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Brands upset Buy For Me is featuring their products on Amazon without permission

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Re: Brands upset Buy For Me is featuring their products on Amazon without permission

#61

Post by lucyjojo »

Lazare wrote: post #52
saghm wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Fundamentally fine"? How do you think Amazon would react to someone scraping their marketplace and posting the inventory under their own service? Unless the answer is "they'd be perfectly happy to have to opt out individually in each case", that's a double standard. The only reason they wouldn't actually need to care about this is because they have comparatively inexhaustive resources to be able to shut this sort of…

As someone else noted, Amazon sent a cease and desist letter when someone tried more-or-less the same thing on them ( https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/company-news/amazon-perplex... ), so it's absolutely a double standard, yes. But that doesn't answer the question of what rights vendors actually have here (much less what rights they should have).

copyright on pictures, text descriptions, use of their brand names?

Re: Brands upset Buy For Me is featuring their products on Amazon without permission

#62

Post by Lio »

gitonup wrote: post #17
hirsin wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Amazon announced it" in some back alley press report and certainly not in a proactive outreach way to tell these folks they were listing their products. At the very least there's a trademark issue here because these sellers in no way gave Amazon permission to reuse the images and descriptions of their products. If I announce in my local paper (you get to guess which one) that you'll be throwing a party outside your…

Reminiscent of the Vogon plans for the highway through Arthur Dent's house being on display in Alpha Centauri for 50 Earth years.

> “Yes,” said Arthur, “yes I did. It was on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying ‘Beware of the Leopard’.

Re: Brands upset Buy For Me is featuring their products on Amazon without permission

#63

Post by District5524 »

ekjhgkejhgk wrote: post #60

Could someone explain to me - for the seller what's the downside? Isn't this just more sales? Isn't that positive?

Losing brand control (IP) and lack of control over your sales channels is a big problem for traders who want to comply with dozens of regulations, exclusions and restrictions required by manufacturers, other sellers, trademark owners etc. The article also mentions means tax and customs compliance problems, but this also affects other trade law related issues, like competition law problems (antitrust). It is surprisingly easy to breach these even for tiny sellers. You don't want exposure to these kinds of sales. It is never just selling, it is always also complying with lots of new laws, And rest assured, Amazon bots will not work that out for you. And now, these guys have to scrutinize the email orders as for their source because all the compliance process they have built in their webshops or wherever they advertised, will simply be bypassed by Amazon bots. Terrible idea.

Re: Brands upset Buy For Me is featuring their products on Amazon without permission

#64

Post by EagnaIonat »

ajross wrote: post #37
EagnaIonat wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To add to this. Having a personal shopper is not new. Net-a-Porter for example do it. But you are paying for the personal shopper and the brands have a closer connection to their customers. So I agree, it's very different.

> the brands have a closer connection to their customers That's... not a thing though. No such thing as "brand rights" [1] beyond stuff like trademark, which clearly doesn't apply here. In particular there's no inherent recognition of a manufacturers ability to control what happens to downstream goods. Stuff is stuff, if you sell stuff the people you sell it to can sell it too. [1] Nor do we really want there to be?…

> No such thing as "brand rights" [1] beyond stuff like trademark, which clearly doesn't apply here.

I don't disagree with you on a personal opinion side, but the more expensive brands have a snobbery about who they sell to. To me it seems less about quality and more about "I'm rich" app style of fashion.

Re: Brands upset Buy For Me is featuring their products on Amazon without permission

#65

Post by PeterStuer »

I am a bit confused here. First this reminded my of the traditional news sites trying to opt out of Google search, but with the very big difference that unlike Google's users never consuming the original site adds or subscriptions, in this case it is still your product sale, just through a new channel.

And yes. I do see how it can be a slippery slope leading to dependence on (paid) Amazon ranking and being roped into their (exploitative) ecosystem.

I can also see how this could cut into franchise or exclusive territory deals, or how this can disrupt your marketing campaigns.

But in the end, is this really different from people selling your products, new or used, on eBay? And would the actions needed to stop this maybe be worse than the actual disease?

I can see both sides. Not sure which eay I lean.

Re: Brands upset Buy For Me is featuring their products on Amazon without permission

#66

Post by ekjhgkejhgk »

District5524 wrote: post #63
ekjhgkejhgk wrote: post #60

Could someone explain to me - for the seller what's the downside? Isn't this just more sales? Isn't that positive?

Losing brand control (IP) and lack of control over your sales channels is a big problem for traders who want to comply with dozens of regulations, exclusions and restrictions required by manufacturers, other sellers, trademark owners etc. The article also mentions means tax and customs compliance problems, but this also affects other trade law related issues, like competition law problems (antitrust). It is surprisin…

Thank you!

Re: Brands upset Buy For Me is featuring their products on Amazon without permission

#67

Post by danaris »

ajross wrote: post #37
EagnaIonat wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To add to this. Having a personal shopper is not new. Net-a-Porter for example do it. But you are paying for the personal shopper and the brands have a closer connection to their customers. So I agree, it's very different.

> the brands have a closer connection to their customers That's... not a thing though. No such thing as "brand rights" [1] beyond stuff like trademark, which clearly doesn't apply here. In particular there's no inherent recognition of a manufacturers ability to control what happens to downstream goods. Stuff is stuff, if you sell stuff the people you sell it to can sell it too. [1] Nor do we really want there to be?…

It's not bad because ZOMG AMZN, it's bad because *Amazon is a monopoly*, and thus anything they do to take more control should be treated with extreme suspicion.

Re: Brands upset Buy For Me is featuring their products on Amazon without permission

#68

Post by crote »

ekjhgkejhgk wrote: post #60

Could someone explain to me - for the seller what's the downside? Isn't this just more sales? Isn't that positive?

Small brands put a lot of energy into their sales experience and aftersales support. They are trying to get repeat customers.

Amazon leads to one-off sales, with your product becoming indistinguishable from hundreds of different stores. There is no reason to return to your store, because the customer isn't even aware they bought from your store!

And it can get nasty real quick if you are the only seller and Amazon messes up. A negative review of your product due to bad handling by Amazon means you are now being held responsible, in the eyes of the community. A widely-spread "I bought a $500, it was packaged poorly arrived broken, and they refused a replacement/refund" can easily kill a small company - especially if they try to do aftersales and conclude that the complainer never ordered from them - who then of course shows pictures seemingly proving the opposite...

Re: Brands upset Buy For Me is featuring their products on Amazon without permission

#69

Post by pjc50 »

District5524 wrote: post #63
ekjhgkejhgk wrote: post #60

Could someone explain to me - for the seller what's the downside? Isn't this just more sales? Isn't that positive?

Losing brand control (IP) and lack of control over your sales channels is a big problem for traders who want to comply with dozens of regulations, exclusions and restrictions required by manufacturers, other sellers, trademark owners etc. The article also mentions means tax and customs compliance problems, but this also affects other trade law related issues, like competition law problems (antitrust). It is surprisin…

Doesn't Amazon incur compliance problems then? If they become the actual "importer of record".
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