Account deactivation due to Brand owner claiming products fake
Hi
I wonder if anyone could give some advice as this is the first time I’ve had this problem in trading on Amazon for over 4 years and the usual unhelpful responses from the Account Health team and inability of the Account Health specialists to tell me anything other than I can read on-line is driving me mad.
Basically, I bought three new products to trial from one of my wholesalers, who assured me he had authorisation to sell the products to me for resale purposes. Shortly after listing them, the Brand Owner seems to have alleged the products are fake. Therefore, I got 3 x individual violations and my account was deactivated.
I have followed repeated pieces of advice from Account Health Specialists as to whether to try and deal with the three individual violations first or to deal with the account suspension first, but each time I submit on either, it gets refused.
I have a valid receipt, but no formal authorisation from the Brand Owner, so I have removed the listings.
The latest response, together with my submission is below:
Response from Amazon
7 November 2022 14:33 GMT
Hello,
Your Amazon selling account will remain 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.
Complaint type: Counterfeit
ASIN: B07XGCXPJK
Title: Fright Fest Liquid Latex 12ml sfx makeup great with fake blood stage blood scar wax, spirit gum and face paint to create amazing halloween makeup create zombie skin safe latex
Why did this happen?
One or more of your listings may be infringing the intellectual property rights of others and the appeal you provided did not adequately address the intellectual property infringement.
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-europe.amazon.com/gp/help/external/201361070).
How do I reinstate my account?
Please provide one of the following:
– Proof of product authenticity (e.g., letter of authorization). It must clearly prove that your products do not infringe on the intellectual property of the rights owner.
If you think that the rights owner has made an error in sending the notice, please reach out to the rights owner and ask them to submit a retraction of this notice. We may only accept retractions that the rights owner submits to us directly. We do not accept forwarded or attached retractions.
These are the rights owner’s contact details:
– Fright Fest
– fulfilment@paintglow.co.uk
And
A plan of action with the following:
– Greater detail on the root cause(s) of the infringement.
– Greater detail on the actions you have taken to resolve the complaint.
– Greater detail on the steps you have taken to prevent infringement going forward.
– Greater detail on how your account has complied with our policy.
– Greater detail on evidence or examples that demonstrate that your account has complied with our policy.
Has your account been deactivated in error?
If you believe there has been an error, please tell us why. Your explanation should include the following information:
– How your listings have not violated the brand’s intellectual property.
Where do I send this information?
Please submit this information by clicking the Appeal button on Account Health (https://sellercentral-europe.amazon.com/performance/dashboard?ref=ah_em_mpa).
What happens if I do not send the requested information?
Please ship any open orders. This usually takes about 90 days. Depending on your account status and activities, you may be required to complete an additional review before funds can be released. 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.
You can view your account performance (https://sellercentral-europe.amazon.com/performance/dashboard?ref=ah_em_mpa) 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.
– Download the iOS app: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/amazon-seller/id794141485
– Download the Android app: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.amazon.sellermobile.android&hl=en_GB
Sincerely, Amazon.co.uk
Submission
5 November 2022 16:40 GMT
Additional information
I have spoken with your Account Health Team by telephone, who have advised me to submit my plan of action (which is below), together with the invoice for the three items which appear to be causing the violations (I have no further documentation or letter of authenticity).
Could you please advise PRECISELY what further is needed if more documentation / detail is needed, as the Account Health Team on the telephone don’t know and have said I need to ask you what more is needed / or why the documents are not valid.
Best wishes
Mark Tattersall
The root cause(s) of the infringement:
• We understand that the issue has arisen because the Brand Owner of a number of products sold by ourselves has claimed that we do not have authorisation to sell the products.
• Although we had purchased the products from an authorised supplier (North West Cosmetics), which is clear from the invoice provided, we had not obtained a letter of authorisation from the Brand Owner, simply relying upon communication from the authorised supplier that were permitted to sell the products.
The actions that you have taken to resolve the complaint:
• We have a policy of offering a refund or exchange to any customer who has any complaint in this regard and will continue with this policy.
• We have closed and deleted the listings causing the infringement.
• We have ensured that no further stock relating to the listings will be sent to Amazon.
The steps that you have taken to prevent infringement going forward:
• We have reviewed the Amazon Intellectual Property Policy (https://sellercentral.amazon.co.uk/help/hub/reference/201361070?ref=id_201361070_cont_201743940&locale=en-GB).
• We have asked our suppliers to provide documentary evidence that the products they supply to us are authentic and to provide us with confirmation that we are authorised to resell the products.
• Any new supplier will be asked to provide documentary evidence that the products they intend to supply to us are authentic and to provide us with confirmation that we will be authorised to resell the products before any new supply contracts are entered into.
• We will determine Brand Owners for all inventory items and check with them that we have authorisation to sell their products.
• We will continue undertake weekly review of all customer feedback to ensure no dissatisfaction occurs.
How our account has complied with your policy:
• We have carefully reviewed our entire inventory, not limited to the products with complaints, and verified authenticity.
• We will continue to source all inventory either directly from the manufacturers or reputable suppliers to ensure authenticity.
Attached
2022-09-20, Invoice for Fright Fest products.PDF
17 replies
Seller_7VbclcPFFRTnc
Was that specifically to resell on amazon though ?
Fright fest was also the cause of a listing suspension yesterday too
Seller_bhSWqoVh7Pn98
The Paint Glow website has contact info, so I’d contact them to try and get them to remove the violation. Inform that you bought from xxx Distributor, with a copy invoice and say if they just do not want you to sell their items, you won’t but as a genuine item, they stopped you selling on Amz, so needs to be actioned asap. I’d then phone them as well (after all you could take legal action against them as long as you have non-fake items).
Lakeland Cosmetics
Units 1-5 Bowford Building
Reedlands Road
Clay Flatts Industrial Estate
Workington, Cumbria
CA14 3YF
01900 837942
There should be concequences for anyone reporting a Seller, where the Seller has a genuine product and just another Seller, even if that is the manufacturer does not want them to sell on what they see as ‘their’ listing.
It is rare that anything fake is sold, I’m sure (unless something with a known brand like Levi’s or something).
The brand owner should have to at least once contact the Seller, ask for POP via a Distributor, and if provided, then not be able to do anything.
Brand owners should not sell at all to the Trade if they do not want their items sold online. Then if only sold by them, fair enough, items would then only be able to be sold as used.
Seller_T0q4mfbh7SybR
I’ve emailed the Brand Owner and will see if they come back to me, but I don’t hold out much hope.
If not, having done a bit of research of this, I’ll send them a ‘letter before action’ regarding a defamation claim, making it clear that their false claims are causing me significant cost, which is only getting greater due to account suspension and lost sales. I wonder if that might prompt them to retract their notiifcation?
Seller_G5bB3QeI1ZwU4
Hello @Tattersall_Trading,
I am happy to help you.
Thank you @The_Little_Shop, @MANCHESTER_FANCY_DR1, @DAE-1 for your inputs on the issue.
I understand that your issue is with deactivation of your account due to authenticity complaints.
In this issue Amazon’s team will be expecting an authorization letter along with your plan of action which is clearly mentioned in the notification which you have attached above. And, you have stated that supplier first said that they had authorization letter but later when the issue came on your account they were not able to provide a valid authorization document. Here, team will be expecting you to acknowledge this issue on your plan of action also. Explain it clearly so that team will know why you are not able to submit authorization letter. Also, make sure you are mentioning about how you will make sure that this is not happening in future. You have mentioned about checking for documentary evidence but what will be the other steps you will taking to control your future inventory and sourcing should be clearly explained. Explain about future sourcing and categories details.
I hope I have addressed your query, please do reach out for further queries.
Thanks,
Maha.
Seller_4MlYJvoHfdkDh
If the products ARE genuine and the brand owner is filing take down notices for ‘fake products’ then thats an unjustifed threat of infringement, and companies simply can’t do this. A take down notice through Amazon is still legally binding.
Get a solicitor to do one letter to them, and they must remove all infringement claims. They can’t win this.
Seller_2Su3bcJXQR0sO
Think what moderator said may help immensely “Explain it clearly so that team will know why you are not able to submit authorization letter. Also, make sure you are mentioning about how you will make sure that this is not happening in future.”
Seller_AISbb4oU4C6bK
I sent my 3rd Plan of action in last night and waiting to hear back. (did all clear bullet points addressing the issues)
DAE my a/c hasn’t been suspended at the moment, I have just the one issue on my Account Health and trying to resolve the issue before it becomes a problem but should it get suspended then I will be taking your advice above.
I think I will be able to get the letter from the wholesaler to confirm its a genuine product so I will do that.
Thank you for your input
