Amazon Authenticity and Quality Policy Violation

This post is about Amazon’s authenticity and quality policy. The Amazon authenticity policy ensures that sellers are responsibly selling products that comply with applicable laws. The policy ensures products are authorized for sale or resale and do not violate the intellectual property rights of others. You may face a product quality or condition violation if your product does not match the description, pictures, and all information on the product detail page, or if the condition you are selling it in is incorrect, such as selling a used item as new. Sellers on Amazon are required to comply with Amazon policies so that customers can always buy with confidence on Amazon. Selling products that match the product listing descriptions make for a better customer shopping experience and ensures a customer receives what they expect. Depending on the severity of the policy violation Amazon may remove your listings, limit, suspend, or block your ability to list and sell, remove or dispose of your FBA inventory, and withhold your payments. This post covers what an Amazon authenticity policy violation is, what to do if you receive a product authenticity or quality compliance violation, and how to avoid these policy violations. It’s important to note that the information contained in this post does not constitute legal advice and you should contact a lawyer if you have specific questions regarding product quality.

What is an Amazon Authenticity Policy Violation?

Amazon characterizes product authenticity complaints as an intellectual property violation. If you are selling on Amazon you need to make sure that the items you sell comply with all applicable laws and regulations otherwise, you will be at risk of receiving an Amazon authenticity policy violation. Most importantly, if you are selling your own branded items or re-selling another brand’s products, you need to make sure that all intellectual property rights such as copyrights, patents, trademarks, and rights of publicity are not being violated. You must ensure you either own or have the right to use any intellectual property, such as the images, brand name, content, and more. This violation can happen frequently to resellers of bigger brands. Sometimes Amazon resellers can accidentally send these items in with their own brand names on the packaging which can lead to the consumers thinking that the items might be inauthentic.

What is an Amazon Quality Policy Violation?

An Amazon Quality Policy Violation is also described as a “product condition violation” when a product doesn’t match the description that you see on Amazon’s Detail Page. Some examples of an Amazon quality violation would be if the item is in previously opened product packaging, or if the size of the item, color, length, width, flavor unit count, etc is incorrect. If a discrepancy is found between the detail page description and the item a consumer receives, Amazon can place a Quality Policy Violation on that Asin. Amazon states that the product you sell must match the exact description, pictures, and all other information on the product detail page.

What Should I Do if I Receive a Product Authenticity or Quality Compliance Violation?

If you receive a performance notification email stating that a complaint was received from a buyer about the authenticity of your product, you will need to gather some documentation to appeal that case. For that ASIN, Amazon will require copies of your invoices from your supplier in the last 365 days. The invoices need to include your supplier’s name, phone number, address, website, and the applicable SKU. If some of that information isn’t directly on the invoice, you can fill it in the “other notes” section when you are submitting this appeal. Once you have that documentation, you can go back to the performance notification email and click the link under “How do I send the required information?” and that will take you to the appeal dashboard. From there, you can submit your documentation and wait 4 business days for a response.

How to Avoid Amazon Authenticity and Quality Policy Violations

In order to ensure that your products are compliant, double-check you are purchasing your product from a reliable supplier that sells authentic versions of the product and not just cheaper replicas. Also double-check all product parts to ensure they are workable and not damaged. If you are selling a product with an expiration date, make sure that the date is printed on the product and that you comply with Amazon’s expiration date rules. It’s also always good to ask your supplier if there are any certifications or lab test documents that your supplier can provide for you. Lastly, make sure you are documenting the whole process and storing all of the documents and invoices in a safe place in case you ever need to refer back to them.

Conclusion

We hope that after reading this post, you understand what Amazon’s authenticity and quality policies are and how violations can occur. Follow the appeal steps in this blog if you ever encounter one of these notices. It’s important to note that the information contained in this post does not constitute legal advice and you should contact a lawyer if you have specific questions regarding product quality. If you have any questions about Amazon’s authenticity policy or Amazon’s quality policy, please click the contact us button below.