How to Get Rid of Hijacking：A Must-Know for Amazon Private Label Sellers
Did you know that over 80% of customers place orders through the Buy Box button? This means that if you lose the Buy Box, your sales could drop by more than 300%. The biggest reason for losing the Buy Box is "listing hijacking." While Amazon's intention behind the "hijacking" feature was to offer consumers better prices, it has caused significant headaches for many brand sellers. Hijacking is like a parasite that clings to your listing, stealing the Buy Box and sales that rightfully belong to you.
What is Amazon hijacking?
On the Amazon platform, “hijacking" refers to the practice where multiple sellers offer the same product and share a single product detail page (i.e., an ASIN). When you search for a product on Amazon, you may see different sellers offering the same item with varying prices and shipping options. These sellers are all "hijacking" the same listing.
Key characteristics of listing hijacking include:
- Same ASIN: Hijackers use the same Amazon Standard Identification Number (ASIN) to list their product.
- Shared Detail Page: All hijackers use the same product title, images, and description.
- Price Competition: Hijackers compete by adjusting prices, offering better shipping options, etc., to win the Buy Box.
This practice can be problematic for brand owners and independent sellers, especially if the hijackers are selling counterfeit or lower-quality products. It can harm the original brand's reputation, leading to customer complaints and returns.
It is fairly simple for a bad actor to hijack one of your product listings on Amazon. They simply need to steal your product photos and name and can list their counterfeit in a matter of minutes. Once posted, it can be difficult for consumers to identify the hijacked listing as a counterfeit, and they can be extremely enticing for budget shoppers.
Because these counterfeit products are made with lesser-quality materials, they can usually be sold for far less than your original product. This can entice shoppers who scour the platform for the best deals on products.
Impact of Amazon listing hijackers
No brand can afford the fallout from having their product listings hijacked on Amazon. The impact of counterfeit listings can be severe:
Revenue Loss
When your brand loses sales due to hijacked listings on Amazon, it’s essentially losing revenue to these counterfeiters. Consumers who would have purchased your genuine product are instead duped into buying the counterfeit versions.
Increased Competition
Listings featuring counterfeit products at lower prices can attract bargain-seeking consumers. This creates additional competition, making it harder for you to make sales. Competing with these low-priced counterfeit products is challenging, especially given their lower quality, which erodes your competitive edge.
Poor Product Ratings
Maintaining high ratings is crucial for sales on Amazon. If consumers end up purchasing cheap counterfeits, they may be dissatisfied and leave negative reviews. These reviews can damage your product ratings, harm your reputation, and even cause you to lose the Buy Box.
Damaged Brand Reputation
Consumers prefer buying from trusted sellers. Negative reviews about the quality of your products can undermine your brand’s reputation. Additionally, loyal customers might be misled by hijacked listings, resulting in a loss of trust and customer loyalty.
By addressing these issues, you can better protect your brand and maintain your market position.
How to get rid of Hijackers？
Warning letters
The warning letters clearly inform the follower that hijackers’ behavior violates Amazon's policies and remind them to stop the behavior to stop them from further infringing on your intellectual property or brand rights. Some of them will choose to stop hijack and take down the products in question after receiving a warning letter to avoid account suspension or banning.
The warning letter also sets the stage for subsequent legal or platform complaint actions. If the hijacker ignores the warning and continues to infringe, you can take further steps through Amazon's brand protection tools or legal action.
Find the the Hijackers' sale product on the Amazon page.
Click Ask a question to send a warning letter to the hijacker.
Brand Registry
Registering your brand with Amazon Brand Registry allows you to better control your product pages, report, and remove hijackers. Brand Registry gives you the authority to edit product pages and quickly file complaints against intellectual property infringement by hijackers.
If you have a brand for the record, in the warning letter sent still can not drive away the hijackers, you can through the Amazon brand registration to give the report to protect your legitimate rights and interests.
Report link：https://www.amazon.com/report/infringement
Modify Listings
Update your product’s images, descriptions, or add unique product identifiers to make it harder for hijackers to easily replicate or imitate your product.
Pricing Strategy
Use dynamic pricing tools such as Tool4seller’s smart pricing feature to adjust prices dynamically, regain the Buy Box, and squeeze the profit margins of hijackers.
The Smart Repricing feature of Tool4seller supports comprehensive rule settings to automatically compete for the Buy Box with hijackers, helping you drive them away
You can click to add pricing rules to protect your product from hijackers.
If you want to compete with other competitors for the buy box, you can also set the relevant settings, which is very convenient.
Legal Actions
If hijackers continue to infringe, consider taking legal action through a lawyer to issue warnings or even file lawsuits against them.
By employing these methods, you can more effectively protect your brand and sales, preventing hijacker interference.
Conclusion
The harm caused by Amazon hijackers' behavior to brands and sellers cannot be ignored, it not only leads to loss of revenue, but also increases competition, lowers product ratings, and even damages brand reputation. However, with Tool4seller's Smart Repricing feature, sellers can set up automated rules to guard the Buy Box against competition, thus effectively combating followers and reducing the nuisance caused by follow selling.
Click the “Sign Up” to sign up for a 14-day free trial of Tool4seller!
About Tool4seller
A best-in-class Amazon seller tool that is specialized in sales& profits analytics, PPC optimization, keyword research, competitor tracking, instant alerts for listing hijacking, price changing, and inventory updates, etc.
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