More and more Amazon sellers are abusing the system, taking other steps, and trying to take down competitors with a range of dirty tricks, with the simple goal of getting their competitor’s seller account or product listings blocked.
Trick 1: Converting authentic products into fakes
In this trick, a malicious seller will buy a competitor’s product and then go elsewhere to buy a cheaper version or a fake. When the authentic product arrives, they replace it with a cheaper product and claim that the product they received was not the real thing. The fake is then returned and the authentic version is kept and sold. Afterwards, the scammer will leave a review saying the product is a fake or complain directly to Amazon. Either of these can result in an immediate suspension of the seller’s account by Amazon, which takes the issue of fakes very seriously.
Trick 2: Bad review bombing
In this trick, a malicious seller will set up multiple new buyer accounts, unassociated with the seller’s account, and begin leaving bad reviews for the competitor. The bad reviews may be about the product not working or breaking shortly after purchase. Once a review is posted, these sellers often use other buyer accounts, even friends and family, to support the negative review, making it look real and causing other buyers to choose to buy from the malicious seller out of concern for product problems, causing the competitor’s sales to drop.
Trick 3: Fake Safety Complaint
Malicious sellers will buy a competitor’s product and then leave a review saying that the product is dangerous. For example, if it is an electronic product, they will mention words such as “fire,” “dangerous,” and “haz-ard” in the review, which are keywords that Amazon’s algorithm uses to review reviews. Once these keywords are detected in the review, the product listing may be automatically shut down. If you are the only seller on the platform selling a branded or private label product, the entire product listing will usually be removed. However, if there are many sellers on Amazon selling the product and only yours is unsafe, then only your product will be removed, and your competitors will still be able to sell the product.
Trick 4: Fake Infringement Complaint
In this trick, some sellers will pretend to be the brand owner and target a certain product of another seller. They complain to Amazon that the other party’s product infringes. Amazon usually takes immediate action and freezes the Amazon Standard Identification Number (ASIN) until the brand owner contacts him and says that he has the right to sell the product. Amazon will provide the complainant’s email address and tell the seller being complained to contact him. But there is a problem. Amazon does not require the use of a seller account for infringement complaints, and malicious sellers know this. They just need to create a new email account, find the competitor’s best-selling product list, and submit an infringement complaint for the product. Amazon will not restore the product listing until it hears from the brand owner that the seller has the right to sell the product, so the seller can only email the email address provided by Amazon. But the seller being complained is unlikely to receive a response. Of course, this is also the purpose of malicious sellers. Because the longer the processing time, the longer the ASIN is frozen, and the higher the profit of malicious sellers.