Amazon listing hijacking means that a third-party seller attaches to your ASIN and sells counterfeits, different goods or unauthorized genuine goods under your brand there, or changes your detail page. Because all sellers on an ASIN share the same detail page and the same reviews, every bad experience with someone else's goods lands on your brand. How you respond depends on what is being sold: you report counterfeits as an infringement, while Amazon usually does not remove genuine goods from legal sources. We checked the rules and programs in this article against Amazon's official sources on 23 October 2026.
Key Takeaways
- Four cases, four routes: Which route fits depends on the case (table below). You report counterfeits as an infringement. Against sellers of genuine goods a report usually does not help, because Amazon does not enforce distribution agreements (Source: Amazon, amazon.de/report/infringement).
- Counterfeits are prohibited: Amazon can revoke counterfeiters' selling privileges, withhold payments and dispose of counterfeit inventory in its fulfillment centers at their expense (Source: Amazon Seller Central Help, sellercentral.amazon.de/help/hub/reference/external/G201165970).
- Test buy first: If you suspect a counterfeit, Amazon recommends a test buy to confirm the violation (Source: Amazon, sell.amazon.com/brand-registry/project-zero).
- Your trade mark decides: Brand Registry is free and works with a pending trade mark. Transparency, Project Zero and the Counterfeit Crimes Unit require a registered trade mark (Source: Amazon, sell.amazon.de/brand-registry and subpages; trustworthyshopping.aboutamazon.com/counterfeitcrimesunit).
- Report accurately: Repeated abuse of the reporting system can cost you access to Amazon's reporting tools (Source: Amazon Seller Central Help, sellercentral.amazon.de/help/hub/reference/external/G201361070).
What exactly is Amazon listing hijacking?
Amazon listing hijacking is a form of brand piracy: a third-party seller uses your detail page for its own sales or changes its content. What you do next depends on which of the four cases applies:
| Case | What happens | Infringement? | Route at Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|
| Counterfeit | Goods carrying your brand that do not come from you | Yes, trade mark law | Report a Violation in Brand Registry, without Brand Registry the public Report Infringement form |
| Different goods | Cheaper or other goods on your ASIN that do not exactly match your product | Amazon checks against its policies whether your trademark rights are affected | Report abuse in Seller Central |
| Unauthorized genuine goods | Real goods from clearance stock, the grey market or resellers who are not meant to sell on Amazon | Usually not, exceptions for imports from outside the EEA or altered goods | Resolve through distribution and law |
| Listing manipulation | Third parties change the title, images, brand name or variations | Copyright for copied images, otherwise a policy violation | Correct the content, report abuse |
(Source: Amazon, amazon.de/report/infringement and sell.amazon.de/brand-registry; Amazon Seller Central Help, G201361070)
Two Amazon rules explain why the distinction matters. First, other sellers may offer their items on detail pages you created, but only if their item exactly matches the page. Second, Amazon does not enforce exclusive or selective distribution agreements (Source: Amazon, amazon.de/report/infringement). For Amazon, a reseller with genuine goods is therefore not a counterfeiter but another seller. With such a seller, what usually helps is your distribution agreement, not a report.
How do you know your listing has been hijacked?
You spot hijacking in three places: the Buy Box, the offer listing of your ASIN and the reviews.
| Signal | Where you see it | What may be behind it |
|---|---|---|
| Buy Box share drops although price and stock are unchanged | Business Reports in Seller Central, seller name in the Buy Box | Third-party seller with a lower price |
| New seller among the other offers | Offer listing of the ASIN | Counterfeiter, grey market reseller or clearance stock |
| Reviews mention different packaging, different material or a fake | Reviews of the ASIN | Counterfeits or altered goods in circulation |
| Title, images, brand or variations change without your upload | Detail page in the store | Listing manipulation |
| Sales fall while sessions stay stable | Business Reports | Buy Box lost, customers buy from the other seller |
A lost Buy Box is not always hijacking: price, fulfillment method and delivery time also play a role. How Amazon picks the featured offer is explained in our article How to win the Amazon Buy Box.
What do you do immediately when a third-party seller appears on your ASIN?
Immediately you document the offer, find out with a test buy what is being sold, and file the case through the right reporting route.
- Document: Save dated screenshots of the detail page, the offer listing and the seller profile, including price, fulfillment method and marketplace.
- Test buy: Order from the third-party seller. If you suspect a counterfeit, Amazon recommends this step to confirm the violation (Source: Amazon, sell.amazon.com/brand-registry/project-zero). Photograph packaging, label, batch number and product next to an original.
- Classify: Use the delivery to decide which of the four cases applies.
- Report an infringement: You report counterfeits, copied images or infringed designs in Brand Registry through Report a Violation, called Einen Verstoß melden in the German interface. According to Amazon, accurate reports automatically block infringing offers and strengthen the automated protections (Source: Amazon, sell.amazon.de/brand-registry). Without Brand Registry, as the rights owner you use the public form at amazon.de/report/infringement.
- Report a policy violation: If the goods do not match the detail page or the offer information is wrong, go to Performance, Account Health, Report abuse in Seller Central, in the German interface Kundenzufriedenheit, Verkäuferleistung, Missbrauch melden (Source: Amazon, sell.amazon.com/brand-registry and sell.amazon.de/brand-registry). Amazon asks for the seller name, ASIN, marketplace, a short explanation of the violation and evidence such as order numbers (Source: Amazon Seller Central Help, sellercentral.amazon.de/help/hub/reference/external/G200444420).
- Restore the listing and follow up: Correct changed content, note the case numbers and check the ASIN daily until things calm down. Amazon does not share the outcome of an abuse report for data protection reasons (Source: Amazon Seller Central Help, G200444420); you see the result in the offer listing.
Only report what you can prove, otherwise you risk your access to the reporting tools (Source: Amazon Seller Central Help, G201361070). If, on the other hand, a competitor reports you, you will find the next steps in our article Amazon account suspended or deactivated.
Which programs does Amazon offer against counterfeits?
Amazon offers four building blocks: Brand Registry as the foundation, Transparency for codes on every unit, Project Zero for removing counterfeits yourself and the Counterfeit Crimes Unit for investigations and lawsuits.
| Program | What it does according to Amazon | Requirements | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brand Registry | Tools to report suspected infringements, automated protections, additional protection of your product information | Brand name or logo permanently on product or packaging, pending or registered trade mark with a trade mark office of a country with an Amazon store | Free |
| Transparency | Unique code on every unit, Amazon scans the codes when goods arrive, customers check authenticity in the app | Brand Registry as rights owner, active registered trade mark, GTIN per product, code on every unit manufactured | Fee per code, no enrollment or subscription fee |
| Project Zero | Self-service tool to remove counterfeit offers yourself immediately | Rights owner of a registered trade mark, reports from the last six months with an acceptance rate of at least 90 percent, invitation by Amazon | Free, only Transparency codes cost money |
| Counterfeit Crimes Unit | Investigations, civil lawsuits and criminal referrals against counterfeiters, also jointly with brands | Brand Registry with an active registered trade mark, proven counterfeit goods on Amazon | Not stated |
(Source: Amazon, sell.amazon.de/brand-registry, sell.amazon.de/brand-registry/transparency and sell.amazon.de/brand-registry/project-zero; Amazon, trustworthyshopping.aboutamazon.com/counterfeitcrimesunit; as of 23 October 2026)
Brand Registry is the foundation and, according to Amazon, is also open to you if you do not sell on Amazon yourself (Source: Amazon, sell.amazon.de/brand-registry). This way, brands that only sell through resellers can report counterfeits too. Our Amazon Brand Registry guide shows how to enroll.
Transparency works preventively: once protection is active, all sellers must provide valid codes from the brand before units can be listed or shipped to customers. According to Amazon, the program is available in the US, Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the UK, Australia, India and Japan (Source: Amazon, sell.amazon.de/brand-registry/transparency).
Project Zero is not something you apply for: if you meet the criteria, Amazon automatically invites you to enroll. To keep access, you must maintain an accuracy rate of at least 99 percent on your removals, and every removal sends a complaint to the linked sellers (Source: Amazon, sell.amazon.de/brand-registry/project-zero).
Counterfeit Crimes Unit: Amazon launched the unit in June 2020 (Source: Amazon press release, press.aboutamazon.com, 24 June 2020). Since then, according to Amazon, it has pursued more than 32,000 bad actors through lawsuits and criminal referrals, and in 2025 Amazon identified, seized and disposed of more than 15 million counterfeit products worldwide (Source: Amazon, aboutamazon.com, 22 April 2026).
What legal routes exist outside Amazon?
Outside Amazon you can act against counterfeiters with a warning letter, a preliminary injunction or a lawsuit, and you can have customs stop suspicious imports. This section is an overview, not legal advice; for concrete steps you need a trade mark law firm.
- Warning letter and preliminary injunction: With counterfeits, the usual route to a fast cease and desist. Starting points are the company details in the seller profile and the evidence from your test buy.
- Mind exhaustion: If you or a partner with your consent put goods on the market in the European Economic Area, they may in principle be resold (Section 24 of the German Trade Mark Act). Exceptions apply where there are legitimate reasons, for example if the condition of the goods has been changed or impaired.
- Parallel imports: Goods imported from outside the EEA without your consent can be an infringement that you can report to Amazon. The seller then has to prove your consent (Source: Amazon Seller Central Help, G201361070).
- Customs: With an application for action, filed online through the ZGR-online portal, German customs offices can stop suspicious imports (Source: German customs, zoll.de).
- Contracts and prices: Price requirements for resellers are tightly limited under EU competition law: fixed minimum prices count as resale price maintenance, non-binding recommended retail prices are allowed (Source: European Commission, Vertical Guidelines 2022). Have distribution agreements checked by your law firm, we do not give legal advice.
How do you prevent hijacking?
Prevention means: register your trade mark, maintain Brand Registry, serialize products at risk, control distribution channels and check regularly.
- Register your trade mark per market: An EU trade mark protects you in all EU member states (Source: Amazon Seller Central Help, G201361070), since Brexit the UK has its own register at the UK Intellectual Property Office (Source: gov.uk). If you do not have a law firm, Amazon's IP Accelerator connects you with vetted legal advisors (Source: Amazon, sell.amazon.de/brand-registry).
- Maintain Brand Registry: Add all word marks and logos, give your team suitable roles and keep the contact details up to date.
- Serialize where copies appear: Start Transparency for products that have already been counterfeited or are particularly at risk, and plan the codes into packaging and production early.
- Make your goods distinguishable: Batch numbers, seals and distinctive packaging features make counterfeits faster to prove in a test buy.
- Control distribution channels: Record which reseller receives which batches. If genuine goods show up on Amazon unexpectedly, the batch number from the test buy shows where they came from.
- Checking routine: Once a week, check offers, Buy Box share and new reviews of your important ASINs and save screenshots of your detail pages so you can prove and reverse changes.
In short: first find out what is being sold on your ASIN, then report through the right route and make counterfeiting harder with Transparency and Project Zero.
We are The Marketplace Guys, an Amazon Ads Partner from Bielefeld, founded in 2022 by Alexander Schnelle and Bhavesh Tailor. We manage more than 15 consumer brands and more than 45 million euros in marketplace revenue and are active on Amazon DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL and BE. As an Amazon full-service agency we run account, listings and advertising together, including keeping an eye on third-party offers and changes to your detail pages. Want to go through a hijacking case together? Get in touch.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Amazon listing hijacking?
In listing hijacking, a third-party seller attaches to your ASIN and sells counterfeits, different goods or unauthorized genuine goods there, or changes the title, images and variations of your detail page. Because all sellers on an ASIN share the same detail page and reviews, bad experiences with the other seller's goods hit your brand and your Buy Box directly.
How do I report counterfeits on Amazon?
Document the offer and make a test buy, which Amazon recommends when you suspect a counterfeit. With Brand Registry you report the case through Report a Violation; without Brand Registry, as the rights owner, you use the public form at amazon.de/report/infringement. Add the order number, photos of the delivered goods and a comparison with your original as evidence.
Can I have unauthorized sellers of genuine goods removed from my ASIN?
Usually not. Genuine goods sold in the European Economic Area with your consent may in principle be resold, and Amazon does not enforce distribution agreements. It is different for goods imported from outside the EEA without your consent or goods whose condition has been altered. Clarify such cases with a trade mark law firm.
What do Brand Registry, Transparency and Project Zero cost?
According to Amazon, Brand Registry is free. Project Zero costs nothing either, but it is only open to brands with a registered trade mark that Amazon invites after reviewing their previous reports. With Transparency you pay per code, and there are no enrollment or subscription fees. On top of that come your own costs for printing and applying the codes.
Do I need a registered trade mark for Brand Registry?
No. According to Amazon, in most cases a pending trade mark application with a trade mark office of a country with an Amazon store is enough (which offices Amazon accepts is listed in the Brand Registry help), provided your brand name or logo appears permanently on the product or packaging. For Transparency, Project Zero and the Counterfeit Crimes Unit, however, Amazon requires a registered trade mark. So plan the registration early.