Should Brands Be Able To Ban Amazon?

JH
John Honovich
Jul 27, 2017
IPVM

Amazon is a growing force in security products sales (see our favorability results). While still small overall for dealer purchases, the prevalence of items listed on Amazon (e.g., 1,000+ for Hikvision, 1,800+ for Dahua, etc.) make Amazon effectively a 'competitor' to traditional channels.

A recent controversy arose when the CEO of shoe company Birkenstock wrote a letter criticizing Amazon, saying that Birkenstock refuses to sell to Amazon and does not allow its resellers to sell to Amazon, yet Amazon is soliciting Birksentock dealers to violate their policy.

So what do you think? Vote inside:

 

Avatar
Sean Nelson
Jul 27, 2017
Nelly's Security

All the manufacturers have to do is go to Amazon's Brand Registry and they have protection of who sells and doesnt sell their particular products on Amazon.

I know this first hand as earlier this year I tried to sell some Dahua products and they were immediately removed by Amazon citing that Dahua did not give me permission to sell on Amazon, which is True! Whats funny though is that their are certain other resellers that are allowed to sell Dahua on Amazon so apparently they did get permission from Dahua.

With video surveillance its really not too hard to police the Amazon sales. #1, you do the brand registry like I discussed with Amazon. Then if you still see some items slipping by and being listed on Amazon, you as the manufacturer should purchase that product on Amazon to get the serial # and track it back to the original purchaser and give them a slap on the hand for doing so. After repeated offenses, you should take away their buying privelages.

It takes effort but it can be done. Issue is, some manufacturers dont even care to take the effort.

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Avatar
Brian Karas
Jul 27, 2017
IPVM

All the manufacturers have to do is go to Amazon's Brand Registry and they have protection of who sells and doesnt sell their particular products on Amazon.

I have spoken to other Amazon sellers about this, and from what I was told, this is a very loosely enforced policy overall. Additionally, Amazon will not allow just any brand to register their products, and there are other requirements as well.

Birkenstock is a very large company with a good amount of brand recognition. If they are having problems with Amazon sales, I think it is safe to assume that Amazon does not offer a simple and reliable way to manage this.

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Avatar
Sean Nelson
Jul 27, 2017
Nelly's Security

I have to disagree 100%. They enforce it quite well from my experience, almost too good. Sure their are some that probably slip by but if you get caught you can get your seller rights taken away. The Dahua example is just one example of them enforcing it. Also, I tried to send some seagate HDD's into FBA and they would not allow it, even though i provided Amazon a letter showing that I purchase from a well known seagate distributor. Its nearly impossible to sell some brands on Amazon. Just go to the Amazon seller forums for confirmation. Search "Brand Gating" You will see horror stories on the subject. Some sellers are unjustifiably losing their seller rights totally for selling a brand that they did not have permission to sell. 

Dahua has their brand registered, I assume most other major manufacturers can do the same. Like I said, it takes a small amount of effort to police this but it can be done.

UI
Undisclosed Integrator #4
Jul 28, 2017

Sony is another product difficult to sell on Amazon.

UM
Undisclosed Manufacturer #2
Jul 27, 2017

This is not true in our experience. People are purchasing our products from retail stores and then reselling them on Amazon (customer exclusive models)

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Sean Nelson
Jul 27, 2017
Nelly's Security

What exactly is not true?

UM
Undisclosed Manufacturer #2
Jul 27, 2017

I was replying to your initial comment. It is not true in our experience that the manufacturer can limit who sells their product. It would be great if this was indeed the case to get rid of grey market product

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Sean Nelson
Jul 27, 2017
Nelly's Security

Got ya. Well What I can tell you from my Dahua experience is. I once tried to sell some Dahua stuff on Amazon over a year ago and was doing real good with them and then one day Amazon removed them all at once, citing that what I was selling infringed upon Dahua's copyrights according to Dahua USA. It really had nothing to do with copyright infringement at all, but nonetheless all Dahua had to do was complain to Amazon and all of my Dahua listings were removed. 

Fast Forward a year later, I tried to take a stab at it again because I noticed their were a few other Dahua sellers on Amazon, so I listed some stuff for sale. They were on the site for about a day before Amazon removed them, again stating the copyright infringement. Nothing was looked into by Amazon at all, they just removed the listings and threatened me with revoking my seller rights.

With some brands its even harder, they wont even let you list an item with the brand name in the listing. Take my seagate for example. I also tried to sell some samsung cameras as well and they wouldnt let me list those either.


I would recommend that you get your brand registered with Amazon. You will then have to police the site every single day and report the offending listings to Amazon.

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JH
John Honovich
Jul 27, 2017
IPVM

#2, has your company spoken to Amazon? If so, what has Amazon responded with?

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Mike Rose
Jul 27, 2017

Jeff Bezos was reported to be richer than Bill Gates with Microsoft. 

 

You quote those brands sold on Amazon you are competing with Amazon. All you are doing is destroying your margins. 

UI
Undisclosed Integrator #1
Jul 27, 2017

MANUFACTURERS should AT LEAST have different product lines (higher quality) that will not be available through AMAZON

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U
Undisclosed #3
Jul 28, 2017

One cannot stop AMAZON. 

 

Good Luck Trying. Better Luck Understanding.

 

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Jon Dillabaugh
Jul 31, 2017
Pro Focus LLC

I also had trouble listing some Dahua products that I had over-purchased and wanted to dump. Amazon said they were blocking my listing. But then, out of the blue, my listing began selling. I was confused. They said it was going to be unlisted, but then allowed my items to sell....

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