Your Guide to Amazon Suspensions

Your Guide to Amazon

Suspensions

Your Guide to Amazon

Suspensions

2017-2018 Edition

C.J. Rosenbaum Esq.

ISBN: 1974431541

ISBN 13: 9781974431540

Purpose of this Book

e help suspended sellers get their Amazon accounts reinstated.

Unlike many lawyers, we do not want any of our clients involved in

litigation. We help suspended sellers obtain reinstatement as quickly as

possible.

There are two main goals of this book:

• Educate Amazon sellers about how to avoid suspensions.

• Teach suspended Amazon sellers how to get their accounts

reinstated.

vii

Prologue to

Sellers:

Stop Living in Fear

top living in fear. This book is written to empower Amazon sellers. The

information now in your hands comes from reinstating sellers around

the world. Use what we have learned to maintain your selling privileges,

and if you receive the dreaded suspension e-mail, use this book to carry

you to your quick reinstatement.

Having met thousands of Amazon sellers around the world, the com-

mon thread is that you live in fear of your account being suspended. Small

sellers fear not being able to pay their bills or maintain their lifestyles.

Those with large accounts fear not being able to make payroll.

Many people think that lawyers are only meant for litigation. This is

wrong. A business lawyer’s job is to help you continue to do business. If

a lawyer is leading you directly to the courthouse on a business matter,

that lawyer may be influenced by his or her interest in earning litigation

fees. Business matters are overwhelmingly better handled by avoiding

the courthouse. Litigation generates fees for lawyers; litigation does not

make sense for most businesses.

C.J. Rosenbaum Esq.

viii

While I have heard “I want to sue Amazon for doing this to me!” from

suspended Amazon sellers more times than I can count, it is generally the

wrong way to look at the challenges Amazon throws at its sellers.

Negative Facts about Amazon and Sellers:

• Amazon focuses on customers, not sellers. Sellers are replace-

able. Large or small, Amazon is incredibly diversified with sellers.

It seems that no individual account, large or small, is, by itself,

important to Amazon.

• All sellers live in fear of being suspended.

• Amazon insists on a practically perfect business execution.

Great Facts about Amazon and Sellers:

• You have access to eighty million customers. At no time in the

history of commerce have people and businesses had the op-

portunity that Amazon provides. Even with all the obstacles and

callousness toward sellers, Amazon provides one of the greatest

opportunities in the history of retail.

• If you have a smartphone and a credit card, you can go into busi-

ness and compete with the big boys.

With great opportunity comes great challenges. You want to play on their

field, Amazon reserves the right to suspend your seller’s account with no

notice and hold your money. Unlike every other landlord in the United

States, Amazon can kick you out of your virtual store at any point in time.

By becoming an Amazon Seller, you agreed to their deal. You agreed

that Amazon can suspend you, kick you out, hold your money, and impose

innumerable fees on your account. You agreed that Amazon can change

the rules whenever it wants. You agreed that if there was a dispute with

Your Guide to Amazon Suspensions

their incredibly one-sided agreement or any other aspect of doing busi-

ness on the Amazon platform, you will resolve the issues via arbitration

and not use the court system. You agreed not to sue Amazon.

This book is intended to teach you how to work within Amazon’s sys-

tem to get your listing or your account back online after a suspension.

In the chapters to come, we will provide you information about the

following:

• Basic Types of Suspensions

• Most Common Reasons for Suspensions

• Basic Method for Reinstatement of Selling Privileges: the POA

• Time Limit for Submitting POA

• Basic Format of POA

• Information on Submitting Your POA to Amazon

• What You Can Expect in Response to Your POA from Amazon

• How to Handle Requests for More Information from Amazon after

Submitting Your Initial POA.

CJ Rosenbaum, Esq., Author, Partner Rosenbaum Famularo, P.C.,

the law firm behind AmazonSellersLawyer.com

C.J. Rosenbaum Esq.

Nicole Kulaga, Contributing Editor, Future Lawyer

I began representing Amazon Sellers when a close friend and client

called me in a panic. She had recently purchased an interest in a business

where Amazon sales were vital. The business’ account was suspended.

She wanted my help due to my experience as an entrepreneurs’ lawyer.

I had successfully litigated against corporate giants including Wal-Mart,

McDonalds, Sears, KFC, AIG, and other tremendous insurance companies

and numerous municipalities. I looked for someone to help. I researched

the available resources.

I found that Amazon sellers had no law firms focused on their specific

needs. Sellers were either using “Amazon Account Consultants,” buying

forms online that did not pertain to their specific issues or address their

specific accounts. There was no law firm with any significant presence

available to stand with suspended Amazon sellers.

I decided that Amazon sellers should have a law firm to stand with

them. I created a website for this area of practice that is now known

around the world:

AmazonSellersLawyer.com.

Your Guide to Amazon Suspensions

My law firm, Rosenbaum Famularo, P.C., focuses on the needs of Amazon

sellers. We have lawyers, paralegals, former Amazon sellers, and others

on staff around the world. Our clients have the opportunity to meet with

us, in person, at locations in New York, San Francisco, Seattle, London,

Dublin, Shenzhen, and now Mumbai.

Amazon sellers are not alone anymore.

Since focusing my law firm on the needs of Amazon Sellers, we have suc-

cessfully reinstated countless accounts, obtained retractions of practical-

ly every intellectual property complaint we have worked on, and resolved

many issues with Amazon’s staff in the United States, India, Ireland, Costa

Rica, and the United Kingdom. I am regularly in touch with the top law-

yers who represent Amazon and speak at Amazon seller events around

the world.

As far as I am aware, there is no other law firm in the world that han-

dles as many Amazon suspensions as we do.

Unlike the “Amazon Suspension Consultants” and websites that claim

they can help suspended Amazon sellers, at my law firm

• every document is either drafted by a lawyer or reviewed by a

lawyer;

• all the people who work on your suspended accounts are col-

lege-educated Americans; we do not outsource anything having

to do with your seller’s account to anyone in the Philippines or

anywhere else;

• we have a centralized location. All of your Plans of Action and

other documents are written in New York. We do not use anyone

outside of our law firm to work on your account; and

• every Plan of Action is discussed among our team to make sure

that we are making the best arguments for your reinstatement.

C.J. Rosenbaum Esq.

xii

Our War Room led by Anthony Famularo, Esq., (far right) a partner with

the firm, where every Plan of Action is conferenced among our team.

My belief system and philosophy on helping Amazon sellers: our job

is to get you back to business, back online, and back making money.

Our job is not to blindly follow Amazon’s policies, especially ones that

I think are bad for sellers. Our job is to help you get back online, provide

you with advice so that you can make business decisions based upon risk

versus reward, and to help you accomplish your goals.

My law firm represents our clients, not Amazon. We help Amazon

sellers.

In addition to helping sellers with suspensions, this book discusses topics

that are clearly against Amazon’s policies:

• Maintaining multiple accounts

• New or “Ghost” accounts for those who cannot obtain

reinstatement

• Buying and selling Amazon accounts without losing rankings and

reviews

Your Guide to Amazon Suspensions

xiii

If you are a glutton for data or want specific information about the

sale of specific lines of products, we currently have two other books avail-

able…on Amazon:

Amazon Law Library, Volume 1,

a compilation and summary of hundreds of lawsuits,

where Amazon either sued or was sued

Your Guide to Selling Fashion on Amazon.

Legal Disclaimer

his book is designed to provide educational information about how

to run an Amazon account and handle suspension issues that may

arise. The content of this book is the sole expression and opinion of the

authors. The authors and publisher are not offering this book as legal, ac-

counting, or other professional advice. The authors and publisher make

no representations or warranties of any kind and assume no liabilities of

any kind with respect to the accuracy or completeness of this book’s con-

tents. Further, the authors and publisher specifically disclaim any implied

warranties of merchantability or fitness of use for a particulate purpose.

Neither the authors nor the publisher shall be liable for any physical,

psychological, emotional, financial, or commercial damages, including

but not limited to, special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.

Neither the authors nor publisher shall be held liable to any person or

entity with respect to any loss or incidental or consequential damages

caused, or alleged to have been caused, directly or indirectly, by the in-

formation or content provided within this book.

This book is intended to serve as a reference—you are responsible

for your own choices, actions, and results.

Contents

Purpose of this Book � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �v

Prologue to Sellers: Stop Living in Fear � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � vii

Legal Disclaimer � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � xv

One Basics on Suspensions and Getting Back Online � � � � � � � � � �1

Two Why Does Amazon Suspend Accounts � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �7

Three MAP Pricing � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �19

Four Restricted Categories � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �25

Five Related or Multiple Accounts � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �31

Six Intellectual Property Complaints & Suspensions

also called “Rights Owner” Complaints & Suspensions � � �42

Seven Inauthentic Item Suspensions � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �60

Eight Safety Issue Suspensions � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �66

Nine Used Sold as New Suspensions � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �76

Ten Review Manipulation Suspensions � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �84

Eleven Hacked Accounts � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �91

Twelve Accounts and Sellers Outside of the United States � � � � � �101

Thirteen Getting Reinstated When Amazon Refuses to

Reinstate: Taking the Decision out of Amazon’s Hands � � �105

Fourteen Maintaining Your Business, Why Thinking

Ahead Is Essential � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �108

xvii

C.J. Rosenbaum Esq.

xviii

About C.J. Rosenbaum, Rosenbaum Famularo, P.C.

and AmazonSellersLawyer.com � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 112

Table of Authorities � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 114

One

Basics on Suspensions and

Getting Back Online

BASIC TYPES OF SUSPENSIONS:

here are two basic types of suspension: listing suspensions and ac-

count suspensions.

A listing suspension is where you have been prevented from selling

a single product, type of product, or brand of product. But, fortunately,

the balance of your account is still active. You are still selling products on

Amazon and making money. You might be making less money without

the suspended listings, but your business is still open and your payments

are still coming to you. This is, of course, better than having your entire

account suspended.

When your account was suspended, you received the dreaded e-mail

that stated, “Your selling privileges have been suspended.” You cannot

sell anything to anyone on this account (yes, many people have multiple

accounts despite Amazon’s prohibition against having more than one ac-

count without Amazon’s permission.)

When your entire account is suspended, not only are you unable to

make any sales but also Amazon withholds your money earned through

C.J. Rosenbaum Esq.

sales before your suspension. You get hit hard: you cannot earn any mon-

ey, and Amazon refuses to release money you already earned. You may

also suffer:

• storage fees;

• note payments due to Amazon for loans you may have accepted;

• your vendors still need to be paid;

• your employees all still need to be paid; and

• if you are using FBA, you cannot simply sell your products else-

where, because they are in Amazon’s warehouses.

MOST COMMON REASONS FOR SUSPENSIONS

While the specifics of the most common causes of suspensions are dis-

cussed in detail in the coming chapters, at my law firm, we see the follow-

ing as the most common reasons for suspensions:

• Inauthentic (this is different from being accused of selling fake or

counterfeit products)

• Used sold as new

• Accusations that you violated someone’s or some company’s in-

tellectual property rights

BASIC METHOD FOR REINSTATEMENT OF SELLING

PRIVILEGES: THE POA

In order to get your listing or account back online, you need to submit

a “Plan of Action.” We refer to this correspondence as a “POA.” A POA

is nothing more than an exercise in persuasive writing. You are trying to

persuade the reader at Amazon to reinstate your listing or account. In this

book, you will learn how to draft a POA.

Your Guide to Amazon Suspensions

TIME LIMIT FOR SUBMITTING POA

Amazon places a seventeen (17) day time limit—what lawyers call

a Statute of Limitations—on providing a POA. Make sure you send

something in within seventeen (17) days of receiving your suspension

e-mail.

C.J. Rosenbaum Esq.

BREAKING NEWS: In July 2017, as this book was being finished, there

was news reported that Amazon was going to hold Amazon Sellers to a

seven (7) day deadline to respond to Amazon’s latest challenge to sellers.

Ed Rosenberg wrote in his Facebook group ASGTG.com the following:

“Important! If you receive a product quality email asking for a

plan on an ASIN to avoid suspension of your account, you need

to respond even if you’re ditching that ASIN. They say in the note

that if you do not respond within seven days, you may lose your

selling privileges. This is exactly what has been happening. Make

sure to respond to those emails with a plan. If you wait one minute

before the seven days are up, that may be too late as the POA

may not be reviewed in time.”

BASIC FORMAT OF POA

There is a basic three-section format for drafting your POA:

1. Root Cause or Causes of the Issue

2. Immediate Corrective Actions

3. Long-Term Business Changes to prevent the issue or problem

from reoccurring, also called “Systemic Changes to Business.”

Your Guide to Amazon Suspensions

The “root causes” of the issues that resulted in your suspension are

basically what you identify as the reason for the customer’s, Amazon’s, a

competitor’s, or a rights owner’s complaint. You need to come up with

your own root cause. Amazon doesn’t always share with you the underly-

ing issue with your account.

Years ago, it was commonly believed that sellers should always ad-

mit to doing something wrong. Many sellers and consultants still suggest

that a seller should admit to some wrongdoing even if they did nothing

wrong. We do not agree. We do not believe that sellers should admit

to wrongdoing if they did nothing wrong or if Amazon is unaware of a

seller’s policy violations.

Basically, instead of admitting wrongdoing, we suggest that suspend-

ed sellers provide Amazon with a method of doing a better job as a seller.

The difference is in the verbiage. The importance of not admitting to fault

is addressed later in this book.

The “Immediate Corrective Action” section refers to what you already

did to remedy the particular issue. Maybe you refunded the customer

and sent them another product for free. Maybe you hired staff to help

with the issue. You need to provide Amazon with an immediate fix that

was intended to make that customer happier.

The long-term changes or systemic changes to your business refers

to the alterations to your entire operation that you made or are in the

process of making that will prevent similar issues in the future.

BASIC SUBMISSION OF POA TO AMAZON

You can submit your POA to Amazon through a button on your dashboard

or e-mail it to the Amazon department that sent you the suspension no-

tice. Most often, your suspension notice came from Seller Performance,

which is referred to as “SP,” or Product Quality or “PQ.”

C.J. Rosenbaum Esq.

WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT IN RESPONSE TO YOUR POA

In response to your POA, you can expect one of three e-mails:

1. A request for more information. This is a very common response

to an initial POA.

2. An e-mail reinstating your listing or account (this is also very

common).

3. An e-mail stating that Amazon is not reinstating your selling privi-

leges (don’t despair yet, you can submit countless additional sub-

missions, appeal to a Policy Team, write to the Jeff Bezos’ team

and, in some circumstances, go to the legal department).

HOW TO HANDLE REQUESTS FOR MORE INFORMATION

When Amazon requests more information, the notice usually comes in

one of two forms: a request for specific information or a mind-boggling

and frustrating request for all the information you already provided.

When you receive a request for specific information, you should sim-

ply provide the information requested: no more, no less.

When you receive a request for the same information you already

sent in, the information needs to be reworded, reorganized, better sup-

ported by documents, or you may want to hire a lawyer with experience

with Amazon to rewrite the POA for you.

POAs are like tax returns: you can do them yourselves, but lawyers

who draft them every day may do it better than you.

Two

Why Does Amazon Suspend

Accounts

n order to identify why Amazon suspends sellers, we must under-

stand how Amazon thinks and operates. Amazon created the Fourteen

Leadership Principles that are ingrained into their operations. While sell-

ers should review all of Amazon’s Fourteen Leadership Principals, only

the specific Leadership Principals that should be cited in Plans of Action

are discussed.

AMAZON’S NUMBER-ONE LEADERSHIP PRINCIPLE:

CUSTOMER OBSESSION

“Leaders start with the customer and work backwards. They work vigor-

ously to earn and keep customer trust. Although leaders pay attention to

competitors, they obsess over customers.”

The Customer Obsession leadership principle is the driving force

behind Amazon’s business model. This principal seems to be behind

Amazon’s incredible growth. Amazon’s customer obsession is behind ev-

erything the behemoth does. Every time they suspend a seller, it is under

the guise of protecting the customers’ future experiences.

By obsessing about the customer experience and casting all other

issues aside, Amazon has become the most trusted brand on earth.

C.J. Rosenbaum Esq.

Customer obsession is why Amazon sellers must be nearly perfect and

why Amazon seems to fiercely punish sellers who make mistakes. If you

are perfect, the customer obsession is upheld. If you are punished se-

verely for slight infractions or in many cases baseless complaints, other

customers will not experience issues and other sellers will work harder to

stay in line.

Amazon’s customer obsession supports its tendency to take the cus-

tomers’ side in just about every dispute. If a customer complains about a

product, it’s a mark against the seller—even if there was nothing wrong.

If there is a complaint about a product having some defect, the seller is

required to provide a Plan of Action detailing what he or she did or failed to

Your Guide to Amazon Suspensions

do to prevent the issue. The first thing sellers should learn from this book is

that if there is a complaint, identify what you can do to make the business

better, what can be changed so that Amazon’s customers do not have the

same issue in the future—even where there was never a real problem.

AMAZON LEADERSHIP PRINCIPLE:

OWNERSHIP

“Leaders are owners. They think long term and don’t sacrifice long-term

value for short-term results. They act on behalf of the entire company,

beyond just their own team. They never say ‘that’s not my job.’”

This “leadership principle” seems to play a role in suspensions because

in order to obtain reinstatement, you must accept responsibility for the

issue, whether you believe it exists or not. For example, if your account is

suspended for “inauthentic” or “used sold as new” or any other category,

you need to find an internal reason for the suspension. When a listing or

your account is suspended for “inauthentic” you must take responsibility or

“own” the responsibility for choosing your suppliers when you submit the

invoices that show where you purchased your products. If your listing or ac-

count was suspended for “used sold as new,” you need to find something

with your business that caused the complaint, like poor packaging, that re-

sulted in a customer receiving a damaged product that the customer per-

ceived as used. Then, instead of admitting to a failure, identify a method of

C.J. Rosenbaum Esq.

avoiding the problem in the future. Make your process, products, and so

on, better for Amazon’s next customer who receives your goods.

LEARN AND BE CURIOUS

“Leaders are never done learning and always seek to improve them-

selves. They are curious about new possibilities and act to explore them.”

Amazon expects their sellers to remain up to date on all their new

policies. If you fail to maintain your account with the new policies, you will

be at risk for suspension. It is your job to make sure you know what the

rules are and to follow them. There have been times where there have

been updates that the seller was not aware of, or didn’t pay attention to,

that resulted in a suspension. Pay attention.

This principle also plays a role in your “Long Term” or “Systemic

Changes to Your Business” portion of your Plans of Action. You should

always, as a business practice, be eager to find new ways to improve your

business. If you are suspended, that means you must not only follow this

principle but also actually demonstrate how you have followed this prin-

ciple. Show that you have explored new possibilities of improving your

business.

HIRE AND DEVELOP THE BEST

“Leaders raise the performance bar with every hire and promotion. They

recognize exceptional talent, and willingly move them throughout the

organization. Leaders develop leaders and take seriously their role in

coaching others. We work on behalf of our people to invent mechanisms

for development like Career Choice.”

This principle comes into play when writing your “Long Term” or

“Systemic Changes to Your Business” section within your Plan of Action.

You should demonstrate that you are hiring the best people to work within

your business. Sometimes, this requires hiring extra personnel to review

all of your invoices, to double check that your listings 100 percent match

Your Guide to Amazon Suspensions

the items they describe, or to make sure all the packaging is intact when

the product arrives at the customer’s door. Show Amazon that perfection

is a goal your business aims to achieve. Do as Amazon does: achieve bet-

ter customer satisfaction by hiring the best people you can find.

AMAZON LEADERSHIP PRINCIPLE:

INSIST ON THE

HIGHEST STANDARDS

“Leaders have relentlessly high standards—many people may think these

standards are unreasonably high. Leaders are continually raising the bar

and driving their teams to deliver high quality products, services and pro-

cesses. Leaders ensure that defects do not get sent down the line and

that problems are fixed so they stay fixed.”

Similar to the “ownership” principle, insisting on higher standards also

plays a role in your Plans of Action and reinstatement. When there is any

suspension of a product or your account, your Plan of Action must describe

how your already well-run business run even better. You must show Amazon

changes, short and long term, that will prevent similar problems in the future.

AMAZON LEADERSHIP PRINCIPLE:

EARN TRUST

“Leaders listen attentively, speak candidly, and treat others respectfully.

They are vocally self-critical, even when doing so is awkward or embar-

rassing. Leaders do not believe their or their team’s body odor smells of

perfume. They benchmark themselves and their teams against the best.”

The “Earn Trust” principle seems to be how Amazon’s people read your

Plans of Action. Plans of Action should be candid, concise, and persuasive.

• In order to “listen attentively,” listen or, more accurately, read the

suspension notice “attentively” and respond to what the notice

seeks. Do not provide extraneous information. Just provide what

is sought.

• When it comes to your POA, “speak candidly” means that you

should describe clearly what the problem was with your business.

C.J. Rosenbaum Esq.

If your staff failed to package your product correctly, say so. If

you need more staff to compare your product to the listings or

someone to double check your photographs, admit to it and say

it concisely.

• “Treating others respectfully,” means that your Plan of Action

should not insult anyone, especially the customer. Even if you

think the issue is entirely the result of a customer trying to scam

free merchandise, don’t express that in your POA. Your POA must

match Amazon’s “respect” for each and every customer. That

means not blaming the customer for anything. I also think that

“treating others respectfully” means that you should never write

anything bad about whomever might be reading your POA. For

example, you might feel strongly that people in India earning $500

per month should not be deciding the fate of your multimillion-

dollar Amazon business. It would be very foolish to write anything

that reflects those feelings in your POA. Treat the reader of your

POA and all customers with respect…whether you mean it or not.

Your Guide to Amazon Suspensions

AMAZON LEADERSHIP PRINCIPLE:

DIVE DEEP

“Leaders operate at all levels, stay connected to the details, audit fre-

quently, and are skeptical when metrics and anecdote differ. No task is

beneath them.”

When it comes to POAs and obtaining reinstatement, “dive deep”

means that the seller thoroughly investigates whatever issue brought to

the seller’s attention. When you decide what you are going to blame the

issue on, state in a few words that you identified the “root cause” of the

problem by “diving deep” into your business activities. State to Amazon

that you followed their principle. Use the words that Amazon used to train

the reader of your POA.

Your deep-dive analysis of your own business can also include the

owner of the business getting into the nuts and bolts of the business.

Amazon’s mantra about there being “no tasks beneath…” anyone is im-

portant. The owner of the account should have no problem reviewing the

shipping department. If getting into the details is OK for Jeff Bezos, it’s

OK for you to make sure that your packaging is sufficient.

AMAZON LEADERSHIP PRINCIPLE:

DELIVER RESULTS

“Leaders focus on the key inputs for their business and deliver them with

the right quality and in a timely fashion. Despite setbacks, they rise to the

occasion and never settle.”

Working this Leadership Principle into the verbiage of your POA. It

is easy. All you need to do to mimic this ideal is to use Amazon’s words.

The reader will recognize the key words because these key words and

phrases are essential to working at Amazon: they were part of Amazon’s

training. Let the reader know that the changes you already made to your

business changed the “key inputs” of your operation so that all custom-

ers receive “right quality” products “in a timely fashion.” That “despite

C.J. Rosenbaum Esq.

the setbacks,” you or your staff are rising to the need of providing better

“customer experiences” and that you “will never settle” for anything less

than perfect customer experiences.

Keep your goal in mind: persuade the reader at Amazon to reinstate

your listing or account. To persuade the reader, use the words and prin-

ciples you know they are looking for.

If you have been suspended and want to draft your own “Plan of

Action,” you need to know what Amazon’s staff is looking for in your Plan

of Action: are you providing the information Amazon wants? Amazon’s

staff in the United States, India, Ireland, and Costa Rica are trained on

Amazon’s Leadership Principles. When they read your Plan of Action, re-

inforce what they already know.

Plans of Action used to be mostly read by people in Seattle. Now,

they are mostly read by people in India, in cities called Bangalore

and Hyderabad. They are also often read by people in Ireland and

Costa Rica and, from time to time, the United States and other

locations.

Your Guide to Amazon Suspensions

In addition to the Fourteen Leadership Principles, sellers must also recog-

nize that Amazon considers all its customers to be its own customers, and

not your customers. What does this mean to Amazon sellers?

Amazon was built on what it calls its Customer Obsession. Start with

the customer and work backward. Love Amazon or hate Amazon—their

plan worked. Amazon is likely the most recognized and, more important-

ly, Amazon is likely the most trusted brand in the world.

This is important to sellers because practically all suspensions arise

from what causes or might cause a problem for Amazon’s customers.

Equally vital to sellers is that you recognize when contacting Amazon

that you recognize the “ownership” and bow to it: do not claim or write

that you are doing a great job or service to “your” customers. Amazon

trains its staff, in the United States and abroad, that the customers are its

own customers, and not yours.

C.J. Rosenbaum Esq.

Amazon’s obsession with its’ customers result in sellers being held to

extremely high expectations and requirements.

Common Issues in

Retail

Traditional Retail Amazon

Returns 10–20 percent Under 10%, varies

depending on category

Intellectual Property

Issues

If there was any

alleged infringement,

the complaining party

had to go to court

and convince a judge

that there was some

infringement before

a traditional retailer

was directed to stop

selling any particular

product.

Upon any complaint,

any seller can suffer a

suspension of all their

selling privileges or

be prevented from

selling that product.

Amazon then compels

the retailer to obtain

the retraction of the

complaint.

Changing Locations Rent a store from any

landlord.

Amazon controls 50

percent of every dollar

spent online in the

United States. There is

no comparable space

from which to conduct

business in the United

States.

We all start businesses to make money, obtain freedom, and achieve

success. To be successful, we need to check our performance regularly

and track and correct our errors.

The same issues apply to selling on the Amazon platform. In order

to satisfy its customers, keep its business running smoothly, and to

Your Guide to Amazon Suspensions

help sellers remain successful, Amazon has set certain goals or “met-

rics” that it requires sellers to abide by in order to continue exercising

their privilege of selling on the Amazon platform. Amazon created its

Seller Performance team for the purpose of evaluating whether sell-

ers on the platform are meeting their requirements of metrics set by

Amazon.

Amazon broadly classifies its goals or metrics for sellers as follows:

• Order Defect Rate

• Late Shipment Rate

• Cancellation Rate

• Policies related to trading through Amazon.com

WHAT IS AN ORDER DEFECT RATE?

When an order has been shipped out from the seller’s inventory to the

customer, and the product receives either negative feedback, an A-to-Z

Guarantee Claim, or a Service Credit Chargeback, then the product is

considered “defective” by Amazon’s standards.

Amazon calculates this metric in terms of the number of orders with a

defect divided by the number of orders received during the time period

of interest. This metric holds significant weight with Amazon because it

directly correlates to the ability of a seller to provide a positive customer

service experience.

WHAT IS LATE SHIPMENT RATE?

Usually when a customer places an order, they make a request for some

type of shipping method. Each shipping method typically provides an

expected shipment date. The seller is then informed of the duration it

will take for him or her to deliver the product. If the seller fails to meet

the expected shipment date due to nonavailability of inventory or due to

shipper’s delay, these orders fall under the late shipment category.

C.J. Rosenbaum Esq.

The late shipment rate is calculated according to the number of sell-

er-fulfilled orders with a ship confirmation that is completed after the

expected ship date divided by the number of seller-fulfilled orders pro-

cessed during the same period of time. Amazon typically requires that all

sellers maintain a late shipment rate below 4 percent.

WHAT IS CANCELLATION RATE?

Amazon creates a listing of the items on its website according to the

description of the inventory provided by the items’ corresponding sell-

er. The seller must maintain accurate records of its inventory and must

fill orders accordingly. However, in some cases an order cannot be ful-

filled, and must be cancelled by the seller due to their improper inventory

management.

Typically, the cancellation rate is calculated by the number of orders

canceled by the seller prior to ship-confirmation divided by the number

of orders processed during the same time of interest. When computing

this metric, Amazon considers all order cancellation initiated by the seller

for any reason.

Three

MAP Pricing

Minimum Advertised Price (MAP) is an agreement between a manu-

facturer and a reseller. Manufacturers inform their distributers and

retailers of a set price and that retailer may not sell below that set price.

However, there are no restrictions on how much higher the seller may set

a price. This is done to protect the manufacturer from the product being

sold at a lower cost than the brand wants. It protects profit margins and

hurts retailers when consumers do not want to value the product as high

as the manufacturer would like the product valued.

C.J. Rosenbaum Esq.

In a United States Supreme Court case, Leegin Creative Leather

Prods. v. PSKS, the court found that, “The manufacturer instituted a retail

pricing and promotion policy, refusing to sell to retailers that discounted

its goods below suggested prices. The United States Supreme Court

decided to overrule the per se rule and determined that vertical price

restraints were to be judged according to the rule of reason. The rule of

reason was the appropriate standard to judge vertical price restraints and

vertical minimum resale price maintenance agreements because (1) pro-

competitive justifications existed for a manufacturer’s use of resale price

maintenance, (2) the primary purpose of the antitrust laws was to protect

inter-brand competition, (3) administrative advantages were not sufficient

in themselves to justify the creation of per se rules, and (4) stare decisis

did not compel the Court’s continued adherence to the per se rule

.”

MAP agreements have been the source of a significant amount of

baseless complaints against Amazon sellers. In fact, Amazon states in its

e-mails to companies that assert MAP complaints that it does not enforce

these types of agreements.

1 Leegin Creative Leather Prods. v. PSKS, Inc., 551 U.S. 877 (June 28, 2007).

Your Guide to Amazon Suspensions

So, what do manufacturers and brands do instead: they assert base-

less intellectual property right complaints. These are also called “right

owner’s” complaints.

Many manufacturers and brand managers seem to be unaware of

the extent of damage that they cause to Amazon sellers when they as-

sert baseless complaints. Those who do not sell on Amazon seem to be

unaware of how poorly Amazon treats their sellers. Most manufactur-

ers, their brand managers, and even their lawyers seem to be unaware

that when they assert baseless intellectual property right complaints,

they put single moms, veterans, and small and large businesses out of

business.

When Amazon suspends a seller’s account based upon a baseless

intellectual property complaint, Amazon requires sellers to contact the

complainant and try to persuade the complainant to withdraw their com-

plaint. When handling these situations, we typically approach a manufac-

turer, brand manager, or lawyer in three steps:

1. We send an e-mail explaining the magnitude of their allegation

and explain why their complaint is baseless under US law. We

politely ask the brand to withdraw their baseless complaint. We

explain to the seller that the Amazon seller was not infringing on

any intellectual property rights. We provide a point-by-point anal-

ysis of intellectual property law that explains that there was never

any: trademark, patent, trade dress, or copyright violation. Most

of the time, we are able to negotiate with the brand and obtain

withdrawals of baseless complaints.

2. When brand refuses to withdraw their baseless complaint, or

ignores our first letter, we then send a second letter. This time,

we explain the legal ramifications of their refusal to withdraw

their baseless complaint. The brand is politely (maybe not quite

C.J. Rosenbaum Esq.

as friendly as the first letter but still politely) informed that as

the party making a claim, they must show first and foremost

that they have obtained valid trademark, trade dress, copyright,

or patent protected under the USPTO. That when push comes

to shove, the brand must establish certain elements in order to

be successful in a claim against an Amazon seller. For example,

if the complaining party alleged trade-dress infringement, they

must show that the Amazon seller caused a likelihood of cus-

tomer confusion.

If a brand accuses a seller of selling counterfeit products, and

the product is genuine but being obtained through holes in the

brand’s distribution system, then there is no counterfeiting. Once

a complaining party is made aware of their mistake and how they

fail to meet the legal elements to have a claim against a seller,

they will usually remove their complaint.

3. There are stubborn brands that ignore our letters. They do not

care that their complaint is faulty; they do not care that they are

putting someone out of business. What do they care about?

Making money by thwarting competition. Our third letter to

brands that refuse to remove their complaints is to inform them

that things they do can have serious implications on them: let

them know that their heads are on the chopping block. For ex-

ample, if the brand is selling on Amazon, and we can show that

their complaint is merely stopping competition and raising prices

for Amazon’s consumers, then their Amazon account is at risk.

Amazon sellers are not supposed to assert or maintain bogus

complaints. Amazon protects their customers against all, includ-

ing brand managers. Also, in our third attempt to persuade the

brand to withdraw their baseless complaint, we explain how the

brand may be liable for our seller’s damages. Brand managers

are often unaware that they are subjecting their brand to poten-

tial litigation and really bad press if they refuse to withdraw their

baseless complaint.

Your Guide to Amazon Suspensions

More and more manufacturers are filing complaints they know are base-

less, just to kick off members who violate MAP agreements. There is

a hole in their distribution, and while they need third-party sellers,

they are still willing to kick them off if they do not follow the MAP. We

have seen eyeglass companies go after third-party sellers regardless

of these businessmen and women selling authentic items. Amazon is

a tricky business to navigate, but fortunately, most manufacturers who

file fake complaints are willing to remove them once they are aware of

their offense.

Amazon themselves have taken a step to combat this issue. They have

created a forum that sellers and customers may access.

C.J. Rosenbaum Esq.

The forum allows customers and sellers to interact with one another

to discover the pricing of certain items. The forum clearly states the dis-

agreement with MAPs mentioning, “However, some manufacturers have

imposed “Minimum Advertised Price” (MAP) policies that restrict how

retail prices may be displayed if they are lower than the manufacturer’s

MAP price. (Retailers still have the legal right to set their own retail price

independently.)”

If you decide to sign a MAP agreement, it is important to know that

you may be falsely accused of intellectual property violations on Amazon.

Fortunately, there is hope. Make sure you have invoices and documents

to first demonstrate that you are in the business of selling authentic items.

Your next step would be to hire an experienced attorney to handle the

legal issues that arise. Do not try to handle your legal issues alone. Even

if you did not break the law, you are still accused of breaking the law, and

an attorney will know how to demonstrate to a manufacturer that you

have not violated any rights. Once a complaint is removed, you will need

to show in your plan of action that the complaint was removed, the party

has admitted their mistake, and then you will need to prove that you only

sell authentic items.

2 Amazon.com, Forum Moderator.

Four

Restricted Categories

mazon does not allow all sellers to sell all items or in all categories.

Sellers are obligated under their contract with Amazon

to remain

up to date on the restricted lists of products and list of categories that

3 Amazon sellers generally do not know that the Terms of Service and their

Participation Agreement are not the contract they have with Amazon. If you click

through the definitions sections, you will be lead to the Business Services Agreement

(“BSA”) that is the contract that Amazon sellers have with Amazon. Amazon sellers

can easily find the agreement by Googling “Amazon Business Services Agreement.”

C.J. Rosenbaum Esq.

require approval before selling. Sellers are often suspended for assuming

that the products sold by other sellers are not restricted or do not require

approval. Just because you see another seller doing it, does not mean

they are not violating Amazon’s policies. That simply means they were not

caught yet or they have Amazon’s approval.

Many products require approval from Amazon first. As of July 2017,

the following products are listed on Amazon as requiring approval:

• Automotive and power sports

• Beauty

• Clothing and Accessories

• Collectible Books

• Collectible Coins

• Entertainment Collectibles

• Fine Art

• Gift Cards

• Grocery and Gourmet Foods

• Health and Personal Care

• Independent Design

• Jewelry

• Luggage and Travel Accessories

• Major Appliances

• Services

• Sexual Wellness

• Shoes, Handbags, and Sunglasses

• Sports Collectibles

• Textbook Rentals

• Video, DVD, and Blu-ray

• Watches

• Wine

4 Categories and Products Requiring Approval, Amazon.com Help: Categories and

Products Requiring Approval, https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.

html/?nodeId=14113001 (last visited Aug. 10, 2017).

Your Guide to Amazon Suspensions

Additionally, the following products according to Amazon are prohibited

from FBA:

• Any product that cannot be lawfully sold and distributed in all US

jurisdictions

• Alcoholic beverages (including nonalcoholic beer)

• Sky lanterns or floating lanterns

• Vehicle tires

• Gift cards, gift certificates, and other stored value instruments

• Products with unauthorized marketing materials (e.g., pamphlets,

price tags, or other non-Amazon stickers). Note: Amazon will not

accept pre-priced labels or products

• Products that are larger than 144 inches by 96 inches by 96 inches

or weigh more than 150 pounds

• Products that require prep that have not been prepped according

to FBA Packaging and Prep Requirements

• Loose packaged batteries

• Damaged or defective units. Note: Used condition products may

have damage as long as the product is labeled with the appropri-

ate condition

• Products with labels that were not properly registered with Amazon

before shipment or that do not match the product that was registered

• Products that do not comply with any agreement between

Amazon and the seller

• Products that have been illegally replicated, reproduced, or man-

ufactured. We reserve the rights to destroy and to deny removal

requests for any inventory identified as counterfeit.

• Products that Amazon otherwise determines are unsuitable.

Unfortunately, the last “catch all” restriction can get sellers into trouble.

Remember, you must be proactive in your business, double check that

5 FBA Prohibited Products, Amazon.com Help: FBA Prohibited Products, https://

www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=201790610 (last visited

Aug. 10, 2017).

C.J. Rosenbaum Esq.

what you are selling is approved and in accordance with Amazon’s poli-

cies. Prevention is the best method. Here, it is not best to “do first, ask

for forgiveness later.”

Amazon restricts the sale of anything illegal, unsafe, or products re-

quiring a prescription. If Amazon catches you selling anything that is re-

stricted, it is best to admit your mistake and move forward. Your POA

should not blame anyone else, and should especially not blame Amazon.

Don’t bite that hand the feeds you.

STEP ONE:

Dear Product Compliance Team,

I am a principal of (Your Store), and we are writing this to ap-

peal our suspension due to mistakenly listing a restricted prod-

uct for sale on the Amazon platform.

ASIN:

Title:

THE ROOT CAUSE OF THE ISSUE

• We failed to review Amazon’s policies and restricted-item lists

before listing our products. We made an honest mistake and

listed a restricted product.

• We incorrectly assumed that the item was not restricted be-

cause this ASIN already existed on Amazon and other sellers are

active on the listing.

In this situation, a seller was kicked off even though other sellers were also

selling the same restricted product. Unfortunately, the seller assumed

that the product was not restricted because they knew the product was

Your Guide to Amazon Suspensions

being sold on Amazon. Amazon has a system in place to detect those

selling restricted products, and if you are detected, you are guilty, even if

everyone else is doing it. Your next section in your Plan of Action should

contain your Immediate Corrective Actions. The Immediate Corrective

Actions section should include what you did to make the customer happy

as soon as you learned of an issue and also what you immediately did to

prevent more complaints.

STEP TWO:

We understand the responsibility for policy compliance lies with us. As

such, we have taken the following actions to correct this issue and en-

sure it never reoccurs:

IMMEDIATE CORRECTIVE ACTIONS

• We have removed all the products at issue from our inventory

and are never going to sell this product, or any similar product,

on Amazon in the future (our listings are closed/deleted for the

ASIN).

• We analyzed all our listings against restricted-item lists to en-

sure full compliance.

• We now only sell quality items that are in compliance with

Amazon’s policies.

We analyzed our listings against all of Amazon’s policies to eliminate any

misleading elements, policy violations, and to otherwise to improve our

policies for preventing future issues on Amazon.

For example, Amazon sellers should always refund the customer and

consider removing the listing or their inventory until they have a chance

to perform a thorough review of the product. Remember to incorporate

the leadership principles that we discussed earlier; this is where you will

incorporate those key words.

C.J. Rosenbaum Esq.

Your final step in your plan of action is showing exactly how you are

changing your business to prevent the same or similar issues from occur-

ring again in the future. If you can phrase the systemic changes in the past

tense, it is better to have made the changes rather than make promises

of change. You should show not only that you would review Amazon’s

policies on a frequent basis to ensure you do not list a restricted product

again but also show how you will do so.

STEP THREE:

SYSTEMIC CHANGES TO OUR BUSINESS TO PREVENT SIMILAR

ISSUES

• We dedicated a team member to specialize in policy and compli-

ance specifically for the Amazon platform.

• We do not sell any restricted items on the Amazon platform.

Before listing any new items, we analyze all new items against

Amazon’s policies to ensure we do not list any restricted

products.

• Despite our setbacks, we now check reports, metrics, notifica-

tions, e-mails, feedback, and reviews twice daily to identify and

prevent issues. A designated employee now immediately re-

sponds to all customer concerns and addresses all performance

notifications promptly and thoroughly, including those regard-

ing product, listing, and category restrictions.

Your conclusion should state that you take full responsibility, and that you

have taken all actions to correct and prevent this issue from occurring in

the future in a timely fashion.

Five

Related or Multiple Accounts

any sellers are suspended because they either maintain or are ac-

cused of maintaining “related” or multiple accounts.

Amazon imposes on sellers one of the worst business practices that

exists: a lack of diversification. Basic business common sense is that you

C.J. Rosenbaum Esq.

should not have all of your eggs in one basket. You should not have all of

your money or all of your income from one source or a single product. If

you do, you are always at a significant risk of losing your income.

In fact, Amazon’s insistence that its’ sellers only have one account and

put all their apples in one basket flies in the face of Amazon’s incredible

and never-ending diversification. There are likely multiple or dozens of

sellers selling the same product as you sell on Amazon. Amazon is not

reliant on you for their business of providing its customers with every

imaginable product on earth.

While Amazon imposes a lack of diversity on you, the company has

diversified itself and is not reliant on any one mechanism for any of the

following:

• Shipping—Amazon uses the United State Postal Office, UPS, its

own trucks, planes, and temporary drivers and delivery personnel

that it pays by the hour as needed. As far as the author is aware,

Amazon is either the only or one of few companies that was able

to get the USPS to negotiate rates after Amazon slowed down its

reliance on the USPS during a dispute over rates.

• Sellers—Not only does Amazon have sellers lined up behind you if

you do not want to sell on its platform, get suspended, or kicked off,

but Amazon is believed to use the data from your sales to choose

what products it is going to sell itself and compete against you.

• Specific Products:

• Merchandise By Amazon

• Amazon can print its own novelty T-shirts, hats, and so

on. At a great biannual Amazon sellers’ event called

SCOE, it was described as Amazon having purchased

hundreds of half-million dollar machines to print its

own T-shirts, and so on. Novelty T-shirt sellers should

diversify ASAP.

Your Guide to Amazon Suspensions

• Amazon has created its own line of fashion.

• Electronics

• Amazon purchases and sells electronics on its own

that compete directly with your products.

• Home Consumables

• In addition to many products, have you seen Amazon’s

Dash Buttons? If you are selling consumables like laun-

dry detergent, toilet paper, paper towels, deodorant,

and many other lines of products, think about whether

or not you want to compete directly against Amazon

or look for other products.

BUSINESS DECISION: ACCOUNT DIVERSIFICATION

VERSUS RISK OF SUSPENSION OR BAN FROM AMAZON

If you are thinking about opening a second account to sell on Amazon

without Amazon’s permission, you should evaluate the risk versus the re-

ward just like any other business decision.

The risk of opening up a second, third, or fifteenth Amazon account

without Amazon’s permission is that if you get caught, Amazon will sus-

pend both or all of your accounts. You can be banned from the platform.

On the other hand, if you only maintain one account and that account

gets suspended or closed, your entire Amazon business stops or ends.

What is less risky for you? Which provides a better risk versus reward

analysis?

HOW AMAZON CATCHES PEOPLE/COMPANIES WITH

MULTIPLE OR RELATED ACCOUNTS

First, the following information was compiled through attending

Amazon trade shows, like Global Sources’ Amazon Summit in Hong

Kong, The Sellers’ Conference for Online Entrepreneurs in Seattle and

Philadelphia, Midwest e-Com in Minneapolis, Prosper in Las Vegas,

C.J. Rosenbaum Esq.

Compass in Chicago, Online Sellers UK, Brighton SEO, Linnworks in

the UK, Ed Rosenberg’s Facebook group and his events in New York,

CPC Strategies’ awesome online webinars, books and articles, and

speaking with countless sellers and former Amazonians from around

the world. None of the information below can be attributed to any

specific source.

Through innumerable hours and miles on planes, trains, and cars, it

seems clear that Amazon can link multiple accounts to each other through

some or all of the following:

• Name(s) of account holders including maiden names and married

names

• Addresses of account holders

• Bank account information

• Identical or very similar inventory

• Ownership of domain names and websites

• Hosting of domains and websites

• IP addresses used to log onto accounts

• Computers used to log onto accounts

• Smart phones used to log onto accounts

• Names of business or storefronts

• Names of brick-and-mortar stores where sellers may also sell

products

• Spreadsheets used to upload inventory

• Type of products sold

• UK Accounts and Foreign Accounts

• Utility bills submitted for account verifications

• Foreign company identification numbers (Chinese sellers

need to be especially careful when they receive updated

business certificates from the Chinese government and

make conscious decisions what, if anything, to submit to

Amazon.co.uk)

Your Guide to Amazon Suspensions

• Responses to verification requests for information and docu-

ments

• Use of outside companies to help set up your Amazon account

(generally not needed, and this might create additional risks for

you.)

• Former significant others, especially partners with whom you

shared an address, and after you separate, each one of you open

or maintain Amazon sellers’ accounts

• Spouses with separate businesses on Amazon

• Parents and children with separate businesses on Amazon

• Shared warehouses

• Shared office space

Amazon has detected accounts by sending out e-mails to sellers asking

if they have multiple accounts. This is a copy of an e-mail some sellers

received:

“Dear Seller,

As we continue to ensure our marketplace is safe and trust-

worthy for both buyers and sellers, we would like your help.

Amazon prohibits the use or maintenance of more than one

seller account. We understand that in certain circumstances you

may need to use multiple accounts or associate one or more ac-

counts to your seller account. In an effort to better understand

the business requirements that you may have for multiple or re-

lated accounts, we request you to list these accounts in Seller

Central along with the reason for relating them to your seller

account.

Simply click or copy and paste the link below into your web

browser to access your account within Seller Central and provide

C.J. Rosenbaum Esq.

any and all e-mail addresses and reasons for their use—it’s that

easy.

https://sellercentral.amazon.com/related-accounts

For more information, see the following Help page:

https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/help/202146190

Regards,

Amazon Services”

This is one way that Amazon is able to “catch” those who are maintain-

ing multiple accounts. Unfortunately, those who do not have multiple ac-

counts have also received this letter and have been suspended under

false accusations of having more than one Amazon account.

HOW TO MAINTAIN MULTIPLE ACCOUNTS

If you have multiple Amazon accounts or have made the decision to open

multiple accounts, you need to be very careful to avoid detection by

Amazon. This means that you must be flawless in your operation and

flawless in maintaining the separate accounts.

With the list above, you have a basic, but not a complete list of issues

that you must consistently…perfectly, maintain.

Simple Advice: You must never, not even once, sign onto both of your

accounts from the same computer. Even with different computers, you must

never sign onto more than one account from one IP address. Do not use

your smart phone on more than one account. I suggest that you never log

onto any accounts from home because you might make an error or, most

likely, someone else in your home who shops on Amazon could make an er-

ror and log onto different accounts from the same computer or IP address.

Your Guide to Amazon Suspensions

You may want to treat each account like its own separate brick-

and-mortar business. Each account can have its own physical address

where the staff for that account work and the other accounts are located

elsewhere.

You may choose to forego traditional economies of scale. You might

be well advised not to share resources among your multiple accounts

because the short-term savings of using the same bookkeeper may result

in that bookkeeper making a mistake and your accounts being linked and

shut down. You might want to forego the short-term savings for the long-

term diversification and profitability of maintaining multiple accounts.

MULTIPLE ACCOUNT SUSPENSION POA

If you are caught violating Amazon’s multiple accounts policy, then you

will need to create a comprehensive Plan of Action that demonstrates to

Amazon that this was a mistake and that it will never happen again. If you

had made an honest mistake, mention that. Perhaps you and your spouse

maintain separate businesses, but share the same IP address. Whatever

your reason, you will need to show to Amazon that the mistake was yours

and that you have corrected that mistake.

STEP ONE:

Dear Product Compliance Team,

I am a principal of (Your Store), and we are writing this to

appeal our suspension due to mistakenly maintaining multiple

accounts.

THE CAUSE OF THIS ISSUE:

• My spouse and myself maintain two completely separate busi-

ness accounts, however, we do share the same IP address.

C.J. Rosenbaum Esq.

Once you have discovered why your account was linked to another, you

must demonstrate exactly how you corrected the issue to Amazon. Simply

stating that your spouse has a different business and Amazon is incorrect

to label them multiple accounts will not work. You need to move one busi-

ness to a different IP address; treat it like an entirely separate business.

Your next step within your Plan of Action is to show how this will never

happen again. Sometimes, the issues are not as easy to resolve. You will

need to incorporate the business practices to show Amazon that this is-

sue will not reoccur. Showing proof of changed documentation is one

step that will demonstrate that you took the issue seriously.

STEP TWO:

We understand the responsibility for policy compliance lies with us. As

such, we have taken the following actions to correct this issue and en-

sure it never reoccurs:

CORRECTIVE ACTIONS:

• Moved one business to a different IP address in a timely fashion

• Updated all information so that each store has its own IP ad-

dress, inventory, business information, addresses, bank informa-

tion, and manufacturer

STEP THREE:

PREVENTATIVE MEASURES

• We made key inputs into our separate businesses and have each

dedicated a team member to specialize in policy and compliance

specifically for the Amazon platform.

• Please see attached proof of all changed documentation to

demonstrate these are two entirely separate businesses.

Your Guide to Amazon Suspensions

• Hired extra staff to routinely check that all personal and busi-

ness information does not overlap between the two separate

businesses.

Your conclusion should mention that despite these setbacks, you have

made the appropriate changes and will only continue to sell quality prod-

ucts while abiding by Amazon’s policies.

WHAT IF YOU ARE FALSELY ACCUSED OF HAVING

MULTIPLE OR “RELATED” ACCOUNTS?

If you are falsely accused of having related accounts, you have a signifi-

cant problem. It seems that when Amazon accuses a seller of having relat-

ed accounts, Amazon is convinced that it is correct. Convincing Amazon’s

staff that Amazon made an error is difficult.

The first step in addressing the suspension of your account based

upon a false allegation of having related accounts is to do a thorough

investigation of your business—in Amazon language, a “deep dive.”

A seller suspended after being falsely accused should examine at

least all of the following to try and find a link between your business’ ac-

count and any other Amazon account:

• Employees:

• Do any of your employees have their own sellers’ accounts?

• Are any of your sellers signing into your business’ account

from their homes?

• Are any employees using their phones to sign into your busi-

ness account?

• Are any of your employees signing into their personal buying

accounts from your office? Is your staff shopping on Amazon

from work?

• You / The Business Owner:

C.J. Rosenbaum Esq.

• Are you signing in from home where someone else, a spouse

for example, also has a separate Amazon account?

• Are you signing in from your phone from various locations?

• Do you have both a business account and a personal buying

account?

• Product Line:

• Did you upload your inventory from a spreadsheet that was

created by a vendor or distributor? If you did, that spread-

sheet may have been used countless times and may have trig-

gered a Related Accounts problem.

• Does your inventory too closely match other stores? If you

are working closely with other Amazon sellers, distributors or

manufacturers, your inventory may trigger a Related Accounts

problem;

• Location

• If you are in an urban environment, like Brooklyn, New York or

Shenzhen, China, there are thousands of Amazon sellers in your

locale. You may have dozens or more Amazon sellers in your

building or, in China, e-commerce industrial park.

• If you are sharing space of shipping your products from

shared warehouses, this may trigger a Related Accounts

issue.

PLANS OF ACTION WHEN FALSELY ACCUSED OF HAVING

RELATED ACCOUNTS

When you are falsely accused of maintaining Related Accounts, we

suggest that you follow the same format as most Plans of Action: Root

Causes of the Accusation; Immediate Corrective Actions; and Long-Term

Systemic Changes to Your Business.

For your Root Causes, you may want to discuss the results of your

“deep dive” investigation into your staff, inventory warehouses, and so

on. You may want to discuss that you identified two or more employees

Your Guide to Amazon Suspensions

who have their own sellers’ accounts or who were using company com-

puters or their phones through your Wi-Fi to shop.

Your Immediate Corrective Actions should include that you prohib-

ited employees from selling on Amazon outside of their positions with

your company; that you coached your staff on the importance to Amazon

that its sellers only maintain one (1) account; and that you stopped what

you were able to identify.

Long-term changes to your business might include adding to your

interview process, investigation and training of employees that they may

not have other Amazon accounts and cannot access their personal ac-

counts from work.

Six

Intellectual Property

Complaints & Suspensions

also called “Rights Owner”

Complaints & Suspensions

s an Amazon seller, you should be aware of the Intellectual Property

(IP) issues that regularly arise when selling on Amazon.

Your Guide to Amazon Suspensions

First, the basics of Intellectual Property. Intellectual Property for

Amazon sellers involves:

• Copyright Claims

• Allegations of Trademark infringement

• Trade Dress accusations

• Claims of Patent violations.

WHAT IS A COPYRIGHT?

with the use of someone else’s images or verbiage. There are three tradi-

tional types of copyright infringement: direct, contributory, and vicarious.

1. Direct copyright infringement requires the “plaintiff” to show that

he or she owns the copyright and that the defendant personally

violated one of the plaintiff’s rights enumerated in the Copyright

Act. The catch is that a third party who does not directly infringe

could be held liable for secondary infringement.”

2. Contributory copyright infringement means “an actor had knowl-

edge of the activity and induces, causes, or materially contributes

to the infringing conduct of another.”

3. Vicarious liability for copyright infringement takes place when the

accused “enjoys a direct financial benefit from another’s [directly]

infringing activity and has the right and ability to supervise the

infringing activity,” but declines to stop or limit it

. “It is predomi-

nantly secondary infringement that concerns Amazon sellers be-

cause they are often accused of hosting the product listings that

are allegedly infringing a copyright.”

6 Robert Segall, E-Commerce, Amazon, and the DMCA: Fighting Copyright Bullying

in the Modern E-Commerce Context.

7 Id.

8 Ellison v. Robertson, 357 F.3d 1072, 1076 (9th Cir. 2004).

9 Segall, Supra note 6.

C.J. Rosenbaum Esq.

Congress enacted Title II of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)

in 1998.

The DMCA was created, according to congress, to address “the

controversial questions of copyright liability in the online world.

”

The DMCA offers safe harbor provisions to provide protections for

Internet service providers who may have been held to be liable for copy-

right infringement

. DMCA §512(c) states that “when a service provider

receives an official notice of an infringement allegation from a copyright

owner, they are required to ‘expeditiously remove or disable access to

the infringing material

.’” The four safe harbors provided by Congress, in

the text of Section 512, are:

(a) Transitory digital network communications

(b) System caching

users

(d) Information location tools

Additionally, there is the “The Online Copyright Infringement Liability

Limitation Act (“OCILLA”). This law protects Internet service providers

(‘ISPs’ or ‘service providers’) from liability for monetary relief for direct, vi-

carious, and contributory infringement and, often, from injunction where

infringing or allegedly infringing materials are carried on the system with-

out the knowledge and involvement of the service provider

.” Amazon,

along with other e-commerce websites like eBay or Alibaba, are consid-

ered ISPs.

10 Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998, 17 U.S.C. § 512 (2016).

11 See Ellison v. Robertson, Supra note 8.

12 Weinstein, supra note 3.

13 17 U.S.C.S. § 512.

14 Id.

15 Debra Weinstein, Note, Defining Expeditious: Uncharted Territory of The DMCA

Safe Harbor Provision: A Survey of What We Know and Do Not Know About the

Expeditiousness of Service Provider Responses to Takedown Notifications, 26

Cardozo Arts & Ent L.J. 589 (2008).

Your Guide to Amazon Suspensions

WHAT IS A TRADEMARK?

A trademark is “any word, name, symbol, or design, or any combination

thereof, used in commerce to identify and distinguish the goods of one

manufacturer or seller from those of another and to indicate the source

of the goods

.”

For example, the Nike swoosh, the M in McDonald’s, the way that

Gucci writes is Gs, Apple’s picture of an apple with a bite taken out of it—

these are all valid trademarks. As soon as you see the Apple, you know who

made that product and you expect a certain quality. On the other hand,

generic words, pictures of items that occur and exist in nature (like draw-

ings of fruits on the packages of supplements) cannot be trademarked.

The Lanham Act governs trademarks. The federal statute, “governs

trademarks, service marks, and unfair competition. The Lanham act out-

lines the procedure for federally registering trademarks, states when own-

ers of trademarks may be entitled to federal judicial protection against

trademark infringement, and sets forth other guidelines and remedies for

trademark owners

.”

16 15 U.S.C. § 1127.

17 See id § 1051.

C.J. Rosenbaum Esq.

Intellectual property issues arise on Amazon primarily when a brand

makes a baseless complaint against an Amazon seller that is selling genu-

ine products. There are instances where sellers are selling counterfeit

products, but the vast majority of sellers do not sell counterfeit items.

Even among Amazon sellers that sell counterfeit products, the sellers do

not know that they bought and then resold counterfeit items. Amazon

sellers almost always want to sell and try to sell genuine products.

TRADE DRESS

Trade Dress is defined as, “The overall appearance and image in the mar-

ketplace of a product or a commercial enterprise. For a product, trade

dress typically comprises packaging and labeling. For an enterprise, it

typically comprises design and decor. If a trade dress is distinctive and

nonfunctional, it may be protected under trademark law

.”

“The ‘trade dress’ of a product is essentially its total image and

overall appearance. It ‘involves the total image of a product and

may include features such as size, shape, color or color combina-

tions, texture, graphics, or even particular sales techniques

.’”

18 TRADE DRESS, Black’s Law Dictionary (10th ed. 2014).

19 Two Pesos, Inc. v. Taco Cabana, Inc., 505 U.S. 763, 765 n.1, 112 S.Ct. 2755, 2755

n.1 (1992).

Your Guide to Amazon Suspensions

Amazon does not allow trade-dress infringement on their platform.

The Amazon webpage reads, “TRADEMARKS: In addition, graphics, lo-

gos, page headers, button icons, scripts, and service names included in

or made available through any Amazon Service are trademarks or trade

dress of Amazon in the U.S. and other countries.

Amazon’s trademarks and trade dress may not be used in connection

with any product or service that is not Amazon’s, in any manner that is like-

ly to cause confusion among customers, or in any manner that disparages

or discredits Amazon. All other trademarks not owned by Amazon that

appear in any Amazon Service are the property of their respective own-

ers, who may or may not be affiliated with, connected to, or sponsored by

Amazon

.” Any form of intellectual property infringement against Amazon

is a bad idea for sellers. Amazon provides sellers with a list on their cus-

tomer-service page showing a comprehensive list of all their trademarks.

20 Conditions of Use, Amazon.com Help: Conditions of Use, https://www.

amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=ap_frn_condition_of_

use?ie=UTF8&nodeId=508088 (last visited Aug. 10, 2017).

C.J. Rosenbaum Esq.

Trademarks and trade-dress rights are published so that all other par-

ties may be aware of the protections. It is a businessman or woman’s

responsibility when creating a label or logo to first check to see if that

design is already protected. Then, it is in the best interest of an Amazon

seller to protect his or her logo or label. Many sellers find it difficult to

navigate the USPTO, and as a result, they hire an intellectual property

attorney to first check for existing marks and then to file for protections.

It is important to protect your brand because the Amazon website

has a global audience. Companies do not want competition stealing their

designs. Even worse, if you do not receive protections, someone can

steal your design, and then file for protections of the design. Unlike pat-

ent protections (where you receive protection for twenty years) or copy-

right protections (where you receive protection for seventy years after

the death of the author), trade-dress protections do not have time limits.

The trademark protections typically last as long as the mark is used in

commerce.

Trade dress often comes into play on Amazon when sellers copy

brands’ color schemes, packaging, shapes, and so on, when they create

their own private-label products.

When a seller is developing his or her private label, he or she should

stay away from mimicking, too closely, the overall look or “dress” of an-

other company’s products. If an Amazon seller copies the same language

of a label, colors, and use similar pictures, but use a different brand name,

he or she still might be infringing upon another brand’s trade dress. It is a

common mistake that sellers make when they believe that since the name

is different, their product is OK.

21 How Long Does Patent, Trademark or Copyright Protection Last?, stopfakes.gov,

https://www.stopfakes.gov/article?id=How-Long-Does-Patent-Trademark-or-Copy-

right-Protection-Last (last visited Aug. 10, 2017).

Your Guide to Amazon Suspensions

Unfortunately, baseless trade-dress accusations have resulted in the

suspension of many Amazon sellers. Competing sellers have accused oth-

ers that they have violated a trade dress due to similarities that are not

strong enough to constitute trade-dress infringement.

For example, selling the same product and both having “green” bot-

tles, is not a violation of trade dress. We have seen vitamin companies,

hair companies, and companies who sell Moroccan oils file complaints

against their competition, despite the competition not actually infring-

ing on any trade dress. There is a trend of businesses that believe if they

received trade-dress protections, they have a monopoly over every in-

dividual portion of their protection. They do not; they have protection

of the overall appearance. We have seen companies attempt to knock

sellers off for using the same fruit or color as their protected trade dress.

That is not enough to constitute infringement. It has to be the overall ap-

pearance, not one similarity.

“To receive protection, both of the following must be true:

• The trade dress must be inherently distinctive, unless it has ac-

quired secondary meaning.

• The junior use must cause a likelihood of consumer confusion.”

Courts have required that in order for Trade-Dress infringement to ex-

ist, there “must be unusual and memorable, conceptually separable from

the product, and likely to serve primarily as a designator of origin of the

product.”

In a lawsuit called Christian Louboutin v. Yves Saint Laurent Am., the

United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (the federal court

22 What Is Trade Dress?, Nolo.com, http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/what-

trade-dress.html (last visited Aug. 10, 2017).

23 Duraco Products Inc. v. Joy Plastic Enterprises Ltd., 40 F.3d 1431 (3d Cir. 1994).

C.J. Rosenbaum Esq.

in New York) held that Christian Louboutin’s distinctive red sole design

was protectable by trademark (trade dress specifically). This 2012 deci-

sion established that while a color alone cannot serve as a trademark

(trade dress), a color that has established a secondary meaning might be

protected.

In this case, the red high-heel sole (red bottom) was decided

to be a distinctive symbol of the Louboutin brand. This means that when

people see red soles on shoes, they immediately know that the pair of

shoes was designed by the Louboutin brand.

Trade dress has been viewed by the courts in two ways: the tradi-

tional view and the modern view. The traditional view is “referred only to

the manner in which a product was ‘dressed up’ to go to market with a

label, package display card and similar package elements.”

The modern

view has expanded from the traditional view.

In John H. Harland Co. v.

Clarke Checks, the court took a modern approach stating that trade dress

should be defined as, “‘total image’ or ‘overall appearance’ and ‘may

include features such as size, shape, color or color combinations, texture,

graphics or even certain sales techniques.’”

If you have been accused of trade-dress infringement, it is impor-

tant to speak to a lawyer. Legal issues should not be addressed by non-

lawyer “consultants.” Do you think a brand or a brand’s lawyer is going

to care what a former Amazonian says about intellectual property law

issues?

24 Christian Louboutin S.A. v. Yves Saint Laurent Am. Holding, Inc., 696 F.3d 206 (2d

Cir. N.Y. 2012).

25 Jeffrey Milstein, Inc. v. Greger, Lawlor, Roth, Inc., 58 F.3d 27, 31 (2d Cir. 1992).

26 Trade Dress: The Forgotten Trademark Right, Findlaw, http://corporate.findlaw.

com/intellectual-property/trade-dress-the-forgotten-trademark-right.html (last vis-

ited Aug. 10, 2017).

27 John H. Harland Co. v. Clarke Checks, Inc., 771 F.2d 966, 980 (11th Cir. 1983),

cited with approval in Two Pesos, Inc. v. Taco Cabana, Inc., 505 U.S. 763, 112 S.Ct.

2753 (1992).

Your Guide to Amazon Suspensions

Only an attorney can assess:

• If the accusation against you has any merit

• Draft a legal opinion letter pointing out the complaint is baseless

• Point out the legal liabilities should the brand refuse to withdraw

its complaint

• Stand up to another lawyer with any strength

Amazon sellers should always recall that while Amazon doesn’t require

the complainant to prove much, ultimately it is the complaining party’s

burden to prove all elements of any alleged infringement.

They must first demonstrate that they have an item that is inherently

distinctive and then they must show that your item causes a likelihood of

consumer confusion.

Without proving these legal elements, there is no infringement. When

you are accused of infringement, it is important to have a legal profes-

sional handle your legal issues to assess if what transpired on the Amazon

website was actually intellectual property infringement.

WHAT ARE TRADE SECRETS?

Trade Secrets are “a formula, process, device, or other business informa-

tion that is kept confidential to maintain an advantage over competitors;

information—including a formula, pattern, compilation, program, device,

method, technique, or process—that (1) derives independent economic

value, actual or potential, from not being generally known or readily as-

certainable by others who can obtain economic value from its disclosure

or use, and (2) is the subject of reasonable efforts, under the circumstanc-

es, to maintain its secrecy.”

28 Trade Secret, Black’s Law Dictionary (10th ed. 2014).

C.J. Rosenbaum Esq.

WHAT IS A PATENT?

Patents protect ideas such as inventions or technological processes.

Amazon.com themselves have been in lawsuits relating to patent in-

fringement based on their own behavior, not just their sellers’ behavior.

Amazon has also been listed as a defendant in cases “when a third-party

Amazon Seller is selling a patented product without the proper license.”

Amazon has used the defense in patent-infringement cases that the al-

leged patent is patent ineligible, (See Appistry, Inc. v. Amazon.com, where

Amazon successfully showed the patents were invalid).

Ineligible means

that the patent should never have been issued by the US government.

When dealing with patent issues that arise on Amazon, it is in your

best interest to hire an attorney; do not go at it alone. Patent-infringement

cases are serious and have the potential to cause greater harm to your

livelihood than just a suspension. Lawsuits are costly, and you want some-

one with legal experience to assist you during the process.

When a party wins a patent-infringement claim, they can recover 100

percent of all the profits made by the sale of a product that infringed on

the patent holder’s rights.

One hundred percent—this potential recovery

could even lead the largest seller into bankruptcy.

OPERATING ON AMAZON

If you are an Amazon seller using private label or a brand owner, it is

likely that you have your own logo. Private labeling is designing a manu-

factured product for sale under the name of the retailer rather than that

of the manufacturer. More and more sellers are using private labeling to

secure their business. This process is not specific to Amazon.

29 Id.

30 Appistry, Inc. v. Amazon.com, Inc., No. 4:13CV2547, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 24421

(E.D. Mo. Mar. 2, 2015).

Your Guide to Amazon Suspensions

When a seller places his or her logo and packaging, he or she is cre-

ating a design specific to his or her brand. Once a business owner has

turned to private labeling, the next step for many is to trademark their

brand.

It is equally, if not more important, to first make sure you do not in-

fringe on any other seller’s trademark. If you are caught selling a trade-

marked item without permission, it could cost you not just your Amazon

account but also could result in a lawsuit filed against you. “[O]ften, a

manufacturer will sue both the Amazon seller and Amazon.com for trade-

mark infringement; usually in cases where a seller is accused of selling

items that are inauthentic, counterfeit, or are sold by an unauthorized

reseller.”

However, Amazon is typically not found to be liable for in-

fringement. You may not be as lucky.

WHAT YOU SHOULD DO IF AN IP COMPLAINT IS MADE

AGAINST YOU OR YOUR ACCOUNT

Intellectual property allegations are an entirely different ballgame than

your normal complaint. This is not just a customer or seller complaining

about a late shipment or defective item. This is a legal issue. You face far

more than suspensions if the complaint is legitimate; you face a potential

lawsuit.

That is why it is so important to only receive advice from lawyers: First

and foremost, you should not hire anyone who is not a lawyer to help you

with these issues. In addition to my law firm, there are a handful of other

lawyers around the United States who have some experience with Amazon

sellers. Do not trust your legal issues with a nonlawyer—even if he or she

worked at Amazon or had a sellers’ account on Amazon. No one without a

license to practice law in a Federal Court in the United States should give

advice about intellectual property issues. In fact, if any nonattorney has

taken money from you in exchange for advice about intellectual property

31 Amazon Law Library.

C.J. Rosenbaum Esq.

issues, he or she likely violated the criminal law in your state and his or her

state that prohibits practicing law without a license.

As we stated earlier, any allegation of intellectual property infringe-

ment will likely result in the suspension of your listing or your entire sell-

ers’ account by Amazon. This is because it is Amazon’s way of avoiding

liability for the infringement. In Milo & Gabby, LLC v. Amazon.com, the

court held that Amazon could not be held liable when a third party sold

infringing goods on the Amazon platform because Amazon itself did not

directly offer to sell infringing goods or engage in any other infringing

acts.

The way Amazon avoids being sued is to kick off sellers at the first

sight of an allegation, then leave the seller to prove they did not infringe

on any rights.

FOURTH OF JULY 2017. On Monday, July 3rd and then the days after

the Fourth of July holiday, July 5th, 6th and 7th, 2017, there were numer-

ous large Amazon sellers who were suddenly suspended after surviving

many IP complaints. Smaller sellers often get suspended by one IP com-

plaint. Larger sellers, except for July 3, 5, 6 and 7 in 2017, withstood many.

There seemed to be no rhyme or reason for the sudden suspensions. It

was as if any large seller who received one more IP complaint immediately

before or immediately after the Fourth of July, was at risk of suspension.

As quickly as the sudden suspensions appeared…they stopped.

When your listing or account is suspended, you will see in the e-mail

from Amazon that it is requiring you to work out the issue with the per-

son or company that filed the complaint. You need to contact the seller

or company who has made the allegation. Many companies have taken

the necessary precautions and have properly registered their IP. These

companies will have systems in place to monitor for infringement, and

32 Milo & Gabby, LLC v. Amazon.com, No. C12-1932RSM, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS

149939 (W.D. Wash. Nov. 3, 2015).

Your Guide to Amazon Suspensions

sometimes people who are legally selling authentic products get caught

in the net. In many cases, the IP rights are valid, but the allegations are

totally baseless.

NOTE—In most cases that we have seen, the allegations are base-

less—there is no infringement behind most complaints.

Many complaints arise where your account is selling a product that may

appear similar to others, but those specific similarities are not sufficient

enough to constitute infringement. You will likely need an attorney to

demonstrate to the company that your product is unique, original, and

not infringing on anyone’s IP rights. If the rights owner does not willingly

retract its complaint, it is unlikely that Amazon will reinstate your selling

privileges for that item.

There are many times where the complaints are baseless. Companies

and manufacturers will also file IP complaints on your account if you are

selling the same product, just at a lower price. These types of complaints

are without merit, frivolous, and an abuse of the Amazon platform’s im-

plemented policy.

Many companies mistakenly allege infringement on Amazon Seller

accounts. If this happens, you will need to bring to the complaining par-

ty’s attention that it is their burden to prove there was an actual infringe-

ment. For example, for Patent Infringement, there is an “All Elements

Rule” that requires each claim limitation to be proven by the plaintiff

who is alleging the infringement. If the company alleging the infringe-

ment cannot prove that you have met all the requirements to prove

infringement, then there is no infringement, plain and simple. Once it

has been established that there was no basis for an infringement claim,

the complaining party will usually agree to remove the comment. You

will need to have the complaining party state to Amazon, in writing, that

C.J. Rosenbaum Esq.

the issue is resolved and they are willing to withdraw their complaint.

A copy of this document should be attached to your thorough plan of

action along with invoices, proving your item has not infringed on any-

one’s IP rights.

WHEN THE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY COMPLAINT IS

WITHDRAWN

When you are able to obtain the withdrawal of an IP complaint that

caused your account to be suspended, your suspension may simply be

over. Other times, you may need to take one or several steps to get back

to the business of selling on Amazon.

Steps:

1. Make sure that Amazon recognizes withdrawal of the complaint

and links it to your suspended Amazon account. In order for the

withdrawal to be linked to your account, the withdrawal must

come from the same e-mail from which the original complaint

was asserted. Also, you may want to provide the person with-

drawing the complaint with the following language to use in his

or her e-mail to Amazon withdrawing his or her complaint: “Dear

Amazon, we (name of brand that made the complaint) hereby

withdraw the intellectual property right complaint previously as-

serted against __________ (the name of your account or store-

front), Seller ID _____________ (your seller ID).”

2. Make sure that you are cc’d on the withdrawal e-mail.

3. Draft a very concise POA explaining the issues in a positive

manner.

4. Prepare to e-mail Notice-Dispute@Amazon.com to show that the

complaint was withdrawn and your account should be reinstated

(include the withdrawal e-mail, and if you are not successful, in

your second submission include the letter from the lawyer ex-

plaining why there was never an IP infringement).

Your Guide to Amazon Suspensions

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY POA

Once the complaining party has removed their complaint against you,

you will be able to move forward with your plan of action. However, if the

complaint is not removed within the given time frame required to write

your POA, you must submit with a portion of your letter stating that you

have reached out to the seller.

STEP ONE:

Dear Product Compliance Team,

I am a principal of (Your Store), and we are writing this to

appeal our suspension due to Intellectual Property–related

complaints.

THE CAUSE OF THIS ISSUE:

• We sell only 100 percent authentic quality items through our

Amazon account; however, a rights owner mistakenly filed a

complaint on our account, believing our product was a knock

off.

• We have reached out to the seller, and they have since acknowl-

edged their mistake and removed their complaint.

Once you have shown why this happened, you will then need to show all

the steps that you have taken to correct this issue. This includes a letter

from the seller acknowledging the error, proof that the complaint has

been removed, and most importantly, proof that your item is being sold

legally.

The third step may be frustrating to demonstrate. You did nothing

wrong, so how do you show that this issue will never happen again? This

C.J. Rosenbaum Esq.

is when you will incorporate your business practices. Show Amazon that

you have and will continue to follow their policies. You must demonstrate

that you have someone reviewing your inventory to show that all items are

legitimate and not violating any other rights.

STEP TWO:

We understand the responsibility for policy compliance lies with us. As

such, we have taken the following actions to correct this issue and en-

sure it never reoccurs:

CORRECTIVE ACTIONS:

• Contacted the complaining party immediately to resolve the

issue

• Please see attached correspondence demonstrating that the

complaining party mistakenly alleged an IP violation.

• Contacted our supplier / manufacturer to ensure all our items

are 100 percent authentic and not in violation of an IP rights

• Please see attached invoices and letter from the manufacturer.

STEP THREE:

PREVENTATIVE MEASURES

• We dedicated a team member to specialize in policy and compli-

ance specifically for the Amazon platform.

• All inventory is reviewed upon arrival to ensure they match their

listings 100 percent.

• We only conduct businesses with manufacturers who can supply

documentation to demonstrate that all items are 100 percent

authentic and not in violation of any other person’s intellectual

property rights.

Your Guide to Amazon Suspensions

Your conclusion should acknowledge that you respect Amazon’s custom-

ers and their trust. State that you have made key inputs into your business

practice to ensure that you also follow Amazon’s “customer obsession”

motto.

WHEN THE COMPLAINANT REFUSES TO WITHDRAW HIS

OR HER COMPLAINT

When the complainant refuses to withdraw his or her complaint, if you

have not yet hired a lawyer with intellectual property experience and

Amazon experience, you should do so ASAP.

When we are faced with a brand that refuses to withdraw a baseless

complaint, we use to do two things:

1. We draft a POA for the seller to submit to Notice-Dispute@

Amazon.com that states that the complaint is baseless and should

be ignored.

2. We then attach a copy of our Legal Opinion Letter—the same

ones we sent to the brand, as support for your POA.

What the seller does is: he or she shows the Amazon’s staff that the com-

plaint is baseless and then backs the position up with the opinion of a

lawyer.

Seven

Inauthentic Item

Suspensions

“I

nauthentic” does not mean fake or counterfeit. Inauthentic

means that Amazon wants to know from where you source or

obtain your products. “Inauthentic” is an Amazon alteration of what

most English-speaking people believe what the word “inauthentic”

refers to. If you are selling on Amazon, use their meaning of the word,

not your own.

Your Guide to Amazon Suspensions

Inauthentic item suspensions are one of the most common suspen-

sions for people and companies selling on Amazon. Sellers who complete

a few thousand dollars of sales per month to sellers who does millions of

dollars per month suffer the same issues: Amazon sporadically wants to

know from where you source your products.

Inauthentic means…provide copies of your invoices.

The causes of Amazon issuing a seller an “inauthentic” suspension

include all of the following and more:

• Item does not 100 percent match display picture.

• Item does not 100 percent match listing description.

• There is a missing item.

• There is a missing warranty.

• An item is damaged.

• The packaging for an item does not 100 percent match the dis-

play picture.

• The packaging for an item does not 100 percent match the listing

description.

• The customer was expecting a different product due to misrepre-

sentation on the product detail page.

• Consumer’s baseless complaints.

Sometimes, when a seller is faced with an “inauthentic” suspension, the

seller determines that it was selling a counterfeit or actually inauthentic

item. If this is the case, you should stop selling that item immediately. You

should show Amazon that you have detected your mistake, and will never

make it again. Part of your plan of action should be showing exactly how

you will avoid the problem in the future. This can be achieved by only pur-

chasing from manufacturers that sell authentic items and hiring additional

staff to scan your items to assure their authenticity.

C.J. Rosenbaum Esq.

Things to look out for: make sure your listings match your item per-

fectly. Your photos should adequately represent the item being sold, as

should the product description.

Even the largest sellers, brick-and-mortar businesses, and Amazon it-

self wind up selling inauthentic items. No retailer wants to sell counterfeit

products. But, even with the best intentions and great systems in place,

counterfeit items sometimes end up in your inventory.

Gray Market Goods are often the cause of Amazon’s “inauthentic”

suspensions. Gray Market Goods are usually considered inauthentic, or

an IP issue.

Gray Market goods are genuine products that Amazon sellers ob-

tain outside brands’ intended distribution channels. Gray Market goods

are not fakes or counterfeit. They are the real products. However, Gray

Market goods are sold without the brand’s consent.

While there seems to have always been a certain number of base-

less complaints, during the summer of 2017, the number of complaints

by brands skyrocketed. Brands regularly hire attorneys to file Cease and

Desist letters. Cease and Desist letters tell a seller that he or she should

stop selling the products. Often, a Cease and Desist letter arrives before

an actual complaint on Amazon is lodged. They are warning letters. They

are shots across the bow.

Amazon sellers need to know a few key points:

• There is nothing illegal in the United States about buying and

reselling items without the brand’s approval.

• There is a specific law that protects the right in the United States

to buy and sell items.

• Even though many complaints are baseless, it is often better for

the seller to stop selling the products, even though the seller has

every right to continue to sell the product.

Your Guide to Amazon Suspensions

INAUTHENTIC ITEM PLAN OF ACTION BROKEN DOWN

Each inauthentic issue is unique; however, here is a basic breakdown of

how we approach our plans of actions. First, you will need to introduce

who you are, what your business is, what type of suspension you have,

and show the issue(s) that caused the complaint(s).

This seller faced inauthentic complaints even though he or she was

selling genuine products. However, since the seller’s business was not

reliant on the product, he or she chose to completely remove the item.

There was no good business reason to continue to sell a product that was

unimportant financially and created temporary loss of selling privileges.

Each seller’s decision and each Plan of Action should be geared to

your specific situation and your business practices.

STEP ONE:

Dear Seller Performance,

I am a principal of, (State your Business) and we are writing

to appeal our suspension due to inauthentic complaints related

to the following items:

ASIN:

Title:

ROOT CAUSE:

We used a search term within our listing titles and keywords to describe

the type of product we sell. However, based on our research, we dis-

covered that this term is an unregistered brand name. Even though the

term is not a registered trademark, we have decided to remove it from

our listings to eliminate any potential confusion.

C.J. Rosenbaum Esq.

Your next step in a Plan of Action is to demonstrate your immediate

actions when you first learned there was an issue. You should demon-

strate all the ways you corrected your issue and tried to assuage the cus-

tomer. If you do not have access to your account, state what you will do

to correct the issue once you have been granted access.

STEP TWO:

CORRECTIVE ACTIONS

• We have taken the following corrective actions:

• Removed the term from our listings.

• Ensured that our listings clearly identify our brand name as

the product brand.

• Contacted dissatisfied customers and offered refunds.

• We also hired an outside firm to perform an analysis of our

account to eliminate any potentially misleading elements or

terms.

• We conducted a full audit of our inventory and listing details:

• Inspected all inventory against detailed product information

and listing details to ensure they match 100 percent, includ-

ing type, color, brand, size, and so on.

• We also inspected each inventory item for quality and condition.

• We inspected each item to ensure all items are properly

packaged, authentic, undamaged, have valid, clear product

labels, all seals are intact, and they are exactly as described

on Amazon.

• We inspected all items against detailed product information

to ensure 100 percent match.

• We tested items to ensure they are in proper working order.

Any item showing signs of damage or defect is returned to the man-

ufacturer or manufacturer’s facility.

Your Guide to Amazon Suspensions

Then, like other Plans of Action, discuss all the new business practices you

have implemented to ensure that this issue will not arise again. There are

multiple steps you need to take to protect your business, and let Amazon

know what they are.

STEP THREE:

LONG-TERM CHANGES TO BUSINESS TO PREVENT FUTURE ISSUES

• Our account management team is now required to review all of

our listings against products monthly to reduce and prevent error:

• Where we identify a potential error, we immediately remove

the product until resolved.

• Where uncertain, we contact Seller Support for guidance.

• Our legal counsel also performs an analysis for all products

and listings on a quarterly basis to eliminate the potential for

misleading elements.

Finally, admit responsibility for becoming a better seller. You are selling

on Amazon’s platform and that is a privilege. While we do not advocate

any seller to admit they did anything wrong when they did not do any-

thing wrong, every business person can make changes to improve their

business. Take responsibility for making your business better.

CONCLUSION:

“We take full responsibility for the satisfaction of Amazon’s customers.

My team and I have worked diligently to correct the cause of these com-

plaints and prevent future issues. As such, we respectfully request that

Amazon consider our efforts and reinstate our selling privileges. Thank

you for working with us to resolve this issue.”

Eight

Safety Issue Suspensions

eceiving a suspension for safety issues, just like intellectual property

suspensions, should not be taken lightly. Safety hazards could result

in consequences far worse than a suspended account. You do not want

to create a product that could harm your customers. That is why if you re-

ceive a safety-issues suspension, you must fix the problem immediately.

Your Guide to Amazon Suspensions

Many times sellers get kicked off for safety issues and used-sold-

as-new complaints at the same time. We have found that when review-

ing safety-issue complaints, many of the customers believe the item

has been used or opened, and that is what makes the product itself

unsafe. Imagine for example, if you purchased a shampoo bottle, but

when you received the bottle, the seal was broken. As a customer, you

would be fearful that someone had tampered with the product and that

the product is not safe to use on your hair. The issue with the bottle is

that it is used, and there is a safety risk. These issues occur time and

time again, usually due to careless mistakes on behalf of the seller. We

have seen many FBA sellers do not have a procedure in place to review

items before sending them to customers. The items ship directly from

the manufacturer to FBA. As a result, if an item is tampered with during

packaging, no one is there to catch the mistake, and the customer files

a complaint.

Surprisingly enough, in our experience, safety suspensions have been

easier to get reinstated than other suspensions. This is likely because

there is a direct issue that can easily be resolved. The “root cause” is

usually detectable. Look at your business; was this the result of a failure

on your manufacturer? If so, then you will need to show Amazon that

you have found a new manufacturer and will never work with the previ-

ous company again. There could also be a problem with reviewing your

items before they are sent out. Is there someone inspecting all the items

to assure they are safe and properly functioning? Whether you are manu-

facturing in China, Vietnam, India, Thailand, or elsewhere, Amazon sellers

should strive to have someone onsite to repeatedly check the quality and

also maintain your relationship with the factory.

It is important to implement strict quality standards on the Amazon

platform. Simply having many successful sales and happy customers does

not make up for the one customer who was injured as a result of your

carelessness. When writing your plan of action, it is important to take the

initiative.

C.J. Rosenbaum Esq.

SAMPLE POA INTRODUCTION:

“We implemented a better system to fully inspect all items for

defects and all orders for accuracy before shipping to Amazon’s

customers. One customer reported that he or she was injured

as a direct result of using our product. Because most custom-

ers report positive experiences related to using our products,

we recognize that this particular customer may have received an

item that did not meet our strict quality standards. Because we

aim to eliminate all potential for errors, our business administra-

tion has implemented the following measures and practices.”

What should you look for when you receive a safety-issue complaint? You

should review your entire business practice to ensure that it was not many

issues within your company that resulted in your suspension. Here is a list

of monitoring practices that you may wish to implement:

• Inspect your entire on-hand inventory to ensure compliance with

our high condition, safety, accuracy, and quality standards before

inventoried, before listed, and before shipped.

• Inspect each item for condition or safety compromises including man-

ufacturing defects, damage, tamper, and improper storage evidence.

• Verify that each item is correctly labeled and packaged exactly

as described on its Amazon listing (including size, quantity, etc.).

• Visually verify that all items match the description on their pack-

aging and boxes (i.e., color, size, shape, etc.)

• Verify that each individual order is complete with quality consis-

tent and exactly as described on Amazon.

• Implement a “Three-Stage Manufacturing” quality-control checks

to prevent defective items from passing inspection.

• Fully test random items every month to ensure this isolated safety

complaint never reoccurs.

• Verify the product exactly matches the product information

and fits or works as intended.

Your Guide to Amazon Suspensions

• If a product does not pass the test, then you must deactivate

the listing and remove the entire batch from your inventory

until potential for defects is ruled out.

• Hold monthly training workshops for all the employees on all of

Amazon policies to ensure all the employees are current and in

compliance with all quality control and safety-testing procedures.

• Upgrade to high-quality packaging and shipping materials to en-

sure safe transit to Amazon customers.

• Make sure a supervisor inspects all orders for accuracy before

shipping.

• To reduce human error, a second employee should inspect

orders before the package is sealed to ensure the order is

correct and complete.

• If using FBA, upgrade to premium packaging materials to ensure

safe transit to customers and Amazon Fulfillment Centers.

• Review and continue to review our packing and shipping

practices against carrier guidelines to ensure safe transit to

Amazon fulfillment centers.

• Fully document and photograph all items before shipping.

• If Your Item Has an Expiration Date:

• Verify all expiration dates are valid and exceed Amazon’s

restrictions.

• Where appropriate, classify products by expiration date:

• Review all expiration dates monthly.

• Review “first in—first out” data for accuracy every week

to ensure the quality of all orders.

• Verify the UPC codes, product serial numbers, or other prod-

uct identifiers against the manufacturer information to ensure

that items shipped match the order and listing exactly.

• Inspect each item to ensure all items are properly packaged, au-

thentic, undamaged, have valid, clear product labels, all safety

seals are intact, and they are exactly as described on Amazon.

• Repeat this inspection process for each item when purchased,

before listed, and before shipped.

C.J. Rosenbaum Esq.

• Designate an employee to inspect the inventory, invoices,

and listings each month to ensure our products are new, com-

plete, undamaged, and exactly match their listings and that

quality has been well maintained in storage.

• Any item showing signs of wear, damage, or tamper should

be discarded immediately.

• Review and update your listings each month based on prod-

uct reviews, messages, feedback, and other customer con-

cerns to ensure warnings and details are sufficient to prevent

complaints.

• Product Testing—In addition to normal quality-assurance pro-

cess, you should randomly select samples from each inventory

purchase to fully test and discard as follows:

• Verify the quantity contained matches the label.

• Verify the product is correctly labeled.

• Verify that manufacturer quality of the product, its packaging,

and physical properties are consistent (color, scent, etc.).

• Verify the expiration dates are valid and exceed Amazon’s

restrictions.

Aside from your business practices that will benefit your company, it

is also important to make adjustments to your business that will make

a difference to Amazon’s customer. A customer who sees a negative

review regarding safety complaints does not know that you have imple-

mented new procedures, nor do they care. A customer cares about re-

ceiving his or her product on time and that the product is not a safety

hazard.

HERE ARE SOME BUSINESS PRACTICES TO IMPROVE

YOUR OVERALL CUSTOMER SERVICE:

• Follow up with all customers after their confirmed purchase to

ensure satisfaction including, detailed product information, our

warranty details, and our disclaimer.

Your Guide to Amazon Suspensions

• Check all reports, notifications, e-mails, metrics, feedback, and

reviews twice daily to identify potential issues.

• If you receive returns or complaints of 2 percent of orders

for the same ASIN, remove that ASIN until the issue is fully

resolved.

• Respond to all customers within twenty-four hours.

• If you receive an A-to-Z claim, then that customer should re-

ceive an immediate refund.

• If any customer leaves a review of three or less, they should

be offered a full refund, and then follow up by requesting for

more information regarding his or her complaint.

• Review transit times and shipping carrier practices to improve

customer satisfaction.

If you are both the brand owner and the manufacturer of your product

that received safety-issue complaints, then it is your responsibility to take

your safety precautions a step further. Yes, you should still examine all

of your listings to ensure they are accurate, but there must be more. You

are the manufacturer; you are responsible for designing and creating the

product that has injured an Amazon customer. Many sellers who are also

the manufacturer add legal disclaimers and warranties to create a safer

environment for all.

Adding a legal disclaimer against improper use of your product is es-

sential because it may be useful to avoid liability in the future. Make sure

your warnings and instructions are clear, easy to understand, and alert

the customer so as they do not miss the warning. In your follow-up e-mail

to your customers, reiterate the warning to avoid the misuse of your prod-

uct. We have seen it in the news time and time again about companies

failing to warn their customers about the risk of a certain product. Even if

the product was misused, they can still be found liable for not warning the

customer of the risks involved. First and foremost, protect your business

by creating safe and quality products, and secondly by taking the time to

warn customers of any risks.

C.J. Rosenbaum Esq.

SAFETY ISSUES WITH RETURNED ITEMS

When an item is returned, it is your responsibility to review the item en-

tirely. Returned items should be treated as an item that has not been

through your multiple-step system of checking for damage, markings, or

any inconsistencies between the used item and the product detail page.

The previous customer may have tampered with the product causing

enough damage to result in a safety issue. Further, all returned items

may not be labeled as new, even if they pass a thorough inspection. All

returned items, according to Amazon’s policies must be labeled as used.

When an item is returned, properly inspect each item for safety, qual-

ity, and condition. It might be in your best interest to designate a sepa-

rate area within your warehouse for returned products to ensure that you

never resell them as new.

FBA Returns. Opt out, opt out, opt out. Explanation below.

Your Guide to Amazon Suspensions

SAFETY ISSUES WITH THE MANUFACTURER

If your safety-related issue is due to a mistake on behalf of the manu-

facturer, then you must state that in your Plan of Action. However, even

though it was the manufacturer’s error, it was your responsibility to only

work with reputable businesses. You plan of action should demonstrate

that your root cause of the issue lies within your manufacturer and that

you will take new steps to protect consumers. Reiterate to the Amazon

team that customers are your number-one priority and you will only pro-

vide the best to their customers. The following is a sample plan of action

for a seller whose manufacturer caused the safety issue:

STEP ONE:

Dear Seller Performance,

I am a principal of (Your Store), and we are writing to appeal the

safety complaints related to the condition of the following products:

ASIN:

Title:

THE ROOT CAUSE OF THE COMPLAINT

• Customers complained about the condition of items they re-

ceived possibly due to oversights in quality control.

• However, products are sourced directly from the manufacturer.

Please see the attached documents proving they are new, safe,

and authentic and that we have right to sell these products.

C.J. Rosenbaum Esq.

• See attached authorization letter from the manufacturer

granting our company the right to sell these items as an au-

thorized distributor within the United States.

• See attached certification proving our manufacturer is au-

thorized to manufacture these types of products.

STEP TWO:

IMMEDIATE CORRECTIVE STEPS WE HAVE TAKEN TO RESOLVE THE

ISSUE

• We have removed each of these products from our inventory for

thorough inspection to ensure the issues are resolved.

• We have contacted each dissatisfied customer to offer refund

and apologies,

• We have removed each of these products from our inventory

until this issue is completely resolved.

• After each purchase, we provide each customer with com-

plete product information and ensure they have no concerns

regarding their purchase.

STEP THREE:

LONG-TERM CHANGES TO OUR BUSINESS TO PREVENT SIMILAR

ISSUES

We implemented monthly workshops for all employees to review Amazon

guidelines and restrictions to ensure we are up to date on all policies.

• Listing/Labeling/Expiration Date—We inspected our entire in-

ventory and increased the frequency of quality-control inspec-

tions.

Your Guide to Amazon Suspensions

• Product Testing—In addition to our normal quality-assurance pro-

cess, we randomly select samples from each inventory purchase to

fully test and discard those who do not meet Amazon’s standards.

• Sourcing—We requested assurances from our supplier that all

products are new, safe, and manufactured and tested under the

strictest standards.

Finally, at the end of your plan of action, you should have a short conclu-

sion where you take responsibility. Your conclusion should read something

to the effect of: “We accept accountability for the safety and satisfaction

of Amazon’s customers and aim to provide them with leading product

and customer experience as possible. While our business has suffered

from this issue, it has given us the opportunity to review our business and

become a better seller. We hope our efforts are acceptable enough for

Amazon to reinstate our selling privileged for this ASIN. If we can provide

any further information about how we have improved our business to

prevent further issues, please let me know.”

Nine

Used Sold as New

Suspensions

s stated in the previous chapter, safety issues and used-sold-as-new

issues typically intertwine on the Amazon platform. If a product is

said to be new, but is actually used, a customer may believe it is the result

of the product being defective and therefore, unsafe to use. Many times,

a used-sold-as-new complaint is filed not because the item is actually

used, but instead was damaged en route to the customer. Additionally,

an item will be considered used if it was opened or returned. Even if the

product was returned and unused, it is not considered new in Amazon’s

eyes, or the eyes of your customer.

New must mean brand new, never opened before, undamaged pack-

aging—new. If your product does not meet these standards, it is not new,

and do not label it as such. The following is an excerpt of Amazon’s policy

regarding condition of items from their webpage:

General Condition Guidelines

The following guidelines apply to all product categories unless other-

wise indicated in the Category-Specific Condition Guidelines:

Your Guide to Amazon Suspensions

Note: “Refurbished,” “Used—Good,” and “Used—Acceptable” can

be used only where noted as acceptable in the Category-Specific

Condition Guidelines.

• New: Just like it sounds. A brand-new, unused, unopened item

in its original packaging, with all original packaging materials in-

cluded. Original protective wrapping, if any, is intact. Original

manufacturer’s warranty, if any, still applies, with warranty details

included in the listing comments.

• Refurbished: Use only if noted in the Category-Specific

Condition Guidelines. A refurbished product has been profes-

sionally restored to working order. Typically this means that

the product has been inspected, cleaned, and repaired to

meet manufacturer specifications. The item may or may not

be in its original packaging. The manufacturer’s or refurbish-

er’s warranty must apply and should be included in the list-

ing comments. Refurbished items are sometimes referred to as

“remanufactured.”

• Used—Like New: An apparently untouched item in perfect condi-

tion. Original protective wrapping may be missing, but the origi-

nal packaging is intact and pristine. There are absolutely no signs

of wear on the item or its packaging. Instructions are included.

Item is suitable for presenting as a gift.

• Used—Very Good: A well-cared-for item that has seen limited use

but remains in great condition. The item is complete, unmarked,

and undamaged, but may show some limited signs of wear. Item

works perfectly.

• Used—Good: Use only if noted in the Category-Specific Condition

Guidelines. The item shows wear from consistent use, but it re-

mains in good condition and works perfectly. It may be marked,

have identifying markings on it, or show other signs of previous

use.

C.J. Rosenbaum Esq.

• Used—Acceptable: Use only if noted in the Category-Specific

Condition Guidelines. The item is fairly worn but continues to

work perfectly. Signs of wear can include aesthetic issues such as

scratches, dents, and worn corners. The item may have identify-

ing markings on it or show other signs of previous use.

These kinds of suspensions are typically easy to obtain reinstatement.

That is because the root cause is easy to detect. First, look into your own

business practices. Is there a member of your company reviewing each

item before it is shipped? Do you perform routine test-buys to ensure all

items are intact? If you source your items from a manufacturer, then it is

important to review your relationship with that company. You do not want

to face the consequences for a manufacturer’s mistake. When sourcing, it

is important to follow these business practices:

Sourcing:

• Request assurances from your supplier that all products are new,

safe, and manufactured and tested under the strictest standards.

(These will be useful when writing your plan of action).

• Only sell new products sourced from authorized manufacturers or

distributors and retain all invoices for at least 365 days.

• In addition, when applicable, have your suppliers provide Quality

Control Certificates with each inventory purchase.

• Compare each individual item you purchase to detailed manufac-

turer information to verify that the manufacturer labels, expiration

dates, warnings, products information, and product identifiers

match across the listing details, products and their packaging in-

voices, and detailed manufacturer information.

• Verify all items are consistent with Amazon’s authenticity, condi-

tion, and quality standards to eliminate any potential confusion.

33 Condition Guidelines, Amazon.com Help: Condition Guidelines, https://www.

amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=1161242 (last visited Aug. 10,

2017).

Your Guide to Amazon Suspensions

• You should have employees catalogue and electronically verify all

manufacturer-issued expiration dates, batch codes, and product

identifiers.

These are just a few of the practices that could help with your business.

However, each business is unique. You should take any additional practic-

es not mentioned to improve the way you operate your business. These

are issues you can argue in your POA.

If your used-sold-as-new issue was a direct result of the manufac-

turer, then you must supply your invoices and authentication records,

demonstrating the fault is with the manufacturer, and not your business.

After demonstrating to Amazon that you have detected the issue, it is

best to not conduct business with that manufacturer. In your Plan of

Action, you must show that you have taken preventative measures. The

best assurance that this issue will never occur again is to remove the

issue entirely; sometimes that means finding a new company to source

from.

However, if the issue relies within your business, it can be fixed with

a few business practices. All returned items should be organized sepa-

rately from the rest of your inventory. Pursuant to Amazon’s policies,

they cannot be sold as new, even if they look new or were never opened.

Once your inventory is properly organized, a reviewing process is es-

sential to ensure all items are new, look new, and do not have any dam-

age. You may want to consider having items reviewed upon arrival from

the manufacturer, again when packaged, and then one final time before

shipping.

Packaging is important! If an item is new, but is not properly pack-

aged, then it could result in a damaged product. While this piece of advice

may seem obvious, it should be taken seriously. Amazon has strict stan-

dards for packaging as a way to combat the issue of unhappy customers

with broken items. On their webpage, they have a list of the appropriate

C.J. Rosenbaum Esq.

requirements for packaging to ensure customer safety. Poor packaging

leads to used-sold-as-new complaints and suspensions.

Following the proper packaging procedures will help ensure that your

quality products are being protected when in transit.

We have addressed many used-sold-as-new complaints. Most of the

time, there has been two main causes: improper packaging resulting in a

damaged or used-looking product, or a used product accidentally being

sent to a customer. The following is a sample plan of action when the root

cause is that you accidently sent a used product rather than a new product.

STEP ONE:

Dear Seller Performance,

34 Packaging and Prep Requirements, Amazon.com Help: Packaging and Prep

Requirements, https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/?nodeId=2

00243250#packaging (last visited Aug. 10, 2017).

Your Guide to Amazon Suspensions

I am a principal of (Your Store). I am writing to appeal the

removal of the following listing due to a complaint claiming our

product “looks used”:

ASIN:

Title:

ROOT CAUSE OF THE COMPLAINT:

Amazon received a complaint from a customer indicating that the item he

or she received “looks used.” We investigated the issue and determined

that the customer may have received a damaged or opened product as a

result of our use of FBA’s “repackage returns” feature. This feature pro-

vides Amazon the option to repackage and resell returned items. We be-

lieve that a customer may have ordered a new item, yet received an item

that appeared to the consumer as being used or returned item.

Your corrective actions should include a refund to the complaining

customer, an apology, and a quick adjustment to your business prac-

tice. Here, the issue was not having reviewing procedures and not being

organized.

STEP TWO:

IMMEDIATE CORRECTIVE MEASURES

• We immediately issued a refund or replacement to any dissatis-

fied buyers and removed the product from our inventory until

this issue is completely resolved.

• We have opted out of FBA’s repackaging returns service and

otherwise reviewed our shipping and receiving practices.

• We inspected and perfected the remainder of our entire inven-

tory and increased the frequency of quality-control inspections.

C.J. Rosenbaum Esq.

You will then need to implement preventative measures to ensure this

does not occur again. For example, do you have someone looking over

your packaging to make sure it is adequate? Is your packing secure

enough so that there is no damage to your packaging or product during

delivery? Some sellers have hired staff or worked with other businesses

that properly review all inventory before shipment to ensure that all

items are not subject to damage. The business procedures stated in the

previous chapter should be applied for used-sold-as-new complaints as

well.

Your conclusion should accept responsibility for doing better in the

future and identify how you are improving your business for Amazon’s

customers. The policy is simple; the procedures to prevent the issue from

occurring again are as well. Invest in your business, invest in preventative

measures, and take the steps needed to prevent a future suspension.

STEP THREE:

SYSTEMIC CHANGES TO OUR BUSINESS TO PREVENT SIMILAR

ISSUES:

• In addition to our normal quality assurance process, we random-

ly select samples from each purchase to fully test and discard as

follows:

Your Guide to Amazon Suspensions

• We implemented monthly workshops for all employees to

review Amazon guidelines and restrictions to ensure we are

up to date on all policies.

• We check all reports, notifications, e-mails, metrics, feed-

back, A-to-Z claims, chargeback claims, and reviews twice

daily to identify and correct problems before issues escalate.

• We now separate all returned items to a different depart-

ment to ensure no used product is accidently sold as new.

• We have implemented a reviewing procedure where all items

are inspected upon arrival from the manufacturer, during

packaging, and again before shipment to ensure every item

is properly labeled, undamaged, and 100 percent matching

the product’s listing.

Ten

Review Manipulation

Suspensions

eview manipulation is when a customer is offered an incentive in

exchange for writing a review. It is against Amazon’s policies to ma-

nipulate reviews because it skews the authenticity of product reviews.

Your Guide to Amazon Suspensions

Amazon’s number-one concern is maintaining satisfied customers and

that cannot happen if the reviews they read are false or manipulated.

Even if the review itself is genuine, if it was produced in exchange for

something, that review is tainted in Amazon’s eyes.

There are businesses where some sellers pay in exchange for posi-

tive reviews. This is the most obvious violation. However, there is a lot

of gray area in the topic of manipulated reviews. Many sellers who get

suspended for this issue are not aware they are in violation of a policy.

Having friends write reviews is also a violation of the policy as is sending

discounted products in exchange for reviews.

Amazon’s Guidelines in regards to feedback is as follows:

PROMOTIONS AND COMMERCIAL SOLICITATIONS

In order to preserve the integrity of Community content, content and

activities consisting of advertising, promotion, or solicitation (whether

direct or indirect) is not allowed, including:

• Creating, modifying, or posting content regarding your (or your

relative’s, close friend’s, business associate’s, or employer’s) prod-

ucts or services.

• Creating, modifying, or posting content regarding your competi-

tors’ products or services.

• Creating, modifying, or posting content in exchange for compen-

sation of any kind (including free or discounted products, refunds,

or reimbursements) or on behalf of anyone else.

• Offering compensation or requesting compensation (including

free or discounted products) in exchange for creating, modifying,

or posting content.

• Posting advertisements or solicitations, including URLs with refer-

rer tags or affiliate codes.

C.J. Rosenbaum Esq.

THE ONLY EXCEPTIONS ARE:

• You may post content requested by Amazon (such as Customer

Reviews of products you purchased on Amazon or received

through the Vine program, and answers requested through

Questions and Answers). In those cases, your content must com-

ply with any additional guidelines specified by Amazon.

• You may post an answer to a question asked through the

Questions and Answers feature (but not a question itself) regard-

ing products or services for which you have a financial or close

personal connection to the brand, seller, author, or artist, but only

if you clearly and conspicuously disclose the connection (e.g., “I

represent the brand for this product.”). We automatically label

some answers from sellers or manufacturers, in which case ad-

ditional disclosure is not necessary.

You may post content other than Customer Reviews and Questions

and Answers regarding products or services for which you have a

financial or close personal connection to the brand, seller, author,

or artist, but only if you clearly and conspicuously disclose the

connection (e.g., “I was paid for this post.”). However, no brand

or business may participate in the Community in a way (includ-

ing by advertising, special offers, or any other “call to action”)

that diverts Amazon customers to another non-Amazon website,

service, application, or channel for the purpose of conducting

marketing or sales transactions. Content posted through brand,

seller, author, or artist accounts regarding their own products or

services does not require additional labeling.”

Unfortunately some sellers are having their accounts and listings hijacked,

or had their products counterfeited. When this occurs, you should notify

Amazon immediately. Sometimes, Amazon does not respond in a timely

35 Community Guidelines, Amazon.com Help: Profile & Community Guidelines.

Your Guide to Amazon Suspensions

manner. If this occurs, do not write or have friends or family write reviews

on this seller if they are using your names and listings. To Amazon, it will

look as though you are having friends and family write reviews for your

product, even though this was a copycat. We have personally seen a seller

who had other buyers with the same IP address write legitimate negative

reviews and then be suspect to suspension due to feedback manipula-

tion. If Amazon does not respond to your concerns, try to contact their

legal team, or hire an experienced attorney to handle the matter. Writing

reviews is tricky, and you do not want to have reviews misconstrued and

made to believe they were manipulated.

While feedback manipulation is forbidden on the Amazon platform,

it is allowed on different platforms. We have seen circumstances where

customers purchased products from different e-commerce platforms and

mistakenly used Amazon’s platform to post their reviews. The following

is a sample plan of action for when sellers offer discounts on other plat-

forms and customers mistakenly write reviews on the Amazon platform.

STEP ONE:

Dear Seller Performance,

I am a principal of (Your Store). I am writing to appeal our

suspension due to feedback manipulation.

ROOT CAUSE OF THE ISSUE:

1) We had made the mistake of providing items at a discounted

rate in exchange of reviews. Our customers who purchased our

products from us on different e-commerce platforms mistakenly

used Amazon’s platform to post their reviews.

• Even though the reviews are real and related to the products

we sell, they were not verified Amazon purchases.

C.J. Rosenbaum Esq.

• Amazon identified these reviews as manipulation.

2) We sent follow-up e-mails to customers who already provided

positive seller feedback to request they also write a product

review.

• Customers write positive seller feedback of their own accord.

• We believe Amazon may identify this as review manipula-

tion, but we are merely following up with customers who are

already satisfied.

• We did not manipulate the customer or the review or the

positive seller feedback.

3) We send follow-up e-mails to dissatisfied customers requesting

the customer “reply to this e-mail directly” to resolve the issue,

so as not to use Amazon’s customer service.

• Since we mistakenly were guiding them around the Amazon

customer service team, we believe Amazon may have identi-

fied this as manipulation.

• However, these e-mails were not manipulating the custom-

er for reviews but rather directing them to our store so we

could resolve the situation as soon as possible.

After reviewing the community guidelines, we believe we received this

notification due to the last point within the Addition Guidelines for

Customer Reviews policy. Within this policy, it states “When we find un-

usually high numbers of reviews for a product posted in a short period

of time, we may restrict the number of non-Amazon Verified Purchase

reviews on that product.” Due to the factors outlined above, we believe

this may be the cause of our suspension. We have implemented the fol-

lowing measures to ensure these issues do not reoccur:

Your corrective actions will need to show more than just stating

you will not repeat this mistake. You will need to contact anyone you

had previously offered the discount to inform them that this discount

will discontinue permanently. This policy violation is taken seriously

Your Guide to Amazon Suspensions

because feedback manipulation taints the customer experience on

Amazon. Amazon customers should be able to trust the reviews they

read. Make sure Amazon is aware that you also value the customer

experience.

STEP TWO:

We have implemented the following Corrective Measures to immedi-

ately correct our mistake:

• Retracted our statement offering discounts in exchange for

reviews.

• Contacted customers who purchased our products from other

e-commerce platforms to instruct them to only write reviews on

the e-commerce platform where they purchased the product,

providing a link to direct them to the appropriate venue to write

a review.

• Terminated our practice by which we send follow-up e-mails to

customers who have already provided positive seller feedback

for the product they purchased. We only follow up with custom-

ers after purchase to ensure they are satisfied with their product

and their experience.

• Contacted all customers who received the discount to inform

them that the discount deal has been discontinued indefinitely.

• Updated our business practices including updating all members

on Amazon’s policies to ensure that each member of our busi-

ness is up to date on the policies.

Finally, you will need to demonstrate just how this issue will never

occur in the future. You have acknowledged your mistake and by in-

corporating business practices that model Amazon’s leadership prin-

ciples, you are taking the correct steps forward into compliance with

their policies.

C.J. Rosenbaum Esq.

STEP THREE:

PREVENTATIVE MEASURES:

• Reevaluated our entire business practice and implemented the

following:

• Hired additional staff to review Amazon’s policies on a rou-

tine basis to ensure we are in compliance with all of existing

Amazon’s policies as well as future policies.

• Conduct weekly reviews of our business practices to ensure that

the company is in full compliance with Amazon’s policies.

• Informed all members of our business that discounted items in

exchange for reviews is against policy and will never exchange

anything for a review in the future.

• We reviewed all of Amazon’s policies, especially guidelines for

customer reviews, and retrained our entire staff to ensure we

are in full compliance. We implemented weekly workshops for all

employees on updated Amazon policies to ensure our business

is always in full compliance in the future.

• We now check all reports, notifications, e-mails, metrics, feed-

back, A-to-Z claims, chargeback claims, and reviews twice daily

to recognize and remove problematic ASINs before issues arise.

• We retrained our customer service team to ensure the following:

• All customers receive a response within twenty-four-hours.

• If any customer leaves a review of three or less, they are of-

fered a full refund.

• All chargeback claims received a full and immediate refund.

• We follow up after each purchase to provide all customers

with complete product information to ensure they have no

concerns regarding their purchase.

Eleven

Hacked Accounts

n the late spring of 2017, Amazon sellers across the globe were faced

with a new beast: hackers. While the issue of having accounts hacked

C.J. Rosenbaum Esq.

has existed before, the issue has become far more prevalent. Third-party

sellers’ banking information was changed. Your distributions were sent

to Norway, the United Kingdom, and other countries. “[A]ttackers have

changed the bank-deposit information on Amazon accounts of active

sellers to steal tens of thousands of dollars from each, according to sev-

eral sellers and advisers. Attackers also have hacked into the Amazon

accounts of sellers who haven’t used them recently to post nonexistent

merchandise for sale at steep discounts in an attempt to pocket the cash,

those people say.”

Hackers created listings for products that did not exist. Hackers add-

ed inventory the sellers did not maintain. Hackers placed long shipping

dates, sometimes up to four weeks so that they may collect money before

customers became aware of the scam.

Customers on Amazon see high-

ly discounted items, purchase the items, but the item never arrives. The

Amazon seller is then held to be accountable until the issue is resolved.

Sometimes, Amazon notifies the seller, and sometimes the seller be-

comes aware before Amazon. Once Amazon is notified of a hacked ac-

count, they typically freeze the account.

The bigger problem? Those whose accounts are stolen are placed in a

predicament. They cannot make the necessary changes needed to regain

access to their hacked account. They cannot follow Amazon’s instructions

because they cannot log into their account. Amazon has shut their ac-

count down for safety purposes. At this point, contacting Amazon’s legal

team is necessary. Amazon is willing to work with sellers whose accounts

have been hacked so that they may restore their livelihood. Amazon is

also working to implement verification procedures to better protect sell-

ers from having their accounts hacked.

36 Amazon.com’s Third-Party Sellers Hit by Hackers, Fox Business (2017), http://

www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/04/10/amazon-coms-third-party-sellers-hit-by-

hackers.html (last visited Aug. 10, 2017).

37 Id.

Your Guide to Amazon Suspensions

WHY WAS YOUR ACCOUNT HACKED?

Perhaps you went onto a website that installed malware and clicked on a

link that steals information. Other ways hackers obtain your information is

through e-mails from accounts that you are unfamiliar with. These e-mails

can have hacking software if you click on the links. You should beware of

anything that requires you to re-log into your account and provide your

password that is not the official Amazon website. This means that if you

receive an e-mail from an unknown account, you click on the link pro-

vided, and that link asked for you to re-log into your account; this may be

a hacker. Only provide your account information to the official Amazon

website, and never through a secondary website. The hacker will then use

your username and password to access your account. It is important to

use the two-step verification on the Amazon website so that it is harder

for hackers to steal your personal information.

At our law firm, we have had the privilege of working with Amazon’s

attorneys to resolve hacked account issues and other issues.

IF YOUR ACCOUNT WAS HACKED:

• Notify Amazon immediately (if you discover the hacking before

they do).

• Log in from a different computer if possible (to avoid key logging

issues that records your key patterns).

• Change your password with the two-step verification process.

• Search your account for any new users who may have been

added as a result of your account being hacked. Remove those

users.

• Change your settings to “on vacation” until the issue is resolved.

• Cancel and correct all changes to your account, including sales

or products.

• Inform

• Amazon of the hacking;

C.J. Rosenbaum Esq.

• all of your business members so as to ensure their personal

information is not stolen;

• your bank and ensure all of your information has not been

altered. You may need to take this a step further and change

your personal bank information to ensure your account is safe;

and

• your credit card company or any other personal information

that has been provided on your account.

SAMPLE LETTER TO AMAZON

Dear Seller Performance,

I am a principal of (Your Store), and we are writing to address

possible unauthorized third-party access to our account.

I received a performance notification stating that my seller

account may have been hacked and accessed by an unauthor-

ized party. I was notified that my selling privileges had been sus-

pended to protect my account.

Amazon required we take the following steps toward the rein-

statement of our account:

As requested, we have verified the following information is

accurate:

• E-mail Address preferences

• Business, shipping and returns, and tax information

• Active and pending promotion codes

• User permissions

• Amazon Storefront

• Listings and condition notes

Your Guide to Amazon Suspensions

Further, we have completed the following in order to regain con-

trol of our Seller Central account:

• Reset our password with a new, unique password that

we do not use for any other account or website.

• We also changed our password for every account that

had a similar password (including banking, accounting,

and e-mail accounts).

• We also removed any outdated or unnecessary accounts

for our Seller Central User Permissions.

• We now also change our password every ninety days as

added protection.

• Set up Two-Step Verification in our Advanced Security

Settings.

• Sent a confirmation e-mail by clicking the Appeal button

next to this message on the Performance Notifications

page in Seller Central.

It is important to be proactive with your account security. For now, the

two-step security process is something that all Amazon sellers should

implement. As for the hacking, the “stranger danger” ideology should

apply. Do not trust strangers e-mailing you for your login, and do not

trust strange websites asking for your personal information. Another

good business practice to implement is to routinely check your bank ac-

counts and your account information. Stay up to date on any changes that

seem unusual and notify Amazon if anything occurs. Do not use the same

passwords on multiple accounts. For example, if the password to your e-

mail account is “Cheesedoodle1234,” do not use that same password for

your Amazon account.

There has also been an increase in hijacked listings as well. People

use other trademarks as their own search terms. When the seller types in

the search term, they are not given the true, trademarked item, but rather

another seller who hijacked the listing. These sellers can be reported to

C.J. Rosenbaum Esq.

Amazon for trademark infringement, and Amazon will likely remove the

seller. However, it does not stop there. Some sellers have turned to ser-

vice provides like Amazon Sellers Lawyer to perform “weekly sweeps.”

This means that once a week, their trademarked items are checked to

ensure others are not infringing on their rights.

CURRENT LAWSUITS THAT COULD SET PRECEDENT FOR

AMAZON SELLERS

There have been three lawsuits over the recent years regarding cyber at-

tacks on major online platforms that Amazon sellers should be aware of.

Anthem Inc., Yahoo, and Facebook. All were subject to lawsuits after their

users had their personal information stolen. In February 2015, Anthem

stated that their information technology systems “had been the target

of an external cyber attack. The hackers obtained personal information

including names, dates of birth, social security numbers, and health-care

ID numbers, attorneys said.”

The company has agreed to a $115 million

settlement in the case that had over 78 million people subject to having

their personal information exposed. Of those damages, “the company

also said $15 million will be allocated to pay actual out-of-pocket costs,

up to a set amount, that plaintiffs claim they incurred due to the breach.”

Another lawsuit that arose as a result of a cyber attack was Vail v.

Yahoo! Inc. “On September 22, 2016, Yahoo announced that the account

information of 500 million users had been stolen in a hack in late 2014. On

December 14, 2016, Yahoo announced that the account information of over

one billion users had been stolen in a separate hack in August 2013. […]

Yahoo also indicated that an unspecified number of user accounts were

accessed throughout 2015 and 2016 in a third, separate cyber attack in-

volving forged cookies. Yahoo has confirmed that users’ real names, e-mail

38 Anthem Agrees to $115 Million Settlement of Data Breach Lawsuit, Fox Business

(2017), http://www.foxbusiness.com/features/2017/06/23/anthem-agrees-to-115-mil-

lion-settlement-data-breach-lawsuit.html (last visited Aug. 10, 2017).

39 Id.

Your Guide to Amazon Suspensions

addresses, telephone numbers, encrypted/unencrypted security questions

and answers, dates of birth and hashed passwords have all been leaked.”

The security breach affected over one billion user accounts. The us-

ers filed a class-action lawsuit since not only were they subject to hav-

ing their personal information taken, but they allege that Yahoo failed

to warn the consumers of the breach.”

The class-action lawsuit asserts

Negligence; Breach of express and implied contract and Violation of CA

Unfair Competition Law.

Further, the “[l]awsuit alleges that the com-

pany failed and continues to fail to provide proper protection of its users’

private and confidential data. Also, the lawsuit claims that the company

failed to provide sufficient and timely notifications regarding the poten-

tial cyber-security breaches that could affect its users.”

But see also, the Facebook lawsuit has since been dismissed. The

lawsuit arose from allegations that Facebook was tracking their user’s

Internet activity when no longer logged into the website. “U.S. District

Judge Edward Davila in San Jose, California said the plaintiffs failed to

show they had a reasonable expectation of privacy, or that they suf-

fered any “realistic” economic harm or loss. The plaintiffs claimed that

Facebook violated federal and California privacy and wiretapping laws

by storing cookies on their browsers that tracked when they visited out-

side websites containing Facebook “like” buttons. But the judge said the

plaintiffs could have taken steps to keep their browsing histories private,

40 Yahoo Class Action—Privacy Breach Class Action Lawsuit, Yahoo! Privacy Breach

Class Action, http://www.yahooprivacybreach.com/ (last visited Aug. 10, 2017).

41 Margaret Cronin Fisk, Yahoo Failed to Protect Consumers from Hacking, Lawsuit

Says, Bloomberg.com (2016), https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-12-15/

yahoo-failed-to-protect-consumers-from-hacking-lawsuit-says (last visited Aug. 10,

2017).

42 Anna Aria et al., Class Action Settlement on Its Way: Vail v. Yahoo! Lawsuit Filed,

Consumer Law Mag. (2017), http://consumerlawmagazine.com/vail-v-yahoo-lawsuit/

(last visited Aug. 10, 2017).

43 Id.

C.J. Rosenbaum Esq.

and failed to show that Menlo Park, California-based Facebook illegally

“intercepted” or eavesdropped on their communications.”

What do these lawsuits mean for Amazon sellers? The Facebook law-

suit demonstrates that if an Amazon seller’s personal information has

been stolen from hackers, it must meet a certain standard for his or her

claims to stand. There should be actual economic harm or loss as a result

from the hacking. As any seller whose account has been hacked would

know, there is always a great loss. Sellers lose the faith from their cus-

tomers; they can lose funds if their bank information is stolen; and they

also lose potential income for the time they are not selling and working

to resolve the issue. Unlike the Facebook suit, Amazon sellers are not

subject to being tracked; they are subject to being deprived of their live-

lihood. Likewise, there is a level of reasonable expectation of privacy on

the Amazon website. Sellers create accounts with added security mea-

sures to ensure their information is not stolen from them.

It is likely that Amazon sellers are more similar to the victims in the

Anthem and Yahoo lawsuits. In the Yahoo case—the users were not

warned of the security breach. Likewise, some Amazon sellers are not

informed that their information has been hacked by Amazon; rather they

discover this violation on their own. In the Anthem case, these people

had their personal information exposed. Likewise, when a seller’s account

is hacked, their entire account is hacked. Their personal information, their

bank information, and their listing information are exposed to the hacker.

FOURTH OF JULY SURPRISE FOR BIG-TIME SELLERS

Before and after July 4, 2017, Amazon brought a level of insecurity in

the way they manage their business to third-party sellers. At Amazon

Sellers Lawyer, we received countless calls from large companies who

44 Jonathan Stempel, Facebook Beats Privacy Lawsuit in U.S. Over User Tracking,

Reuters, http://www.reuters.com/article/us-facebook-decision-idUSKBN19O1Q4

(last visited Aug. 10, 2017).

Your Guide to Amazon Suspensions

were kicked off of the platform due to intellectual property complaints.

These large companies all had a few commonalities: they were large

companies bringing in a substantial amount of revenue, and they all had

multiple complaints against them, ranging from thirty complaints to fifty

complaints.

All these companies received one final complaint, and that one com-

plaint was the “straw that broke the camel’s back.” Whether it was an

account with thirty-four complaints, and the thirty-fifth is what knocked

them off, or forty-nine complaints, and the fiftieth is what knocked them

off, it all occurred immediately before and immediately after the Fourth

of July.

What is strange is that all these complaints were solely intellectual

property violations. Multiple…sometimes dozens of intellectual proper-

ty-right complaints. Amazon usually has a zero to no tolerance for IP com-

plaints. For smaller businesses, it can be as little as one complaint that

will knock them off. We see it time and time again; a complaint that may

or may not be legitimate results in a seller losing his or her account. Why

didn’t the first thirty or forty complaints knock off these sellers? Perhaps

Amazon treats the smaller third-party businesses differently than the

third-party sellers who bring in a substantially larger profit.

We suspect that Amazon was trying out a new filter or algorithm that

reviewed accounts after new complaints were asserted. This has been a

common trend for Amazon.

Amazon periodically suspends accounts in large quantities during

certain events. A recent mass suspending occurred during the last two

weeks before the 2017 Super Bowl Weekend. Many third-party sellers

who sold NFL items, regardless of whether they were selling authentic

items, were suspended to combat counterfeits. The sellers were left sus-

pended and needing to prove that their items were indeed authentic.

C.J. Rosenbaum Esq.

100

What we have concluded is that there are certain times when Amazon

decides to send many suspensions. We saw it with NFL products around

the Super Bowl, and now we have seen it with big companies around

the Fourth of July. One account had over fifty complaints against them;

however, we successfully had twelve of those complaints retracted. Those

twelve retractions were enough for Amazon to reinstate the seller and al-

low the seller to return to his or her successful business. This raises a few

questions: If Amazon can reinstate someone with twelve retractions but

thirty-eight remained, what does that mean for the business with three

complaints but can only remove one?

The plans of actions go beyond just retracted complaints. A good

POA must have proper documentation, demonstrating that the items are

not violating any IP rights and have documentation showing the items are

authentic. This coupled with retractions will help the chances of Amazon

reinstating that account. If a seller can show that the complaints are

baseless, regardless of retraction, then that may be enough for Amazon.

Additionally at Amazon Sellers Lawyer, our clients who have retained our

services mention in their POA that they have hired a law firm to handle the

issue. Showing initiative will also strengthen your POA. That is why it is so

important to have invoices and use an authorized manufacturer to prove

to Amazon that you are only in the business of selling authentic items that

do not violate any IP rights.

101

Twelve

Accounts and Sellers Outside

of the United States

mazon Sellers Lawyer has branched out and now has offices across

the globe: New York, London, Dublin, Shenzhen, and Mumbai. In the

C.J. Rosenbaum Esq.

102

United Kingdom, there are more stringent intellectual property laws than

in the United States. Therefore, if you are a UK seller, it is important to be

aware of the laws that apply to you. Remember, you may not be violating

an Amazon policy, but you may be in violation of certain regulations.

In China, it seems that Amazon handles Chinese accounts differ-

ently than US accounts. Sellers who are physically located in mainland

China have the same types of suspensions, but it seems that these ac-

counts have been subject to stricter review. Our Shenzhen office man-

ager, Cherish Mei stated that as a result of being more strict, it is harder

for Chinese sellers. In situations where sellers are being treated unfairly,

they are still able to arbitrate. This is why prevention is the best advice for

sellers across the globe. It is easy to make careless mistakes, and those

mistakes are not worth potentially losing your Amazon business.

There are also significant challenges that seem to make it harder for

Amazon to identify sellers located in China that have multiple accounts.

• Amazon’s Tracking of IP Addresses. In China, practically everyone

uses VPNs to avoid the Chinese government’s Great Firewall. It

seems that the VPNs also serve to prevent Amazon from using IP

addresses to catch sellers located in China selling through many

accounts.

• Amazon’s Bank Tracking. Unlike the United States, there are few

banks in China. In addition, many sellers who are located in China

use money-transferring services.

• Last Names. There are approximately ninety-five or so last names

for over a billion people. This means that untold number of peo-

ple selling on Amazon have similar names.

• Putting Accounts in Staff Members’ Names. In China, the cost of

staff is substantially lower than in the United States or Europe. An

Amazon seller can easily have twenty to fifty employees at the

same cost as five to ten would cost in the United States. Amazon

Your Guide to Amazon Suspensions

103

sellers located in China can use these staff members’ names to

open additional accounts.

WIPO

The World Intellectual Property Organization’s (WIPO) website states that

they are the “global forum for intellectual property services, policy, infor-

mation and cooperation.” Many sellers are unaware of the World Trade

Organization. “The World Trade Organization administers the Agreement

on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), which

sets forth obligations related to intellectual property rights, including

trade agreement.”

These agreements are what allow creators across

the globe the comfort of protections internationally.

As more sellers on Amazon create their private labels, their own prod-

ucts, designs, or inventions, Amazon sellers’ needs for filing their own

trademarks, copyright, patents, and so on continues to grow. While many

American inventors are familiar with the IP process within the United

States, they are not familiar with what is happening in other countries.

Amazon reaches a customer base that is worldwide. That means, if you

are selling your product on Amazon, it is going to be exposed to custom-

ers and infringers around the globe.

The United States has its own set of intellectual property protections,

but they are limited to the United States. If an inventor files and is ap-

proved of Patent protection, then they are secured with that protection

for twenty years. However, some sellers wish to gain protections on a

global level. The International Patent System, Patent Cooperation Treaty

(PCT) has 152 contracting states and is the office that assists other offices

grant patents. In order to obtain protection, you would file an interna-

tional patent application with the PCT. “The IP services that WIPO offers,

such as the facilitation of international patent protection under the PCT

45 International Copyright Relations of the United States, copyright.gov, https://

www.copyright.gov/circs/circ38a.pdf (last visited Aug. 10, 2017).

C.J. Rosenbaum Esq.

104

System, complement services available at the national and/or regional

level. It’s important to remember that WIPO does not actually grant pat-

ents per se; the grant or refusal of a patent still rests with the relevant

national or regional patent office.”

Trademarks are also important to protect when running a business.

“At the international level, you have two options: either you can file a

trademark application with the trademark office of each country in which

you are seeking protection, or you can use WIPO’s Madrid System.”

The

Madrid system provided by WIPO provides protection in 114 countries.

46 Frequently Asked Questions: Patents, WIPO—World Intellectual Property

Organization, http://www.wipo.int/patents/en/faq_patents.html (last visited Aug.

10, 2017).

47 Trademarks, WIPO—World Intellectual Property Organization, http://www.wipo.

int/trademarks/en/ (last visited Aug. 10, 2017)

105

Thirteen

Getting Reinstated

When Amazon Refuses

to Reinstate: Taking the

Decision out of Amazon’s

Hands

f you are thinking about suing or filing for arbitration against Amazon,

I suggest that you first calm down and focus on your goal. Your goal

should be getting back to business. Prior to arbitration, look at the built-

in options: Plans of Action (numerous), writing to Policy Teams, writing to

the Bezos Escalation Team, contacting Amazon’s legal department, and

then, if still no recourse, consider arbitration.

C.J. Rosenbaum Esq.

106

When pursuing the arbitration option, you should use a cost-benefit

analysis. Is the cost of filing through arbitration worth the potential re-

ward? If what you had lost is a small monetary amount, then arbitration

may not be the best option.

Lately, there has been an increase in non-suspension-related issues

that are worthy of arbitration or at least contacting the legal team. Amazon

sellers are being subject to hacking and lost inventory. One option to re-

solve these issues is to first contact the legal team. Amazon Sellers Lawyer

has been successful in communicating with the Amazon legal team to

restore the accounts that have been stolen by hackers. Additionally, if

Amazon loses a seller’s inventory, it may be best to conduct communica-

tions with the legal team before going forward with arbitration.

When contacting the Amazon legal team, is it apparent that you show

a timeline of the events that occurred. State specific dates—when was your

account suspended, when and how many times have you created plans of

actions. State that you have reached out to Jeff Bezos’ team. Hiring an attor-

ney to contact the legal team should only be done after you have exhausted

all options. We at Amazon Sellers Lawyer have been able to successfully

reinstate seller’s accounts that otherwise would have been stuck in the end-

less cycle of plan of actions. The best way to avoid reaching this point is to

create a comprehensive plan of action first. Many times plan of actions are

rushed due to their short deadline, and sellers are forced to send multiple

submissions, eventually needing to hire an attorney to contact the Amazon

legal team. The best action is to be effective from the beginning.

If arbitration is your last option, there are multiple avenues to get-

ting your claim heard. While you can request arbitration within your state,

Amazon also allows telephonic hearings. More and more people are turn-

ing to arbitration when they have no option left, but an attorney must

handle your claim. The attorney will be able to communicate on your

behalf via phone or videoconference, making arbitration easily accessible

Your Guide to Amazon Suspensions

107

when needed. When filing arbitration, you will need an attorney. At

Amazon Sellers Lawyer, we cite Amazon’s business solutions agreement

(BSA) and file pursuant to this agreement if there has been a breach in

the agreement.

THE ARBITRATION PROCESS

Demand for Arbitration. If you need to take the decision about reinstat-

ing your Amazon sellers’ account out of Amazon’s hands, then you draft a

document called a Demand for Arbitration. This document is like the ini-

tial documents in a lawsuit: you must spell out the claim against Amazon.

If you fail to include all of your claims or your Demand for Arbitration is

unclear, you could lose the opportunity to argue those issues. Include

your entire claim in your Demand for Arbitration.

The Demand for Arbitration must then be filed with the American

Arbitration Association and “served” or provided to Amazon. Amazon’s

copy of the document must go to a specific address that Amazon has

indicated for these types of documents.

Selection of an Arbitrator. After Amazon responds to your Demand

for Arbitration, you will receive a list of arbitrators. You must number your

top three choices in numerical order. Amazon’s lawyers will receive the

same list and they will also number their choices. You will receive the CVs

of the arbitrators to help you decide who you want to choose.

Preliminary Conference. Every case will have a prehearing conference

with the arbitrator. During the Preliminary Conference, you will provide the

arbitrator with a synopsis of your claims. Amazon’s lawyers will do the same.

Then, a schedule for the exchange of documents and information will occur.

Hearing. Within about three (3) months of filing, you will have your hear-

ing. About two weeks afterward, you will have your decision. Amazon seems

to comply with the decisions whether they agree with the decisions or not.

108

Fourteen

Maintaining Your Business,

Why Thinking Ahead Is

Essential

mazon knows their sellers are replaceable. That is why it is essential

that prevention become a key aspect of running your business. This

involves more than just following Amazon’s rules. You must predict the

Amazon’s next move.

Your Guide to Amazon Suspensions

109

During the Super Bowl of 2016, Amazon increased their rate of sus-

pensions with their sellers. Those Amazon sellers who were in the busi-

ness of selling NFL items were kicked off the super-store, many times,

without good cause. This was done in an effort to reduce the amount

of counterfeit and inauthentic NFL items sold through the website.

Unfortunately, many of the sellers who were suspended did not actu-

ally sell counterfeit or inauthentic items. They were grouped with those

who disobeyed the law simply because of the item they sold. Those

who had the invoices to support their defense of selling authentic, legal

products were able to have their accounts reinstated. However, those

who could not demonstrate that they had obtained their goods from

an authorized manufacturer were not so lucky, despite selling authen-

tic items. Why is this? Amazon is very specific as to what invoices they

will deem to be adequate. That means your receipts and invoices from

stores like Wal-Mart, Marshalls, or any other department store will not

suffice.

“While buying from Wal-Mart [and selling the item on Amazon], is

not against the rules, it’s a dangerous game to be playing.”

—Kerry McDonald, Managing Paralegal at Amazon Sellers

Lawyer.

It is best to purchase your items from the actual manufacturer as a safe

suit. If Amazon suspends your account, you will need to provide legiti-

mate documentation. Amazon has begun moving toward preventative

measures to protect major brands. They suspended people first, asked

for proof of authenticity later. The NFL issue could happen again; it could

be the next World Cup, or perhaps the next Olympics. As a seller, it

is important to be vigilant. Maintaining your business in accordance to

Amazon’s rules is sometimes not enough. Make sure you have a back-

up plan, make sure you have documentation proving authenticity for all

of your items. This is your business, and thinking two steps ahead is

essential.

C.J. Rosenbaum Esq.

110

BRAND REGISTRY 2.0

Amazon created Brand Registry as a tool to protect sellers. “Many sellers

encounter problems maintaining their own listings. Once you are regis-

tered with brand registry, you obtain the rights to control the content for

your private label products and listings within that registered brand.”

Working with Brand Registry allows sellers to manage their own prod-

uct’s listing. Sellers are able to format their listings accordingly. Sellers

are provided the option to bold any sections that they choose on their

description. Additionally, “this means that you will have control over your

product’s ID. You will be able to use a GCID (Global Catalog Identifier),

assigned by Amazon, which can be used instead of UPCs.”

The original Brand Registry required sellers to file an application on

the Seller Central account called, “Amazon Brand Registry Enrollment

Request” and fill out the company’s information. However, in May 2017,

Amazon implemented an updated version of Brand Registry, Brand

Registry 2.0. This is a fully unleashed update that has provided more tools

for IP protection. While the Amazon upgrade is still under development,

there is hope that this new version will benefit Amazon sellers. As of now,

the system is used to protect sellers and their brands. Unfortunately, sell-

ers are still having their listings hijacked. However, the perks of the new

version include access to information such as a comprehensive list of all

the brands that are registered.

There is a higher standard that needs to be met by sellers in order

to be registered for Brand Registry 2.0. One change is that now sellers

must prove they have a registered trademark. This means: sellers in the

United States must file with the USPTO and receive legitimate rights to

their brand. While it is possible to file a trademark on your own, applica-

tions are costly and take time for approval. It is in the best interest of your

48 C. J. Rosenbaum & Nicole Kulaga, Your Guide to Selling Fashion on Amazon.

49 Id.

Your Guide to Amazon Suspensions

111

company to hire a professional IP attorney to handle your application to

make sure that it is correctly completed.

Once you have a registered trademark, you will need to file an appli-

cation for Brand Registry 2.0. You will have to do this even if you were pre-

viously registered with Brand Registry if you want to be in the upgraded

version. You will also need to demonstrate to Amazon that you have a

registered trademark and you own the rights to that mark.

The Brand Registry allows sellers to have more control over their busi-

ness. Sellers approved on Brand Registry 2.0 are able to search by image

and brand name to detect if anyone is using their marks or brand name.

Additionally, there is a direct link provided to sellers to report any in-

fringement violations that are discovered. These updates are extremely

beneficial to the entrepreneurs who wish to have their creative works pro-

tected on a platform that is subject to many intellectual property infring-

ers. The new Brand Registry is still developing, but this extra level of

security is needed to combat the growing number of infringers on the

global website.

112

About C.J. Rosenbaum,

Rosenbaum Famularo, P.C.

and AmazonSellersLawyer.

com

.J. Rosenbaum founded Rosenbaum Famularo, P.C., the law firm be-

hind AmazonSellersLawyer.com. The law firm that helps sellers across

the globe. Our clients have the opportunity to meet with us, in person,

at locations in California, Seattle, New York, London, Ireland, Shenzhen,

India, and the United Kingdom. The firm provides Amazon Suspension

Services, assistance in obtaining the retraction of intellectual property

complaints, consultations for law firms, legal opinions and other services

for Amazon sellers. Each client has his or her own unique needs. Our team

has the experience needed to analyze your situation, your business, and

work with you to get your Amazon sellers’ account reinstated.

As an Amazon Seller, your e-commerce success depends on your co-

operation with the rules and regulations set by Amazon. When you are

conducting an online business through Amazon, an account suspension

brings your entire operation to a halt. Amazon Seller Suspensions can

happen at any time—even with just one complaint from a buyer.

Your Guide to Amazon Suspensions

113

Amazon Sellers don’t need to live in fear of policy violations, buyer

complaints, and account suspensions any longer. Amazon Sellers now

have a lawyer on their side.

Sellers don’t need to worry about their private information be-

ing revealed: with a law firm helping you with your Plans of Action

and other needs, your information is protected by the attorney-client

privilege.

114

Table of Authorities

• 17 U.S.C.S. § 512

• 15 U.S.C. § 1127.

• 15 U.S.C. § 1051.

• Amazon.com, Forum Moderator.

• Amazon Law Library.

• Amazon.com’s Third-Party Sellers Hit by Hackers, Fox Business (2017),

http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/04/10/amazon-coms-

third-party-sellers-hit-by-hackers.html (last visited Aug. 10, 2017).

• Anna Aria et al., Class Action Settlement on Its Way: Vail v. Yahoo! Lawsuit

Filed, Consumer Law Mag. (2017), http://consumerlawmagazine.

com/vail-v-yahoo-lawsuit/ (last visited Aug. 10, 2017).

• Anthem Agrees to $115 Million Settlement of Data Breach

Lawsuit, Fox Business (2017), http://www.foxbusiness.com/

features/2017/06/23/anthem-agrees-to-115-million-settlement-

data-breach-lawsuit.html (last visited Aug. 10, 2017).

• Appistry, Inc. v. Amazon.com, Inc., No. 4:13CV2547, 2015 U.S. Dist.

LEXIS 24421 (E.D. Mo. Mar. 2, 2015).

• Categories and Products Requiring Approval, Amazon.com Help:

Categories and Products Requiring Approval, https://www.

amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/?nodeId=14113001

(last visited Aug. 10, 2017).

Your Guide to Amazon Suspensions

115

• Christian Louboutin S.A. v. Yves Saint Laurent Am. Holding, Inc., 696

F.3d 206 (2d Cir. N.Y. 2012).

• C. J. Rosenbaum & Nicole Kulaga, Your Guide to Selling Fashion on

Amazon.

• Condition Guidelines, Amazon.com Help: Condition Guidelines,

https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.

html?nodeId=1161242 (last visited Aug. 10, 2017).

• Community Guidelines, Amazon.com Help: Profile & Community

Guidelines.

• Conditions of Use, Amazon.com Help: Conditions of Use, https://

www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=ap_frn_

condition_of_use?ie=UTF8&nodeId=508088 (last visited Aug. 10,

2017).

• Debra Weinstein, Note, Defining Expeditious: Uncharted Territory of

The DMCA Safe Harbor Provision: A Survey of What We Know

and Do Not Know About the Expeditiousness of Service Provider

Responses to Takedown Notifications, 26 Cardozo Arts & Ent L.J.

589 (2008).

• Duraco Products Inc. v. Joy Plastic Enterprises Ltd., 40 F.3d 1431 (3d

Cir. 1994).

• Ellison v. Robertson, 357 F.3d 1072, 1076 (9th Cir. 2004).

• FBA Prohibited Products, Amazon.com Help: FBA Prohibited

Products, https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.

html?nodeId=201790610 (last visited Aug. 10, 2017)

• Frequently Asked Questions: Patents, WIPO—World Intellectual

Property Organization, http://www.wipo.int/patents/en/faq_

patents.html (last visited Aug. 10, 2017).

• How Long Does Patent, Trademark or Copyright Protection Last?,

stopfakes.gov, https://www.stopfakes.gov/article?id=How-Long-

Does-Patent-Trademark-or-Copyright-Protection-Last (last visited

Aug. 10, 2017).

C.J. Rosenbaum Esq.

116

• Inside WIPO, WIPO—World Intellectual Property Organization, http://

www.wipo.int/about-wipo/en/ (last visited Aug. 10, 2017).

• Jeffrey Milstein, Inc. v. Greger, Lawlor, Roth, Inc., 58 F.3d 27, 31 (2d

Cir. 1992).

• John H. Harland Co. v. Clarke Checks, Inc., 771 F.2d 966, 980 (11th Cir.

1983), cited with approval in Two Pesos, Inc. v. Taco Cabana, Inc.,

505 U.S. 763, 112 S.Ct. 2753 (1992).

• Jonathan Stempel, Facebook Beats Privacy Lawsuit in U.S. Over User

Tracking, Reuters, http://www.reuters.com/article/us-facebook-

decision-idUSKBN19O1Q4 (last visited Aug. 10, 2017).

• Leegin Creative Leather Prods. v. PSKS, Inc., 551 U.S. 877, 881 (U.S.

2007).

• Margaret Cronin Fisk, Yahoo Failed to Protect Consumers from Hacking,

Lawsuit Says, Bloomberg.com (2016), https://www.bloomberg.

com/news/articles/2016-12-15/yahoo-failed-to-protect-consumers-

from-hacking-lawsuit-says (last visited Aug. 10, 2017).

• Milo & Gabby, LLC v. Amazon.com, No. C12-1932RSM, 2015 U.S. Dist.

LEXIS 149939 (W.D. Wash. Nov. 3, 2015).

• Packaging and Prep Requirements, Amazon.com Help: Packaging and

Prep Requirements, https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/

display.html/?nodeId=200243250#packaging (last visited Aug.

10, 2017).

• Robert Segall, E-Commerce, Amazon, and the DMCA: Fighting

• Trade Dress: The Forgotten Trademark Right, Findlaw, http://

corporate.findlaw.com/intellectual-property/trade-dress-the-

forgotten-trademark-right.html (last visited Aug. 10, 2017).

• Trademarks, WIPO—World Intellectual Property Organization, http://

www.wipo.int/trademarks/en/ (last visited Aug. 10, 2017).

• Trade Secret, Black’s Law Dictionary (10th ed. 2014).

• Two Pesos, Inc. v. Taco Cabana, Inc., 505 U.S. 763, 765 n.1, 112 S.Ct.

2755, 2755 n.1 (1992).

• Weinstein, supra note 3.

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117

• What is Trade Dress?, www.nolo.com, http://www.nolo.com/legal-

encyclopedia/what-trade-dress.html (last visited Aug. 10, 2017).

• Yahoo Class Action—Privacy Breach Class Action Lawsuit, Yahoo!

Privacy Breach Class Action, http://www.yahooprivacybreach.

com/ (last visited Aug. 10, 2017).