Sample Plan of Action

Seller Statement: This plan of action has been prepared by XYZ in consultation with me, after a complete review of my account. I confirm to abide by the plan of action provided below. I am aware that failure to comply with the agreed plan of action or future violation of Amazon policy, performance standards can lead to account closure.

Dear Amazon Performance Team,

I’m writing this plan of action for my Amazon Seller account. I understand that I have made mistakes in my business and consequently hurt Amazon’s customers.

My goal is to satisfy every single one of Amazon’s customers. It is apparent that, prior to my deactivation warning, my process in place was not entirely sufficient.

I take complete responsibility for this and I’m sorry for the harm I caused the Amazon brand due to the poor experience these customers had with my products. I value the privilege to be able to sell on Amazon and I’m committed to ensuring that Amazon’s customers are completely satisfied.

Root Cause Analysis:

As a seller on Amazon, I have made multiple mistakes which led to such complaints and resulted in deactivation warning of my account.

At the outset, I apologize for not being able to maintain my performance parameters as per Amazon Standard Practices.

However, I must admit that I did make mistakes on following fronts, which according to us are the root causes for the problem in question:

a. I didn’t make ourselves completely aware of Amazon’s policy on the sale of counterfeit items.

b. I was unaware of the policies of Amazon which led to the unsatisfactory service to the customers.

c. I used the existing listing on Amazon.com of branded products and others to list my similar products procured from the local market, using the search, scan and map methodology, resulting in the impression that I was actually selling branded products while actually the case was not so.

All the above was a consequence of my lack of education and awareness on Amazon’s policies, insufficient training by Amazon account manager at the time of launch of account and my eagerness to sell quick and more. I would like to reiterate here that as Seller though it is primarily my responsibility to make ourselves completely aware of Amazon’s policy, at the time of account launch by Account Manager from Amazon.com; the focus is always on hurriedly launching the account somehow with simply mapping the existing catalog on Amazon. As a Seller, I was never communicated on the repercussions of mapping other standard branded items listing.

1. -I violated the intellectual property from the rights owner and sold without their permission on the Amazon Marketplace.

2. -I would like to inform you that I have done mapping of the other sellers listing and it is the cause of notices of infringement.

3. -It happens due to a lack of knowledge because I was unaware of the policy of Amazon.

4. -I have done mapping under another brand but I have the same products which I have purchased from my suppliers.

5. -Re-selling products on amazon from 3rd party retailers rather than licensed distributors of the product.

6. -Not obtaining authorized permission and approval to sell on amazon from property rights owners.

7. -Not licensed to retail the product sold.

8. -Not researching trademarks and property rights of the product sold

9. -Actually, I hired Local Non-certified e-commerce professionals for Cataloguing & Listing purposes for my Amazon Account. He was also unskilled and copied other seller’s listings on my account. He was listing products without paying the required attention to the Intellectual Property or Trademark rights that could be infringed unintentionally by selling this item without the rights owner’s permission. He also takes care of my Account but he neither informed us about the Policy Warning messages that generally come in my Account nor he replied to Amazon on time and later when my seller account received deactivation warning finally then I came to know about this deadlock situation.

10. -I take the deactivation warning as a lesson.

The actions you have taken to resolve the issue

The actions you have taken to resolve the notices of infringement or violation of Amazon’s policies:

1)Master Amazon’s intellectual property rules and policies: Regularly conduct new and old sales and purchase personnel’s “Amazon-related intellectual property policy – copyright infringement, design infringement, patent infringement” learning and review, I will develop assessment criteria, aiming at all Product-related personnel can be proficient in Amazon rules and no longer have any type of infringement;

2)Purchasing personnel infringement punishment system: The appearance, brand, design and other information of each product developed by the purchasing personnel for the future must be inquired on the European trademark and patent website whether there is relevant intellectual property information.

3)Supplier audit system: Due to the large number of shop SKUs, it is necessary to review the supplier’s products, establish a supplier database, and classify each supplier according to product infringement risk and product quality. I will directly terminate the cooperation with the low-level suppliers, and remove all the listings from the supplier to ensure a good shopping experience for the guests;

4)I will organize the film crew to learn “Amazon Listing – Picture Requirements”: in the future, I must follow the Amazon image requirements, take the main picture of each shelf product, the sub-picture and the independent design product scene map, detailed map, etc.no longer use the supply Use of scene maps, detailed maps, etc.

5)Establish product supervision departments: they are responsible for monitoring the violation of each product’s shelves and product developers; at the same time, the department must be familiar with the intellectual property information of various products.

6)Purchase the “search by picture” system: After the procurement developer finds a product, I will use the system to search for relevant intellectual property information and reduce the risk of infringement;

7)Establishing an infringing library: Firstly, all the intellectual property information of the famous rights holders and the well-known brands will be entered into the system, and then the detailed information will be gradually improved. Combined with the map search system, the risk of infringement can be completely eliminated;

8)Establish a product research department: The research team independently designs and produces products, and in the future, can independently develop products and apply for intellectual property protection;

9)For some Amazon rules that I don’t know, take the initiative to consult with Amazon customer service to ensure that no violations will occur;

Thank you again for taking the time to read this email. my store has always been trusted and supported by consumers. Every Amazon customer’s email is replied within 24 hours. In the past 12 months, I have a score of 4.4 and a total of 18 ratings. I hope that you can give us a chance to re-sell the products. All the measures mentioned above have been started one by one since the closing of the store. I believe that through the above measures, my stores will no longer have products that infringe on the intellectual property rights of others. I cherish the opportunity to sell on Amazon and support every initiative of Amazon. Thank you very much for my understanding!

RIGHTS OWNER COMPLAINTS

1. I have deleted all the mapping listings and I will verify all the products. I have set up a team in which my employees will check all the products for the brand infringement issues. Few of the listings are not removed because I am facing some technical issues with the listings I have deleted them multiple times but they was still in the inventory.

2. I have created the removal order for the products which are in FBA and as soon as possible. I will apply for the brand registry. Now I have learned the issue regarding the INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHT and agree that caused the problems to sellers as I have been selling products of different sellers under my account.

3. From now onwards I will use my own trademark name in which I will sell my own products in the future.

4. I am going to sell the products using all the genuine details of my own like the following for the listings.

i) I have contacted the photographer about the pictures of my own products which I are going to the manufacturer in the future.

ii) I will print the brand name on all the products I will manufacture.

iii) I will use the exact product details to make sure that even the images in the listing carry the logo.

5. Till then I have contacted a manufacturer that will be providing us the future inventory. my team has visited the manufacturing unit and confirmed the best quality of products is manufactured.

6. my future listing will be done under my brand which will I register soon. I will use a flat-file and use all my product details and list them at a time. I then check them for listing errors if I find some then I will delete them else I will activate them all.

Incorrectly mapped

7. From now onwards my listing will be done under my own brand name. The products will be in-sourced from a manufacturer and all the products are not branded or generic products.

8. I already have registered my own trademark certificate. By using the trademark certificate, I am going to register my own brand on Amazon.

9. I will completely avoid listing the other brand products in the future, the main listing work will be done using the product details given by my manufacturer. I will use my own trademark to work with Amazon and also to sell my products.

1- I have implemented a brand new physical checklist at the packing stage so that an infringement item could never be shipped.

2-I have assigned one employee who will check each shipment prior to dispatch to ensure no infringement item could ever be shipped.

3-I are more careful now when sourcing new products for sale and making sure they are 100% authentic is top priority.

4- All of my suppliers will be rigorously reviewed to double-check that the items I source from them are 100% authentic.

5- Any new supplier will be asked to prove items are 100% authentic before I source items from them.

6- I will continue to monitor my product performance list to identify problems and act before they lead to a complaint.

7- It is my responsibility to assure that I follow all of these policies and future policies in order to maintain my selling privileges on Amazon.

The steps you have taken to prevent infringement or violating Amazon’s policies:-

Prevention of This issue in future:

To counter the problem I have found the details of all such cases with the help of the policy & warning notifications received from my end. I have taken cognizance of all the notifications received as per the guidance & support of Sanctus Innovations and understood the core issue at hand.

The reason behind the deactivation warning of my account is the incorrect listing procedure adopted by us. I have now deleted all the products for which I have received the notification regarding the Infringement of intellectual property rights of others and doing away with the old practice of using the existing Amazon catalog to list my items. This actually changed the whole specifications of the product but I was unaware and continued using my old listings.

To counter the problem, I will ensure to rectify all my listings to take care of the above:

a. First of all, I have delisted all the products for which I have received the notification regarding the Infringement of infringement items wherein I have done the listings using existing catalog of Amazon.

b. I have gone through the information given in “infringement items” in Seller Central Help. I have now gone through the topics such as “Policy Violation”,” Policies and Agreement”,” Brand Infringement Policy”,” Trademark Usage Guidelines”. I will strictly follow these Amazon guidelines to prevent any future complaints regarding infringement items

The steps you have taken to prevent the issue going forward

And I will prepare ourselves well before any upcoming holidays or festivals for any error to occur in processing the orders and will also make effective communication with the help of XYZ with my customers in case of any delay.

c. I understand that Amazon had to implement this step to maintain a safe selling environment and even though when Amazon contacted us, with the initial issues I failed to respond to some queries in time, rest assured the changes were implemented by us.

d. I will now work with Sanctus Innovations and have made an understanding regarding the following Notification from Amazon on every 12 hours basis.

e. I will be now listing only products with my own brand and others for which I am authorized to sell. I will use flat files (with my own images and description) to list the products.

f. I also would like to go through training on related specific topics to improve my understanding & performance.

I strive to be a great seller on Amazon who offers high-quality products and delivering superior customer support. I took my warning very seriously and I will perfect my procedures till I reach the highest level of success. Please let me know if I can provide any further information.

g. For any branded items being sold by us, I will be sourcing products directly from the company/authorized suppliers/distributors and will be selling only those products for which I ourselves are authorized sellers or which are own registered brands.

h. I will also duly check the details of the related suppliers’/distributors’ from whom I buy items if any and maintain the proper copies of POs, receipts, or invoices as well.

i. I will Update the invoice before updating/listing new products.

To nullify this issue I will utilize the following steps :

To ensure customers receive their item in a timely fashion through Amazon’s proven and secure service.

To address my issues with customers receiving items in a different condition from what they ordered:

Improve Supplier Standards:

• I will grade products conservatively using Amazon’s Condition Guidelines.

• I will only list items in “very good” or better condition.

• I have reviewed my current inventory and called back anything that may conflict with Amazon’s Condition Guidelines or Amazon’s Policy Agreement.

• I have invested in safer shipping amenities.

• I have added an additional quality inspection for all items leaving my possession.

I strive to be a great seller on Amazon who offers high-quality products and delivers superior customer support. I took my warning very seriously and I will perfect my procedures till I reach the highest level of success. Please let me know if I can provide any further information

In addition, I will also contact Amazon seller support for the removal of negative feedback.

I will contact the buyer so that there will be no misunderstanding regarding products

I will also monitor my Amazon account to ensure a good account of health.

Here are a few things to consider as you work on resolving this :

Sourcing: Are you sourcing the product from a trusted supplier?

• Authorized supplier: I will ensure that I source the product from authorized suppliers only. I will double-check that the documentation is in place to prove that the dealer has distribution/manufacturing rights of the product brand.

• Generic products under my brand name: I will sell any generic products under my brand name only.

• Constant check on quality: I will maintain a record of the reason and where customers return reason on any particular ASIN is due to quality or defective, I will ensure that the concern is handled to ensure right quality delivery.

I do not have invoices & authorization letters present with ourselves, but I promise I won’t be selling further in this way. I would be maintaining business with only authorized seller. I apologize for selling inauthentic items as I am new to Amazon, I have a lack of knowledge about the Amazon policies and guidelines but I promise I won’t be selling further items. I will never perform in a way that will risk Amazon Standards. From now onwards I will purchase products from authorized suppliers.

Listing: Is the product accurately described on Amazon? Have you ensured that there is no ambiguity and the customer is well informed?

• The listing fields such as the “Key-product feature” or “Product description” will not include any misleading information.

• Product detail pages do not belong to any other product. The product title, image, and details must be specific to the product.

• De-list high return products – I will ensure that I immediately de-list a product that has a high return or high customer negative feedback.

• Inventory planning: I will ensure that the Quantity Listed should match the in-stock inventory. I will learn the inventory planning further with the help of my XYZ partner and make sure that the stock is planned well and never run out into the stock situation.

–Packaging: Is the product in its original packaging as listed on Amazon?

• Well trained professional: I will ensure that the order managers/supervisors are well trained for working at Seller Central. They should be able to manage the order packaging and delivery to the courier efficiently. I have subscribed to XYZ service for training and management as well.

• Correct product packaging: I will ensure that the right product is packed as per the customer order. This will be doubly checked by different teams so that even by mistake the wrong product should not get packed. I will manage my products from SKU wise. So no customer gets different products that he/she orders.

• Order packaging plan: I will follow Amazon guideline on how to pack the product for safe without any damage transit during delivery:

• All items must be packed in the packaging (envelope/box/poly-bag)

• Avoid damage – The packaging material used should be sturdy and the package should be transported worthy.

• Cushion – Adequate cushioning in the form of bubble-wrap / thermocouple should be provided to prevent the movement of item(s) within the package.

• Over that corrugated brown sheet will be used and properly wrapped with brown tap

• Only new packaging material should be used.

• The manufacturer’s box/package will not be considered as packaging material for transportation. A separate outer packaging is mandatory.

— Shipping: Have you taken all appropriate steps and quality checks to ensure that the product is stored, packed, and shipped appropriately?

• Latency period: I will increase the latency period – that is time committed to the buyer between the order booking and order receipt at the buyer’s door so that buyers get their order within the committed time.

• Order packaging schedule: I will ensure that the order is packed and made ready on the same day of the order booking. This will allow us to handover the package to the courier the next day when they arrive.

• Order Tracking: I will maintain a log of each and every order delivery movement and track the movement until the order gets delivered to the customer.

• Order Return Management: I will be prompt and efficient at the buyer communication front. Whenever there is a return product situation, I will implement good communication and coordination with the buyer for hassle-free return.

• Efficient communication: I will subscribe to XYZ service for buyer communication management support. This will help us to get in touch with my customers at the right time and with the appropriate resolution of the buyer issues.

Continuous learning and improvement:

I have received good set inputs from my XYZ partner. They have identified my knowledge gaps and operational issues which led to a shortfall in achieving the Amazon performance targets. I will seek additional training and support from the XYZ partner. I will spend time to read various documents at Amazon Seller University to enhance my knowledge.

Apology

I would sincerely like to apologize for my mistake. It was totally out of lack of knowledge. I understand that I have committed a grave mistake. Please give us one last opportunity. I want to get back to the business. I will never commit such a mistake again. I understand that, if this account is closed I will never be allowed selling on Amazon on my business credentials. Please forgive us and extend one last chance.

Appeal

I have investigated my shortfalls, identified the reasons and have planned a set of preventive and corrective actions. I hope this POA presents my conviction to meet the performance target. I would request Amazon team to please activate my selling privilege

So, I request you to Please keep my account active and I assure you it will not happen again.

I have put in so many efforts to reach here and want to grow with Amazon in the future maintaining Amazon’s brand respect. If there is anything you need from my side, please let me know.

I request you to please consider my request and allow me a chance to make changes and improve the past mistakes.

Finally I apologies for the mistake done from my end

Thank You