My Account Deactivated and suspended, please help!
We had recieved an IP complaint on the 2nd May for counterfeit, however the goods were not counterfeit as they were purchased from a reputable UK retailer.
The IP complaint was for Counterfeit and was only 1 defect on the account. The account was open in November 2022.
Summary:
I purchased Products from the retailer and also have the invoice which I had provided amazon however they rejected it and asked for a letter of Authorisation (which is difficult to obtain as the brand or distributor or Lloyds pharmacy will not provide).
Amazon then deactivated my account and asked for a Plan of action which i had provided.
Amazon then asked for invoice which I provided. They then asked for a ‘letter of Authorisation’ (which I cannot provide)
I had provided amazon with the invoice to prove genuine products around 5 times and they keep coming back with the same response regarding letter of Authorisation.
I had tried to contact amazon or even get them to call me however was not able to as the account is suspended (so no way of contacting Amazon, apart from submitting required information).
Is amazon able to contact me so i can speak to a human?
If you require further details, please let me know.
I appreciate your help
TIA
15 replies
Seller_DROodOAYHftnc
Firstly, this is not Amazon, but a forum for other sellers, so none of us are able to resolve your problem, only offer advice from experience.
Your second problem is that you appear to have bought goods from a retail shop ? - this is Retail Arbitrage and is not the best business model for selling on Amazon.
They have very strict criteria for RA / OA.
Presumably you would only have receipts and not actual invoices from Lloyds pharmacy, and you technically cannot sell them as ‘New’.
If the goods were branded goods, that is why they are asking for an LOA from the brand, which as you say, you cannot provide.
Seller_D59sukg3PflcJ
Hi @Miko_s_Corner
This is Aksh from Amazon, here to assist you with your concerns.
From the above post, we understand that you have concerns related to Intellectual property violations resulting in the deactivation of your account.
Firstly, Amazon is dedicated to ensuring that products on its marketplaces do not violate or infringe a Rights Owner’s intellectual property (IP) rights. Rights Owners can report infringing content they find on Amazon and share answers to frequently asked questions on how Amazon handles infringement complaints. A Rights Owner includes any person (such as a brand, a seller, a customer or any third party) who legitimately owns intellectual property rights for the product in question.
To learn more about intellectual property rights, please visit your local intellectual property office.
If you have an established relationship with the rights owner who submitted the complaint (license, manufacturing or distribution agreement, etc.), we encourage you to reach out to the rights owner and request that the complaint be retracted. If we receive a retraction from the rights owner, your content may be reinstated. The rights owner’s contact information is provided in the warning you received.
If you believe that a rights owner, or Amazon, made an error when removing your product listing, reply to the notification you received and provide specific reasons as to why you believe a mistake was made. Provide any invoice or Order ID that demonstrates the authenticity of the product, where appropriate. We will then re-evaluate the notice and your content may be reinstated.
Amazon does not enforce distribution channel control reports or check for a seller’s authorization or ability to sell a brand’s products through the infringement form. If you report counterfeit on the basis that a seller is not authorized by you to sell or, you have not allowed other sellers to sell your product, it may not constitute an infringement complaint.
Secondly, We recommend you to speak to an Account Health Specialist via phone call for dedicated assistance. You can reach the Account Health Support Specialist via the ‘Call Me Now’ button on your Account Health Dashboard:
https://www.sellercentral.amazon.com/performance/dashboard
We would also like to thank @JillyB1 for their guidance on the issue in hand.
Kindly post on the same thread for any further assistance. We’re here to help you.
Regards,
Aksh.
Seller_2IqU6eYHmCUaV
Basicallly as a Retailer for over 30 years RA is something i’ve never done.
You are leaving yourself open to trouble, buying things off a retailer such as Lloyds Pharmacy ,selling as new and listing on Amazon which is Retail Arbitage
As the item is not new (you a have purchased it from a Retailer) , say there is a problem with it and the Customer contacts the Manufacturer directly for advice , as you are not an Authorised Reseller , you could be “opening a can of worms” for yourself ,just making a quick buck doing RA. as there is no supply chain invoice for the item.
Seller_d1lccJQziK3Vm
Where would i submit my POA, would it be the text box or would i upload it as word or pdf?
Seller_d1lccJQziK3Vm
please find below a plan of action submitted which was declined.
Amazon stated on the phone that i will need to submit a POA if im unable to provide a letter of authorisation.
any advise on the below POA will be appreciated
Plan Of Action
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to appeal the suspension of my account due to the “Counterfeit” type of infringement of intellectual property complaints.
We understand that Amazon takes complaints about infringement of intellectual property rights by brands or rights holders very seriously, and we would like to share with you my action plan in which we explain what we are doing to resolve the issue and what we will do to prevent similar complaints in the future.
Root Cause:
• We received an intellectual property rights complaint request from the rightful owner that the product in one of the inventory lists we received from our suppliers were counterfeit. We were suspended shortly.
• We have violated Amazons intellectual property polices by listing on ASIN:xxxx
• We listed the product under the original ASIN: B074M9YVDV, under Fulfilled by Amazon (FBA) and had over 20 FBA sellers on the listing.
• We purchased the products from an authorised supplier.
• The supplier has a Letter of Authorization, and they are not willing to provide this information to me. However they have provided a VAT invoice to prove the purchase and authenticity of the product (Invoice Attached).
KMI brands is the rightful owner of Ted Baker (ASIN: xxxx) and was the complainant. KMI brands is a supplier of Lloyds pharmacy who I have purchased from. (Please find details on their website which shows KMI brands supplying to Lloyds pharmacy) https://kmibrands.com/our-brands/ted-baker/
We have also attached proof of suppliers they distribute to from the website., which is one we purchased from.
Corrective measures:
• Review the complaint: Carefully reviewing the complaint and identifying the specific content that is being questioned for infringement.
• Remove the content: As soon as we received notification, we immediately removed the listing that caused the complaint from our inventory.
• We do not have anymore stock for this ASIN and will not sell this stock or brand again.
• We removed the listings from our inventory that we may violate the rights on the brands, which could cause any confusion to other rights holders.
• We contacted the supplier with whom we received the inventory that caused us to receive complaints and decided to terminate our business partnership in case of repeated problems.
• We have carefully reviewed my entire amazon account and inventory to ensure that all my entries are fully compliant with amazon policies and guidelines, especially those relating to trademarks and intellectual property.
• We limited our number of suppliers, as only working with manufacturers and authorized distributors would be more appropriate for us.
• We contacted the rights owner to apologised for the infringement and mentioned that we have removed all listings related to the complaint and we do not have any more products from the brand to sell.
Preventive steps:
• Educate on copyright and trademark laws: understanding the basics of intellectual property laws and identifying potential infringement issues and taking appropriate actions to avoid them.
• Conducting through research: Before Listing any products for sale, conduct thorough research on the brand and the product to ensure that we are authorised to sell it. Checking the brands website or contact the manufacturer directly to confirm whether they allow third party sellers to sell their product. If the policies prohibit third party sales, we should not sell them.
• Keep records of permissions: Keeping a record of any permissions or licenses we obtain to use someone else’s content, including the name of the owner, the type of content, and the term of use.
• Monitoring our account regularly: Regularly checking our account for any potentially infringing content and remove it immediately if we find any. Also monitoring our account for any unauthorized use of content.
• Seeking legal Advice if needed: if we are unsure whether the use of content may infringe someone else’s intellectual property rights, we will seek legal advice to avoid any potential legal issues.
• Before listing new products for sale on Amazon, we will confirm that the products or listings do not violate anyone’s intellectual property rights, trademarks, copyrights, or patents.
• We will also be in touch with my suppliers to confirm that their products can be sold on Amazon.
• We will get my inventory directly from manufacturers and authorized distributors.
• We will continue to work with my suppliers, who offer content and lists of unique products that are authorised to sell on Amazon.
• We will regularly follow and re-read Amazon rules and policies to make sure We don’t violate any of the rules (https://sellercentral.amazon.co.uk/help/hub/reference/G201361070)
• Check for Trademarks: Looking for trademarks associated with the brand or product. If we see trademark, we may need permission from trademark owner to sell the product.
We will also monitor all changes to policies or applicable laws that may affect me or our account and react proactively.
We believe this plan has adequately addressed the issue and we look forward to having our account reactivated.
TIA
