How to Avoid Hijacked Listings on Amazon
Amazon has a very unique, intricate culture when it comes to listing, promoting, and selling products. One issue that many new Amazon private label sellers may not understand, or even know about, is “hijacked listings.”
Hijacking on Amazon happens when someone wants to take over a listing for a private label product that is selling very well and use it for their own benefit. In plain English, a listing with high traffic and good reviews can literally be taken over by someone who is selling an entirely different product – these “hijackers” have the ability to change the product details, title, images, etc. for their own benefit. In sum, hijacked listings are an easy, yet dishonorable, method of skyrocketing Amazon sales for a totally different product.
What Happens When Your Listing Gets Hijacked?
For Amazon Sellers, hijacked listings are a common and unfortunate reality. Here is a bit of background on the scenario.
The situation: you have your private label product listed, and it’s selling very well. You’re turning a profit and your customers are thrilled. Then, you sign in to realize you do not have the Buy Box anymore.
The problem: hijackers have “piggybacked” onto your private label product – even though they have no access to what you are selling. They then sell a counterfeit item, or even a totally different product, through the means of your successful listing.
The outcome: your customer will now be the opposite of thrilled, and they will leave negative feedback on your listing.
The solution: protect your private label product by registering it through Amazon Brand Registry.
Prevent Hijacked Listings with Amazon Brand Registry
If your private label product listing is not properly set up from the beginning, you can become an easy target for hijackers. These companies and third-party sellers are constantly on the lookout for susceptible listings that will be easy to take over.
The best way to prevent this is to register your product through Amazon Brand Registry. By doing this, you become locked to your brand, and you receive exclusivity to the content on all of your private label products within that registered brand.
It is important to note that the brand registry grants you the rights to the content of the listings only. The brand registry does not, unfortunately, restrict others from selling the product. But it does ensure that the product is listed accurately.
If you have private label products listed already and want to register them with Amazon Brand Registry to prevent hijacked listings, you need to start over and re-submit your listings under your desired brand. Fill in all the data you want to display – once approved, all of this content becomes locked to your brand, with the exception of the main product image.
Don’t leave out any details. If you omit any product details, someone else can submit them for you, and they will likely be inaccurate or not up to your brand’s standards.
Getting approved for Amazon Brand Registry takes only a few days, and using the registry is a worthwhile investment to prevent hijackers from piggybacking off your success. When you submit your product details such as a trademark number, key trait, UPC, model number, etc., your private label products are noted as a registered brand in the Amazon catalog when any combination of these features comes up.
Does Brand Registry make your listing 100% exempt from any potential hijacking? No. But it does make your listings much more difficult to hijack – there are millions of Amazon Sellers, and hijacked listings are much more likely to occur for sellers who do not take the right steps to protect themselves.