This week we received the dreaded “Your listings are at risk of deactivation” email from Amazon (copied below), targeting ASIN B0DV4RJBSB. The only apparent issue is that our listing accurately states our product is “Compatible with RYOBI…” and some other pressure washer brands.
This kind of compatibility reference is a factual, nominative fair use of that third-party trademark. Our listing follows Amazon’s own stated policy for compatibility terms and makes no claim of endorsement or affiliation. You'll find similar compatible-brand references on product pages for car parts, cell phone accessories, and countless other categories.
We opened case ID 17864736811, but so far we’ve received the usual canned responses from Seller Support, with no resolution or meaningful engagement.
It’s extremely frustrating to face takedown threats for listings that follow Amazon’s rules. These incidents waste sellers’ time, create needless anxiety, and undermine seller trust in the platform.
We’re genuinely curious: are these actions triggered by poorly configured bots, or by associates who don’t understand Amazon’s own IP policy?
Any insight or similar experiences from fellow sellers would be appreciated.
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-------- Forwarded Message --------
Subject: Action required: Your listings are at risk of deactivation
Date: Thu, 5 Jun 2025 16:08:10 +0000
From: Amazon Services <donotreply@amazon.com>
Reply-To: Amazon Services <donotreply@amazon.com>
To: <redacted>
Dear Seller,
The following listings are at the risk of deactivation due to violations of our policies. We are reaching out to you about this issue before it impacts your ability to sell so we can resolve this with limited impact to your business. To prevent the removal of this ASIN, Take the requested actions through your Account Health page before the dates listed on the Account Health page. You can find details of the at-risk ASINs below.
Why is this happening?
We have taken this measure because we suspect your listing for this product infringes on the intellectual property of others. The product detail page for this product uses the protected trademark term of another rights owner. We have not been able to confirm that you are authorized to use this trademark on the product detail page. Unauthorized use of this trademark is likely to cause confusion as to the source, endorsement, or affiliation of the goods. Infringement of a trademark is a violation of Amazon Intellectual Property Policy.
How to address the listing violation?
To address your listing violation, click ‘Edit’ next to each affected ASIN in the Suspected Intellectual Property Violations section. The violation, along with the name of the brand that owns the trademark can be found under the “Reason” column on the Product Policy Compliance page on your Account Health page.
Your listing violation will be removed automatically within 8 hours if you submit to Amazon for review after editing it in one of the following ways:
1. Remove the trademarked term from the product detail page entirely, OR
2. Change the brand name to accurately reflect the product and match trademarked terms used on the product detail page OR
3. Update the detail page to add compatibility terms before the trademarked term, if the product is using the trademarked term to refer to another product, such as “charger for Kindle E-Reader”, “charger compatible with Kindle E-Reader”, and “charger made for Kindle E-Reader”.
Note: There are legal requirements for the use of compatibility terms. You can learn more about these in the Amazon Intellectual Property Policy.
Have your listings been removed in error?
If you believe there has been an error, please submit an explanation through your Account Health page and follow the instructions provided. Your explanation should include the following information:
1. A letter of authorization or licensing agreement proving that you are authorized by the rights owner to create and list products using trademarked term in relation to your product. The documentation submitted must meet the following criteria:
- The document includes name and address of rights owner.
- The document explicitly authorizes you to make and list products using the rights owner’s trademark, under your own brand name.
2. An explanation and any evidence or documentation demonstrating how the listings do not violate our intellectual property policies.
What happens if I do not address the policy violation?
The listing violation notification for this ASIN will continue to remain on your Account Health page for 180 days. We encourage you to address this violation notice to ensure you maintain good account health. If you do not take steps to address this policy violations and incur additional violations, your Amazon selling account may be deactivated.
You can view your account performance at here or by selecting Account Health on the home page of the Amazon Seller app on your iOS or Android device. The Account Health page shows how well your account is performing against the performance metrics and policies that are required to sell on Amazon.
We are here to help.
If you have questions about this policy or your account, contact Selling Partner Support.
Thank you.
Amazon
We leveraged a combination of automated means to identify this issue and make this decision.
ASINs:
B0DV4RJBSB
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