Amazon Hijacking: 5 Ways to Protect Your Listing Right Now

Amazon is a huge and ever-evolving marketplace where new opportunities emerge every day. In fact, 58% of consumers say that if they could only shop from a single store, it would be Amazon. But where there is an opportunity, there are people always looking to take advantage of others’ hard work. Cue the ruthless Amazon “hijacker”.  

Competitive listing hijackers are only successful when a seller isn’t aware they exist. There definitely are people who can hijack your listing on Amazon, but you can take preemptive steps to make it difficult for them to get away with it.

In this post, I want to review what Amazon hijackers do, how you can protect your listings, and how to take action should something happen.

 

What does it mean to have your listing “hijacked”? 

This means that someone is selling a counterfeit or similar version of your private label product. This is particularly frustrating to a private label seller, as you took the effort to create your own brand and product specifically so you can avoid competing with other Amazon sellers to control the Buy Box.

Having your listing “hijacked” is a major concern among Amazon sellers. In fact, 48% are worried about hijackers creating copycat listings, according to our 2021 State of the Amazon Seller Report.

Hijacking example

Let’s take a closer look at how hijacking appears on Amazon, so you can spot its telltale signs. As an example, I found a listing for a fidget popping toy that has two sellers. Since it’s a private label product, it should have only one seller.

I highlighted a couple sections on the product detail page that indicate it might be hijacked: the brand (Color Baby), the “Ships from” and “Sold by” information, and the line at the bottom of the product description bullets that reads, “New (2) from $11.68…”. This last clue means that there are 2 or more sellers on this listing. 

Since the brand name and the seller name match, I know this product is private label. There are a couple reasons why there would be more than one seller on a private label listing. 

  1. The brand owner approved another seller
  2. The other seller purchased this product from a coupon site and are reselling it
  3. The other seller is “hijacking” the listing and selling counterfeit items

Granted, I don’t know these sellers, and can’t confirm if this is a true case of hijacking. But for the purpose of this example, let’s assume we’re witnessing reason number three in action.

After clicking on “New (2) from $11.68,” we are brought to a screen that displays all of the sellers on the listing. We can see that the original offer for this product is from the brand Color Baby, who owns the Buy Box.

Looking below Color Baby’s offer, we can see that the other seller is “AiDream.” They have an overall seller feedback rating of 80%, which isn’t bad, but it’s not great either — another clue that this may be a hijacking situation. 

Side note: As a seller, it should be your goal to be as close to 100% seller feedback as possible. 

The evidence suggests that AiDream has hijacked the listing, and is attempting to sell a generic or counterfeit version of the Color Baby product under the Color Baby brand — even though they do not have stock of the original product. 

Please keep in mind that this is just an example — if AiDream is an authorized seller of Color Baby products, this would not be a true case of hijacking. But you can use the same clues to determine whether your listing has been hijacked by another seller. If you notice someone else competing with you for your own Buy Box and you haven’t authorized it, you’ve probably been hijacked.   

The impact of hijacking 

A hijacked listing impacts both your customers and your bottom line. 

Picture this: an unsuspecting customer purchases your product. But instead of receiving an original product from you, the following ordeal ensues: your Amazon hijacker owns the Buy Box, gets the sale, and the customer receives a counterfeit version. Unhappy with their purchase because the quality is poor, the customer leaves a negative review on your listing. You get a bad review for something that you don’t even sell, discouraging future visitors from purchasing your product. How frustrating! 

 

How to fend off Amazon hijackers 

A smart but simple strategy to deal with Amazon hijackers is all you need. Here are five ways to protect your listing and strengthen your business at the same time:

1. Monitor your listing closely 

Beyond just checking in on your Seller Central dashboard every day, you will want to see your listing from your customers’ point of view. Look at your listing to see how many sellers are selling your private label product. If it’s more than one (that one seller being you!), then you may have a hijacker situation on your hands. You don’t need to check your listing every day — weekly will do, especially as your sales start to ramp up and competitors take note of your success. 

2. Build your own ecommerce site 

If you are able to create your own ecommerce channel outside of Amazon (sites like Shopify or Square Space make it easy to set up your own ecommerce store), you can strengthen your business fort against Amazon hijackers. Being able to verify your business through your website builds credibility and trust with your customers, and you’ll always have a home base outside of Amazon to sell your products online. 

3. Brand your products better 

If you create better branding on your product listing and show that you have a distinct brand and logo on the actual product and packaging, you may deter the lurking pirate. You’ll be clearly presenting your brand identity to the customer, and if they order your product from a counterfeit seller, then the customer will be able to immediately recognize that what they’re buying is not the same brand as yours.

When taking your product photos, do your best to show off the branding on the packaging and the product itself. This is best practice regardless, as you are investing in developing the brand and your marketing collateral. You worked hard to create your brand — might as well show it off proudly to your customers! 

4. File a complaint with Amazon 

You can submit a complaint with Amazon with one form. You will have to gather your evidence — which means actually purchasing the product from the offending seller — document all the ways in which it is counterfeit and deceitful, and submit it to Amazon. 

Be as thorough as possible here, with as many photos and details as you can collect to compare your product to counterfeit version. Keep in mind that Amazon wants to protect its customer experience as much as possible. If it’s clear that the counterfeit will result in unhappy customers, they will take action. 

5. Enroll in Brand Registry

Enrolling in Amazon’s Brand Registry is one of the best ways to protect yourself and your brand on Amazon. Not only will you have access to incredibly powerful marketing tools, you’ll also have more control over your listings. 

If you have an IP or counterfeit concern, Brand Registry offers a dedicated internal team for submitting and escalating IP infringement claims. Keep in mind that this won’t necessarily prevent hijackers from hopping on to your listings — you’ll have to stay vigilant on that front — but you will have more protection as a registered brand. 

Brand registered sellers can also leverage Amazon’s Transparency Program, a product serialization service that enables Amazon to authenticate each of your items before it is shipped to the customer. That way, the end customer receives an authentic product, not a cheap knock-off. 

Having to deal with Amazon hijackers and their questionable principles is an unfortunate side of selling on Amazon. There will be people who want to prey on others’ success and turn a quick dollar anywhere you go. 

There is, however, too much hay to be made to worry about these people as your main priority. If you follow the steps outlined above, and continue moving towards developing a strong brand with well-curated products and marketing strategies, your success will overshadow the hijackers who feast on the crumbs they can gather from you. Okay, now onwards! 

Have you ever come across an Amazon hijacker on a listing? Tell us about it! 

 

 

91 comments on “Amazon Hijacking: 5 Ways to Protect Your Listing Right Now

  1. Hello everyone,

    I really don’t understand… if we have a registered brand, why Amazon allows other sellers to sell our product? How do they end up on our page?

    1. Hi Luca,

      Is there a way sellers are able to purchase your products to resell on Amazon? Unfortunately, Brand Registry does not prevent sellers from listing your product.

      Have you purchased the other seller’s products? If so, you can report them to Amazon if they do not ship or if you receive a counterfeit item.

  2. I have a registered trademark in USA and in brand registry. There are multiple hijackers on my listings. Whenever I report a violation on brand registry, Amazon rejects the report. When I perform a test buy, the seller doesn’t ship the product and upload a fake tracking number. Then refund the money after some days. Is there any way to get rid of hijackers in this situation? I have a registered trademark in USA and also in brand registry.

    1. Hi Zia,

      I would keep trying to report the seller. Also, explain the situation that you attempted to purchase the product and they uploaded a false tracking number.

      Another option is to send the other seller a cease and desist letter stating they’re not allowed to sell your product on Amazon.

  3. amazon has taken down hundreds of items offered by infringers of my intellectual property. However, lately I am receiving counter notices, mostly by Vietnam sellers who use a form someone came up with which refers to “Fair use”, “Not copyrighted material” (even though I provide copyright registration numbers) They refer to codes that gives them rights, and even when I comply with what the codes ask for, amazon says they will allow sellers to continue unless I give proof of court action I am taking. is there anything I can do to make Amazon honor my copyright and make the seller prove what they claim>

    1. Hi Ron,

      In this case, you should do a test order of the infringers and send proof to Amazon that they’re counterfeit products.

  4. I reported a Brand hijacker multiple times to Brand Registry and they just reply with generic answers that I am no longer the Brand owner and therefore no changes can be made to my ASIN.

    This is a original product of my own design, and I now have no control over my listing.

    Upsetting that Amazon doesn’t seem to care as long as they are making money, even if it’s from a Chinese hijacker.

    I’ve spoken to numerous other sellers who this has happened to. Amazon is aware of this issue but they don’t bother to take action

  5. Hi..

    This is a good article, my best selling product was hijacked by Chinese scammers.
    I want to share my experience how to fight with hijacker.
    First, hijackers mostly are Chinese sellers. They do this for living, and they have tens or hundred of Amazon accounts.
    Don’t contact your lawyer, wasted of money, i spent over $20000 and nothing works.
    I contact Amazon to report to hijacker about this, they do nothing.
    Hijackers are very smart, this is what they do for a living, once you contact them, they remember your name. They know how to avoid getting caught.
    When you test buy your products, waste of your own money, they will ship fake product to you in 1-2 months. They will use fake tracking number.
    Even Though you got test buy product and you contact Amazon. Amazon will do nothing because the tracking number on your account is still showing not delivery yet.
    You wait for another month, they the tracking status keep saying expected delay. …the hijackers already took thousand of your orders

    Speaking of Amazon brand registry, or IP accelerator program, read it carefully once you register, they said they will not enforce if you do not have Trademark register available. It probably takes 6- 12 months to get your trademark number. by that time, hijacker already make a boat load out of your listing.

    I want to share of I fight off hijacker.
    1) Fight fire with fire. (use more repricing software to lower your price, even though you don’t make money, but this will prevent hijackers to take on all your order. Even you sell at little lost. This will prevent hijackers from getting sale data.
    2) Don’t hire lawyers, All lawyers will say they can do it, sue them…..very funny. Who are you going to sue….
    All hijackers are in China and they are protected by Amazon system. Remember the product price get lower, who get the fee. If the product that hijacker sent to customer came from the same factory that you made, who get benefit…..consumer + Amazon + Hijacker (Not you!!!!)….So basically who care about you.
    The only who care about you is me and other US based selles
    3) This is the semi final part. To fight with Chinese hijacker is to hire Indian hijacker removal.
    Most or all of hijackers based in China, they have milion way to hire their ID, they can create million of hijacker accounts. Most of Indian work for for seller supports . They are good people but they want to make some sideline money.
    I hired hijacker removal based in India. i spent around $55 – $200 per ASIN/Hijacker ……it’s work…..they can kick them out in 3-5 days. …
    The story not end yet. Remember hijacker has probably million of Amazon accounts. the new hijacker jumped in….they i repeat the same process, hired Indian to kick them out.
    This process repeat 4- 6 months until the trademark registration number released.

    If you are experience the same issue, may I suggest we all form US hijacker fighters group
    When one of our products get hijacked, a group test buy, take pictures and report to Amazon.
    When Amazon received multiple complaints from many people, they will not only delist hijacker listing, they will suspend their account.

  6. I sent this cease and desist letter to a hijacker on my new listing. He replied the very next day apologizing and he removed his listing.

    Thanks so much for this!!!

  7. Hi Greg
    Can Alibaba Trade Assurance be a form of “highjacking shield” from culprits? If that be the case Alibaba can interfere with the offending and offended parties.
    This may not be at the Amazon platform level but it can be use to prove to Amazon that the offending party is an offender in Alibaba platform. Hence a trend / history…

    Thoughts?

    Regards—ZOLO

    1. Zolo,

      Unfortunately, not really. And in my experience, Alibaba tends to side with their vendors over sellers in that sort of matter (although, they say they’re trying to improve that). Your best bet in protecting yourself against hijackers on Amazon is to register your brand and make sure you work directly with a vendor that you can trust. More often than not, the supplier database can give you information on reputable manufacturers that are already working with well-known brands. The idea being: if it works for “brand X” then it should be good enough for me.

  8. Great information. I have a question though. I see there are as many sellers of similar products since they usually source from Alibaba or through the same manufacturer. I have found a niche product but as a new seller, how can i ensure that what I am doing is not hijacking but just form another healthy competition in the Amazon market space. There also other terms like piggyback and leeching, what are they?

  9. Thanks Greg, this clear explanation of hijacking is really helpful, but would you or Gen please address the following points.
    For non-private label products, I think you would agree piggybacking by multiple sellers on existing listings is perfectly normal and ethical.
    It seems to me your new supplier database tool enables us to find the factory or factories supplying private label sellers.
    We then have the information required to piggyback and sell the exact same product – not a counterfeit – on the existing private label listing.
    Provided the incumbent seller doesn’t have an exclusivity agreement, or patent protection, Is this unethical or illegal?

  10. Hi Greg! I also saw an article written by you on Forecastly and Empire Flippers, I think. Not sure if I already commented about this same thing somewhere else.

    So about the piggybackers and hijackers. We had more than 7 of them. They were buying our products from the Amazon Warehouse and selling them as NEW under our listing!

    We’ve sent them a c&d, we sent Amazon scam seller support tickets here (https://sellercentral.amazon.com/forums/t/reporting-just-launched-and-other-scam-sellers-proper-format/286883) and we imposed our trademark through the Amazon trademark registry (https://www.amazon.com/report/infringement).

    NOTHING worked!

    We sent a regular ticket to Amazon customer support and gave it the title like “Amazon TOS violation”. I paste in the link to our listing page and took a screenshot of the jokers under out listing. The body says like – this seller is violating Amazon tos by selling used products as new under our listing”.

    Amazon support forwarded our ticket somewhere and in LESS than 48 hours they removed them from our listing.

  11. Hi, I’m an author with a popular listing whose books have been hijacked by FBM. How can I get it back? I called amazon to no avail as they said the sellers are legitimate

    Thanks

  12. Hi,

    The part where you referred to….

    If you are able to create your own ecommerce channel outside of Amazon (sites like Shopify or Square Space make it easy to set up your own ecommerce store), you can avoid the riff raff of Amazon hijackers. This is a great long term strategy as well, so that you can start building your own customer base that you can contact directly, and not be fully reliant on the traffic and rules of Amazon.

    Amazon offers a white label fulfillment service, so you can have customers check out completely on your site and then have the item fulfilled by Amazon. Or you can send the customer directly to your Amazon product page to check out.

    What apps need to plug into shopify to make this happen?

  13. Hi,

    I launched my first private label product 10 days ago using Jump Send. Within the first few days I noticed a new offer for my product. I proceeded with the suggestion from this article “5. Contact the Seller Directly: Cease And Desist”.

    A few hours after sending the message I see that the other seller has lowered their price below mine. I’m still showing up because it looks like their listing says “will be in stock April XX”

    What do you advise I do next? I’m considering “6. File a Complaint With Amazon”

    But if the other seller is just buying my product off Jump Send at 99% off then reselling it, is that against any rule? If not, what’s the point of filing a complaint? Also if not, what would you suggest for next action?

    Thanks,
    Jon

  14. HI there, is there anything you can do about it if ‘Amazon Warehouse’ is the hijacker??!!

    I’ve written to the 2 other hijackers on my listing, but the final one is ‘Amazon Warehouse’….

    I presume they’re selling on the bags which are returned by customers or something?

    Thanks for any advice you can give 🙂

    Angela

  15. Hi,

    What if I don’t have a trademark and the hijacker is amazon prime member, what should i do in that case? He/she is selling the same product? i regret signing up for Amazon Early REVIEW program please help

  16. Hello,

    I just checked and I have 4-unauthorized people selling my private label product. This is my first listing and I have only been up for two-weeks. I have read this article and all of the comments. I understand that no one else is allowed to sell my specific brand because I am the owner and creator of the brand. Do I have that correct?

    What I don’t understand is how these people can be offering my product as prime? I have had my product up on a deal site for the last two weeks to start generating sales. Are people buying my product at the discounted rate than trying to resell them on my listing? Is this also illegal to do from Amazon’s TOS?

    Any help would be greatly appreciated. I want to get my facts straight before I go to Amazon or send the sellers a cease and desist letter. I am not in the brand registry yet as I am working on trademarking my product.

    Thanks,

    Rose

  17. Great article, very informative and no selling… love it! Thank you 😉
    I have few items that have other sellers on it, the title has my brand name on it and pictures are mine as well. The list of other sellers is 2 pages long when you click to view. I don’t have my brand trademarked, yet but it is a well-respected brand created back in 2002 but just now on Amazon. How can I decide that they are hijackers? UPC is mine. It shows my brand + product name on title and right under “by my brand” but when you look in the buy box it is sold by and ship from another brand. Where can I read the rules… it seems confused. Please help.

  18. This page has cleared so many my doubts about hacking. As suggested I asked hacker who hacked my products, he agreed but he says he does not see an option to release my product. He says the only solution is to delete the product.

    I am newbie here.Please help

  19. This is a great article as my product has just been hi-jacked in a sense. The only difference that I can’t understand is that of the 3 new sellers on my private label product 2 of them are FBA! I figured it was resellers who purchased my product when I launched and sold many products at 90% off. That would be easy for a buyer to resell the 1 item them purchased as FBM. I don’t understand how it can be FBA. Sounds to me like they are selling my actual product from my inventory. Can you provide me with more insight into this specific type of hijacking. Thanks.

    1. Hey Carlos,

      Likely, they’re people who purchased your products via a review site. One of the unfortunate side effects of using review sites to boost rankings, I’m afraid.

  20. “….Amazon states this clearly: “Enrolling a brand in the Brand Registry and registering as the brand owner does not prevent other sellers from selling the branded products.”…. Clearly this a BS statement. Anyone wants to sell the same product should obtain written authorization from default seller. Amazon SHOULD add this clause BEFORE hijacker post a listing. Having DEFAULT SELLERS SENDING CEASE & DESISTS or BUYING ITS OWN PRODUCTS IS RIDICULOUS!

    1. Yeah, it’s a pain. But from what I’ve heard of big time Amazon attorneys, even the big brands have to deal with this headache.

      I hope that eventually Amazon decides to draw a line in the sand and support the sellers a bit more on this issue.

  21. Hi everyone,

    I have a question.. So when I match to an existing listing which is a PL product, then I suppose I am a hijacker, right?
    So If I don’t have a brand name registered yet and even if it’s in process until I get the number issued, what are my options to sell the product?
    Will I be able to create my PL listing without having a Brand Registry?
    Or do I need to create a match to an existing listing and just carefully select the one that is not a private label?

    I just don’t want to be a hi-jacker…

    1. Hi Evgeniia,

      You do not need Brand Registry to create a new product listing to sell as a private label seller.

      Instead you would need to get a GTIN/Barcode from GS1 and then create a brand new listing for your product with this barcode. Then you create a new product listing for your product and would be the only seller on the buy box for that listing.

      Private label sellers usually sell products that already exist, but do not have any patents or intellectual property restrictions. Many sellers will make improvements to a product that already exists to differentiate themselves in the market.

      Many thanks,
      Kym

  22. Thanks for the info Greg (and all commenters). We’ve just become aware of a widespread hijacking issue across most of the branded products we sell on Amazon. The bit that’s confusing me is, they’re selling for upwards of double our price…so how are they winning the buy box?
    I’d welcome your thoughts. In the meantime I’m going to keep on at seller support and keep gathering evidence.

    1. I believe Amazon sets the buy box based on the average price its sold for, and sometimes not necessarily lowest. I have a book that I’m selling on my own account that I had listed for $20… but the buy box had it as $58.95. And the same seller each time! From what I’ve heard, the Buy Box is for sellers who are within 30% of the average sales price who are in relatively good standing with Amazon (seller rating, account health, etc).

  23. I have unfortunately had this happen to me with two different hijackers in the past two weeks. I figured that I’d rather lower my price to beat them in the buy box until I send them the cease and desist letter and they hopefully get out themselves. I was able to get one out and now I am dealing with the second who haven’t left yet.
    It shows that he has 10 left in stock, so I just ordered a product from him and it went down to 9. I will start the process of contacting seller support to report him once I get the product, I know nobody has ordered a total of 10, ever!
    I can’t wait to get my trademark, which I’ve already applied for, so that I can have my brand page and hopefully keep this from happening….it’s very stressful dealing with hijackers!!! I feel I’m on the lookout all day!!!
    Thanks for your post, sometimes I’ve felt I’m the only one this happens to! Specially when amazon seller support says that this is legal and there’s nothing they will do about it without proof!!!

  24. My comment is also an observation, as well as a suggestion. I’m doing research to become a seller, and now am aware of the “highjacking” phenom. As a long time Amazon purchaser, I never even considered this when looking up things I wanted to order. but now I have knowledge. and now I have some sense of how to identify hijackers, and NOT choose to buy from them, knowing what they do to hard working people. so maybe you catch my drift here. by making Amazon USERS AWARE OF UNETHICAL PRACTICES, the PEOPLE themselves can help police this, and also put pressure on Amazon. nobody lays down the pressure more than cash customers.
    You see, Amazon will only comply with what they have to legally, and rightfully so. they make money on EVERYONE’S account, wether it be a buyer, a legit seller or an unethical seller. Amazon gets fees either way.
    So let the people be aware, and help make the changes that are needed.

  25. Hi
    I Started selling on amazon, i was earning good i hired an employee who was very much in need of a job, he created a list of product which were selling and he closed that listing(which has high margins), from my account i was unaware of the situation, i thought he was working for me and left the account with him, he copied all which were selling even supplier details all which i have created and my mock up images and all my design files, he started his own brand by just removing name and replaced with his. Is there anything i can do.

    1. Dave,

      Man, that SUCKS. Honestly, I don’t know if there’s much you can do other than bring an attorney into it and sue the guy. You might also try reaching out to us for our seller stories to help future sellers become aware of these practices.

  26. Hi! I want to sell a product and it has a generic brand, which is sold by a few Alibaba suppliers. A few sellers are selling this same product. I understand that I need to create my own brand (will but the MOQ is too high for the product), use my own photos (will for sure)… Could adding a small product to my main product be a way to discourage hijackers? It would show on the first picture. Unless they order this exact small product, the offer is different…
    Thanks

    1. Vero,

      That’s one way, for sure. In addition to that, I recommend looking for a way to improve upon the product. The easiest way to do that is through reading the reviews. Also, if it’s a product that you’re a fan of already, you may know yourself. Doing all these things will discourage hijackers, for sure.

      Finally, a little more advanced method, is simply getting a trademark and entering your product in Amazon’s brand register. There’s costs associated and it can take up to 12 months to get approved, but in the end it’s worth it since you’ll have final say in what happens with your product.

      Hope that’s helpful.

  27. Is entering Brand Registry the ONLY way to prevent other Amazon sellers from selling your product? We have a problem with people stealing our product and selling it on Amazon for well below MAP price. Amazon has thus far been zero help.

    1. Hey Lauren,

      Sorry to hear you are having issues with hijackers.

      Brand Registry certainly is the best way to protect your product and get Amazon’s support on these issues, however it does take a while to get now as you require a registered trademark.

      You can try to get Amazon to help you out without BR, but as you say results aren’t always what you had hoped for. You can also send out cease and desist letters but if there are multiple people doing this that might be a waste of time.

      Other tactics some sellers use are to bundle the product and make it harder to copy whilst adding value to their own offering.

      Good luck with everything and let us know how you get along!
      Kym

  28. Hi! Another seller has bought one of my products and is reselling it on Amazon as “NEW”. is he allowed to do this or does he need to mark it as “USED” or “AS NEW”?

    Thanks!

    1. Hi Hazel,

      Does the seller just have the one unit? If so, it might be a lot of effort for you to try and get this taken down for the sake of one unit. You could try sending a cease and desist notice to them, or reporting it to Amazon support. Even if they are sourcing your exact product and using your private label branding, it can still be a painstaking process to get Amazon to take action on your behalf unless you are in the Brand Registry.

      I would definitely consider planning to get a trademark and entering Brand Registry in the future, if you intend to sell this product for a long stretch of time. It has many benefits, added protection being one of them, which is really useful in these situations.

      Additonally, here’s a useful post about preventing hijacking.

      Hope this helps!

      Kym

  29. Hi,
    Thank you very much for this awesome post.
    I have a question regarding case I am dealing with right now.
    I have a product that I am selling on amazon under PL. I check the product I buy myself to make sure they are of good quality also I created the listing from scratch under a UPC that I purchased with photos I took. The first batch of the product I sent doesn’t have any logo on them as they were the trial initial batch.
    Now I have somebody who is hijacking my listing. I emailed them and they said they will remove the listing but didn’t.
    I was wondering if I can report them to Amazon. I have my brand name set as the manufacturer and I haven’t authorized anybody to sell my products.
    Brand is not registered with Amazon as the brand registry option is not open.
    I appreciate your advice.

  30. Greg!!! I need your help! Please !!
    I got hijacked this week for first time from 3 sellers all “just launched” sellers I’m sure my competitors did it. They not selling the exact product, they decrease the price to very low, and I lost my buy box, and the ranking of my product due to this attack. I did almost everything you mention but : 1. didn’t succeed to brand registry cause now Amazon ask for trademark as a must requirement and it will take time till my application for trademark to be accepted. 2. I can’t take photos yet of their product cause they release their inventory slow – so it will arrive in 10 days (although I have prime)

    I reported to Amazon and called them 20 times and nothing happen.
    Please help!!!!!
    (I’m jungle scout client and your fan !)

    1. Hey Maya,

      Sorry to hear you are having issues with hijacking. It sounds like you are doing everything right in terms of getting the trademark process underway so you can brand your product better.

      The only other steps I can suggest are to continue and be really persistent with Amazon support. I know it’s not ideal but you might eventually get somewhere. I like to use the call back feature and speak to representatives on the phone, but you can also try the email support and see which you get most progress with.

      Definitely persist with taking photographs of the counterfeit items too, when they arrive, so that you have evidence.

      Another step you can try is step 5 in this blog post, contact the sellers directly and ask them to remove the listing.

      Hope you get to the bottom of this soon!
      Kym

  31. Greg,
    Do I need to register a Brand Name as a trade mark before I can use it? Did you trademark the Jungle Stix brand before selling on Amazon?

    1. Hi Andrew,

      No, you do not need to trademark before you start selling on Amazon (assuming you are not using a name that is already trademarked).

      Gen

  32. I have listed a complaint at Amazon about a hijacker listing against our product. We sell with our logo on the bottom of our products and the hijacker doesn’t. We even had a written statement from our supplier that we are the only seller they deliver to with our logo on the bottom.

    We provided the images and statement to Amazon but they responded by saying it was not enough evidence. I think it’s the world upside down. I hate these hijacking lazy parasites!

    Now I have a unpacking video made by a US buyer to convince Amazon.

    I really think Amazon should protect their sellers much much better against this scum.

  33. Hi Gen,

    I can’t remember exactly what I searched on the other day but
    I’ve searched a few more times. They seem to rank higher for ‘bamboo marshmallow SKEWERS’. Right now, you guys show up above them as a sponsored link. They appear to be the first organic result. It’s ‘Out Walkabout’ brand bidding higher than you on PPC, then Jungle Stix, then Whole Stix (no PPC). So maybe you didn´t have ppc running at the time I searched the other day…

    For ‘Sticks’ you rank higher.

    -Marcel

    1. Ah, good call, thanks Marcel…it is is the Bamboo Marshmallow Skewers that they are ranking for above us. Thanks for the headsup. Stay tuned, there should be a post on Jungle Stix soon, also addressing the competition.

  34. Hi,

    I was curious how your Jungle Stix were doing from the collaborative launch so just searched in Amazon but see that a copy-cat showed up higher than you.

    They basically copied your whole idea, it seems pretty pathetic to me since you did the whole thing as a free training exercise and are giving the profit to charity. I suppose some idiot was bound to copy you. They seem pretty clueless and have zero creativity, they named their product Whole “Stix” (same spelling) and copied Whole Foods logo.

    One thing I did want to bring your attention to is in their product description they copied your text exactly and left in “Jungle Stix” instead of “Whole Stix”:

    http://www.amazon.com/dp/B019YVIRAA?psc=1
    5.GREAT VALUE – Get more for your money with Jungle Stix: 150 sticks per unit will last you through several seasons and many fun occasions.

    Thanks for all the great info.
    Marcel

    1. Hey Marcel,

      Thanks for the interest and the heads up on the similar listing….we did see it pop up a little while ago, unfortunately I guess it was just a matter of time!

      Curious though, what keywords do you search for when you see it rank higher than Jungle Stix? I still see jungle stix higher for “marshmallow sticks” and “bamboo marshmallow sticks”….and I am searching in Incognito in Google to avoid any personalized search results. Thanks Marcel!

      Gen

  35. Hi Greg, Very nice article.

    I have tried everything to avoid hijackers and opted the ways to hijack other listing to know how they do that. I didn’t di this to hijack actually, I was trying to find the ways out.

    I cam across some PL sellers who has 5/6 products in their store fronts and also Not in restricted category.

    I cannot find the tab “SELL YOURS” in their listing & also if try to put their ASIN in side from my seller central I gives me a selling on this listing is Restricted. I guess they did Frustration free Packaging approved. Is it So ?

    Can you Pls make a Chapter on “Brand registry ” & “Frustration Free Packaging” requirements ?

    Best Regards

  36. Some expert please reply…. Can a reseller buy the branded product at whatever price and sell same REAL BRANDED product on the IDENTICAL listing at whatever price ( nevermind the buybox, just anywhere on the listing) ? Also can the reseller modify the listing in any way? So I am NOT talking about any counterfeit product (similar product, same brand name) or replaced product (similar product, different brand name or no brand name).

    1. I’m not an expert but I will be happy to help 🙂 Yes, many people do this and my understanding is its OK. This type of reselling is often coined “Retail Arbitrage”. If you do a search on that you’ll find a bunch of good resources.

  37. I have the same question as mr.dean has.I have researched and found a product.I found a supplier as well.later I found same kind of product on amazon.so can I go ahead and create my own brand and listing?will that be hijacking..same style same colour with my brand and my images.
    There is no room for any change or improvise.plss reply

  38. The question “is it too competitive” is very real and it’s getting worse. Many product categories are restricted, especially for new sellers. For example, it’s nearly impossible for new sellers to enter the health and personal care category. Many categories including clothing, automotive and others are highly restricted as well.

    Up to 500,000 new products are listed everyday on Amazon. At some point, the infrastructure and the marketplace will be unable to support this growth. Amazon is well aware of this. In the end, I believe only the very biggest and most experienced sellers will be allowed to list products.

  39. Hi all,

    I have a question, I hope you can answer it for me.

    If I see a product listing on Amazon and I notice that the product is selling really well, I then source out that exact same product from a manufacturer in China. I then buy the product in bulk and sell the product with my own brand name, my own photos, my own description etc.

    Is that classed as me hijacking a listing? And will the seller and Amazon take action against me? Remember, it’s the exact same product but with my own brand, photos, description title.

    Hope you can answer my question.

    Thanks
    James

    1. If you are selling the item on your own listing, with your own photos, etc. then this is totally OK and is what we recommend.

    1. To check whether a product is registered, you go to http://www.uspto.gov – the US Patent & Trademark Office. Under QuickLinks, look for TESS. Click on that and use the search boxes to look the trademark.

      That part is a bit tricky as you may want to allow for variations in the name.

  40. Here with an update just a few hours later. I sent the hijacker the warning letter and in less than an hour they responded saying that they removed the listing. I double checked and it’s GONE!! Amazing!! Thanks Greg, your so awesome that’s why I stalk all your information channels. LoL!!

      1. Np Gen. And for the icing on the cake. We sold almost double our usual sales yesterday. Which seems to indicate that the hijackers were taking away a lot of our sales. I’m so grateful to the jungle scout team. Thanks again! 🙂

  41. Like Tom said above, branded sellers do promos. Other merchants, myself included will buy the product (if the discount is significant enough) and use CCC or Keepa to see the history. If worth reselling Amazon does allow you to resell on the branded page as long as the item is authentic. So when the branded seller asks where you bought it from, uh, I got it from you because you dropped your price to arbitrage levels, then send them a picture. I guess the branded seller could then use the angle that ok it’s not counterfeit but you’re not an authorized reseller and I own the brand. Then have your angry brother or uncle play the high powered lawyer to scare resellers away. You could also claim since it was bought from the brand owner (yourself), it is no longer new and could only be sold as used.

    1. I am not totally sure but I believe the reseller can still sell the item as new if the package is unopened. And also Amazon owns the listing not the branded seller so the reseller has the right to sell the item on the listing because it is their “personal” purchase. The reseller does not have right to sell on other channels though. Some expert want to verify me on this?

  42. Wow thanks Greg. We are dealing with this exact same thing right now where someone has decided to piggy back on all of our hard work to get to the top. We have already reported it to Amazon and have done a trial order and realized it is a completely unbranded product that they are selling. Amazon is taking some steps but it is slow, so we will definitely try the cease and desist letter.

    1. Is Sundey the name of the seller by any chance? They keep hijacking my listing, then they’ll take it off, put it back, and back and forth. It’s driving me crazy! I’ve ordered their product so that I can initiate the process of getting them kicked off but with shipping from China, it might take another month or more. SO frustrating! I noticed that they have done the same with several other private label sellers so I was just wondering if it might be the same bad guys 😉

      1. No.They are called Boamain and they are from China and we did order and confirmed that it is just a non-labelled generic version. They have almost 2000 positive feedback and its at 100%. They sell over a 100 pages worth of items and it seems as though they are all other private label sellers items that have gone un-noticed. They are running a major operation and Amazon is hesitant to accuse them of anything because of all the positive feedback. It is very frustrating. But try the letter. I tell ya, it worked in less than 2 hours.

  43. @Dean….school of business????

    if i buy a plain blue polo shirt with no branding and try to sell it as a Ralph Lauren polo shirt then its fake.

    if i buy a plain blue polo shirt and put a ralph lauren logo on it then guess what…its fake

    Same rules apply to both…counterfeit.

    1. Your argument only makes sense if the branding is counterfeit. That’s now what this article is about. You create your own brand name not copy someone’s else brand name. You went off on a tangent there.

  44. Thank you, Greg,for clearly explaining the highjacker situation and providing helpful solutions for dealing with it.

    Your posts always make me feel like you truly care about us and our success. I’m sure this has a lot to do with why you’re so successful.

  45. Great article, Greg! I have a question about a related issue…

    Whenever I have a special promotion for one my brand-registered products, a seller uses multiple buyer accounts to buy multiple quantities of my product and then competes with me in selling them on Amazon (stealing the buy box 50% of the time).

    So not only I lose money because of the promo, but also later through stolen buy box.

    What’s the best way to stop this seller?

    1. This is a tough one and hard to stop. How are you controlling who gets the coupons? Can you stop them from being able to take advantage of the promotion?

      1. Unfortunately, I cannot stop or identify them before purchase. I was thinking about doing either of these 2:

        1) Since I am the brand owner, I can contact them and tell them that legally I am the exclusive seller and do not authorize resale. (in “new” condition)

        2) Contact Amazon and tell them that I am the exclusive seller and brand owner, so the other seller cannot list as “new”.

        What do you think about either options? Which one is a better approach?

        If I want to contact Amazon, should I contact seller support or seller performance?

  46. Thank you for your post. It was very informative and very helpful. I do have a question though. I have been told by many other sellers that we are not allowed to contact another seller and request that they remove their listing. Contacting them is a violation and Amazon may remove selling priveleges for doing so. I have been unable to confirm that, yet I am not wanting to risk my account by doing so. Have you heard that?

    1. Hm, I’ve never heard of this before but also haven’t ready through the TOS front to back. Personally, I think its OK but you may want to check for yourself.

  47. Thanks for putting this post together. For those with multiple products like myself, I’ve automated the process by having my VA monitor the products. Some products are more threatened than others (as you mentioned, no branding on the product itself) so these are watched more closely. Usually a nice quick letter from us has them off the listing within a day. For stubborn hijackers, they will stay and the purchase route is required. People must remember you are in this for the long haul- this is just part of it. Don’t look at the purchase route as a headache but a worthwhile expense to defend your brand.

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