Am I a hijacker? Advice please
another seller on Amazon has trademarked and brand registered a generic product supplied by a mutual supplier
it has not been altered or private labelled in anyway and they have not had permission from the supplier to do this
I’ve done a test purchase and its the same product with no alterations supplied from the same supplier but its listed on Amazon with a different barcode and asin
i jumped on the listing and was blocked from it and reported for selling counterfeit items and was given a policy violation warning which i then appealed and it was accepted and i was re instated on the listing and the policy violation removed
i was then blocked again a day later for the same reasons above and appealed again and once i was reinstated and the policy violation removed
am i doing something wrong here as i seem to be going around in cirlcles?
the listing has been unblocked for me once again but i haven’t re joined it because its becoming time consuming
as its the same product from the same supplier with no alterations how can a similar company to me trade mark and brand register it?
i haven’t posted the asin on here yet as i’m waiting to here back from my supplier but any advice would be appreciated
0 replies
Seller_BS5lg2keRs2QO
If they aren’t following Amazon’s brand policy then it’s Amazon that need to take action. In the interim no you shouldn’t be on the listing.
Seller_6sxtIS0RbZ5k7
You should list against the barcode the manufacturer applied to it.
Seller_vTCC47DVMGUB8
Does the item you test purchased have the same barcode as yours?
Is the barcode registered on the ASIN?
Is there an duplicate listing for that product with the correct details?
From previous experience Amazon Seller Support will not discuss the listings unless you are listed as a seller of that product so you may need to relist on that ASIn but with zero stock.
Seller_qYWBbVqeAGVy5
Bit of a grey area all this, as alot of generic products despite looking the same will be made in different factories and therefore differ in quality of construction and material. In my personal experience factories (Chinese) copy each other’s design and moulds all the time and unless very basic I wouldn’t want them to share the same listing
How do we know that the listing in question didn’t exist before the OP’s product was even made? the brand they are buying from the UK wholesaler may be from a different factory.
Seller_RXwCoeuZhMFG7
Why are you even bothering to be on their listing then? If as you say, nothing has been done to or private labelled, why not create your own brand like they have and then you’ll also have control over your listing. They have at least gone through the effort of registering a brand / and trademarking it - something you can also do yourself instead of competing on the same listing.
Seller_x1xMSBwZsJrTE
You are allowed to brand generic products under your own brand if you have the supplier/manufacturers permission. A lot of major brands do exactly that.
The questions you need to ask are…
- Did the original listing have no brand and did the other seller add their brand to it later?
If so the other seller is at fault. They are not allowed to change a generic item after the fact and they should have created their own separate brand listing.
- Does the other seller’s product have the brand name ‘permanently’ on the product or the packaging (not just a sticky label)?
If not then under Amazon rules this is not properly branded and the other seller is at fault.
Seller_Sp0MDHOM1olT2
Going a little off topic but Amazon’s sticker rule strikes me as ridiculous. I hope that if it’s still in place they at least apply some common sense to it before taking actions against brands who use stickers for their packaging (although common sense before action isn’t Amazon’s strong point)
Seller_ae51e0CJoHqCX
I would just sell your product under the real brand and the listing and if this is generic and not claimed then you may also be able to contribute to it.
What you also need to understand is that when you do jump on a brand that has been created by someone else, especially if there are multiple listings of it then you are adding value to the actual listing by being on it by attracting product reviews etc. This will improve rank to a listing that you have no control over it and once you have helped
it like now you end up getting kicked off and the original instigator of the advert could gate it.
Regardless of whether you think you are hijacking the listing, in the long run it will be more unhelpful to you to do this. I would strongly recommend concentrating on the listings with no brand issues and only advertise the product once and help make that listing the most popular then the other listings will eventually become irrelevant. At the moment you are contributing to the listing success which is not good for them but not good for you either.
Seller_snWDyy0YKRcWR
This behaviour is resellers aiming to sell a product without Amazon being able to say" ooh look that’s selling well, we’ll sell it and own the buy box". This practice is actually promoted by alot of training to avoid AMZ taking advantage of all your hard work and reviews.
In your instance, you can either sell it under the manufacturer’s barcode or buy your own barcode from gs1 and stop AMZ taking your listing over if you become really successful. I do it, as well as lot of people, and it certainly isn’t to persecute other sellers as we don’t get the advantage of reviews from previous listings, but it is purely to brand a product yourself and keep it secure from AMZ. Manufacturers don’t care in the most part, they just want to sell the units. My manufacturers are happy to put my bar code on the product and not their own.
Hope this helps you see they are not being rude to you just trying to protect their expensively advertised listing.
Seller_zlPLH6VuTXhqD
‘‘another seller on Amazon has trademarked and brand registered a generic product supplied by a mutual supplier’’
If Nike, Adidas, Puma and Under Armour all use the same manufacturer to make the same exact black t shirt with the only difference being the logo. Then that is there trademarked product irrespective of where they sourced the product from.
They will all create separate product pages for said T Shirt and sell separately.
If you buy unbranded exact same black T shirt, from same manufacturer/factory and try and list on any the Nike, Adidas, Puma and Under Armour listings, you are a hijacker/counterfeiter.
I only use Nike, Adidas, Puma and Under Armour companies as an example as they are massive and no one in there right mind would think of adding a product to these listings.
There are many micro companies who go to the trouble to trademark, copyright, photos, product liability, CE (& now UKCA) safety certifications etc etc and just because someone has found where to source a generic product, it does not give them the green light to add to the selling page, if it is not that exact same trademarked official product.
