In August of 2018 the Dogs of Amazon started chasing our clients. Many discovered that just because their listings showed as active it didn’t mean they were! They were paying for storage on items that will never sell. Because Amazon pulled the detail pages, serving up the Dogs of Amazon to their potential customers instead of their products.
This is because Amazon’s implementation of “Brand Protection”, like most things Amazon, means you are guilty until proven innocent. What a shock when you look at your sales reports and find that your best-sellers just aren’t selling anymore. When you check the listings, instead of your products, you see the Dogs of Amazon staring at you with a chunk of your business wedged between their teeth.
The Bots are pulling pages out of the catalog!
The truth is that it’s not some vindictive Amazon employee having a bad day that’s running the “Brand Protection” department, it’s Amazon’s Bots. They scan your images and index your copy and when they think there is a slight possibility that you are violating a brand, they mark your listing as non-compliant and, POOF, it disappears. No warning! No notice! Just digital banishment!
Sometimes the items show up in stranded as missing SKUs, other times the listings are still in your active inventory and you don’t know there’s a problem until you click on the listing to view it. The only way to fix this is to open a case and provide proof that the item belongs to the brand or product line that you say it belongs to.
Fighting the Dogs of Amazon Takes Time
This takes days and even weeks of communication with the people behind the Bots. Before you can get your best-selling listing returned to you, they’ll ask for legal proof that you are licensed to sell this product. This is because Amazon manually reinstates each listing. Some sellers have time for this, but most don’t.
Our clients dedicated team members stay on top of any of the instances that pop up on stranded inventory. However, it is almost impossible for us to find all of these in their actives. So we remind them that if they notice a best-seller is not moving anymore, double check to make sure it’s going to a product page. If it doesn’t, then reach out to us and we’ll help to get it reinstated.
Periodically review your ASIN’s with quantity to ensure they are still truly active. This is important for brands that you know are sensitive to IP issues (such as Disney and Carters).
If you need help with things like this, check out our Account Maintenance subscription packages. We take care of stuff like and so much more. But, remember that we can only act on things that are brought to our attention. If you have a large catalogue you should review it internally from time to time for the Dogs of Amazon.
Here’s the Best Practice if you do Retail Arbitrage
If you are selling a licensed product, for example a game by Hasbro but it is the Disney Princesses. Amazon may take it down if you have Hasbro as the manufacturer and Brand but Disney Princesses in the title. Look at the box and see if it says “Disney Princesses are licensed by Disney”. Take a picture of the box showing that part. Use this as proof if Amazon pulls the page claiming that it is a licensed product.