Amazon listing blocked, should I appeal?

[sbl2014]

I have been retail arbitrage top brand name skin care and cosmetic products on Amazon for little over a year. Every once a while a customer would complain the item received is counterfeit. Amazon will then block the specific ASIN and ask for receipts / invoices along with distributor's contact information. I usually just ignore their message, stop selling that particular product or sell it under another ASIN. There are usually multiple ASIN listed for the same product. But only one of them generate decent volume.

My inventory are 100% authentic purchased from authorized beauty retailers (Sephora, Ulta, Macy's, Nordstrom, Bloomingdale's and etc). I kept all my receipts for tax purpose so providing this Amazon is not a problem. However, I am worried if Amazon actually calls the retailer for verification.

All beauty retailers have very strict policy on not to sell to "diverter", person who buy in large quantity and then resale it in another channel. One of the regional manager even got fired for knowingly conspire with diverters. If Amazon does contact them and tell them that I am selling these items on Amazon, the retailer will definitely ban me from future purchase. Or even worst, they may try to make Amazon block all my listings.

So my questions is, will Amazon call the retailer if I provide them with the receipt? Also, are sale receipts sufficient proof or I need wholesale / distribution level invoice? Any advice on this situation is greatly appreciated!

[sbl2014]

BTW, the reason I am asking is that as my sale volume increase, this type of listing block may go up as well. It is best to figure out a solution now before it is too late. Assuming accumulated warnings could result in account suspension.

[rsot]

Welcome to the forums. Amazon is very strict in their decisions - keeping that in mind...if you have all the proof, perhaps worth communication with Seller Support team and getting the blocks removed

[GreenBean]

Welcome to the forums. ALl the best as you learn stealth.

[sbl2014]

Originally Posted by rsot

Welcome to the forums. Amazon is very strict in their decisions - keeping that in mind...if you have all the proof, perhaps worth communication with Seller Support team and getting the blocks removed

Thanks. Does anyone has experience dealing with Amazon's seller performance team? Some said Amazon doesn't accept sales receipt as proof but others claim it worked for them. There must be thousands of seller doing retail arbitrage and I wonder what they use for authentication if sales receipt is not acceptable. I am aware these blocks are triggered by detection of certain word or phase in buyer's message. The likelihood for Amazon to actually contact retailer to verify each receipt for such generic security measure is pretty slim. Am I wrong?

[sbl2014]

Also, what is Amazon's policy toward retail arbitrage? Does Amazon welcome this practice or against it?

[jeffweico]

I don't think Amazon cares so much about retail arbitrage - if by that you mean buying something on sale at Macy's and re-selling it on Amazon. They do, however, tend to side with brand owners, so if Mabelline (for example) does not want you selling on Amazon, it will be very hard for you to do so.

As far as the receipts go, it could go either way with Amazon. They may or may not accept them. And yes, they MAY call! I know that eBay often calls, but with Amazon sometimes yes and sometimes no.

I don't see how a retailer can "ban" you. Yes, they can ask you not to come back, but you could send someone else in or go to another store. Hell, they see so many people every day, I think you could walk into the same Macy's and be just fine.

Anybody can walk into a retail store and purchase whatever they want to. A store may have a policy of not selling to someone who is going to re-sell on eBay or Amazon but I don't see how they could ever enforce that. Are they going to ask everyone exactly what they are going to do with their purchases?

What you are doing may violate some policies, but it is NOT illegal. The one area where you might have a problem is if you list on Amazon and buy on eBay and the eBay seller turns out to be selling counterfeits. Amazon has a ZERO TOLERANCE policy when it comes to counterfeits and even the ACCUSATION of selling them can kill an account.

[sbl2014]

Originally Posted by jeffweico

I don't think Amazon cares so much about retail arbitrage - if by that you mean buying something on sale at Macy's and re-selling it on Amazon. They do, however, tend to side with brand owners, so if Mabelline (for example) does not want you selling on Amazon, it will be very hard for you to do so.

As far as the receipts go, it could go either way with Amazon. They may or may not accept them. And yes, they MAY call! I know that eBay often calls, but with Amazon sometimes yes and sometimes no.

I don't see how a retailer can "ban" you. Yes, they can ask you not to come back, but you could send someone else in or go to another store. Hell, they see so many people every day, I think you could walk into the same Macy's and be just fine.

Anybody can walk into a retail store and purchase whatever they want to. A store may have a policy of not selling to someone who is going to re-sell on eBay or Amazon but I don't see how they could ever enforce that. Are they going to ask everyone exactly what they are going to do with their purchases?

What you are doing may violate some policies, but it is NOT illegal. The one area where you might have a problem is if you list on Amazon and buy on eBay and the eBay seller turns out to be selling counterfeits. Amazon has a ZERO TOLERANCE policy when it comes to counterfeits and even the ACCUSATION of selling them can kill an account.

Thank you for your input.

I wonder if Amazon contact the retailer via phone number printed on sales receipt or they have a special channel of communication? I highly doubt a general sales clerk will provide Amazon any useful information over the phone. They probably going to deny Amazon's inquiry due to confidentiality or privacy concern. I wonder why they either bother to call if this is the case?

However, it would a completely different story if Amazon has an established channel with big name retailers and is able to communicate with mid level management for verification. The retailer's management will definitely tell Amazon that it is a violation of their distribution agreement for any customer to buy and resale. I wouldn't be surprise Amazon will then just kill all my listings for the sake of convenience.

Actually many retailers have been quite proactive in preventing retail arbitrage of some well known brands. They do this either because the distribution contract they signed with the manufacture and to protect pricing.

I was buying thousands of dollars skin care and beauty products from Macy's on weekly basis. I sell them both on Amazon and to oversea(AU, NZ, CN, VE), where the MSRP is often twice of what we paid here. Every sales clerk at the counter knows me and have no problem with me purchasing in bulk. Until one day, the floor manager for cosmetic saw how much I am buying and decided to pull out my purchase history (The sales clerk saved my information in her client database so there are records of my previous purchases). Immediately, the manager told everyone not to sell to me ANYMORE since I am a "diverter". Similar thing happened in another store and they decided they will only sell me a maximum of 6 items in a single day.

This is not an isolated incident. Sephora cancelled hundreds of high volume account right before their annual 20% off sale last year. They even made a public statement saying to did this to counter retail arbitrage. Victoria Secret will ask customer to submit their "size" if they suspect retail arbitrage. The account can then only purchase the "size" you have previous declared. Of course, there is the famous case which Trader Joe's sued Michael Hallatt for systematically purchase Trader Joe's product retail and then transport them to Canada for resale.

I wonder how other skin care and beauty sellers deal with this situation? I am positive not a single seller in this category is authorized by the distributor or manufacture to sell on Amazon due to their variation in price, which is forbidden according to the their retail agreement.