Creating trouble for thief competitor

[phaz0rz]

Originally Posted by TurtleCove

As I've pointed out before, these are "home made" items.
There's no "supplier".

Think of it like selling a uniquely designed magazine rack, or foot stool, or wooden puzzle....on that order.

"Going to the supplier", is not an option.

Even "handmade" items are made from "supplies" so I, and I think Beautiful as well, were answering with the assumption that you are buying supplies from someone somewhere down the line.

I was just pointing out that it would be difficult to restrict who a particular supplier sells to.

[Sunspot144]

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=trademark+registration

[TurtleCove]

Originally Posted by phaz0rz

Buyer accounts that exist purely to sabotage competitors are extremely easy for Amazon to detect and shut down.

I'm confused.
Isn't this the sort of thing sellers are complaining about on Amazon on a daily basis? Aren't Amazon sellers constantly complaining about Asian accounts being made by the hundreds, just to flood other accounts with counterfeit reviews?

If those are so easy to detect and shut down, why are they so rampant on Amazon? I'm not trying to be a jerk....just sayin'....

[dealagreeproceed]

Originally Posted by TurtleCove

Easy to feel that way, when your products are not being stolen....

your not special. this happens to everyone including major corporations... no one wants to teach you how to sabatoge seller accounts for your own pointless revenge. move along and concentrate on your business. clearly your doing something wrong.

[JamesNorth101]

Originally Posted by TurtleCove

As I've pointed out before, these are "home made" items.
There's no "supplier".

Think of it like selling a uniquely designed magazine rack, or foot stool, or wooden puzzle....on that order.

"Going to the supplier", is not an option.

I’m confused....

The entire premise of your thread and why only he can copy you and no one else could is because of the unique supplier you have that only he also has accesss to.

[IGNAS]

Register a trademark.
File copyright infringement.

But really.. Your competitor might have another or several backup accounts behind his sleeve.
So when you're done with one - another one pops up.
Not really a viable solution if he's not doing something really 'bad'.

[SaiJin]

Are we still on this topic really?

I'm telling you, not is this only negative, but you aren't growing.
If all you think about it destroying others only because you can't compete it's really on you.

Yea, I know it's tough, but that's how it is. I'd take this opportunity to create something new and better.

Entrepreneurship is about growing and tackling issues that will come whether it's your competitor playing dirty or something else really.

[TurtleCove]

Originally Posted by JamesNorth101

I’m confused....

The entire premise of your thread and why only he can copy you and no one else could is because of the unique supplier you have that only he also has accesss to.

Oh, ok, now I see why there's the confusion.
Yes, you are correct.

I do have a unique supplier of the raw material.
These "foot stools" are being made with rare, sustainably harvested wood, that can only be gotten from a handful of suppliers. I've also taken the time to figure out what species of wood these foot stools should be made from, to sell best, as well as what designs sell best. It's taken me over a year to figure out and learn the optimum combination.

Now this ex-employee swoops in, and because of their previous experience with me, they know exactly which stool to offer (design wise, and species of wood) right from the get-go, and they are offering them, undercutting my price.

My supplier of this wood has agreed to supply only me with the raw materials, but this ex-employee knows the other suppliers of the raw materials (they learned that thru working for me, also), and they are simply getting the raw materials from them.

In the corporate world, this is called theft of intellectual property, and an NDA
(non disclosure agreement. As well as a non compete) would have been required to be signed. That's where I messed up. However, I know they'll go away to "the Bay" (which I'm fine with) if I could just make their selling life on Amazon difficult.

[JamesNorth101]

No one is going to tell you how to get another seller banned. Just not something that happens here

[Sunspot144]

In another week the trademark would be ready and he'd be off AMZ.

[pothos]

Not sure about Amazon but I heard in other places, it takes more than one violation to get banned.
In an old thread here, a victim seller spent thousands in legal fees and lost six figures that year. The seller still didn't solve this copyright issue.

When the thief steals the original design, anyone will feel mad and stressful. Some people here probably don't have a popular original design got copied yet so you don't feel the pain.

[newjerseymax]

If anything, the lesson is next time you have employee then have them sign a non-compete contract...

[JamesNorth101]

That is a pretty good lesson to take from this

[Sunspot144]

Could look at a $300 trademark as an unfortunate loss...

Or look at it as an investment to prevent lost sales, which sooner or later could be more than $300.

[oompaloompa]

definately register the trademark if possible (not sure if it is, for type of wood or a stool design if not really really unique)

[newjerseymax]

Originally Posted by JamesNorth101

That is a pretty good lesson to take from this

So many lessons over the years in ecommerce. We only started Amazon this year and so many things you dont learn from videos, youtube, forums... I would imagine these are secrets people keep as they are expensive.

[marvydocs]

I would suggest that you have a brand registry