Account deactivated to control selling prices
Hi All,
Our account has recently been deactivated and all funds legally due to us have now been withheld. Given our countries situation the effect this has on cash flow can have a serious effect on our business and staff livelihoods so if anyone is able to provide any help it would be really appreciated.
We have been legitimately sourcing products from a Chinese manufacturer. We have letters of authorisation, purchase orders etc all the evidence to provide a solid supply chain.
However we received several infringements against these ASINs stating either “counterfeit” or “piracy”. We provided all the evidence to Amazon yet we were ignored. We were advised the only way to reinstate our account was to have the original complaints revoked by this Chinese company.
We made immediate contact with them and were told, in writing, that the complaint was made due to the selling price being below their SRP - and not as stated to Amazon as counterfeit or piracy. We have further written evidence stating a payment of $20000 is required by the same company to stop these false infringements being made along with an agreement not to supply Amazon with any further stock.
As we we will not entertain either option the end result is that Amazon have without consulting us taken their false statements as true to remove our offer and now close our account. We are now unable to have any further communication with Amazon as we are locked out of our account. Equally we are not getting sent our funds holding legally due money to us.
Surely if Amazon hierarchy knew this tactic was being used to effectively fix prices they would not allow it to happen but ultimately are providing this platform.
Any suggestions would be great, thanks.
Account deactivated to control selling prices
Hi All,
Our account has recently been deactivated and all funds legally due to us have now been withheld. Given our countries situation the effect this has on cash flow can have a serious effect on our business and staff livelihoods so if anyone is able to provide any help it would be really appreciated.
We have been legitimately sourcing products from a Chinese manufacturer. We have letters of authorisation, purchase orders etc all the evidence to provide a solid supply chain.
However we received several infringements against these ASINs stating either “counterfeit” or “piracy”. We provided all the evidence to Amazon yet we were ignored. We were advised the only way to reinstate our account was to have the original complaints revoked by this Chinese company.
We made immediate contact with them and were told, in writing, that the complaint was made due to the selling price being below their SRP - and not as stated to Amazon as counterfeit or piracy. We have further written evidence stating a payment of $20000 is required by the same company to stop these false infringements being made along with an agreement not to supply Amazon with any further stock.
As we we will not entertain either option the end result is that Amazon have without consulting us taken their false statements as true to remove our offer and now close our account. We are now unable to have any further communication with Amazon as we are locked out of our account. Equally we are not getting sent our funds holding legally due money to us.
Surely if Amazon hierarchy knew this tactic was being used to effectively fix prices they would not allow it to happen but ultimately are providing this platform.
Any suggestions would be great, thanks.
15 replies
Seller_7VbclcPFFRTnc
Is the Chinese company that is making the allegations the one who supplies you ?
Is the ASIN you are listing on your own Branded listing or are there multiple sellers on it ?
Would you be willing to share the ASIN?
Seller_EOmLRMFX8Oo9x
It will all depend if your invoices are from a legitimate recognised manufacturer and can be fully verified by Amazon. If they are Alibaba invoices they will not be accepted, They need to be invoices (not commercial invoices) direct from the Chinese manufacturer, once you overcome this hurdle you can then proceed with fighting the counterfeit allegations
If the invoices are not accepted then your only option is through the legal system
Seller_lljyzgTxr5fgI
Let me understand, cos I’m not sure that I do !
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You sourced products from a Chinese manufacturer. Is this manufacturer also your supplier or do you receive supply from a distributor?
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You have letters of authorisation from whom? The manufacturer or their authorised distributor?
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You have invoices from whom? The manufacturer or their authorised distributor?
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Who has made the complaint? The manufacturer or their distributor?
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Does the LOA permit selling of the product on Amazon and does it require a minimum retail price to be charged?
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Who is asking for $20,000? The manufacturer or the distributor?
Seller_rRan3NxC5RWzh
Hello @Gogo_Gadgets,
thank you for sharing your concern in Seller Forum.
As per the information provided I understand that you want the funds of your account which was held by Amazon since your account was deactivated cause of infringement filed on you.
Intellectual property right is a policy violation where a mere listings of products that are recognized as an intellectual property right of a right owner is not allowed without proper authorization.
You have received complaints of selling inauthentic products so you are expected to make an appeal on the account with a plan of action.
You will receive your funds once the issue in your account is resolved, hence below are some points which will help you to construct an effective plan of action:
Root cause:
-Why did you receive the infringement complaint?
-What led to the violation of intellectual property right policy? How did it happen?
-Have you checked all the other listings on offer to ensure there are no potential intellectual property rights complaint on the account?
Corrective measure:
-What action have you taken after you received the complaints to resolve the issue?
Preventive Measure:
-How will you ensure that this is not a repeated issue on the selling account?
-How will you ensure Amazon that you will not have this issue again with other products you are selling?
-What is the proactive steps you have taken to ensure the account is in compliance with Amazon’s policies?
In addition to this, it is advisable to submit the proof of authenticity - the requirements of invoices are as follows:
1 - Copies of invoices or receipts from your supplier issued in the last 365 days.
2 - The document should reflect your sales volume during the last 365 days.
3 - The invoices should consist the details of the supplier including name, phone number and address.
As soon as the appeal gets reviewed then you will get revert from the concerned team. Make sure you implement the changes before providing the plan of action.
Good luck.
Cindy
Seller_zA6Uztom5FwiN
Hi Cindy,
Thank you for your reply but it does seem to be a copy and paste reply that we’ve seen before and this is the reason why we have taken to using this community for advice in attempt to save our business from collapse.
In response to your reply, we made a Plan of Action and proved to Amazon the goods were authentic but these replies have been ignored.
Our purchase were direct from the brand owner, therefore were able to submit original brand owner invoices to Amazon, no third parties are involved in the transactions. I don’t think you can provide any better evidence than this in proving the authenticity.
The brand owner decides to log multiple violation to Amazon on the Asins we promote stating that the product is fake, which from our evidence this is not the case. so why did they log such a violations and why has this been allowed by Amazon?
We have direct contact with the brand owner, and when we questioned to why these violations were logged, the reply (which we have proof in writing), was because we sold below the SRP, therefore using Amazons fake violation process to fix a price which is illegal.
To add, they stated that If we wanted any further assistance from the brand owner to resolve this issue they demanded we pay them US$20,000.00 - We certainly do not wanted to be bribed in this way.
We have been dealing with Amazon successfully for 13 years and built a nice little business that employs 20 members of staff. We also have a small manufacturing plant set up purely to manufacture and supply Amazon traditional British made photo frames that has been running for 10 years successfully with many of our frames being in Amazon’s top 50 photo frames.
We wanted to expand our business and was approached by this Chinese brand owner and was excited by the potential opportunity.
This has obviously backfired due to there forceful nature, that unless resolved will cripple our company.
We feel we have not acted unlawfully and just want the opportunity for someone at Amazon to actually speak to us in order to resolve this situation and save our company.
We no longer wish to promote this brand owners product and just wish to continue to do what we have done best for the last 13 years.
Therefore we request a more personal and senior member of Amazon to investigate our situation. We are more than happy to be contacted directly and discuss away from this forum.
Many thanks
