Selling licensed band merch on Amazon is Toxic AF
I have been repeatedly banging my head against the same case for weeks now. I stock and sell 100% officially licensed band related merchandise for a range of bands from across the world, this case in particular is pushing me to the point of attempting to sue Amazon over defamation, loss of income and failure to correctly train their support staff in the policies they are incorrectly enforcing.
This case revolves around Judas Priest merch, I have provided evidence that we are selling products from a licensed manufacturer and we are authorised by said manufacturer to sell the products. I have provided manufacturers catalogue with matching EANS/SKU, photos of the merchandise displaying the EAN etc and the letter of authorisation from the CEO of the manufacturer stating we are authorised to sell the merchandise and yet our listings are still suppressed due to ‘Potential Trademark Violations’ and ‘Suspected Intellectual Property Violations’.
Now here’s the joke, I have been repeatedly sent a response from AMazon stating that I must provided them with a letter of Authorisation from…Judas Priest themselves… the actual band, apparently I need the band to send me a lovely fan letter saying that they are all good with me selling merch with their logos on it and then the mindless drones at Amazon HQ will be happy to reinstate my listings.
I have (politely) informed them that what they have asked is not only irrelevant and unnecessary from a legal perspective (as I have already provided more than enough evidence that would easily hold up in legal court if that ever happened) but also impossible.
They are still repeatedly requesting I provide a letter from Judas Priest, I have referenced other cases where I have provided exactly the same evidence (but for a different range of band merchandise) which have been successful and our listings were reinstated but still, they are insisting on a letter from Judas Priest (I don’t know, maybe they really want a copy of a band members signature).
So, long whine short, I am considering taking legal action against Amazon for the above psychological torture (its been dragging on for a while now and I’m starting to lose my patience/mind) but before I do I wanted to reach out to my fellow sellers and ask if they have had similar experiences and if they took to legal advise?
Cheers Folks!
8 replies
Seller_Yja9oH7DLHk2I
I don’t have any advice but can sympathise.
I had to stop selling some products because Peppa Pig would not send me a personal letter of authorisation.
Maybe she knows I am not a vegetarian.
Seller_tRuvBEHDedp4q
Exact same trouble here.
I ‘believe’ the issue is that what Amazon deem the Brand is different from what joe public would call Brand. When someone creates a listing they may set Brand attribute to the license (in your case Judas Priest) or they may use the manufacturer name (lets call them XYZ). If they have set it to Judas Priest, anyone wanting to amend the listing later needs authorisation from Judas Priest - which is ridiculous.
I have so many listings with this issue and it is just impossible to resolve as no one at SS has any common sense.
For example, I sell Rocky branded slippers. They come in 3 sizes. Yet I cannot join them into a variation listing as the M and XL sizes have the Brand attribute set to the manufacturer whereas the L size has the attribute set to Rocky. So customers cannot see the slippers come in various sizes and instead they are listed as separate products.
Ive provided pictures, invoices, links to manufacturer website and their catalog, showed that the EAN all point to same manufacturer. The 3 individual listings all use the exact same photo from the manufacturer - yet it all falls on deaf ears at SS. I just get the standard ‘only the brand owner can make these changes’ and ‘we have messaged the brand owner’ - well good luck in messaging Rocky!. You would think they would want the sizes combining instead of cluttering up the catalogue with 3 different entries.
Then of course there is also the problem with things like Batman - in this case is the Brand Batman, DC, DC Comics or Warner Bros???
And now that Disney own Marvel - should Hulk items be branded Disney, Marvel Studios, Marvel, Marvel Comics or Hulk ???
Try getting a letter from Disney or the Hulk authorising you to re-sell the goods!!
There is no specific way to know what you should use for Brand - and Amazon have no decent guidance.
It is frankly ridiculous. If you still intend on taking legal action I would be interested in helping in any way I can
Seller_Pccl3NSyH7N7N
Cheers folks,
My aim with the legal action was based around the amount of time/money its costing me purely on Amazons staff either being insufficiently trained or their policies and procedures being inherently wrong from the start,
I have have a small team and each of them spends day after day either repeating themselves when the seller support staff clearly haven’t read the case or pointing out the the initial case has nothing to do with browse nodes or whichever irrelevant ‘solution’ we have been provided with this time, its should be a simple as ‘provide evidence, listing approved’.
If I get anywhere I will happily let folks know what steps I’ve taken and the outcome etc,
I thought it was bad enough when the asked for a letter from Judas Priest but at least they are actual people, getting asked for a letter from fictional characters is just insane,
I have had a little insight to the processes the support staff have to go through (was new to me but others may already be familiar).
It turns out the seller support teams have to open cases too, the cases are then looked at by the seller supports superiors and (according to the member of staff I was talking to) they get exactly the same issue, the higher ups respond with completely unhelpful/irrelevant solutions. The staff then have to pass this on to us and stick to the script or they themselves will be penalised so I do have some sympathy for them, its not just the front line support being useless. The cases in particular the staff was dealing with were for sellers of football shirts that are being asked to get a letter from the football team/player to say they can sell them, he (and others in his position) have opened cases informing the next level of staff that this is wrong but are being forced to carry out the policies as is.
Thank you again for your time folks, will keep this thread posted if I get anywhere,
