Aside from being the most dominant force in the global e-commerce sector, Amazon is also known as a company dedicated to technology innovation. A few years ago, the company made headlines when it announced that it was researching methods to deliver goods by means of unmanned aerial vehicles.
Drone deliveries of supplies in combat zones and to remote areas are already taking place around the world, but the idea of an online giant such as Amazon operating fleets of delivery drones is certainly futuristic.
To get an idea of how seriously Amazon is considering drone deliveries, consider a patent filing recently reported by the San Jose Mercury News: the company intends to develop a system to protect its drones from hostile takeover situations. In other words, Amazon wants to prevent hijacking of its drones.
What is interesting about the aforementioned patent is that Amazon hijackers are already a problem for the e-commerce giant, and they are not even targeting their drones. Instead, they prey on the product listings of independent sellers.
How Amazon Hijackers Operate
Let’s say you intend to sell a line of desk accessories on the Amazon Marketplace as an independent seller. You file an application for trademark registration, obtain universal product codes from GS-1 and create 12 new product listings with their respective Amazon Standard Identification Numbers. You launch an affiliate marketing campaign and start getting sales and positive reviews; so far, so good. In the aforementioned scenario, nothing can stop another Amazon seller from listing against your products. Unless you have obtained strict Brand Gating from Amazon, which is mostly reserved for major brands, virtually anyone can list your ASINs even if you have full control of distribution.
Amazon hijackers look for ASINs that appear to be trending in terms of sales and positive reviews. The first step in the ASIN hijacking process is to list the product. This is followed by various black hat strategies to “win the Buy Box” and subsequently take control of the product listing. Hijackers will either counterfeit your products, replace them with competing items or simply scam shoppers.
How You Can Stop Amazon Hijackers
To protect the integrity of your products and your brand reputation, you need to apply a strategy to stop Amazon hijackers dead on their tracks, and the best way to do this is with Brandlox, an e-commerce security subscription service that protects your ASINs. Brandlox offers various tools to deal with ASIN hijackers; the most important tool is its constant monitoring of Amazon activity. All you need to do is enter your ASINs and let Brandlox work its magic. As soon as an unauthorized seller lists one of your ASINs, you will be notified.
Amazon sellers who have been targeted by ASIN hijackers often realize this when shoppers start complaining and posting negative reviews. With Brandlox watching over your ASINs, you are able to take immediate action before you lose control of your listing. You can contact unauthorized sellers right away to let them know you are watching, and you can also generate cease-and-desist legal notices from the Brandlox system.
Rogue sellers who do not respond to your messages or legal notices can be reported to Amazon Seller Support. You can even send the Brandlox digital trail to bolster your complaint. Stopping ASIN hijackers is something you can get started with today; contact Brandlox at (866) 848-6072 and ask about a free trial of this e-commerce security service.
