Protect Your Brand from Unauthorized Brand Name Changes on HAQM - Here's How
Is your brand name suddenly different on HAQM? You're not alone. Learn how to fight back against unauthorized changes and protect your business.
- Brand name changes are often referred in the Seller Forums as “hijacking.”
- The term “hijacking,” has also been used in the Seller Forums to describe other offers on a listing or when the featured offer has changed from one seller to another.
- To ensure a cohesive dialog, this discussion is specifically regarding a change to the brand name attribute on a listing.
Brand name changes that violate the HAQM Brand Name policy are not allowed. To investigate the cause of Brand name changes, a thorough investigation is required to identify the “how” it happened. Based on the results of this investigation, a Community Manager may be equipped with the appropriate information/detail to assist you.
If you have experienced an incorrect change in the brand name of an ASIN, please exhaust these self-service options below first:
- Create a case to Seller Support
- Public Notice Form if you are not registered in Brand Registry
- Report Abuse
- Report a Violation (if you are registered in Brand Registry) Not sure how to report? Take a look at the How to Report a Violation through HAQM Brand Registry post by @Dougal_HAQM.
- Brand Registry Support (if you are registered in Brand Registry)
Once you have done so, here is what we need from you to get started:
- Post a new discussion in the Manage Your Brand category that is specific to the ASIN(s) you are experiencing issues with. (You do not have to list the ASINs, we will cover that in the next step)
- Provide a case ID in your post that lists ALL the ASIN(s) and details which explains your issue. Why is this necessary? We don’t want you to have to put any business specific or proprietary information in a public forum and with a case ID as per Community Guidelines. Community Managers can identify relevant information from the case.
Here is what we are getting started with:
An investigation on each ASIN individually.
- Keep in mind, the root cause is not always the same across all the ASINs and those differences can mean different escalation paths to resolve.
Escalation to the appropriate team to resolve the issue.
- Reminder: The case ID(s) provided must meet the Community Manager’s requirement to escalate, see the 5 self-service bullet points listed above
That’s it! The Community Managers will take it from there. Please keep in mind that resolution is not guaranteed and times will vary based on the investigation, number of ASINs, root cause, and how many internal teams we have to connect with. However, we are more than happy to review and see what guidance we can provide!
We want to hear from YOU!
For any Sellers that have received assistance from a Community Manager with an incorrect change to a brand name, we would love to hear about your experience:
- Did we miss or leave anything out from the instructions above?
- Approximately how long did it take to fix your issue?
- Do you think we need to provide more clarification or additional information to this post?
Best, Dougal
Protect Your Brand from Unauthorized Brand Name Changes on HAQM - Here's How
Is your brand name suddenly different on HAQM? You're not alone. Learn how to fight back against unauthorized changes and protect your business.
- Brand name changes are often referred in the Seller Forums as “hijacking.”
- The term “hijacking,” has also been used in the Seller Forums to describe other offers on a listing or when the featured offer has changed from one seller to another.
- To ensure a cohesive dialog, this discussion is specifically regarding a change to the brand name attribute on a listing.
Brand name changes that violate the HAQM Brand Name policy are not allowed. To investigate the cause of Brand name changes, a thorough investigation is required to identify the “how” it happened. Based on the results of this investigation, a Community Manager may be equipped with the appropriate information/detail to assist you.
If you have experienced an incorrect change in the brand name of an ASIN, please exhaust these self-service options below first:
- Create a case to Seller Support
- Public Notice Form if you are not registered in Brand Registry
- Report Abuse
- Report a Violation (if you are registered in Brand Registry) Not sure how to report? Take a look at the How to Report a Violation through HAQM Brand Registry post by @Dougal_HAQM.
- Brand Registry Support (if you are registered in Brand Registry)
Once you have done so, here is what we need from you to get started:
- Post a new discussion in the Manage Your Brand category that is specific to the ASIN(s) you are experiencing issues with. (You do not have to list the ASINs, we will cover that in the next step)
- Provide a case ID in your post that lists ALL the ASIN(s) and details which explains your issue. Why is this necessary? We don’t want you to have to put any business specific or proprietary information in a public forum and with a case ID as per Community Guidelines. Community Managers can identify relevant information from the case.
Here is what we are getting started with:
An investigation on each ASIN individually.
- Keep in mind, the root cause is not always the same across all the ASINs and those differences can mean different escalation paths to resolve.
Escalation to the appropriate team to resolve the issue.
- Reminder: The case ID(s) provided must meet the Community Manager’s requirement to escalate, see the 5 self-service bullet points listed above
That’s it! The Community Managers will take it from there. Please keep in mind that resolution is not guaranteed and times will vary based on the investigation, number of ASINs, root cause, and how many internal teams we have to connect with. However, we are more than happy to review and see what guidance we can provide!
We want to hear from YOU!
For any Sellers that have received assistance from a Community Manager with an incorrect change to a brand name, we would love to hear about your experience:
- Did we miss or leave anything out from the instructions above?
- Approximately how long did it take to fix your issue?
- Do you think we need to provide more clarification or additional information to this post?
Best, Dougal
47 replies
Seller_jvfhuXWiqaKrs
Why is any of this reactive fixing necessary, after the damage to customer trust and the legitimate seller has already been done? Why doesn't HAQM simply disallow detail page brand name changes unless they are individually approved by an HAQM agent educated on when these exceptions may be valid? Also, why allow a detail page created by an account in one country to have any branding information updated by an account in a different country? Let's be real, everyone knows who the perpetrators are.
Seller_lCX40xAkSs1xm
This is probably the LARGEST issue on HAQM today... wonder how this will go.
Seller_W1tFzATWCqDHQ
Reactive answer to a problem that should not exist in the first place. Almost no one changes the brand, especially to a Chinese company. Sad part is that there is no consequences for them.
Seller_0O69KFvrK41OD
- Create a case to Seller Support
- Public Notice Form if you are not registered in Brand Registry
- Report Abuse
- Report a Violation (if you are registered in Brand Registry) Not sure how to report? Take a look at the How to Report a Violation through HAQM Brand Registry post by @Dougal_HAQM.
- Brand Registry Support (if you are registered in Brand Registry)
Create a case , and they tell you you do not have permission to change the brand name
Report abuse results in an immediate response that there is no abuse
Report a violation results in an immediate response that there is no violation.
How about as soon as the listing is created with the brand, the brand is locked and you police the people internally that facilitate the hijacking.
Changes made to listings seem to be easy for the hijacker and impossible to correct even with overwhelming evidence.
Seller_Ggt6s7zXEwLbA
What I would like?
(1) Besides this not being able to happen - for HAQM to send a notice a change has been made. I am brand registered. If somehow one of my products has a brand change I want to be notified.
(2) For HAQM to delete the hijacker's account. There are way too many forum threads about repeat offenders.
(3) For any sales the hijacker received - HAQM removes the income for the sales from the hijacker's account and adds the income to the defrauded seller's account.
(4) For HAQM to charge the hijacker for its investigation costs caused by the unauthorized actions in HAQM's system.
(5) To help prevent this criminal activity for HAQM to publicly make announcements of actions it has taken to remove accounts, to move sales revenue back to the legitimate seller, and to fine the hijacker with potential legal action to recover amounts, and for the cost of the trespass into HAQM's computer system.
(6) I don't know what community managers are, but I do know how terrible seller support is. Every case should be sent to the legal department for action.
Frankly, the fact HAQM has made this post is disconcerting. It shows HAQM is not secure and has lost control over its service such that it cannot prevent brand hijacking. Does HAQM have any US military contracts? If the company can't protect its own marketplace how can it be trusted with national security services?
Seller_Ha6JyVvDK6Ybs
We shifted tens of thousands of business aways from amazon due to listing sabotage with HAQM claiming only brand owner can fix while leaving all these wrong descriptions bad incorrect images conflicting brands and even knock off product active and the only reason that comes to mind why they do this as it generates more returns and more returns is more revenue in collected fees for HAQM so deceiving customers is good business!
Seller_T9kM09IWecfG3
Here's a solution to this... You want to change this brand name? Please reach out to the IP lawyer for this brand and request a code, like we need to when registering the brand on brand registry, what's the purpose of brand registry if anyone can change it at any given point in time. There needs to be two step protection for brand name changes, when the brand name is authorized at the beginning and attached to an ASIN, any changes to that ASIN should also require two step authenticaiton to make any changes- this solves all those issue in well two step.
It's really simple.
*edit - typo.
Seller_6gxmduAZ4G44b
The same hijackers keep rehijacking brands and never get punished- I have been a victim of brand hijacking for years, this is a small list of our asin hijacking history, all brands named in is list are hijackers - I have a monitoring service that alerts us on the changes on the products we have created - because of the hijackers
this must be an insider ratified entity who is allowed to change the brand names like underwear
11-17
FYSSHUO ⇨ QAVMEWVDAZCV
PALAMEILASWFG ⇨ NFGNNDFSGG
11-16
NFGMFMQSHDF ⇨ QAVMEWVDAZCV
11-15
EanOruus ⇨ FYSSHUO
11-14
PALAMEILASWFG ⇨ NFGNNDFSGG
FYSSHUO ⇨ NFGMFMQSHDF
EanOruus ⇨ FYSSHUO
11-10
"Our Brand changed" ⇨ WANTHER
11-6
FYSSHUO ⇨ PALAMEILASWFG
11-5
FYSSHUO ⇨ PALAMEILASWFG
11-2
MOTAYU ⇨ "Changed back to our brand"
11-1
"our brand hijacked/changed to" ⇨ MOTAYU
10-31
PALAMEILAMNFM ⇨ WeChoicing
"our brand hijacked/changed to" ⇨ JIZNY
10-29
PALAMEILAMNFM ⇨ WeChoicing
10-27
AAWFHRIEAABBCC ⇨ EanOruus
10-24
Zeronic ⇨ JPHYLL
10-19
PALAMEILAMNFM ⇨ FYSSHUO
10-17
FYSSHUO ⇨ QAVMEWVDAZCV
PALAMEILAMNFM ⇨ FYSSHUO
10-15
PALAMEWVDAZCV ⇨ PALAMEILAMNFM
10-14
PALAMEWVDAZCV ⇨ PALAMEILAMNFM
10-12
JUSTSWAGDDEEFF ⇨ FYSSHUO
PALAMEILASWFG ⇨ PALAMEWVDAZCV
10-11
JUSTSWAGDDEEFF ⇨ FYSSHUO
10-10
PALAMEILASWFG ⇨ PALAMEWVDAZCV
10-8
PALAMEILASWFG ⇨ JUSTSWAGDDEEFF
10-5
MAOYPANAMERA ⇨ AAWFHRIEAABBCC
MAOYPANAMERA ⇨ AAWFHRIEAABBCC
PALAMEILASWFG ⇨ JUSTSWAGDDEEFF
9-30
TANGDIPANAMERA ⇨ PALAMEILASWFG
9-29
MAOYPANAMERA ⇨ PALAMEILASWFG
TANGDIPANAMERA ⇨ PALAMEILASWFG
FYSSHUO ⇨ MAOYPANAMERA
9-28
MAOYPANAMERA ⇨ FYSSHUO
9-27
PALAMEILASWFG ⇨ MAOYPANAMERA
Aeiniweraabbcc ⇨ TANGDIPANAMERA
9-24
Coolblus ⇨ MAOYPANAMERA
PALAMEILAMNFM ⇨ TANGDIPANAMERA
FYSSHUO ⇨ MAOYPANAMERA
Aeiniweraabbcc ⇨ PALAMEILAMNFM
AAWFHRIEAABBCC ⇨ PALAMEILAMNFM
PALAMEILAMNFM ⇨ FYSSHUO
9-23
AAWFHRIEAABBCC ⇨ Aeiniweraabbcc
9-22
Coolblus ⇨ PALAMEILAMNFM
AAWFHRIEAABBCC ⇨ Aeiniweraabbcc
9-20
MAOYPANAMERA ⇨ PALAMEILASWFG
9-19
MAOYPANAMERA ⇨ AAWFHRIE
9-8
Gintonique A B ⇨ MAOYPANAMERA
9-7
Gintonique A B ⇨ MAOYPANAMERA
9-6
"our brand hijacked/changed to" ⇨ JIZNY
9-5
"our brand hijacked/changed to" ⇨ JIZNY
8-28
AAWFHRIE ⇨ Gintonique A B
8-26
AAWFHRIE ⇨ Gintonique A B
LUSEXO ⇨ AAWFHRIE
8-25
AAWFHRIE ⇨ LUSEXO
LUSEXO ⇨ AAWFHRIE
8-18
Gintonique A B ⇨ Coolblus
8-14
TANGDIAABBCC ⇨ Gintonique A B
8-11
AAWFHRIE ⇨ Gintonique A B
TANGDIAABBCC ⇨ AAWFHRIE
Aeiniweraabbcc ⇨ AAWFHRIEAABBCC
8-10
Aeiniweraabbcc ⇨ AAWFHRIEAABBCC
8-9
Aeiniweraabbcc ⇨ AAWFHRIEAABBCC
8-7
XGATML A B ⇨ Aeiniweraabbcc
8-6
XGATML A B ⇨ Aeiniweraabbcc
8-5
XGATML A B ⇨ Aeiniweraabbcc
-7-30
Aeiniweraabbcc ⇨ XGATML A B
7-29
AAWFHRIE ⇨ XGATML A B
XGATML A B ⇨ AAWFHRIE
Aeiniweraabbcc ⇨ AAWFHRIE
7-28
AAWFHRIE ⇨ XGATML A B
Aeiniweraabbcc ⇨ AAWFHRIE
7-22
SHAKLAK ⇨ LUSEXO
7-17
SHAKLAK ⇨ LUSEXO
7-13
TOMENGBEIAABBCC ⇨ TANGDIAABBCC
7-9
TOMENGBEIAABBCC ⇨ TANGDIAABBCC
7-8
JUSTSWAG ⇨ Aeiniweraabbcc
7-6
JUSTSWAG ⇨ Aeiniweraabbcc
Aeiniweraabbcc ⇨ JUSTSWAG
TANGDIAABBCC ⇨ Aeiniweraabbcc
7-5
JUSTSWAG ⇨ Aeiniweraabbcc
TANGDIAABBCC ⇨ Aeiniweraabbcc
WeChoicing ⇨ JUSTSWAG
7-4
TANGDIAABBCC ⇨ WeChoicing
TANGDIAABBCC ⇨ "changed back to our brand"
6-28
JUSTSWAG ⇨ TOMENGBEIAABBCC
6-25
JUSTSWAG ⇨ TOMENGBEIAABBCC
TANGDIAABBCC ⇨ JUSTSWAG
"Our Brand re-hijacked and changed to" ⇨ TANGDIAABBCC
6-24
JUSTSWAG ⇨ TANGDIAABBCC
"Our Brand re-hijacked and changed to" ⇨ JUSTSWAG
6-16
"Our Brand re-hijacked and changed to" ⇨ TANGDIAABBCC
PSOS ⇨ "changed back to our Brand"
6-13
TOMENGBEIAABBCC ⇨ TANGDIAABBCC
6-12
JUSTSWAG ⇨ TANGDIAABBCC
WeChoicing ⇨ TANGDIAABBCC
"Our Brand re-hijacked and changed to" ⇨ JUSTSWAG
XIIYGJS ⇨ "changed back to our Brand"
TANGDIAABBCC ⇨ PSOS
6-11
TOMENGBEIAABBCC ⇨ WeChoicing
6-5
Aeiniweraabbcc ⇨ TANGDIAABBC
6-4
"Our Brand re-hijacked and changed to" ⇨ TANGDIAABBCC
Aeiniweraabbcc⇨ "changed back to our Brand"
Seller_K7M849RqoBnsr
Hi @Dougal_HAQM
Just happened to me. Case Id: 16696502671 ...the third time this year and pretty much in a row with only a few weeks between...thoug it took me over 6 weeks to get it sorted the last time.
Seller_Zw8LsZUQSH440
How about patching whatever weakness in the system allows these brand changes?