A small minority of Amazon’s two million sellers are wreaking havoc on the marketplace with Black Hat tactics.
I learned two important things from the movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid:
- Cowboys are sexy as hell.
- They know how to rob banks.
- Not a kid, and no sun dancing.
Amazon is the new Wild West, and there are some bad cowboys (and girls) out on the range ready to rob you blind. They use Black Hat tactics like keyword stuffing, cloaking, and buying links (and most infuriatingly, never pulling any rabbits out of those hats) in order to get ahead.
Third party sellers make up 53% of Amazon’s ecommerce sales, and competition is fierce.
Competing sellers are coming up with new ways to be sneaky – breaking in and changing listing content, writing obviously fake positive reviews for other listings so that Amazon becomes suspicious, and accusing each other of copyright infringement to temporarily suspend them while they sell their competing product. You know, typical “Good Guy” stuff.
It truly is a lawless land.
It can be tempting to cheat and use some of these money-grabbing tactics. With so many sellers, Amazon would have to be pretty quick to catch you, right?
Yeah, but…they are that quick.
Amazon has been saying, “git along little dogies” to these black-hatted rascals, suppressing product listings, banning reviews on products, suspending accounts, and even taking legal action.
Now it doesn’t matter how much of a sure-shot you are, you don’t want to go toe to toe with Amazon in a shootout.
So how can you compete in sales while still playing by Amazon’s rules?
- Know Amazon’s Terms of Service and the Seller Code of Conduct – a.k.a. don’t break the rules.
- Take your time; do your research.
- Enroll in Amazon Brand Registry to keep your brand safe from Black Hat tactics.
- Use tools to protect yourself and your business, such as Helium10’s Alerts Tool which will alert you to anyone trying to break into your listing.
So saddle up and keep your bullets dry, it’s time to carve yourself out a fortune!
