Amazon Seller Counterfeit War

https://awesomers.com/168 for full show notes: PODCAST SHOW NOTES - Counterfeit Crackdown on Amazon, eBay, and More... If you sell on Amazon with any degree of success you have experienced other sellers "hijacking" your listing. There are legitimate times where multiple sellers sell the same product, but if you are the inventor, brand owner, and single source for your own product line the legitimate reasons goes down by a factor of 100. Yes, for the less experienced sellers it is important to understand that people can purchase from you and resell your product. The so called "FIRST SALE DOCTRINE" allows anyone who buys your product to resell it without threat of copyright or other IP infringement. This applies to products you purchase too. So the retail arbitrage business is something that can not be stopped as long as there is an economic incentive AND as long as the goods being sold are authentic. But more importantly brand owners who do tons of giveaways and then are mad that those people who got the product for FREE are reselling it on their listing are experiencing an unintended consequence. Less reputable platforms that help drive brand awareness through discounts or rebates are driving good sellers crazy when they promote their brand only to have the lucky recipients of deeply discounted goods and even FREE products show up on Amazon and sell against then with, at times, ZERO cost of goods.  That's hard to compete with, but it is manageable to avoid those types of platforms or tactics that lead to the problem. A customer who purchased the product can also make a legitimate sale as long as they list the item properly. For example if they have opened it, they should not list it as NEW. Amazon warehouse deals can also list items that were lost and reimbursed to sellers, but later they were found, that is a legitimate type of listing that a seller may not like, but there is no recourse. The more disturbing issue is when you have a listing and sellers jump on your listing and offer to sell your brand and your product, despite the fact that it is NOT the same product. Those sellers are actively selling counterfeit products and engaging in fraud and deception. The problem is that the online platforms, up until now, have had little incentive to crackdown on those behaviors. Unlike Louis Vuitton or Cartier small brands don't have a budget to threaten Amazon or the sellers, instead we try to rely on brand registry which is purported to help resolve hijacking, but in reality it does very little to stop hijackers.   Part of the problem is that platforms like Amazon make it too easy for bad actors to spin up new seller accounts. They knowingly engage in black hat tactics using these disposable accounts without regard for the law or for consequences because they are largely based in China. Amazon also actively solicits China based sellers in spite of the facts about the risks. https://awesomers.com/168 for full show notes with much more detail.