Almost every day, readers ask about how to deal with the copycat sales of their listings, or how to get rid of the copycat sales. Sellers also complain about unreasonable Amazon platform rules and poor customer service. They clearly registered their brands, but their complaints about copycat sales were rejected or there was no response. These are common phenomena we encounter in our operations, but at least for now, there is no absolutely effective solution to resolve these problems. Therefore, we can only consider some solutions based on reality.
Regarding follow-selling, we need to have two mindsets:
First, as a seller, especially a new seller, it is not recommended to copy other sellers' listings, because you never know whether the order will come first or the account will be shut down first. New sellers do not need to be blindly aggressive or overly optimistic, but should move forward cautiously. Caution means doing things that comply with the platform rules and at the same time not offending people who are better than you.
Second, as a seller, you have to accept that the phenomenon of follow-selling will continue to exist for a long time now and in the future. At the same time, you have to maintain a clear-cut stand when your listing is followed by others. That is, if you encounter follow-selling, you must resolutely drive it away regardless of whether you have registered your trademark and brand. The reason is that if you don’t drive away the follow-selling, it will only attract more stubborn follow-selling.
As for follow-selling, our response should be considered from the following aspects:
1. Registering a trademark and filing a brand record are the basic elements to prevent and drive away copycat sales through official channels, but it does not mean that filing a brand record can absolutely prevent copycat sales. After brand registration, it is still possible to encounter copycat sales;
Second, the processing through official channels is often slow, and Amazon customer service often does not handle the issue in a timely manner. This is related to the fatigue and perfunctory attitude of the platform's customer service. However, it is also undeniable that if you contact the platform's customer service to file a complaint and do not receive effective feedback and processing, you should also reflect on whether your way of complaining is correct and whether the position and opinions expressed are convincing. After all, many sellers have not even seriously studied Amazon's official rules on copycat selling. Blind complaints will inevitably lead to no results. There is a saying that if you don’t prepare, you are preparing to fail, and the same is true when it comes to complaints and follow-up sales. If you don't study the platform rules and use the platform's shield to fight the platform's spear, you may not get the results you want. Therefore, if you want to quickly and effectively resolve follow-selling through official complaints, you should first train yourself to be an expert on the rules;
3. If you have not registered a trademark, have not done brand registration, or have done brand registration but repeated complaints have not been resolved, finding someone to copy and sell is undoubtedly a quick and efficient way. However, it should be noted that there are good and bad sellers, and some even do some despicable actions, so when looking for an agent who sells goods, it is best to learn about the situation through your friends, and do not blindly believe in the so-called greatness of various advertisements.
Fourth, the fees charged by the intermediaries who follow the sellers vary, and the shelf life is also different. It is recommended to shop around and find one with a cheaper price and a longer shelf life. It should be reminded that communication and customer service are also part of the service. If an intermediary is very arrogant, it is recommended to stay away from it. Upstream and downstream with bad attitudes will only add all kinds of troubles that you can't expect;
5. In the process of chasing and following others, you also need to develop some operational strategies of your own, such as adjusting prices in a targeted manner to grab the shopping cart, etc. However, there is also a reminder that you should not blindly engage in price wars in order to grab the shopping cart from the other party. In previous articles, I have written about cases where improper operations of chasing and following others resulted in huge losses, so we must be vigilant. Following sales and chasing after sales are unexpected and emergencies, but operations are long-term, so long-term thinking and strategies are required;
6. When you encounter a large number of sellers who maliciously copy and sell at ultra-low prices, you must resolutely report them to the Amazon platform. You can also announce these junk sellers in the group and call on everyone to complain and report them. Large-scale reports can cause these fraudulent accounts to disappear quickly.
