Grey market goods are genuine, authentic goods that are purchased and resold outside of the manufacturer’s intended distribution.
These are goods that are great for consumers because they are the real thing at better prices.
So, if they are great for the consumer and Amazon still has “customer obsession,” why all the issues about grey market products?
Grey market goods are not counterfeit – they are exactly the same as being sold anyplace else.
Grey market goods are the same products that are sold by authorized re-sellers and in brick and mortar stores.
Grey Market Goods Include:
- When authorized distributors sell outside of the manufacturers list of re-sellers and retailers.
- Items purchased on sales racks around the globe. In a case we handled, Walmart, for example, did not intend for retail arbitrage sellers to purchase dozens or hundreds of the goods from its clearance racks in its stores and resell them at higher prices on Amazon.com.
- When factories create too many units and there no market for them and they then sell them to outside distributors.
- When manufacturers or factory owners build goods for the rights owner and then make extra “runs” of the product to sell to whomever wants to purchase the goods.
- When manufacturers compel distributors to take more goods than they can resell within “accepted” channels and therefore compel distributors to resell the goods to others who them sell them on Amazon.com
Amazon Sellers & Grey Market Goods
Since the proverbial beginning, and for many years, Amazon followed its Leadership Principal about focusing on and obsessing about the consumer. Amazon gave consumers the best prices, experience and value, and Amazon became the most valuable brand in the world.
However, Amazon has now added a brand-eccentric practice that seems to fly in the face of putting the customer first. Or, at least, the theory on how to provide the customer the greatest experience has changed a bit.
It used to be that great prices were what Amazon wanted to provide consumers. In fact, it is part of every seller’s Terms of Service that Amazon sellers cannot offer his/her product for less than what the product is selling for on Amazon. If you were caught selling your product for less on your own website, Amazon would suspend you.
Now, Amazon has added brands to its obsession. Amazon is sacrificing the number of sellers on the marketplace for more control over who sells which brand. Amazon is switching over to policing not only who sells which brand, but also how many will be on each listing. This flies in the face of consumer obsession.