Amazon crushing small businesses
Amazon are thieves and there is nothing we can do about it because they are all powerful.
I sold on there for over 2 years with no issues, good performance and good reviews. Yet on the busiest weekend of the year (11thDecember) they decide to deactivate my account due to an IP complaint, which they call 'counterfeit goods'. Because 9 prints I sold had the same pattern, I was flagged for 9 policy violations. I appealed and thought that it was sorted, removed the listings, and anything remotely similar. They let me continue selling, and then suddenly deactivated my account. Because I sell framed prints, most of the £1,800 they tied up was not profit, but postage and frames that I had paid for and that people had received. The frames were not counterfeit which are the most expensive part of the orders. The prints cost pennies in comparison.
They recently did the same to my fathers business, and he never got his money back either. It seems to be a trend, crush small businesses and replace them with Chinese sellers or Amazon listings - in fact I later saw a similar poster to mine that seemingly was fine? The fact they can literally break a whole thriving business with the click of their finger, and no proper recourse is criminal and surely if not illegal then highly immoral. They should be held to account. Our laws were not made to factor in these e-commerce giants.
Add in the fact that they themselves are the biggest tax dodgers and treat their staff like rubbish shows the character of their company.
2 years with them and they take the word of someone else without even giving us the proper respect to even communicate or investigate. It is just computer says no, appeal is wrong, needs more information (that you inevitably cannot provide.)
Shame on you Amazon. I have a severely disabled son who used to love making posters and putting them into frames and packing them with me. I am just a Dad trying to make ends meet by selling my art online, and you rip that away right before Christmas.
Shame.
16 replies
Seller_mS10UjVYuuGor
I'm not sure I understand the violation, the very nature of a print is to be a reproduction of the original so they would have the same pattern.
Were they sold as unique originals, did you not have the right to reproduce the print or were they limited numbered prints where the same number was sold nine times over?
Seller_NMF3KLBI96JsK
you right its happened to us they deactivate us as well we submit all invoice
i dont know what should we do
Seller_Fg2fqaWOnEtha
It's not clear if the prints were made by you or were copyrighted or in the public domain etc? If they are your own design or are in the public domain then you should try mediation but if you used copyrighted images then you are in the wrong sadly.
Seller_7pTs15IYXmTOB
I don't know how Amazon worked out all this and why they have de-activated your account. But I am so sorry to hear this. Please don't lose hope, open a case with Accounts health and submit an appeal, making sure everything is addressed. You may have lost Xmas sales but poster prints sell throughout the year.
And Amazon does have an inherent problem in not communicating well with sellers. They expect us to either know it all or that we study their website for information, which isn't ideal either.
Don't feel let down, everyone makes mistakes, rise like the phoenix, chase Amazon, get onto sites like Etsy, facebook and hope next year brings you and your son more business. For now, try to set it aside and have a beautiful Christmas with your son.
Seller_uK2aGVnqbtliE
Huge multinational crushing small business. Where have we heard this before? Who is surprised??
Seller_Fg2fqaWOnEtha
I agree it's a bit harsh to deactivate an account for one mistake, considering how complex copyright law is. And Amazon itself is not innocent, for instance I saw on Amazon Merch a tshirt with the London Underground map sold by an individual while that map belongs to Transport for London. Again do as I say...
I know that legally it might not make much difference, but there is a huge difference when using one sentence without realising it was copyrighted and selling fake Disney merchandising on Etsy, well aware that it's copyrighted stuff.
If you haven't done it yet, I would appeal to Amazon telling them that you are now aware that you used something that was copyrighted in your work by mistake and that it will not happen again, as from now on you will check if something is copyrighted before using it in your work. There are some databases (some for the US are free to use) that will tell you if something is copyrighted. There is also Merch Informer (search on Google) that will tell you if a sentence is copyrighted. If you write a plan of action, they might give you a second chance. I wish you the best of luck.
Seller_hb4AG4jVAz5CP
Amazon deactivating a sellers account all of a sudden is the reason I do not go 'all in' selling on Amazon and spread my selling over different platforms. If I felt very safe on Amazon I would ditch the other platforms and concentrate on Amazon. Oh well, their loss as I am sure most other sellers do the same for the same reasons.
Seller_HwaQlgFnhSuGS
My only ever trademark/copyright issue I have had with Amazon was actually correct on Amazons part..... so I admitted it and moved on.
The 'infringement' was a design I purchased to add onto a mug... and the design simply had the phrase 'Emergency Dad Jokes' included somewhere in the design. As much as it greaved me, the phrase was trademarked so I am to blame and liable and therefore Amazon is simply the messenger.
You sated that "But part of one of the designs contained a trademarked phrase." What is the phrase? Was it trademarked in the UK?
