Painful but Necessary: Amazon's Violation Reporting Tool
Hello Sellers,
I've noticed numerous inquiries on the Seller Forums regarding how to report issues such as incorrect product detail pages, seller abuse, PDPs not matching the actual product, or intellectual property violations. I'm also aware of instances where you reported violations through the Forums, but no action was taken.
Let me clarify the process of using Amazon's reporting portal and the types of abuse you can report.
How to access:
From the main menu, go to Performance > Account Health > Report Abuse. You'll see a series of reporting options on the left side.
Important Reminders:
- Choose the correct violation category as it's crucial for proper assessment. If the category doesn't align with the violation type, the team may reject it as there's no option to re-categorize for review by another team.
- Provide clear and specific details about the violation, including the reason, affected listings, etc. Well-organized and relevant facts will strengthen your report. Generic reports may not be sufficient for action.
- Include any documentation or evidence supporting the reported violation, such as screenshots, communication trails, etc. This supporting evidence can be extremely helpful in substantiating your claim.
Types of Abuse to Report:
- Intellectual Property Violations: Report counterfeit products, unauthorized use of copyrighted images, or patent infringements. Brand owners/agents in Brand Registry should use "Report a Violation," others use "Report Infringement."
- Product Condition/Mismatch Issues: Report cases where customers received a different product than listed (wrong model, incorrect match, missing parts, tampered serial number) or if the condition differs from what's stated.
- Misleading Product Detail Pages: Report violations like duplicate listings, incorrect categories/variations, banned links/language, keyword abuse, or digital download policy violations.
- Product Detail Page Changes: Report if a PDP has been changed to misrepresent the actual product.
- Customer Feedback Removals: Understand when Amazon may remove or strike through customer feedback (redirects to Feedback Manager).
- Abusive Buyer Messages: Report abusive messages received from buyers (redirects to Buyer messages).
- Issue Not Listed: Report abuse issues not covered by other options.
- Abusive Seller: Report sellers attempting to harm your business (e.g., placing orders to hold inventory, leaving negative reviews, making offensive contributions, leaving fake negative seller feedback, or any other malicious actions).
What has been your experience with Amazon's violation reporting process so far?
I'm mentally prepared for potential negative comments, as I'm aware some of you have had frustrating experiences with the reporting tool.
Sakura
Painful but Necessary: Amazon's Violation Reporting Tool
Hello Sellers,
I've noticed numerous inquiries on the Seller Forums regarding how to report issues such as incorrect product detail pages, seller abuse, PDPs not matching the actual product, or intellectual property violations. I'm also aware of instances where you reported violations through the Forums, but no action was taken.
Let me clarify the process of using Amazon's reporting portal and the types of abuse you can report.
How to access:
From the main menu, go to Performance > Account Health > Report Abuse. You'll see a series of reporting options on the left side.
Important Reminders:
- Choose the correct violation category as it's crucial for proper assessment. If the category doesn't align with the violation type, the team may reject it as there's no option to re-categorize for review by another team.
- Provide clear and specific details about the violation, including the reason, affected listings, etc. Well-organized and relevant facts will strengthen your report. Generic reports may not be sufficient for action.
- Include any documentation or evidence supporting the reported violation, such as screenshots, communication trails, etc. This supporting evidence can be extremely helpful in substantiating your claim.
Types of Abuse to Report:
- Intellectual Property Violations: Report counterfeit products, unauthorized use of copyrighted images, or patent infringements. Brand owners/agents in Brand Registry should use "Report a Violation," others use "Report Infringement."
- Product Condition/Mismatch Issues: Report cases where customers received a different product than listed (wrong model, incorrect match, missing parts, tampered serial number) or if the condition differs from what's stated.
- Misleading Product Detail Pages: Report violations like duplicate listings, incorrect categories/variations, banned links/language, keyword abuse, or digital download policy violations.
- Product Detail Page Changes: Report if a PDP has been changed to misrepresent the actual product.
- Customer Feedback Removals: Understand when Amazon may remove or strike through customer feedback (redirects to Feedback Manager).
- Abusive Buyer Messages: Report abusive messages received from buyers (redirects to Buyer messages).
- Issue Not Listed: Report abuse issues not covered by other options.
- Abusive Seller: Report sellers attempting to harm your business (e.g., placing orders to hold inventory, leaving negative reviews, making offensive contributions, leaving fake negative seller feedback, or any other malicious actions).
What has been your experience with Amazon's violation reporting process so far?
I'm mentally prepared for potential negative comments, as I'm aware some of you have had frustrating experiences with the reporting tool.
Sakura
21 replies
Seller_wA3Q6hSOKG6WF
Hi,
Thanks for this post, it's very helpful. I'm curious which one to use to report a prohibited item for sale. It's a bladed item offered for free with a different item for sale and really, it is supposed to either have an age verification upon purchase and delivery or simply not be allowed for sale via FBA. (I have checked the UK Gov guidelines and Amazons policies to make sure I am correct) Please advise.
Thanks in advance.
Seller_Fed4l7tR5lAq1
Thank you but the issue is not that we don't know how to report the violations or indeed when to report them, the issue is that the system automatically sends an email saying - no violation found EVERY TIME - it really is frustrating and as if you don't really want us to report violations.
I have spoke to seller central so many time and given them so many examples - the violations are plain to see but the system does not register them - seller central agree but they say they can't do anything.
It is a system error not an issue of us doing it wrong.
Please look into this and test it yourself.
Seller_71wdi9vPAEP03
Hi Sakura,
Thank you for the detailed breakdown of the reporting process. It’s clear that navigating these issues on Amazon can be complex, and having a structured approach is crucial for sellers. I’d imagine that many sellers appreciate the guidance on how to properly categorize and provide evidence for their reports.
From my perspective, the challenges often arise from the effectiveness of the process itself. Sellers sometimes find that their reports don't get the attention they need or that the resolution takes longer than expected. It can be frustrating to follow the correct procedures and still feel like the issues aren’t being addressed in a timely manner.
One area where sellers might need additional support is in the clarity of communication from Amazon regarding the status and outcomes of their reports. Updates on whether a report is being reviewed or if additional information is needed could help manage expectations and reduce frustration.
It might also be beneficial to have more specific guidance or examples of what constitutes sufficient evidence for different types of reports. This could help ensure that sellers provide the most relevant information and increase the chances of a swift resolution.
Overall, while the process is in place, improving the responsiveness and transparency of the reporting system could enhance the experience for sellers. What has been your experience with these aspects of the reporting process?
Seller_tRuvBEHDedp4q
Does that cover where the picture shows a white bag, but the Title says it is black, the Colour attributes say it is black, the Description says it is black and the GTIN for the item is for the black bag.
Customer buys item based on its picture alone. I send black bag as that is actually the correct item for the listing - but then customer rejects item as 'item not as described' and I have to pay for its return.
Ive reported the issue in numerous ways only to be told I am unable to make the changes and neither can support - so what is the use of the violations tool? Changes are often locked to brand owner (whoever they are - certainly wasn't the manufacturer in this case as they tried making the change too).
When it happened again with another customer I withdrew the product from sale.
Seller_RAXEWLxQ2dbmN
There are literally millions of redundant, duplicate and corrupted ASINs in the BMVD catalogue. Reporting just one is arduous. To report them all would take several lifetimes.
It should be easy for an Amazon algorithm to weed out the handful of dropshipping sellers (and associated software) that are creating these listings en masse but... it has been going on for years and shows no sign of abating. There seems to be little point in reporting these kind of 'violations'.
Many sellers posted examples on the foums in the past but that was when the boards were semi-anonymous - it is clearly a risky thing to do now. Apart from a few cases of blatant large-scale fraud, very little if any action was taken against the perpeprators as far as we could see.
Seller_cCeD6toydWU03
Hi Sakura
The reporting tool does not work. I know you have been involved in an investigation with this issue before and have contributed to these two posts regarding the violation reporting tool:
DISNEY product and Brand Name changed - IP Violation but amazon seems okay with it
Adding offers to generic products listing
What was the outcome of the investigation as the issues are still not resolved.
Regards
Seller_EkGoiphKgUnUI
Ive tried raising these violations but not once have I seen the issues on the detail page resolved... Id rather we could set up cases to report them, and then chase it up when Amazon inevitably do nothing
Seller_hFQDZaGyrETeG
yet another Amazon rep who assumes we are doing something wrong rather than than looking at Amazon's failing tools/systems
We know how to report, we have brains and can decide on the correct violation category, the problem is that the tool always comes back with 'no violation' when it's blatant.
I don't know why im wasting my time writing this, nothing will happen as Sakura is probably useless AI aswell
Seller_fOG8EFJJcBwGE
Pretty lazy post. We know how to report these violations and we have been reporting properly en mass for a very long time with comprehensive evidence.
Amazon never does anything about it, seller support are useless, when reporting online you usually just get no violation detected, the violation emails say we are investigating but never do anything
Forum mods ignore requests for help when trying to take action against fraudulent sellers.
This should literally be escalated by every forum mod on this forum to Amazon that there is a serious problem with fraudulent sellers and that something needs to change & action actually needs to be taken to remove fraudulent listings that would be the most helpful and best thing to do.
Pretty disappointed when you as mods can clearly see their is a seller manipulating and violating the rules & you see the evidence, the internal teams claim their is no violation and then you give up after the first try.
Seller_wA3Q6hSOKG6WF
@Sakura_Amazon_
I'm curious if you are trying to prove a point here by leaving us all hanging? Ask a question and then ignoring us is typical Amazon behavior and you're demonstrating it wonderfully. Not exactly giving us much hope that we're going to be listened to are you.
