CASE STUDY CORNER: Stopping Rogue Sellers

Buy Box Experts works with brand partners across multiple industries who face unique Amazon selling challenges every day. We always take a firsthand approach to diagnosing their primary challenges and objectives and devising efficient ways to address those challenges over a practical timeline.?

The following case study shows how we helped a brand partner from the textile industry tackle unauthorized sellers who were undercutting prices and damaging the brand’s reputation. Here’s what we did and what you can do to manage unwanted sellers.

Case Study

Industry: Textiles/Yarn

Timeline: Jan. 2024–June 2024

CLIENT CHALLENGES

The brand faced significant challenges in controlling its buy box on Amazon. Unauthorized sellers frequently undercut prices, damaging the brand’s reputation and leading to inconsistent customer experiences and confusion over product authenticity.

CLIENT OBJECTIVES?

The primary goals for the brand included:

• cleaning up distribution channels to prevent unauthorized Amazon sales
• improving control over the Amazon buy box to ensure pricing consistency and brand integrity
• enhancing customer trust by ensuring that only authorized sellers listed the brand’s products

WHAT DID WE DO??

To achieve these objectives, we implemented the following strategies:

Distribution Channel Cleanup: We worked closely with the brand to audit its distribution channels and ensure that none of its distributors were selling on Amazon or supplying their products to individuals who sold on Amazon.

Monitoring and Enforcement: We initiated a routine process of submitting claims against rogue sellers on Amazon by performing the following:

• Test Buys: We performed test buys to gather evidence of unauthorized sales and demonstrate to Amazon that the brand was actively monitoring its listings.
• Claims Submission: We submitted claims to Amazon to remove listings by unauthorized sellers.
• Legal Enforcement: The brand’s legal team sent cease-and-desist letters to rogue sellers to enforce the brand’s online reseller policy. This legal action aimed to deter unauthorized sellers from listing the brand’s products and protect the brand’s integrity.

HOW DID WE DO IT?

• Distribution Cleanup: During the six-month timeline, we collaborated with the brand’s internal team to audit and clean up their distribution network. This process involved communicating directly with distributors and implementing strict policies to prevent unauthorized sales.
• Routine Monitoring: We established a systematic approach to monitor Amazon listings, including conducting weekly scans and test buys and immediately reporting unauthorized listings to Amazon.
• Legal Action: Concurrently, the brand’s legal team sent out cease-and-desist letters to rogue sellers, reinforcing its commitment to maintaining control over product listings.

Between the brand and our agency, we successfully addressed the challenges of unauthorized sales on Amazon. By cleaning up distribution channels, routinely monitoring listings, and enforcing legal action against rogue sellers, the brand regained control over its buy box, leading to substantial growth in sales, traffic, and advertising efficiency. We aim to maintain these improvements and explore further growth opportunities.

HOW CAN YOUR BRAND BE PROACTIVE??

Here are some ways to defend proactively against unauthorized selling activity or at least identify when you may have a problem that you need to address.

KNOW YOUR DISTRIBUTORS & WHERE YOUR INVENTORY IS GOING

Always ensure you understand the channels handling your merchandise and create iron-clad seller agreements that have consequences for distributor reselling or third-party selling. It also helps to track the flow of your merchandise in the supply chain and watch when it enters unauthorized channels.

MONITOR YOUR BUY BOX & MARKETPLACES

Keep an eye on your authorized listings to see if other product listings are winning the buy box. Search for any stolen images, product descriptions, or other content on that marketplace that may be misleading potential customers. Perform test buys frequently to check on your customer experience and product authenticity, and monitor whether listings drop below a set minimum advertised price.

STRENGTHEN YOUR BRAND PRESENCE

One of the best ways to signal your brand as the authorized seller is to proclaim it through uniquely designed or traceable packaging elements and a strong presence of authenticity and education on your brand selling channels. On Amazon, this can take the form of fully developed and optimized listing content that gives buyers a thorough education on the product and presents a confident, trustworthy extension of the brand that matches other channels like external websites or social media platforms. A strong and fleshed-out Amazon store design also supports an authorized presence, especially when potential buyers are being directed from third-party links or ad campaigns.

PARTNER WITH THE RIGHT AGENCY

There’s only so much you can do on your own when the unauthorized selling activity gets out of hand, so partnering with or at least keeping in contact with an agency that can help investigate buy box issues, handle Amazon registry tasks, and work with a legal team to enforce unauthorized selling consequences with swift precision can help turn the tides when your bottom line needs it the most.

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