People who flock Amazon.com have a certain expectation about their online shopping experience, particularly with regard to pricing and product quality. While Amazon is known to offer great deals on consumer goods, online shoppers know that they could pay even less at other places such as dollar stores and flea markets.
A recent article published in The Atlantic compared the Amazon shopping experience to online marketplaces such as Wish.com, where the author purchased a smartwatch made in China for about $20.
Naturally, the smartwatch in question was of dubious quality and in line with what anyone can expect from a $20 wearable device. Among the features described by the author, the icon of the camera app on the smartwatch was labeled “Camina,” and it only took photos upside down even when the device was held at inverted angles.
Furthermore, SIM cards were not detected and the Wi-Fi connection only worked a few feet away from the router.
The shopping experience at stores such as Wish.com is similar to what you get at Canal Street in New York City, Santee Alley in Los Angeles and flea markets across the United States. For the most part, shoppers accept that the $50 Rolex they purchased in Canal Street is a fake. However, they tend to believe that the $800 Rolex they purchased on Amazon is the real deal.
ASIN Hijacking on Amazon
You can’t expect online shoppers to be familiar with the dishonest practice known as ASIN hijacking, which happens to be at the very root of counterfeiting and other major problems on the third-party Amazon Marketplace.
The product listings on Amazon have all the information that shoppers need to guide their purchase. They expect to get what the ASIN describes, which often includes reviews from other shoppers.
ASINs are hijacked not just by counterfeiters and copycats, they can also be commandeered by rogue sellers who wish to scam shoppers at the expense of honest merchants who have introduced new products to the Amazon Marketplace.
Detecting ASIN Hijackers
The first sign that ASINs are in the process of being hijacked will appear when unknown third-party merchants list products they are not authorized to sell.
Let’s say you are the sole distributor of a white label line of gardening tools; once you generate new ASINs for your products, they virtually become fair game for other Amazon sellers to list.
Many sellers who have sole control over inventory and distribution incorrectly believe that unauthorized merchants cannot hurt their brand because they do can’t physically access their products.
What they don’t know is that unauthorized sellers will ship just about anything they have on hand; sometimes not even cheap copies but entirely different products.
The best way to detect ASIN hijacking is to closely monitor Amazon retail activity, and this is when solutions such as Brandlox help sellers protect their brand and inventory.
Understanding Brandlox Notifications
Brandlox acts like an online loss prevention system for Amazon sellers who have generated 10 or more unique ASINs for their exclusive products. Once an ASIN is entered into the Brandlox dashboard, it will be monitored on a constant basis. Whenever an ASIN is listed by someone whose Amazon seller ID has not been approved, an alert is immediately issued.
Taking prompt action upon receiving Brandlox notifications is vital to your success as an Amazon seller. Your first step should be to contact the unauthorized sellers; in some cases, they are new merchants who made a mistake.
Brandlox keeps track of your interactions with other sellers in case you need to escalate the situation with a cease-and-desist legal notice or by contacting Amazon Seller support.
Brandlox has additional features to protect your Amazon business. Contact one of our e-commerce consultants at (866) 848-6072 or 
