Who Are the Hijackers?
Perhaps you are asking who these hijackers are. Well, Amazon hijackers are individuals who use your product listing or ASIN rather than making their own so that they can undercut whatever your price and steal your Amazon Buy Box. The most notorious ones are Chinese counterfeiters or Alibaba suppliers using an algorithm. On the other hand, some American hijackers are known for trying to benefit your success online as well.
What a Hijacked Amazon Product List Looks Like?
To give you a picture of a product list that may have been hijacked, take a look at the example below. The company Seller 1 offers a Phone Tripod under its brand. However, you can see that there are two other sellers for the said item.
At the image above, you will notice the Seller 1 is the original based on the number of reviews. However, Seller 2 and Seller 3 are offering the same item under the same brand.
How Hijacking Can Affect the Seller and the Brand
If there are many sellers on a listing, Amazon will instantly allocate one of them as the default seller of the item in question. In case you’re the default seller, then you have the buy box.
When a client or shoppers click the Add to Cart tab, the seller with the Amazon Buy Box will get the sale except for the buyer purposely changes their acquisition to a different seller that rarely ever occurs.
Having the Buy Box provides you a remarkable benefit as it assures you the more significant part of the sales. On the other hand, this signifies that when a hijacker manages to steal the buy box, essentially they are able to take your profit without clients knowing that they’re buying a fake item.
- Damaged Brand Reputation.
Once the shoppers have the fake product in their possession, chances are they will not be happy with their procurement and make their way back the listing to say their dissatisfaction.
The fact that these shoppers are not aware that Amazon provided the Buy Box of the hijacker and which they did not buy your item, there’s a high possibility that they go on to your listing and do an unconstructive review about an item which you did not sell.
This unconstructive review can damage your reputation and ratings. However, Amazon hijackers can do more harm.
They can go into your listing and alter titles, descriptions, images, reviews, and product categories. This is due to the fact that the listing is not yours technically. Product listings really belong to Amazon. Therefore, even if you made it, anybody who offers the same product is able to change it.
How to Deal with List Hijackers on Amazon
A lot of legit sellers wonder how to deal with hijackers. If you are one of these people, then you can try the tips below:
- Send a Letter Requesting that Hijackers Take Down their Listing.
If you are sure that the alleged hijacker is really the Hijacker, your next move is to send him, cease and desist letter. It doesn’t matter if it looks like a bold move or an obvious step, direct and faster communication with the seller can be very efficient.
This can be done by visiting the profile page of hijacker on Amazon, click the Ask Seller a question tab and choose Other for your kind of inquiry. Then write a letter and then click Send.
- Submit a Complaint with Amazon.
You can pass a complaint on Amazon. You’ll need a proof that the item is counterfeit. You must buy from the hijacker and be able to present pictures of the fake item which you received. This can be done by using your Amazon Buyer account to purchase one or more products from the hijacker.
Pay, no matter what you have to pay for same-day delivery to make the process easier. Once the item arrives, examine or test it and make a report to Amazon.
On Amazon, a good brand reputation is essential for 3rd party sellers because brand security has the capability to affect performance metrics and customer service. Therefore, simply purchase counterfeit goods as quickly as possible and contact Amazon support with a complaint. When the Amazon support service considers your appeal and takes measures to protect against the hijackers, simply return the goods marked “fake”.
How to Prevent a Hijacker
There are many ways on how to prevent a Hijacker. Some of these include monitoring your listing closely which can be done automatically or manually. Always try to notice on time that changes have occurred with your list, you can use special services. These services automatically track all suspicious activities that occur with your list. Then the Amazon hijacker alert turns on, and you know that it’s time to act.
One such service is TopBSR. This is a comprehensive tool for sellers in Amazon, which will help not only to receive timely alerts about the hijackers. With it, sellers will be able to effectively manage their business on Amazon by tracking BSR products, inventory, profit, and more.
To protect your brand, it is important to use all available opportunities.
- Create and Register Your Own Brand.
If your brand is officially registered, it will be more difficult for hijackers to ruin your business. Creating a brand involves various stages. But in this case, one of them is more important - creating a logo, labeling your product with this logo and applying the brand name to each unit of goods. It will not be easy to fake it, and hijackers are less likely to use lists with such goods for their own purposes.
In addition, by owning a trademark, you can independently control those sellers who sell under your brand, and prohibit individual sellers from doing this.
- Register in Amazon Brand Registry.
By becoming a member of this program, you can further protect your listing from hijackers. Once you have registered with Amazon Brand Registry, only you can change your product listing. Therefore, hijackers can not do anything with it. However, they can still sell their products using the same listing.
- Creating Your Own Commercial Site.
Of course, if your brand is just developing, it can be difficult to invest in such a project. But if you plan to build your business on a long-term basis and want to protect it as much as possible, be sure to consider this opportunity. The presence of a site is an indicator of the level of quality, brand stability. In addition, this is a great opportunity to present your product to customers.
Conclusions
Contending with the shady Amazon seller with the dubious standard is the unfortunate part of online selling. There’ll be individuals who like to sabotage other success and make money fast even if it is in a wrong way. Once you follow the tips mentioned above and keep on moving forward with creating a powerful brand with well-curated products and the best marketing techniques, your success will outshine these hijackers.