Key takeaways: A hijacker is a seller on your ASIN who should not be there. If they are selling counterfeit or infringing goods, a test buy plus Brand Registry's Report a Violation tool usually removes them within days. If they are reselling your genuine product, Amazon will generally not remove them, and the fix is distribution control, Transparency codes and a Buy Box you can win. Pause ads while the Buy Box is lost.
Two problems that look the same
On the detail page, both look identical: a new seller name under "Other sellers", often at a lower price, sometimes taking the Buy Box. Underneath, they are different problems with different remedies.
Counterfeit or infringing. The seller ships a copy, a different product under your ASIN, or stock that misuses your trademark. Amazon's policies prohibit this, and Brand Registry gives you tools to prove it and have the offer removed.
Unauthorized but genuine. The seller obtained your real product, through a distributor, a liquidation lot or a retail arbitrage buy, and is reselling it. Amazon's position, and the position of US law under the first-sale doctrine, is that reselling a genuine product is generally lawful. Reporting these sellers as counterfeiters when they are not is a misuse of the reporting tools and can cost you Brand Registry privileges.
So the first step is always to find out which one you have.
Step 1: the test buy
Order the product from the suspect seller with a normal customer account. When it arrives, photograph everything: outer packaging, labels, batch codes, the product itself, any inserts, and the order details page. Compare against your authentic unit.
If it is counterfeit or not your product, you now have the order ID, which is what Amazon's Report a Violation tool asks for as evidence, and the photographs to support the case. If it is genuine, you have learned where your stock is leaking, and the batch code often tells you which distributor.
Step 2: report, with the right claim type
In Brand Registry, open Report a Violation, search for the ASIN and select the offer. Choose the claim that matches what you found:
| What you found | Report as | Evidence that works |
|---|---|---|
| A copy of your product | Counterfeit | Test-buy order ID, side-by-side photos showing differences |
| A different product listed under your ASIN | Product detail page abuse or listing policy violation | Test-buy order ID, photos of what arrived vs the listing |
| Your trademark or copyrighted images used on a different listing | Trademark or copyright infringement | Your registration number, links to the infringing content |
| Genuine product, unauthorized seller | Do not report as counterfeit | See Step 4 |
Accurate claims with a test-buy order ID are typically actioned within a few days. Vague claims without a test buy are often rejected, and repeated inaccurate claims are tracked against your account.
For brands with a history of accurate reports, Project Zero adds a self-service removal tool that lets you remove counterfeit listings directly, with Amazon auditing your accuracy afterward.
Step 3: protect the Buy Box and the ads
While the hijacker holds the Featured Offer, your Sponsored Products ads pay for clicks that convert on their offer. Pause the campaigns targeting the ASIN until you hold the Buy Box again, and check Buy Box percentage in Business Reports daily until the case resolves. The mechanics of winning it back are in How to Win the Amazon Buy Box (and Keep It).
Read this flowchart as text
- New seller on your ASIN
- Pause ads on the ASIN
- Test buy, photograph, compare
- Counterfeit or wrong product?
- Report a Violation with order ID and photos
- Offer removed?
- Buy Box back, ads resumed, cause logged
- Escalate with added evidence; consider Transparency
- Trace the source by batch code
- Close the distribution leak; enroll in Transparency
- Win the Buy Box on price, fulfillment and metrics
Step 4: when the seller is genuine
Amazon will not remove a reseller for being unauthorized, so the work shifts off the reporting tools:
- Find the leak. Batch codes, lot numbers or serialized labels on the test-buy unit point to the distributor or retailer whose stock is being diverted. Fix it at the contract level: minimum advertised price policies, authorized reseller agreements and, where necessary, ending the relationship.
- Enroll in Transparency. Amazon's Transparency program puts a unique code on every unit you make. Amazon scans codes at its fulfillment centers and will not ship a unit for your ASIN without a valid one, so diverted or copied stock cannot be sold through FBA. It has a per-unit cost and a packaging change, and it is the strongest structural fix available.
- Compete for the Buy Box. Your FBA offer, healthy metrics and a landed price inside your margin will win most of the time against a small reseller. Do not price below your floor to shake them off; they usually run out of stock before you run out of margin.
- Make the listing yours. Brand owners' contributions take precedence on most attributes, so a hijacker cannot easily change your images or title. Check the listing anyway; hijacked detail pages are sometimes edited to match the counterfeit.
What not to do
Do not send threatening messages through Buyer-Seller Messaging, do not buy and leave negative feedback, and do not file infringement claims you cannot back with a registration. Each of these breaks Amazon's policies and gives the other seller a complaint against you. A short cease-and-desist letter from your counsel, sent outside Amazon, is legitimate where a genuine legal claim exists; inside Amazon, the tools above are the whole toolkit.
Brand Registry is the prerequisite for nearly all of this, which is one of the reasons we treat enrollment as the first operations task on any account that lacks it. What enrollment requires and unlocks is in Amazon Brand Registry: What It Unlocks and How to Enroll.
Frequently asked questions
How long does Amazon take to remove a counterfeit seller?
With a test-buy order ID and clear photographs, Report a Violation cases are commonly actioned within a few business days. Cases without a test buy take longer and are more often rejected. Project Zero removals are immediate for enrolled brands.
Can Amazon remove a seller just because they are not my authorized reseller?
Generally no. Amazon's policy permits the resale of genuine products, and it does not enforce your distribution agreements. The remedies for genuine unauthorized resellers are Transparency, distribution control and winning the Buy Box.
Do I need a registered trademark to report a hijacker?
Brand Registry, which requires a registered or, in some offices, pending trademark, is needed for Report a Violation and Transparency. Without it you can still report through the general Report Infringement form, but with fewer tools and slower outcomes.
Should I lower my price to push the hijacker out?
Only within your margin floor. A genuine reseller with a small lot will run out of stock; a counterfeiter's cost base is lower than yours and a price war favors them. Use the reporting route for counterfeits and hold your price.