My account got suspended due to infringement (Plan of Action was submitted but it was not accepted by Amazon)
Anyone here from Amazon Please help me to reactivate my account:
I have been selling on Amazon UAE for more than 6 months, recently I received policy warning because of ASIN B08DX9J48H
, many seller are selling Number Plate Frame on this listing including me and I have been selling more than 6 months on the same ASIN but than one seller bought same product from different seller on this listing and than complaint to amazon that other seller are selling bad quality product.
Below is message which was send by the seller who complaint for infringement
Rights owner communication: Hi, i have purchased this ASIN which should be CLAYTON brand from 2 different sellers, but both of them are not CLAYTON brand. they are using this list ( which is clayton ) to sell their own cheap quality items. Please investigate.
ASIN: B08DX9J48H
Title: Car Plate Number Holder Long - Black
Infringement type: Counterfeit
Trademark asserted: 163956
Complaint ID: 7070397102
So I received two warning one for infringement and other for Product Authenticity, for Authenticity I submit invoices from my supplier which got accepted by amazon and warning was removed, and for infringement my account was suspended and I was asked to submit POA
Below is suspension email from amazon
Hello,
Your Amazon selling account has been deactivated. Your listings have been removed. Funds will not be transferred to you but will be held in your account while we work with you to address this issue. Please ship any open orders to avoid further impact to your account.
Why did this happen?
We arrived at this decision because your account has received multiple intellectual property violations and we did not receive any new information regarding your listings or selling history.
ASIN: B08DX9J48H (Counterfeit), B08RJZYBRC (Suspected Counterfeit).
You can view your account performance and more details on the ASIN(s) at (https://sellercentral.amazon.ae/performance/dashboard?reftag=email_block) or select Account Health on the home screen of the Amazon Seller app on your iOS or Android device. The Account Health dashboard shows how well your account is performing against the performance metrics and policies required to sell on Amazon.
We’re here to help.
If you need help better understanding what is causing this, please search for "Intellectual Property Violations" in Seller Central Help (https://sellercentral.amazon.ae/gp/help/external/201361070).
How do I reactivate my account?
To reactivate your selling account, please send us the following:
A plan of action that explains:
– The root cause(s).
– The actions you have taken to resolve the notices of infringement or violation of Amazon’s policies.
– The steps you have taken to prevent infringement or violating Amazon’s policies.
If you believe your account was deactivated in error, follow the instructions at the bottom of the Reactivate Your Account page and provide following information:
– An explanation of why the deactivation should be reversed.
– Evidence supporting your belief that this was an error.
For security reasons, we only accept attachments in the following file formats: .jpeg, .jpg, .pjpeg, .gif, .png, .tiff. These documents must be authentic and unaltered.
How do I send the required information?
Please submit this information by clicking the “Reactivate your account” button on Account Health (https://sellercentral.amazon.ae/performance/dashboard).
What happens if I do not send the requested information?
If you do not send the requested information within 20 days, your account may be deactivated permanently across all marketplaces in the region of your enforcement. Funds in your account may be held for up to 90 days or longer depending upon the marketplace. Depending on your account status and activities, you may be required to complete an additional review before funds can be released. In some marketplaces—such as Japan, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt—funds may not be returned depending on review. Amazon may withhold payments if we determine that your account was used to sell inauthentic or prohibited goods, commit fraud, or engage in other illegal or abusive activity.
I submitted my action plan which is also detailed POA but it was not accepted and my account is still suspended below is the action plan what I have submit
Plan of Action
Problem:
Infringement
Root cause(s) of the infringement.
After we received in Infringement complaint, we analyzed why we ended up in this situation and we found:
• While listings we ignored brand name Clayton
• Even the photos of product showing brand name was not uploaded at that time which leads us to conclusion that this listing belong to some old seller or brand owner in not seller this item anymore
• Product photos uploaded before were similar to the Generic Product i.e., there was no logo on the product photos when we list offer on this ASIN
• We have been listing our product on such listing which have any brand name, and we are not having invoices from there particularly brandsRoot cause Conclusion: -
So based on above we can conclude we ignored brand name while listing our offersWhat actions will you take to resolve the issue?
- As immediate action we have removed all our FBA units (ASIN: B08DX9J48H) from FBA ware house Order ID: 2106071NT1
- We have contacted listing owner in regards to this and requested to withdraw the complaint and they are working on our request.
Steps will you take to prevent future issues?
To Prevent from infringement complaint in future and to comply with amazon policies we have reviewed our full inventory and we have taken following steps
- We will be only selling on those listing for which we have brand owner invoices
- We will always ensure to upload our offers on those existing listing where we have authorization and we are directly purchasing from manufacture or distributors.
- We have reviewed our full inventory and we have deactivated offers and removal request is raised for all listing (FBM & FBA) where there is product listed with any brand name other than “Generic” and “Other” names. (Removal Order ID:
21062015SL)- We have deactivated our offers Regardless to this that listing creator or brand owner is selling on this listing or not. Although our products are identical to photos uploaded and description of our product is also the same as mentioned in the listing.
- To avoid infringement complaint; new listing will be created with brand name as Generic when we have any product which is Generic and we are already doing this practice, we are making new listing if our product is generic i.e., ASIN B08J4K9BXH, B08T7Q85M3, etc.
Greater detail on how your account has complied with our policy.
- To Comply with amazon policy, we will be purchasing only from authorized dealer or manufacture.
- And generic items will be sold on those listing which does not have any brand name on it or new listing will be created if no existing listing is available.
Greater detail on evidence or examples that demonstrate that your account has complied with our policy
- ASIN B08J4K9BXH & B08T7Q85M3 are being offered on those listing which are showing brand name generic
- For ASIN B07M81MWXZ, B07NWRF89Y brand name is other
- For ASIN B005SRECEU, B0000DH8HU brand name is Scotch and we have invoices from the brand distributor of Scotch
Conclusion:
We can conclude from the above, that we should have only sell those brands for which we have invoices from brand owner or the brand distributor. We will comply to this in future to avoid any Infringement complaint.
9 replies
Seller_7VbclcPFFRTnc
No they will have bought yours - is yours a Clayton item or not
Amar_Amazon
Hello @ghumman.traders,
To appeal for same it is important to first identify the type of complaint you have received as it will help you prepare a valid plan of action addressing the root cause, corrective measures and preventive steps.
So, we would suggest that you always keep a close check on it as it will help you understand issues that prevails and impacts your account.
We recommend you to write your Plan of Action in the below format:
The root cause of the issue:
- After reviewing your current business model and business practices
- Why do you believe the intellectual property infringement concerns occurred on the account?
- What could be the reason for the violation of the intellectual property right policy?
- What could be the explanation behind the infringement violation?
The steps you immediately took to resolve the root cause you identified for example (deleted the listings) instead of closing the listing:
- What changes have you made in your business model to resolve the issues identified?
- Have you checked your entire listings on offer to eradicate the possibilities of any potential intellectual property right issue?
The proactive steps you will take or have taken to ensure the issue does not reoccur:
- How will you ensure you do not face the similar issues in the future?
- How often will you audit the listings which you have listed for accuracy?
- How do you check for intellectual property rights in the long run?
As guided kindly submit the plan of action in the given format as mentioned above and appeal it from account health dashboard.
Good Luck!!
Amar
Seller_vSsTLa8oOPlBO
Did this to me. 18 months ago just before Christmas. Put me through a Kafkaesque nightmare and NOT once answered a single question. Lost a £200,000 a year business. Hsd to lay-off a staff member. Almost ruined me. but none of this mattered - no one cared then and doubt they do now. We had 10years on Amazon, 100% rating on 40,000 feedback. Didn’t matter either. I wish you luck
Seller_r7QMYl4r22YD3
hi ther
can anyone advise…how many attempts we get from amazon to submit our revised POA ?
i have done 4 attempts…and seems amazon is not responding now.
Seller_rZax50qrWcaoG
So, this appears to be an infringement based on a trademark and not IP for the product, which is undoubtedly a generic one.
Could @Amar_Amazon explain please how CLAYTON can obtain rights to this product by simply adding a trademark?
As mentioned on previous infringement posts; the IP owner (that being the original proven patent/registered design owner, by way of UK IPO evidence) should be the only person able to create a listing for that item. Where this is not possible the item should be listed as generic and all other sellers should list beneath it, irrespective of any trademark. In the event the “IP owner” of the product at some point in the future provides evidence of ownership the listing should be changed to reflect this, by Amazon.
I find it outrageous so many sellers fall foul of infringement notices purely based on trademarks that clearly have nothing to do with the actual product, hence the reason why the catalogue is full of multiple “bogus” listings.
Time for a change please Amazon.