How To Avoid Intellectual Property Complaints On Amazon (IP)

Discover Which Amazon IP Complaints Exist And How To Avoid Them Using Seller Assistant App Extension

Hey! It’s Vova Even again, today, I have got a company on my blog.

The founder of the Seller Assistant app, Oleg Kuzmenkov, will join us here today to introduce us to his creation and how it can help us avoid intellectual property (IP) complaints on Amazon.

We're going to talk about a variety of complaints, what they are, and how to avoid them.

By the way, the Seller Assistant App is a browser extension for Amazon sellers.

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Learn all about this extension in this detailed A to Z tutorial of Seller Assistant App.

I am also sharing links to a free trial for the Seller Assistant App plugin.

And a special discount for the yearly plan of Seller Assistant App. 

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So, Oleg, over to you, man.

Please tell us everything about avoiding IP complaints on Amazon.

For video lovers, here's the same conversation in a video form.

Oleg: Hi Vova, hello everyone!

Thank you for sharing with me this learning space today, and thank you for a cool introduction to Seller Assistant App.

In this conversation, I'm going to show you how to avoid complaints with a snap.

I will explain how the extension works, how it helps you to avoid complaints, how people solve complaint-related issues without our extension, and why you should think about installing our extension and using it to avoid IP complaints.

The extension shows if a product has or had in the past been hit by different types of complaints.

Vova: All right, that’s interesting! Let’s start.

Oleg: Vova, as I mentioned in our conversation earlier I have developed a seller system that has an advanced FBA and FBM calculator and a tool that helps in finding products for online arbitrage or selling or drop shipping.

The part of the software contains a great feature which is called IP Alert.

It is FREE to use, but the free version has some limitations.

The extended version, however, has more features that show the type of issues sellers get on Amazon.

It helps you better understand the situation on products you're going to sell and those you're thinking about bringing on FBA. 

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Usually, what sellers can do is do research and use spreadsheets or a web page with a list of dangerous brands.

But you never know how a certain brand appears in this list and why.

Vova: That’s interesting!

Because you never know in which marketplace such IP issues might have occurred; maybe it was the Spanish or the United Kingdom marketplace, or maybe the US.

You can’t guess that with those lists, so it can be very confusing.

Oleg:  Yes, Vova, that’s right.

You never know why, but there might be many reasons to worry about selling the product.

Let me show you what can be the possible cause of worries in the future so you'll be able to avoid them.

Let's open an account in Seller Central where we can see the account’s health and the potential violations that we need to avoid.

This is what it will look like.

What you see here is only the middle section of Seller Central.

I removed others because I wanted to explain all these violations you can read them in the screenshot.

You can see the health of this account is good, and understandably so, as there have been no complaints/violations of any sort.

Let’s now understand these complaints and violations deeply so that you can avoid them in the future.

Before we start, I also want to mention our other product, Seller Assistant Deals.

#1 - Suspected Intellectual Property Violation

This violation appears automatically on your account if you are trying to sell or create a product with a brand name that does not belong to you.

That means if you create a brand and write something like ‘compatible with iPhone’ or ‘compatible with Google,’ Amazon will scan your product listing and product description, and it might block your listing and ask you to edit it and remove any mention of the brand you used.

So that’s what a Suspected IP violation is. 

In addition to that, this violation can occur even using your own brand name, but when you mention another brand’s name (again, like compatible with iPhone) in your listing or when you use the image of any other brand.

Hence, I would advise the sellers to avoid copying other brands’ names or images or any other type of identity.

#2 - Received Intellectual Property Complaints

This is a very dangerous issue.

It happens when you sell a brand’s product without their permission, and the brand files a complaint against you.

The brand will receive an e-mail from Amazon, letting them know that another seller is selling a product under their brand name and asking them whether they approve of it or not.

This is a very embarrassing moment, so you have to resolve the issue as soon as possible.

To resolve the issue, you might have to write to the brand owner and request them to remove the complaint against you from Amazon.

It’s very painful as it costs you lots of time, energy, and money. 

Vova: So, let’s just say we bought some product of a specific brand. We started selling it on Amazon.

Then the brand itself then files a complaint against you, and not as in the previous example, where it happened automatically.

They might say; “Hey guys, you know what, you cannot sell these products under our brand’s name because we don’t allow it".

So, stop using our brand name, or either you will be banned on Amazon. 

Is that correct, Oleg? Please correct me, Oleg, if I am wrong.

Oleg: No, that’s actually right, Vova.

Even if it is a brand or product in a shade that is patented by me, any other seller can’t sell that product.

The different branding and ordering of products from Chinese manufacturers and subsequently bringing them to the FBA will not save sellers from getting an intellectual property complaint from the patent owner.

#3 - Product Authenticity Customer Complaints

The Amazon counterfeit complaint could appear in your account if you sell counterfeit products.

Suppose you found the product on Alibaba and subsequently brought it to FBA and sold it.

However, the product that you are selling via FBA is not authentic and is counterfeit.

Therefore, if the customer identifies the product as counterfeit, he or she can file a complaint against you for selling a fake product.

Learn more about handling counterfeit complaints here.

Another complaint is:

#4 - Product Condition Customer Complaints

This complaint can be filed when you sell products as new but are actually of second-hand quality.

If you are someone who sells products through FBA, you will know that Amazon doesn’t necessarily check the quality of the product.

It merely wraps and packs the product and sends it to the customer.

But when a customer opens the box and finds the product to be in poor condition, they can file a complaint against the seller. 

Vova: I know this is one of the common errors sellers have to face on Amazon.

When customers get a poor-quality product,  they return the product to Amazon.

Interestingly, if the option to let Amazon resell these products is turned on in your account, the company will go for it.

They will overview the product from the outside, and if they feel like, “Yeah, maybe, it looks okay and new,” they will put it back in your listing, making it available for purchase.

And then, when someone else buys it but actually finds something missing in it or finds the boxes are open and the product is of used quality, the people will file their complaints.

It doesn’t matter for them to conjure up any other scenario.

All customers want is a quality product without a scratch, and you have to ensure that they get what they want. 

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Oleg: Yeah. And Vova, I know most of the Amazon sellers destroy all products returned by customers, so maybe it's a better way not to put back these returned products in your listing.

Vova: Well, that’s right in my case, at least.

That's not maybe the best example, but we usually do not just resell them; we sort of destroy the returns.

You also have the option to ship the returns to your warehouse or your home and see if somebody actually did use it.

You can do this operation profitably because if you destroy an expensive product or even a low-cost product that was actually really new, then you're losing money.

That's why I'm saying my example is probably not the best because we're just avoiding getting stuck in such a situation, but if sellers work around it a bit, they can still make money even on these returns.

It is because returns are a pretty big part of the sales process, even if your products are doing good. 

By the way, you can actually lower your returns by working with onsitesupport.io, they can help you do so in a very smart way.

The video below shows how it all works.

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My guest is the founder, Joe Abitbol, who is also the founder of Seller Locker - software for Amazon reimbursements.

Oleg: That’s right, Vova. Let’s move on to the other issues now. 

#5 - Food and Product Safety Issues

It's a very dangerous issue because if a customer buys a candle, for example, and the candle explodes or harms customers in any way, that’s going to be damaging for the seller.

Suppose a customer buys a cream for the face and then gets an allergy or any other skin issues, it will be destructive for your business and your account.

Therefore, if you see such types of issues in a product, it is better you avoid them.

Vova: You mean if a seller sees this type of complaint about a product through the seller assistant app’s widget, they should stay away from that product?

That makes sense, actually. Amazon sellers should really start taking notes!

It won’t be a good idea to get into something like that because it can cost you money and, most importantly, your reputation.

If somebody uses the cream you sell and gets acne from that or experiences any other reaction, it will be very harmful to you.

Oleg: Absolutely.

With the Seller Assistant app, you can save yourself from the trouble of selling a compromised product just by looking if that product has any food or product safety issues.

Let’s now talk about another violation.

#6 - Listing Policy Variation

Amazon has a specific listing policy which you can also read on Google or inside Amazon.

There are a lot of things on Amazon that are prohibited, and sellers don’t know about them.

Copying or duplicating listings is one such thing.

Anything that gives an impression that it is actually a variation of the original products gets listing policy variation from Amazon.

Some sellers create a variation like 'set of 4', 'set of 8', etc., which is unacceptable at Amazon.

It is not something unusual, but it is good to sell original products and not variations.

Vova: So, you are basically saying that the listing duplicates violate Amazon’s listing policy variation?

That’s understandable.

People do create many variations of a product which should not be allowed as it falls under the umbrella of plagiarism.

Sellers should be careful about it, and also, there are many other violations that sellers do not know about, so I would recommend reading.

Oleg: Yes. Sellers should really avoid opting for such misadventures. 

#7 - Restricted Product Policy Violations

Similar to prohibiting listing variations, Amazon also has a comprehensive product policy in which they have explained which product is allowed and which is not.

Restricted product policy violations take place whenever a seller attempts to sell a product that goes against the product policy.

Amazon will quickly shoot down the ASIN, and when a person tries to access that product, he lands on a dog page. 

Vova:  Okay, so that means if somebody tries to sell Kalashnikov (a gun) on Amazon, and it gets listed somehow, but whenever Amazon notices the product, it will take it down because it clearly stands in violation of Amazon product policy.

I have come across such products in my career so far.

And when Amazon takes them down, all you can see are the dog pages.

These pages are actually the ones from where Amazon has taken down the content for one reason or the other.   

Oleg: Yeah, that’s right.

Sellers can read further about it on Amazon Central, and I am certain they will find interesting information about the things that are restricted on Amazon.

In general, products such as medical products, explosives, firearms, etc., are banned on Amazon. 

#8 - Customer Product Review Policy Violation

This violation is related to deploying fake reviews on your product.

I know a lot of sellers ask other services to place fake reviews under their products.

It’s a black hat strategy to attract more customers, but it's certainly not the best one as it attracts customer product review policy violations that may eventually result in the product being removed from the marketplace.

I hope now a lot of people would know all types of issues that can happen to their seller accounts.

Don’t take these issues lightly: they can put your account at risk, so it is better to be fully certain about a product before you decide to sell it on Amazon.

Many sellers do know about these specific violations, but they do not dig deeper into them.

How Seller Assistant App Helps You Avoid IP Complaints

Well, worry no more because now you have the Seller Assistant App that can reveal things that even Amazon seller central does not tell you!

Now, let me show you some practical examples of how to know if any product has any violation complaints against it.

The process is simple: just click on any product page on Amazon, and it will appear something like this:

As you can see in the screenshot above, this product has an intellectual property complaint against it which was registered on the 1st of June, 2022.

According to the app, this product is a high-risk product and has had account health issues previously.

The immediate action was a strong block. 

Vova: This is pretty cool, Oleg because I don’t see any complicated information that may bounce over the head of sellers.

The user interface is very simple.

The red icons suggest what was wrong with this product and what action was taken.

Sometimes when we come across such products, we do not precisely know what went wrong and when.

I like that this plugin tells it all.

By the way, let me remind my readers that if you find Seller Assistant App an interesting product for you, you can watch its A-Z tutorial on my YouTube channel.

I am embedding the video right here for your quick access.

The post here will help you pick the right Seller Assistant pricing plan.

Also, you can click on the button below to register for the software at a very discounted rate. 

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Coming back to the product, I am also seeing in the screenshot that the application has declared the product as counterfeit.

That happens when you try to sell an original product or its duplicate with the name of the brand without any permission.

That is not allowed on Amazon.  

Oleg: Absolutely! If anyone believes that they sell an original product, they must have an authorization letter or invoices from their supplier indicating that they are selling the original brand’s products.

Once they have got enough proof, they have nothing to worry about.

They can just go and sell that product without any problem.

By the way, IP Alert is a part of the Seller Assistant app, which is free to use.

Vova: Okay, so in the free version, we'll just see that there was an intellectual property complaint, but we won't have any extended information regarding what the complaint is exactly.

Is that right?  

Oleg: That’s right, Vova!

Vova: Well, that’s fair. 

Oleg: Here's another example of a product.

I believe it's very convenient to know about risky products on search pages when you do your product research. 

Let me bring another example that demonstrates the efficacy of the Seller Assistant App. 

Let's learn what happened here.

You can see Cambro brand’s name has been used in another ASIN, which caused a violation.

The Seller Assistant app quickly found it has a Suspected Intellectual Property Violation.

As you can see, the seller has used the trademark of the brand’s name.

That is why the application has detected a violation here.

Vova: So, in this case, there's a listing of a food storage container by Cambro.

Before selling Cambro we have to acquire permission from Cambro to sell their products.

Whenever someone tries to use Cambro or any other brand name without permission or authority, Amazon will quickly notice that and might take harsh action against the seller.

This listing is the original listing, but somebody tried to create a new listing using the brand’s name, and apparently, Amazon’s automated brand protection did not allow this to happen because Cambro is a registered brand. 

Oleg: Yes, and what happened here was someone tried to use a camera brand name on another ASIN and was quickly suspended because of it.

Sometimes, some sellers decide to edit the product description and add some keywords (like Cambro) or something like that, which may cause policy shutdown, and a violation in your account because of actions taken by another seller on this product.

Well, that’s all of it from my side, Vova.

I think I have covered pretty much everything essential about IP Alerts and Seller Assistant App.

I would recommend all those reading this here: use Seller Assistant App if you want to sail online marketplace safely and smoothly.

The app has an advanced API/database, which is updated automatically on a daily basis.

Lastly, I know how hard it may get for sellers out there while expanding and scaling their business, and that’s okay.

We all have been there.

But remember, every problem is fixable; all you need is an appropriate medium, and I bet Seller Assistant App is going to be one of those!

Vova: Thank you so much, Oleg, for joining us today and introducing a great tool.

I have provided all the essential links above, so please go ahead and explore.

You can also avail of the yearly special discount and free trial for Seller Assistant App.

I am hoping that you've enjoyed today’s wide-ranging conversation between Oleg and me.

Please don’t forget that you can still explore more interesting discussions on this very blog.

It’s Vova signing off.  Please stay safe and happy, and enjoy life!

Yours, 

Vova :)

P.S. - Learn how to download and install the Seller Assistant App here.