How do Amazon sellers hijack and anti-hijack listings (Operations illustrated with graphics) Part I

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Part I

Speaking of listing hijacking, many sellers are mixed with happiness and worries. He is very happy when he takes advantage of others’ traffics; but when competitors take advantage of his traffics in turn, he will be particularly depressed. Especially when he encounters the following tough hijackers, it really drives him to gnash the teeth in anger.

Today, let’s have a deep talk on this topic. The main points of this article are as follows:

1. What is listing hijacking?
2. What are the merits and drawbacks of listing hijacking?
3. What are the requirements of listing hijacking?
4. How to deal with malicious listing hijacking?
5. How to prevent listing hijacking?
6. How to reasonably hijack a listing?
7. What are the specific operation methods?

I. what is listing hijacking?

In short, listing hijacking is a way of selling products by sharing a listing. That is to share the same listing details page with other sellers when your product and the descriptions of the product are exactly the same with that created by others.

II. The merits and drawbacks of listing hijacking

The merits of listing hijacking:

1. Saving time and effort when uploading products

The publishing process of the products to be hijacked is very simple. You don’t need to create the listing page at all, since others have already created one. The only thing you need to do is to set the price. Then you can sell the product on Amazon, so easy.

2. Obtaining traffics quickly

With the kind of listing that has a great amount of traffics and a good sales situation, it’s very helpful for you to write off sales. This means to take advantage of others’ traffics and take away the fruit of others’ business operation to boost your own sales. This is also the main reason why so many sellers prefer listing hijacking.

The drawbacks of listing hijacking:

The biggest drawback with listing hijacking is the serious price comparison, which leads to a vicious competition! Think about it. Multiple sellers sell their products with the same listing page. In order to be relatively competitive, price war is inevitable. Low prices continue to squeeze profits, and finally only buyers are happy.
Of course, there are also some very “unusual” hijackers who set the price very high. For example, the original product is sold at $40, but the hijackers set the price at $1000. The aim is to successfully attract the attention of customers, and hopefully they begin to pay attention to other products in their shop that are cost-effective.

To sum up, the drawbacks of listing hijacking are mainly as follows:
  • Fierce price competition
  • Squeezed profits
  • Increased probability of receiving critical reviews
Risk of listing hijacking:

If you sell the same products with others, but the product details are not consistent with them, your account may be restricted or blocked once the authorized or brand registered sellers complain.

III. The requirement of listing hijacking

In order to improve the customers’ shopping experience, Amazon allows listing hijacking.
If you want to sell the same products with others in a righteous way, you must meet this requirement: you must guarantee the descriptions on the listing page of the product are exactly the same with the one you want to hijack.

Including the following points:
1. The products of both sides should be exactly the same, including brand, pictures, title, color, parameters, material, packaging, etc.
2. If the product you sell is with the same brand with others, you need first obtain the brand authorization on this platform.
3. Even if the products are identical, you should also be aware of the infringement of intellectual property rights of other sellers, such as trademarks, patent and so on.

IV. How to prevent listing hijacking?

Nobody wants to hand over their own listing to others. They may seize your market, rip off your traffics, and eventually grab your shopping cart and the listing editing right.
But Amazon itself allows listing hijacking for sellers, so how to protect yourself? How to get more speaking right when it comes to listing hijackings? Preparations before selling the product are necessary.

1. File the brand

First, apply for the registration of the trademark in the area where your Amazon site is located.
With a successful application, the brand is filed on the Amazon platform, which means you have a “protective umbrella”.
But please be aware: with the brand filing, it does not mean there will be no listing hijacking. Some bold sellers still hijack your listing. But at this point, you are justified to complain to Amazon, because you are the seller whose brand is protected.

2. Improve the product details

Of course, the brand filing may take a long time. Before the successful brand filing or for the sellers who do not apply for brand protection, you can make some adjustments on product details.

How?

You can sell multiple products which can differentiate yours with others’, so that others cannot hijack.
Add the logo of your product on the packaging picture. On the one hand, it reminds the hijackers that the details of your product are different. On the other hand, it also helps to appeal.
Design unique packaging for your own products. Though the products are the same, if the packaging is different, the hijackers have no justice on their side.

3. Join the AE project of Amazon

Amazon Exclusives is a project launched by Amazon in 2013. It mainly helps sellers with registered brands to promote their products, which gives sellers the advantages in brand protection, independent traffic entrance on homepage, and declaration priority of activities.
One of the great benefits of this project for sellers is that no sellers are allowed to hijack listings, which means you are strictly protected by Amazon.
But to be protected needs to pay a protection fee, an extra 5% commission. Let’s do our best.

Specific application process is as follows:
Go in from this entrance:
https://services.amazon.com/amazon-exclusives.html
https://services.amazon.com/amazon-exclusives.html

Follow the prompts:
Another way to apply is with the help of the investment manager, which saves time and effort.

4. Join the Transparency program

This is an anti-counterfeiting project that helps track inventory data from the manufacturer to the end user, primarily to distinguish whether the product is genuine or not, and to track the date and location of the item.
If you can apply for this program, you can protect your rights and interests by carrying out infringement claims and the identification of the product authenticity.
However, this program still follows an invitation system, with the first six months free.

5. Save the information of the listing page

Many sellers are not aware of this. Sometimes, it’s really helpless if the editing right of the listing page is taken away by the hijackers and the product classification is modified. In case of this situation, we need back up some files, especially the link to your product details page and the catalogue of your product.

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