How to Protect Your Amazon Seller Account with Cynthia Stine, Ep #15

Do you know how to keep your Amazon seller account safe from dirty sellers? Are you aware of the tactics people use to steal your sales traffic? There are a lot of ‘dirty sellers’ out there who utilize banned but effective moves to negatively impact other seller's sales. So what do you do? Listen to this episode of Maximizing Ecommerce with Cynthia Stine to learn the steps you need to take to safeguard your business.

Cynthia has over 25 years of experience as an entrepreneur and business owner. She launched eGrowth Partners in 2015 to help Amazon sellers learn how to be compliant with rules and regulations—and keep their accounts from being suspended. Her company has grown to 30 employees in the 4 years since it launched.

Has your Amazon business account been suspended by no fault of your own? Are you struggling with dirty sellers funnelling your business away? Listen to this episode of #MaximizingEcommerce for some helpful resources. #Ecommerce #AmazonSeller… Click To Tweet

Outline of This Episode

[0:43] Keeping your account safe with Amazon
[5:10] I introduce Cynthia Stine, founder of eGrowth Partners.
[11:00] Ways to be proactive and keep your account safe
[17:00] Easy dirty tricks bad actors use
[25:00] Be aware of what is going on in your account
[31:15] Black market lists can be purchased from a broker
[33:10] What can sellers do to protect themselves?
[39:00] Further resources

What is a dirty seller?

Dirty sellers—also referred to as bad actors—are cropping up all over amazon. They use black hat tactics to take down the competition in any way that they possibly can to increase their sales. So not only are sellers getting their accounts suspended by updates in the site algorithm but also because of these dirty sellers sabotaging their stores.

Last year there was a huge shift and the activity among these sellers increased, leading to increasing account suspensions. Cynthia is working hard to combat these bad actors and striving to get the word out that they do exist, so you are not caught by surprise if and when your account is tampered with. Keep listening as she covers some of the tactics they use.

How to keep your Amazon seller account safe

The easiest way to make sure that your account is not vulnerable to attack is being proactive. Though not everything is preventable, there are some things you need to do to safeguard your business.

Have really good performance metrics.
Sell a good quality product.
Follow Amazon rules and policies.
Protect intellectual property and make sure your trademark is registered.

Be familiar with intellectual property laws and understand that they vary from country to country. The United States follows a common law trademark policy. If you use it first in commerce, it is enforceable in the courts. Conversely, China is first come first served, which can be problematic. Cynthia covers some of the easiest ways dirty sellers steal your intellectual property—even by utilizing design patent fraud.

Are you looking for tips to keep your amazon account safe? Have you been dealing with poor or fake reviews showing up on your products? This topic—and more—is covered on this episode of #MaximizingECommerce with guest @Cynthia_Stine. #Ecommerce… Click To Tweet

Tricks dirty sellers use to take down the competition

Did you know one of the easiest tricks people use to drain your inventory is by putting all of your stock in their shopping cart? If they get ahold of your numbers and know exactly how much to add to their cart it's an effective way to rapidly drop your sales for as long as 24-48 hours! Another tactic they use is blatantly fake 5-star reviews on your products to make it appear that you purchased the reviews.

The biggest loophole yet can be found in Vendor Central.

Unfortunately, anyone with access to Vendor Central has access to any account. This is a huge problem that’s been known about for years, and nothing has been done to correct or fix it. A seller can go in and change your product category or tag it as an adult item, and your sales will plummet.

Oddly enough, access to Vendor Central is by invitation only! People will spend upwards of $25,000 to bribe an Amazon employee for an invite OR they will purchase an existing brand so they can have access. From there, they have free rein to make whatever changes they’d like to—and they know how to be stealthy. So what do you do?

Always be aware of what is going on in your account

You need to be 100% aware of what is going on in your account at all times. Look at your reviews weekly and monitor for fake, negative, or poor reviews that are out of place. Keep an eye on returns and why people are returning products. Dirty sellers will utilize every keyword they can in those reviews to get your listings flagged and removed.

You also want to strive to be labeled as a good seller by following the rules. Amazon is less likely to listen to your concerns or reports if you have a poor rating. They could even side with a competitor over you! But the first step to protecting your business is awareness. If you know where your weaknesses are—fix them. Know the tactics used. Cynthia shares more hacks they use as well as more ways to safeguard your account. Listen to the entire episode for all of the important details!

If you run an Amazon Business you need to be aware of what is going on in your account. If you want to learn how to safeguard your business listen to this episode of #MaximizingEcommerce with guest @Cynthia_Stine. #Ecommerce #AmazonSeller… Click To Tweet