Amazon has gained its reputation for being the world’s largest eCommerce platform. As of December 2021, there are 6.4 million Amazon sellers worldwide with 1.5 million active sellers. This number includes brand owners and third party resellers. Imagine competing with hundreds or even thousands of sellers who sell the same product as you do. Because of this, there are a few sellers who resort to black hat tactics which end up damaging the legit brands.
Due to the competition, many third party resellers even resort to damaging tactics. When the pandemic started, most brick-and-mortar sellers turned to the online marketplace which added to the competition. While this spells profits for Amazon, it may cause a big headache for some brands especially if they have to deal with illegal or unauthorized resellers.
Black Hat Tactics of Third Party Resellers
To protect your brand, you must be aware of the black hat tactics that some sellers take to wipe out their competition. This is not only done by third party resellers but even by some small brands.
- Fake Positive Reviews
Perhaps one of the biggest stories on Amazon was about Zac Plansky who founded AT3 Tactical. One of his products, rifle scopes, garnered an average of 5 positive reviews daily, so he was very much surprised when he received 16 positive reviews overnight. Of course, who wouldn’t want to receive positive reviews. However, Plansky thought this was fishy and reported it to Amazon. The reviews were removed after a week. He thought it was already over until Amazon sent him an email about suspending his seller account due to “manipulated reviews.” Plansky was able to have his account reinstated after coordinating with an Amazon lawyer and losing thousands of revenue and sales.
- Product Listing Hijackers
Hijackers my change your product title, descriptions, and bullets with claims that are unacceptable on Amazon such as curing diseases, pornographic, violent, or dangerous goods. These words will automatically be recognized by Amazon bots and will take down your listing. Some hijackers even change the listing photos to pornographic ones.
- Selling Counterfeit Products
One of the problems that most brands have to face is Chinese sellers. A Chinese seller may copy your product by having it manufactured in China, having exactly the same specs as yours but with a different label. Even the big brand Apple was not safe from counterfeit products when someone bought Apple earphones then found out that they were fake.
- Damaging and Infringement Claims
Some sellers even go out of their way and purchase from the legit brand. Then, they would write a negative review or tell Amazon that the product is dangerous or fake. The unauthorized seller would even file an infringement claim against the legit brand.
How an Exclusive Reseller Can Help Protect Your Brand
As a brand owner, you would go out of your way to really protect your brand and assets. Sadly, signing up for the Amazon Brand Registry is not enough.
Probably one of the best ways to protect your assets is by partnering with a trusted third party seller. An exclusive third party seller can ensure that your keywords and inventory will still be visible in the market in case your seller account gets suspended.
Here are the positive effects an exclusive third party seller will have in case of account or listing suspension:
- There will still be revenue due to Amazon sales because your third party seller still carries your products. IF your listing or account gets suspended due to being a victim of black hat tactics, your trusted third party seller will have your listings available to customers.
- BSR will remain intact because your products are still visible to consumers. The keywords will still rank and customers can still find your products even when your account is not.
- The inventory will remain in stock even if you run out. Your exclusive third party reseller can keep selling your products to customers.
- Easier to manage promotions. You don’t have to worry about consolidating promotions because you only have one trusted seller who will be accountable. Your reseller will only be eager to run ads because they won’t have to share the profits with other third party sellers.
- You can be assured that there will be no MAP violation and the brand will have pricing control. They won’t have to compete with the Buy Box so they don’t need to lower their prices.
- The brand will have consistent customer service and avoid negative feedback from customers. Your exclusive third party seller will be accountable and will represent your brand better.
Conclusion
Having an exclusive third party reseller is easier to control and ensures that your inventory stays in stock even if you run out of them. There are also a lot of illegal sellers that do everything to taint your brand. Thus, in case your listing or account gets suspended, you will not lose revenue and rank as your products will still be available in the marketplace.
Looking for an expert third party seller? Get in touch with us and we’ll do more than just sell your products, we will help you protect them.
“Don’t find customers for your products, find products for your customers.”
— Seth Godin
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