Be alert! Some sellers lost hundreds of thousands of dollars due to being tricked and betrayed by suppliers

The seller said in the post that he found the supplier on a domestic shopping platform, customized the product at his own expense, and created the listing himself. However, he now found that his product was copied by others, and the price started to drop in the early morning and returned to normal in the morning. In addition, he has received 1-star feedback almost every day recently.

The seller's product is branded and is currently applying to join the Transparency Program. When the seller went to the supplier to coordinate, the supplier responded that it was not their company that was following the seller and that they could compete reasonably. But the problem was that the following-selling account the seller saw was clearly the supplier's company name. The seller felt deceived and felt that the supplier was going too far, so he had to post a message online for help.

All sellers on Amazon hate copycat sales, and this post has sparked resonance and discussion among colleagues.

Some people questioned: "You made the mold yourself, and the factory did the work, but you didn't even sign a contract?"

Some people were angry: "Although feedback is not a problem, it is annoying when there are too many of them. This factory is too cheap. They act as referees and players at the same time. They just start working. They are like dogs! They will destroy his store and give him bad reviews every day... Just kick him out!"

Some people are worried: “Is there a sample agreement for this? I may have the same problem. I designed two products myself and I hope the factory will not sell my designs to others.”

Others rationally gave feasible suggestions: "If it were me, I would immediately and secretly apply for a patent, continue to negotiate with the supplier, and ask him to pay a small amount of money. After the patent is obtained, I would use the patent to charge patent fees from each store. After that, you will go further and further on the road of patents, because patents make you money. I have a friend who did this."

In fact, such unscrupulous suppliers are not uncommon. There was a seller on Weibo who complained that he and another seller got goods from the same supplier, but the supplier made slight changes to the appearance and then applied for a patent in the United States, and also complained about him.

Now the seller has already shipped out 2,000 pieces of inventory, each worth several hundred yuan, and a total of hundreds of thousands of yuan in payment is about to be wasted, and he is crying without tears.

Because the other party has already applied for a patent, everyone had to suggest that he contact the supplier, get to know the seller who made the complaint for negotiation, or send a counter-letter to Amazon to appeal, but at least list 5 or 6 differences. You can also try to provide evidence to see if their patent can be rejected.

Not all sellers attach importance to the relationship with suppliers. After all, when sellers have purchasing needs, suppliers will naturally come to them to provide services. There is no need to put too much effort into caring about the relationship with suppliers. However, if you are not careful, you will inevitably suffer losses. Be sure to take preventive measures in advance.

Taking this incident as an example, if the seller signs an agreement before customizing the mold, and puts it in black and white and stamps it with the official seal, it is recommended that the seller apply for a patent if he wants to make this product for a long time. In this way, it will be difficult for the supplier to find loopholes.

As a cross-border seller, operation and products are the two pillars of running a good store. Not only should products be king, but operations should also be taken seriously. Standardizing the cooperative relationship with suppliers is one of the links: doing a good job of brand registration; opening molds and patents to ensure product uniqueness; signing confidentiality agreements with suppliers, making appropriate concessions, etc., all sellers need to pay attention to these.

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