I’ve just read a remarkable story on Web Retailer about an Amazon FBA seller who was suspended after being targeted by a competitor using false claims and malicious reviews.
Here’s a summary of Mike’s story:
Mike and his wife began selling online in 2014. After starting out on eBay they preferred Amazon due to FBA. Things started to go bad for them in October when Amazon informed them of a claim from another seller that one of the products they were selling infringed their trademark.
The claim was false, so Mike reached out to the seller to ask him/her to withdraw their claim. When he didn’t get a response, he contacted Amazon who reinstated his listing. However, the black mark on his metrics remained (as the claim wasn’t withdrawn) and was likely to have a negative effect on his performance metrics and sales.
Two weeks later, Mike was notified about another counterfeit/trademark infringement claim against another product with three variations. The claim again was false, so Mike made contact with the company and the agency who made the claim on their behalf. The Director of the company contacted Mike and said the claim was made in error but Mike was sceptical about this.
Upon investigation, Mike found out the agency who made the claim was in fact an Internet Marketing company. He discovered they were listing the company they were working for as the manufacturer on some bestselling products in order to drive traffic to their listings. Surprisingly, Amazon appeared uninterested in this.
Mike was successful in overturning the false claims and could continue selling the affected products. However, in November, he received two counts of negative feedback within five minutes of each other which was very out of the ordinary for his business.
The first negative feedback review contained a false telephone number and was a ghost order (where the receiver had no knowledge of the order) but confirmed to Mike that the package was received in perfect condition and not damaged as the feedback claimed. The second negative feedback review had the same fake telephone number and appeared to be another ghost order.
Upon further investigation )through company registration and trademark records), Mike discovered the agency was an Amazon seller who had received positive feedback from the same two buyers who had left him negative feedback.
Then in December, Mike received two more malicious feedback comments which had the same order date as the last two negative feedback comments. When Mikewent through his sales for that day, he found a total of 20 suspicious orders, all with the same characteristics.
Because of the negative feedback, Mike lost the Amazon Buy Box and sales fell by 50%. Then things got even worse, he was suspended for “selling inauthentic products and for violating Amazon’s code of conduct.”
The suspension meant Mike was unable to sell on Amazon and had to remove his FBA stock at a cost of £5,000 and repay his Amazon Loan in full. Now Mike sells on eBay and his private label products directly to retailers. Without these other channels, Mike is certain he would have gone bankrupt.
Check out the full article on WebRetailer.
Related: What to Do If Your Amazon Account Gets Suspended
[xyz-ihs snippet=”Join-Newsletter-for-more-Amazon-Tips”]
