New Amazon scam, sellers beware!

Amazon scam alert for sellers!

In recent years, as competition in the cross-border e-commerce market has intensified, internal competition has also increased, and there are more and more mixed quality sellers.

Furthermore, as the peak season approaches, vicious competition and the like are constantly emerging, and even some top sellers in certain categories cannot escape the mockery of their competitors.

01

The Big Seller Was Maliciously Mocked

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And Finally Forced to Declare Bankruptcy

Recently, a big seller in an Amazon category was maliciously reported by a competitor, resulting in their products being taken down 80 times in a year, resulting in losses of nearly $7 million, and finally they were forced to declare bankruptcy.

It is reported that the seller entered Amazon in January 2018, applied for a patent in February 2019, and then launched their first product in July, a high-end product with a unique and innovative design that quickly gained popularity and achieved a high BSR in just three months.

However, this category has always been highly competitive, especially during the pandemic, when many sellers saw the opportunity and entered in large numbers.

In November 2021, another brand seller entered the category, and a month later, the above-mentioned BS seller received a copyright complaint, resulting in their products being taken down by Amazon. After the seller’s appeal, the link was successfully restored three weeks later, but they missed the best sales time of the year.

However, malicious complaints did not stop, and over the following period of time, the seller received a complaint every 1-2 months, and the link was eventually suspended due to false complaints.

According to the seller’s statistics, their link was suspended a total of 16 times in 2021 and a total of 80 times in 2022! In the end, they had no choice but to declare bankruptcy!

What if the seller receives a copyright complaint from a competitor?

1. Keep the PSD source files of the graphics previously designed to prove that the box packaging/product was self-designed and did not involve any infringement. Convert them into a Word document and submit the materials for appeal;

2. The seller can choose to admit the accusation and then appeal the same issue, or they can issue a counter-notice, which takes 15 working days. After the counter-notice, the complaining party needs to provide a copyright certificate, and if they cannot provide one, then the seller wins.

The battle between big sellers is so violent, let alone small and medium-sized sellers!

02

New Scam

Challenging Amazon’s Bottom Line

As we all know, Amazon reviews are crucial for product conversion and sales, so many sellers try to manipulate them, either by finding loopholes or using service providers to boost their review ratings. There are also many sellers who resort to dirty tactics against their competitors, causing their sales to decline.

Recently, some sellers in the circle shared a review scam they had come across.

Some sellers, in order to sabotage their competitors, hire buyers to purchase their competitors’ products and leave negative reviews. After the product is delivered, the seller will reimburse the buyer and pay them a commission for leaving the negative review. However, after some of the parties reach an agreement, the seller starts ignoring the buyer’s messages and does not reimburse them, and even deletes them.

Therefore, the buyer has to bear the cost of the product they purchased. In the end, the buyer contacted the seller they bought the product from and requested a refund, attaching their WeChat ID and asking the seller to resolve the issue.

It can be seen that this seller’s emotions have reached the point of being angry and embarrassed, and their tone and wording show that they are very anxious to deal with this matter.

However, malicious negative reviews are not a rare occurrence, especially at this stage, nearing the peak season. Many sellers are taking some so-called “shortcuts.” Little cards, malicious negative reviews, evaluations, and so on are all emerging.

Ming has already said that the closer it gets to the peak season, the more we need to remain calm. In fact, it is not difficult to find that Amazon has already begun to clean up before the peak season. Therefore, in Ming’s opinion, although the above-mentioned seller has not yet come to a conclusion, the fact that the seller manipulates negative comments has already touched Amazon’s bottom line. Therefore, I believe that Amazon’s punishment will come even if delayed!

What should we do if our own link encounters malicious negative reviews?

1. We can directly request Amazon to delete it. As long as the seller has sufficient evidence and contacts customer service, Amazon will conduct a fair evaluation based on the historical situation of the seller’s account and make removals.

2. We can directly click the “Report abuse” below the comment to report it. However, the premise of the report is that the seller has sufficient evidence and needs to describe the negative review that needs to be deleted in detail when reporting.

Before the peak season, it is the period when Amazon cracks down on violations most frequently. Recently, sellers need to be more careful. Some violations can no longer be made, and compliant and refined operations will be the focus in the future. Don’t wait until the end to find that it was all for nothing!

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