Amazon Sellers’ News 9/27/19 with CJ Rosenbaum
Amazon Sellers’ News 9/27/19
The VORYS law firm is sending more & more threatening letters to Amz sellers.
The latest subject is supplements from GNC stores. Now, the vast majority of claims asserted by Vorys in their letters seem to be baseless. From time to time, you will see in the letter from Vorys that they are alleging that you are violating a contract, that you are interfering with the contract between a brand and its exclusive retailers.
Utility patents are the type of patent that pertains to how a product functions.
Utility patents have to do with a new way of doing something or an invention. If you are selling another product and somebody else has the utility patent, you might have some issues.
Also, Amazon has a tremendous program called The Neutral Patent Evaluation program where, if you own the patents, you can take the other sellers to a neutral evaluation program. And if you win there, as our attorney Rob Siegel has won every single one he’s been involved in, Amazon will treat those wins just like court orders.
False counterfeit complaints continue to skyrocket.
This is when a brand, or a brand manager, or an online enforcement agency makes a complaint against you alleging that you delivered a counterfeit product when either your products were 100% genuine or you never delivered a product at all. And if you have been falsely accused of selling counterfeit products, you’ve been accused of a crime, and that gives you a lot of leverage over that complainant.
There are some incredible events coming up as Q4 is upon us and these are probably the last great events for Amazon sellers for 2019.
On October 10th, Seller Labs, an incredible software company is holding an online summit just for Amazon sellers.
You don’t have to travel any place, you don’t have to get on a plane, you don’t have to go to a hotel, you don’t even have to leave your home. Seller Labs is going to teach you how to address Amazon’s growth in controlling the platform, things you should do, I think most importantly, things you should not do.
India Sourcing Trip 2019: If you are a private label seller, you need to find alternatives to China for your sourcing needs, there is no trade war against India, which means you immediately save money on your sourcing, which will result in higher profits.
Also, Global Sources in Hong Kong. This event is held twice a year. It is held at the expo center at the Hong Kong airport where you can meet with thousands of Chinese factories and also factories from Taiwan, Korea, all over the world, and you could actually source and learn how to sell better at the same exact building. It also is an incredible stepping stone to actually going into mainland China to go to Canton or to meet other factory owners.
Do not cross out or redact the prices that you paid on your invoices.
Your invoice, what Amazon has led you to believe and forums have led you to believe, but we have discovered is absolutely false when we cross-examine Amazon witnesses, is pricing. Amazon has admitted to us under cross-examination that they hold that against you. If there’s handwriting on your invoices and it’s not in a box on the invoice that is meant for handwriting, Amazon holds that against you. If there are places on the invoices for signatures and the signature is missing, Amazon holds that against you. If the invoices are made out to corporations that are not involved as far as Amazon is aware of your Amazon account, Amazon holds that against you. If the physical address is different than what you’ve listed with Amazon, Amazon holds that against you as well. And here I think is the absolutely most ridiculous thing we’ve heard when it comes to invoices. If the email address on your invoice is different from the email address that you use for Amazon, Amazon holds that against you.
