstructed (not angled, blurry, or cropped) and show the full page
-- Display matching information (such as customer name and address) that you use to register to sell on Amazon
-- Display the full document (front and back, if applicable)
-- Be in one of these formats: .jpg, .pdf, or .docx.
-- Be authentic and unaltered
If we cannot substantiate the claim, your account will not be reinstated."
I was once again confused, because I submitted multiple documents I thought proved that I owned the brand. So I tried again, this time, only submitting one document. That one document is the PDF download from the US patent and trademark website that shows my LLC as the owner of my brand trademark. Perhaps I overflooded the recipient with too much information.
I hope to resolve this issue soon, and I am still very confused as to how I could have received this notification in the first place.
What a journey so far before even my first sale. Two days ago I was celebrating a quick approval of by Brand Registry (in less than a week! huge thank you to the brand registry team for their support), and soon later after I try to set up my new products, I get flagged for violating seller code of product because my new items I set up (which are branded products under branded gtins) were flagged as generic, and that I was accused of not owning or having access to the brand that I just got approved for. Oh boy.
Atlas_Amazon
Hello @Seller_f7easeMp2SvTk
Thank you for the information provided regarding the issues that you have been experiencing. I understand that you have been attempting to provide information related to the trademark ownership to show that you are the brand owner for the product.
This time I submitted the following:
Would you be able to provide an update on the latest submission that you have? Have you received any follow up messaging or other type details regarding the latest documentation? The guidance we would recommend does involve providing the documents and details you have that can show that each aspect of the brand can be verified as belonging to you. If they cannot confirm this information or they identify any discrepancies, they will reject the overall submission.
We do encourage you to continue to refer to this thread with any updates or other type information that you have regarding this situation.
Best,
Atlas
Seller_7d8GzQkY0SiCN
While I hope you get this resolved, just a head's up, I have been doing this for 20+ years and the anxiety you get every time these notifications come through doesn't get any less stressful. If you are going to sell on Amazon it's by their rules only and the rules change all the time and the rule violations are never clear. I have so many cases where I ask for clarification and never get it . . . they say we see you made changes in the last several hours wait 48 hours and you should be good. I have no bullet points on most of my listings because Amazon has wiped them out and no one can ever help me figure out why. Good luck to you. Sincerely.
Seller_Ru02BHBQpqePK
You should be worried selling here. It's an absolute $hit show.
I have the lowest prices for a dozen books, but I've only had 2 sales this year, and they were 7 months apart... Good luck out-gaming the system. Maybe Amazon is just stalling while it develops generic versions of your brand to sell at half the price before having to compete with you.
And don't get me started on getting screwed by $hitty customers and Amazon's return policy.
Seller_TvaTXH61RRGLO
Your post has contradictory information. First, you say you have your "registration document", however later you declare you just submitted the documents for registration. YOu have to keep in mind you do not have a trademark yet and the trademark may register or may register with changes or may never register.
If your trademark is similar to another one on the market you better not try to register, it will never register and you may have all kinds of problems. And this may be the problem with Amazon.
Dod you ask a trademark lawyer to research the trademark you want to register?
