Recently, I started noticing that Online Arbitrage sellers often receive complaints about counterfeit products. This scares me a little because I’m just starting out and I wouldn’t like to receive such a complaint at the very beginning of my journey.
Can anyone tell how to minimize the risk of such complaints, why they arrive, and what to do if one does arrive?
P. s. I sell by OA model as an individual without a registered company. Purchase goods at retail stores like Walmart, Target, Kohl’s, etc.
It should, if you did any of our products and offered them as “new” our attorney would shut you down. Ours actively engages with the online market places and protects us.
Not sure what you can do, just becareful. Keep in mind that if it was not for all the amazon sellers doing OA and RA amazon would go dark. They are not going to shut down millions of sellers, just the ones that they are legally obligated to takedown.
Stuff sold in every walmart / costco / chewy in the USA is more than likely impossible to enforce. If you target niche markets and brands you will have a much greater chance of getting shut down.
Good example is kirkland brand, that brand is owned by Costco. Also some of the brands owned by walmart are sold on amazon. They don’t care, at their scale it is free advertising and not a loss. Hence, they will never shut down a seller that is able to pull buyers away from amazon. Complicated, yes, you really need to study and understand what I just stated.
This is too risky any more. We stopped OA a while ago as we had 3 authenticity complaints in a month. AMZ has gotten much stricter on this as they now ask for supply chain invoices from approved distributors where they are getting product from which of course they will not share.
This puts you at risk of losing accounts and if this is more than a hobby, you lose everything.
So no it’s not against policies but is frowned upon and not supported by Amazon.
Thank you for your answer but I do not understand how can I buy from authorized distributors if I do not have a company and they probably do not sell as few as as I buy
Amazon clearly knows this too, yet look at what they are doing. It is called misleading prospective sellers. They play dumb, point fingers and use the fall back excuse “we are only a marketplace and cannot check everyone”. Yet they are fully aware of the situation and continue to take money from sellers, ruin the sellers life and possibly the lives of the employees when amazon turns on them.
You are good enough to be used as a source of revenue until the IP owner complains. This also adds to the cost of the product since the IP owner has to cover the legal cost of enforcement. So everyone is now paying more for top brand items because of amazon’s reckless but highly profitable actions.
It’s important to remember that selling online comes with risks, but by following these steps and being diligent in your sourcing and customer service, you can minimize the chances of receiving counterfeit product complaints and build a trustworthy reputation as an OA seller:
Thorough Research, Check Product Authenticity, Authorized Suppliers, etc.
Boris, I’m afraid to tell you that this issue was discussed virtually every day on the old Amazon seller forum.
Bluntly, if you buy new items from high street shops, if Amazon asks for invoices and you can only supply shop receipts, they will come down on you. They’re like that!
Depending which product category you’re interested in, the easy answer is eBay - seriously. If you’re a good honest seller who can keep your customers happy, you’ll find yourself advantaged on eBay whereas Amazon really couldn’t care whether you’re good or bad, they’ll find some way to mess you about. Sorry.
I have heard that most recently, they let you check off boxes and acknowledge violation without a Plan of Action or invoices. The attitude on the forums is very hostile towards RA or OA resellers. Usually from folks with empty storefronts.
Authenticity complaints are generally very rare. I am processing thousands of orders per month - mostly collectibles bought a long time ago and I receive the occasional complaint no more frequently than once in a year.
Also, Amazon does let you tick boxes and acknowledge without appealing.
I don’t have a problem with retail arbitrage myself.
I commented that I used to see sellers getting into trouble because they were unable to provide invoices from pukka suppliers. (Even sometimes from pukka suppliers!)