You’ve worked hard to develop a great product and build a strong brand reputation on the Amazon marketplace. But now you’ve noticed something funny happening. Negative reviews that don’t accurately reflect your product have popped up. And your sales for the product have dropped.

You may be the victim of Amazon listing hijacking.

What is Amazon Listing Hijacking?

Amazon listing hijacking is when an unauthorized seller starts offering a counterfeit version of your product on your listing. To be clear, this is different from a reseller who bought your actual product and decided to resell it on the platform. A hijacker is someone who noticed your private label product was popular and created a similar version of it that they’re trying to pass off as the same thing.

And “similar” here usually means cheaper and lower quality, so that they can undercut your prices and still make a profit. That has real consequences for your brand. A lower price means they could outcompete you in winning the Buy Box for your product. And customers won’t understand that their order came from the wrong seller, meaning you get saddled with the inevitable negative reviews. Not only are they getting sales that should be yours, but their shoddy product and customer service put your reputation at risk.

How to Tell Your Listing Has Been Hijacked

A quick way to check if your listing may have been hijacked is looking to see if another seller shows up on the listing in the “Other Sellers on Amazon” box. But that alone doesn’t mean you’ve been hijacked. You should first look to see if it’s a legitimate reseller.

If another seller is managing to win the Buy Box for your private-label product, that suggests you have a hijacker. And if you notice shoppers posting negative reviews with complaints that don’t match the actual product, that’s a clear sign that they’re receiving a counterfeit version.

This is why it's so important to monitor your Buy Box activity and Amazon reviews with automation software such as FeedbackFive. With FeedbackFive, you can easily sort, filter, and analyze all of your review data to check for suspicious activity. You can also activate negative review alerts to help you take action much faster when something is amiss. You can also bundle with SellerPulse to find out when you've won or lost the Buy Box, plus if Amazon has suppressed a Buy Box that you were previously winning.

How to Address a Hijacked Amazon Listing

Identifying the problem is just a start. Actually getting rid of the hijacker requires some work. Here's what you can do.

Make a Test Purchase

Giving the hijacker money is probably the last thing on your mind, but buying the counterfeit product for yourself is a necessary step in reporting it. Once you receive your order, analyze it to see how it’s different from the real thing.

Take notes and pictures to illustrate what you find. Do this before moving on to the other steps, so the seller won’t know yet that you’re onto them. Otherwise, they might not send you the product.

Send a Cease and Desist Letter

If you can scare the hijacker into backing off, it will save you the trouble of having to go through Amazon. You can ask your lawyer to write a cease and desist letter for you. Or, simply look for templates online and tweak one to match your circumstances.

Free Download: Hijacker Cease and Desist Template

When your letter is ready, click on the seller’s username to reach their Amazon page. Click the 'Ask a Question' button in the top right.

Next, select 'An item for sale,' and 'Question about a product.' Or, you may be prompted to say what you need help with (pick Product Details or Other).

Paste the text of your cease and desist letter here and submit it. You'll want to give the seller a day or two to respond.

Report the Hijacker to Amazon

If the hijacker ignores your cease and desist, use the photos and notes you collected in step one to fill out and submit a report Infringement form to Amazon. Make a case for how their counterfeit product is creating a negative customer experience. Amazon will investigate, and usually that’s enough to have the hijacker removed from your listing.

How to Prevent Amazon Listing Hijacking

You may not be able to stay under the radar of hijackers forever, but you can make it hard enough to reduce your chances of being targeted.

Here are a few proactive steps you can take to prevent an Amazon listing hijacking:

Make sure you have the trademark for your products. This is a slow process, so if you haven’t started it already, make it a priority to get it done as soon as possible.
Sign up for the Amazon Brand Registry program. You can only sign up for the Brand Registry if you have a trademark. But once that’s done, this is a good way to ensure Amazon knows which products belong to your brand.
Keep your items well stocked. Counterfeiters will have a harder time claiming the Buy Box if your products are always readily available. Software such as RestockPro can streamline and improve your FBA inventory management.
Include your branding in your packaging and pictures. Products with obvious branding are harder to fake. Put your logo and brand name on your products and packaging, and make it obvious in your product pictures. Counterfeiters that see that may move on to easier targets.
Join Amazon's anti-counterfeit programs. Enrolling in Project Zero gives you access to automated protections from Amazon and an unprecedented self-service counterfeit removal tool. This feature, along with product serialization from Amazon Transparency, can help prevent fake products from ever reaching your customers.
Use SellerPulse’s hijacker detection alerts. For those of you who sell your own branded products or have an exclusive reseller agreement with a brand or manufacturer, it's vital that you watch out for hijackers hawking counterfeit goods on your listing. SellerPulse's number of offers change alert makes this task easier by instantly notifying you when a new seller is added to your listing. The alert can be customized to fit your schedule and provides helpful recommendations for further investigating the matter.

As an extra layer of defense, it’s also wise to activate SellerPulse’s listing content change alerts. Now, you’ll also be notified of any changes to your product's title, main image, or brand name as well as if Amazon has flagged your product as "adult." These changes could indicate that a hijacker is attempting to take over your listing, so it's crucial to stay vigilant.

Remember, prevention is always preferable to reaction.

Protect Your Brand from Hijackers

Counterfeit products won’t just undercut your sales. They can do real damage to your brand. Don’t let bad actors destroy the reputation you’ve worked hard to build. Take proactive steps to make hijacking harder on potential scammers. And act fast when you realize a listing is being hijacked. The sooner you respond, the less damage the counterfeiter can do.

Ready to learn more about SellerPulse's product alerts? Watch the short video below for more information!