Amazon Seller News: Cease and Desist Letters Threaten Your Business Going Into Q4 2026
Receiving a cease and desist letter on your Amazon seller account can be devastating, especially if it happens right before the busiest weeks of customer spending of the year. Although cease and desist cases can feel like the end of the world, our team helps manage them to be a small roadbump. Since the start of October, the ASL team has seen a large uptick in cease and desist letters, increasing the risk your business faces of being interrupted.
In this blog, we walk you through the basics of a cease and desist letter, what they typically claim you have done, and ways to manage their impact on your seller account and in litigation.
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Amazon C&D Meaning
Receiving a cease and desist letter related to e-commerce conduct most often means that a brand is accusing you of infringing on their protected intellectual property. This can be an accusation of one of several areas of infringement:
- Counterfeit Allegations : Brand’s claim that you are selling unauthorized or replica products.
- Copyright Complaints : Brand’s images, videos, or listing text.
- Patent Complaints: Brand’s unique design, features, or function.
- Trademark Violations: Brand’s unique name, logo, or product description.
- Trade Dress: Accusations related to the packaging of your products
Most commonly we see brands accuse sellers of infringing on their copyright, or allegedly selling counterfeit products. Regardless, their claims often fall short of meeting the requirements for real intellectual property violation.
Because of the series accusations included in these letters, Amazon is quick to act first and consider your defense later. As they could be held liable for continuing to allow the sale of infringing or counterfeit goods on their platform, they are forced to freeze your account or the impacted products. Freezes like this can lead to a withholding of your account funds even for completed purchases.
Responding to a VORYS Cease and Desist Order
There are several key steps and ways to respond to cease and desist letters, depending on your goal and whether or not you want to continue selling impacted products. If you are willing to cease sale of any impacted products, your options may involve direct negotiation with the complainant. This is key, because a retraction of the complaint against your entire seller account can lead to its reinstatement. However, negotiating on your own may provide evidence that the complainant could use against you in court, so it is important to not provide documentation and to consider consulting outside help for the negotiation process.
Negotiation is also an important tool for sellers who do want to continue selling the impacted products. Because complaint retraction instantly resolves the suspension on your account, it is a great step to see if you can quickly clear any account health issues on Amazon. However, like negotiating a cease of sales, doing this on your own can pose risks of providing information that incriminates you to Amazon or for any potential future litigation.
If a retraction cannot be negotiated for, the next step is often addressing your Amazon suspension independently. This is done through creation of an Amazon Plan of Action (POA) appeal document which is submitted only to Amazon’s enforcement team. Although it is unwise to entirely ignore the cease and desist letter, if your legal standing has been analyzed and there are not legitimate grounds for a lawsuit against you, returning to selling products on Amazon may be the next step.
POAs are documents consisting of three written sections and supporting evidentiary documents for your case. The first section discusses what you believe was the root of your suspension. Next discusses the immediate actions you have taken to correct said cause of suspension. And finally, sellers should discuss ways they are implementing changes into their business strategy to prevent future suspensions.
If, however, POA appeal submission is not enough, legal professionals have the option to escalate your case further. This is done through escalatory appeals and direct contact with Amazon’s legal team through arbitration notices. Notice that you plan on filing for arbitration lets Amazon know that if they do not resolve your case quickly, it could cost them thousands in legal fees, helping to expedite many paths to account recovery.
Contact Amazon Sellers Lawyer Today!
If you have recently received a cease and desist letter, or you are worried about the potential of receiving one, contact the team at Amazon Sellers Lawyer today! Every week we hear about new sellers receiving cease and desist letters, and every week we help these sellers get their accounts back and return to business as usual. Our team includes both experienced litigation attorneys and former Amazon employees who used to work in the company’s enforcement team. Because of this combined experience, our team helps get client accounts back as quickly as possible.
Give us a call today at 212-256-1109 or fill out our online form linked here.
About the Author
CJ Rosenbaum, Esq.
CJ Rosenbaum is the founding partner of Amazon Sellers Lawyer. He’s been practicing law since 1995, and since 2016 his firm has focused exclusively on helping Amazon sellers deal with issues like suspensions, intellectual property disputes, and withheld funds.
CJ has written seven books on Amazon seller legal issues including the Amazon Sellers’ Guide to Copyright Law. He has spoken at major industry events like the Prosper Show, Global Sources Summit, Retail Global. CJ also works with the Amazon Sellers Lawyer team to provide free content for Amazon sellers. This is available through their online blog and YouTube channel, frequently covering major Amazon updates and important topics relevant to the seller space.
Through BrandProtectionAmazon.com, the firm also supports brands in protecting their products. This gives the team the unique opportunity to learn from case wins on both sides of the fence, strengthening protection for both the sellers and brands that Rosenbaum & Segall P.C. represents.