Forum

Copyright Infringement
 

Hi everyone,

I have been banned from Amazon numerous times. The last time my account was banned was because Amazon claimed that I was infringing copyrights. However, they did not even request any documents/ proof of my inventory and they just banned it right in the beginning.

I have been looking at some of my competitors from China for the past two years that sell the exact same things as me. I have even bought his item to make to that they are the same. He has been selling on Amazon for at least two years while never being suspended. The items are VERO but not mainstream, they are niche items.

Question is, how do they still last on Amazon without getting suspended for the same reason ? Why do I get suspended but not them? What is it that they are doing that is different from me?

Is there some kind of different Amazon account that are harder to get suspended than others? If so how do I obtain such account.

Thank you very much in advance.

Re: Copyright Infringement
 

I am not an expert in the Amazon field. I just started using it myself. However, the Amazon Ghost guide would likely be a good place to start.

Re: Copyright Infringement
 

Don't know of a different account that is harder to suspend...unless you find someone on the inside.

Few of us are trying...

Re: Copyright Infringement
 

Money talks and those Chinese sellers will be paying huge fees to Amazon for the amount of sales they are putting through the site, and Amazon has obviously realised that they cannot stop all ⊗⊗⊗⊗ being sold through their marketplace and when we are in a time where even eggs are now being made using chemicals in China it is going to be completely impossible to weed out all the ⊗⊗⊗⊗ items and the East obviously has an endless supply heading over to the west and they can get them here so cheaply as well

Re: Copyright Infringement
 

I can't confirm this, but it's long been my belief that Copyright holders will target sellers in countries where they are based and own the copyright, i.e. if you are US, or Europe based then they simply get their domestic lawyer to send a letter to .com .uk .de etc., and your account gets banned straight away. If your account is based in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan or wherever, then maybe it's considered a different market and they would need to check via an international department, and check if the rights had been sold there or not. In many cases rights are sold to Chinese companies / factories to produce goods, and they continue to produce the goods, or copies well after the rights have expired or whatever, and it probably more difficult to determine the legitimacy of those goods.

Re: Copyright Infringement
 

RosieTosie the politics :eek:

Re: Copyright Infringement
 

Exactly rsot, the politics of commerce everywhere, and of course those eggs made with chemicals cause dementia as well so somewhere down the line there will be a humdinger of a price to pay for that one!!

Re: Copyright Infringement
 

even though some course for chemical egg was ⊗⊗⊗⊗ course for money fraud LOL

Re: Copyright Infringement
 

Well I suppose having positive feedbacks, especially a lot of them, helps? You do know that you can buy 5-star feedbacks right?

Re: Copyright Infringement
 

Sorry but that's really bad advice, there are too many factors that screw up an account all because you want to get quick feedback.

Re: Copyright Infringement
 

There are tons of ⊗⊗⊗⊗ sold on eBay and Amazon every day. Why some sellers seem to get away with it while others are banned is really not important. Why do I say that? Because we cannot change it.

We can speculate all day about the reasons: someone has a friend inside protecting them, copyright owners complained, competitors did us in, Amazon favors this one over that one, etc. But at the end of the day, it is all speculation.

The best thing you can do is to find something else to sell. Because selling counterfeits is becoming more and more difficult. Copyright owners are now taking matters into their own hands and hiring law firms and using undercover buyers to go after sellers. Venues are cracking down. This Christmas season has been an absolute bloodbath for these sellers.

Selling these things may gain you some short term profit, but it is no way to build a lasting business that you will be able to rely on for an income.

There are MILLIONS of products out there. If you are willing to work on finding sources for items and new products, focusing on niches rather than the "big hit" products, you will be fine. Nobody will bother you and you can go on happily selling for many years with few problems.

You DO have to keep researching, though. The thing is, niches can be found by others and could become competitive at any time. Personally, I like to use many accounts to keep my niches safe. The problem is, sometimes people will stumble upon a successful seller and then follow them regularly to see what they are selling, so they can copy them. That can become FRUSTRATING as hell! I sometimes spend 20 hours developing a niche and some little jerk just looks for what I am selling each week so he can get in on my finds! GRRR!!! So, multiple accounts are the answer. That is why I have many, many accounts.

It is also the reason that rare books is my favorite category. Anyone can follow me all they want to, but they cannot simply copy me!

Niches can be found anywhere. A medical product you use (but forget diet pills and such) or something for your car or boat. A decorative item. Cooking products. ANYTHING can have decent sales yet be overlooked by the masses of sellers.

Re: Copyright Infringement
 

i think it comes down to account age and feedback. A young account selling "questionable" items will get the ban hammer much faster than an account who has been aged selling the same "questionable" items.

Re: Copyright Infringement
 

Copyright is a touchy subject with Amazon. There is no forgiveness here. In fact, attempting to report a competitor for copyright violations often simply shines the light on YOU, instead. Therefore, it's only safe to do it from a buyer only account, but this also means Amazon won't do much, unless you actually bought the item in question. The seller you are talking about may be registered in china but ship to the USA, and different rules may apply as a result.

Re: Copyright Infringement
 

The first round of accounts lasted a few days for this line. After that I had some running for a month. As soon as I added a bank account it got flagged. Changed everything in terms of the descriptions, titles, even where the thumbnail images were pulled from and the file names for them.

I haven't tried this month yet. Too busy with other lines and really not too interested in locking up funds for 90 days really.

Re: Copyright Infringement
 

Ya. I've honestly pondered registering with a location in Hong Kong and fulfilling myself from the US.

Re: Copyright Infringement
 

This is the standard email i get everytime..

Hello,

We are writing to let you know we have removed your selling privileges, canceled your listings, and placed a temporary hold on any funds in your Marketplace Payments account. Any new selling accounts you open will be closed.

We took this action because it has come to our attention that you have listed items that may be in violation of our policy against intellectual property infringement.

We encourage you to take appropriate steps to resolve any pending orders. Note that any amounts paid as a result of A-to-z Guarantee claims and chargebacks may be deducted from your Marketplace Payments account.

After 90 days, the hold will be removed and any remaining funds will be available per your settlement schedule. In addition, balance and settlement information will be available in the Payments section of your seller account. If you have questions about these funds, please write to payments-funds@amazon.com.

If you would like to appeal this decision, please visit the Notifications page in the Performance section of your account, find this message in the list of notifications, and click the Appeal button (https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/...fications.html). For information on creating an appeal, search on “Appeal the Removal of Selling Privileges” in seller Help.

Regards,

Seller Performance Team
Amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com

Re: Copyright Infringement
 

Yup. Same here. I got the first one June 28 of this year. The last set of accounts I registered got banned before I even listed products for being linked to another account so either my type of Verification Gift Card must be linking me or my browser. Been a while since I had to actually set up new stealth accounts so a few things may have changed. Going to switch over to using VM's on the next set of new accounts and see if they still get linked. No biggie though. We're selling tons on other accounts and sales channels.

Re: Copyright Infringement
 

Is this even possible? i mean i know you can use VPNs to get a different location, but won't they require a hong kong bank account?

Re: Copyright Infringement
 

Not sure but I'll give it a shot. :) If not I have contacts that could probably open a bank account for me there.

Re: Copyright Infringement
 

You can have bank accounts anywhere that amazon allows. I have USA amazon accounts, with USA IP and banking in the UK. Never a problem.

Re: Copyright Infringement
 

Thanks to Greenbean, I also have a UK bank account. I didn't know it was possible until she pointed it out. In the UK, you have to state the reason you want an account and have a $5,000 opening deposit (you don't have to MAINTAIN that balance), but other than that it just sailed through.

Hong Kong accounts can be advantageous, from what I have heard, but I don't have one.

Re: Copyright Infringement
 

i wonder if a UK account would be less prone to infringement violations than US accounts. Jeff have you noticed anything in terms of leniency?

Re: Copyright Infringement
 

I don't sell VERO, so I am not the best person to ask. I think that the UK is more strict than the US, general speaking, but that does not necessarily mean that eBay/PayPal are. Hopefully, someone else will chime in.

Re: Copyright Infringement
 

Whats ironic is i think eBay is actually less strict in terms of VERO than amazon. However, i could have a bias mindset considering amazon is banning everything right now due to the holiday season.

Re: Copyright Infringement
 

That is definitely true, at least in the US. With eBay they will usually warn you, with Amazon, it is an outright ban. Or, at last it used to be that way back in the day.

Re: Copyright Infringement
 

Darn good thing too.


After all, there are reasons for laws of copyright.

Despite deluded people thinking they are kosher to sell and make money, there is an inherent risk of being caught.

We have instance here of users who have had unfortunate relationships because of their choice of business patterns.

:deadhorse:

Re: Copyright Infringement
 

This is one of the classiest threads I have ever seen. Just honest, feel-good stories all around. BHW doesn't know what they're missing!

Re: Copyright Infringement
 

I think I can chip in on this one though, based on personal experience on amazon.

I was listing stocks based on already existing items on amazon but unfortunately I didn't know that a seller has their brand name in the title of the product, even though the product are the same, so it appears that while I was selling the same items that was originally listed by another seller, I was technically infringing on their copyright so they were safe to say that I was selling a counterfiet product.

This was an honest truth and nothing intentional, I woke up one morning to receive a dossier of documents from their lawyer, luckily for me though, I called up the lawyer's phone and explained what happened and also apologised, they droped the issue and told me to be careful next time

The long of this story is that amazon did not suspend my account, however, the infringing product was blocked so I could'nt even delete it.

Re: Copyright Infringement
 

From my own personal browsing on Amazon. It isn't even close. I have seen eBay sellers in niche markets who have tens of thousands of feedback from selling cakes. The same products seem to be eliminated quickly from Amazon.

Re: Copyright Infringement
 

fact is 1 buyer complaint from amazon where it be feedback left, return states its cake, them calling amazon or whatever and your listing gets blocked until u can prove otherwise.

its good that way prove u sell genuine items from known distributors and u will be left alone.

Re: Copyright Infringement
 

I think Amazon is much more aggressive about the counterfeits than eBay is. Not that eBay WANTS them, or anything. I think Amazon goes not ONLY on customer complaints, but also on pricing, whereas eBay just acts on complaints, relying more on their VERO members to flag items. Of course, all of that is just my THEORY, it is not a known fact.

Re: Copyright Infringement
 

fact is 1 buyer complaint from amazon where it be feedback left, return states its cake, them calling amazon or whatever and your listing gets blocked until u can prove otherwise.

This is exactly how Amazon deals with suspected counterfeits. Personally verified.

Re: Copyright Infringement
 

Yup I can vouch this, it just takes 1 complaint. Very easy to manipulate which has its ups and downs =/

Re: Copyright Infringement
 

Looks like ebay is less strict about Vero these days:

Should eBay Use Experts to Help Combat ⊗⊗⊗⊗?

Re: Copyright Infringement
 

I have personally noticed a difference. Amazon on the other hand...

Re: Copyright Infringement
 

Amazon appears to be on the war path. I've had a couple of my CA amazon accounts get suspended now.

Re: Copyright Infringement
 

HSBC has accounts worldwide...

Re: Copyright Infringement
 

Yes, amazon is being aggressive everywhere.

:mad:

Re: Copyright Infringement
 

I lost 5 accounts this holiday season due to being "suspected" of selling CI products

Re: Copyright Infringement
 

Been ongoing for the past 18 months...

suspicion but not always proof.