In this post we are focusing on selling on misbranded listings, which is one of the most dangerous and easily overlooked mistakes Amazon sellers can make. Selling on a misbranded listing can lead to IP complaints, authenticity complaints, and even Section 3 violations. These are some of the hardest account issues to recover from. In the worst cases, sellers have lost their accounts permanently due to selling on misbranded listings.
This is something you should be checking every time you evaluate a product. It is not optional and it needs to become part of your sourcing checklist.
What Is a Misbranded Listing
A misbranded listing is when the brand on the Amazon listing does not match the actual product brand you are selling.
For example:
You are analyzing a LEGO product, the listing creator on SAS is something random (which doesn’t matter) but when you look at the listing on Amazon, the brand at the top of the page may not be LEGO, instead it may say something like Cosmic Games, or any unrelated third party name. This means the listing is misbranded, it has been created under a different brand name.
How to Check for Misbranding
Use this as part of your standard sourcing workflow:
- Open the listing in Amazon ( from SAS or manually).
- At the top of the product page you will see Visit the [Brand] Store.
- That brand must match the actual product brand.
If the product is LEGO, that link should take you to LEGO’s brand store.
If the product is Nivea, the brand store should be Nivea.
If the product is Nike, the brand store should be Nike.
If it takes you to something random such as Cosmic Games or John Smith Retail or Toys Manchester and the store does not match the brand of the actual product, then the listing is misbranded.
Do not sell on that listing.
Why This Is Serious
Selling on misbranded listings exposes you to:
- IP complaints
- Authenticity complaints
- Section 3 counterfeit violations
Section 3 violations are the worst form of account suspension Amazon issues. These are extremely difficult to overturn. Appeals are rarely successful without strong legal support.
A couple of years ago, sellers experienced this with Nivea products. Many sellers listed on a Nivea product where the brand field was not officially Nivea. Nivea submitted a Section 3 counterfeit case against every single seller on the listing. Some sellers lost their accounts permanently.
This happened because sellers were selling a branded product on a listing where the brand attribute did not match.
Amazon treated it as counterfeit.
Final Thoughts
Selling on misbranded listings is one of the fastest ways to damage your account health and potentially lose your account altogether. The solution is simple:
- Always check the brand at the top of Amazon listing.
- Make sure the Visit Store link matches the actual product brand.
- Avoid any listing where the brand does not align.
Do this check first before carrying out further analysis, this one check can protect your account and your business, do not skip it.
