Hello,

I was wondering if anyone has dealt with a product inauthenticity complaint before that may be able to help me with a rather tricky situation.

My partner and I run a small business together on top of our other jobs. We used to sell the product Pokémon Assorted Cards, 50 Pieces ASIN: B001CJVTLC to another business in batches of around 100-300. They took a break and we were left sitting with stock so we decided to try our hand at selling them on Amazon ourselves. This took off and we were getting really good reviews and lots of buy box wins. We made sure to make the products up to be good value (no duplicates etc).

Anyway, we got a product inauthenticity claim which locked us out of the listing but also meant we couldn’t withdraw the money from our account. Over half of this is owed out in postage fees etc and we are very stressed about it. At first it seemed like an easy fix, as all of our cards are genuine and purchased from an official supplier (not retail, but wholesale).

Round 1, uploaded some invoices. Appeal rejected as they wanted a years worth.

Round 2. We uploaded these invoices but they were rejected because they didn’t contain the ASIN line item. I rang Amazon account health support to explain that the products listed in our invoices were the raw materials we used to manufacture the ASIN. They said they would look into it. They spent around 10 minutes checking and initially I was hopeful. When they came back on the phone they then said that we weren’t purchasing in high enough numbers to justify our sales. I tried to explain that 1 line item on the invoice would contain thousands of cards but they were unhappy with that and said we had to prove it.

Onto round 3. My partner made up an Excel sheet showing each line item on our invoices over the last year of official Pokemon goods and how many cards those contained and how many of this ASIN that would generate. This took a long time. We submitted with an explanation and the appeal was again rejected due to the line item not appearing on the invoice. I rang up again and explained that they were raw material invoices. The customer service representative told me that they would not accept them as raw materials invoices because I am not making a new product. They suggested submitting a plan of action.

Round 4, we submitted a plan of action stating that perhaps the customer felt the cards were inauthentic due to our packaging. I would change up the packaging and include a note about how the cards are sourced and how the product is made with each order. This was rejected.

Round 5. I read in a forum somewhere of someone in a similar situation and they were told to create “manufacturing invoices” from their own business to their own business and that some people have had success with that in the past. I have attempted this now with an explanation of what I am doing. I don’t have too much faith that it will work at the moment though.

I am scared because we do need this money, like many people in my situation from what I have read online. Does anyone have any advice on this situation? I feel that if what we have provided isn’t enough then perhaps this ASIN shouldn’t even exist as everyone would be in the same boat as us at best.

I’m not sure where to go from here.

All advice is appreciated, please be gentle, this has been going on since 02-Nov-2022 and I am exhausted.

Thanks,

Natasha