Happy Hour, April 17, 2024: Dropshipping Violations, Amazon Gating, and Marketplace Challenges

Join Lesley Hensell and Kelly Johnston for our Happy Hour event on April 17 at 6pm EST! 

You can ask us ANYTHING! You will hear valuable tips, Q&A sessions, and surprises. 

Download now and get ready to elevate your Amazon business! 

#happyhour #AskUsAnything #amazonconsultants #amazonsellers #riverbendconsulting #amazonsellerhappyhourlivevent #onlineretail #ecommerce

Chapters

• 3:30 Reactivating a dropshipping account on Amazon and retrieving held funds
• 5:51 Eliminating Amazon's gating of sellers and brands affected by bots
• 13:23 mazon's control over its platform and its potential perception as a monopoly
• 24:25 Appeal process for a KDP account terminated due to alleged multiple accounts
• 45:20 Handling recurring hijackers on Amazon listings
• 53:23 Report copyright issues via Seller Central or brand registry
• 57:19 Handling unauthorized parallel imports and geographic selling restrictions

Transcript

Lesley [00:00:24] Hello hello welcome Amazon sellers to our Amazon seller happy hour. This is Leslie Hensel from Riverbend Consulting and I am here with Kelly Johnston. Hello, Kelly. 

Kelly [00:00:36] Hello. 

Lesley [00:00:36] Hello. So excited to be here, y'all. We missed our last happy hour, and I'm so sorry because we canceled it, like, at the last second. And it was because my husband was in a terrible car accident, and he's fine. Nothing bad happened to him, but his truck was totaled. And so the only lesson I can really say that we should all learn is to not be on your phone with it in front of your face. As the driver who hit him was. And it's all on dash cam. So that is why we didn't, make it last time. Because he called me, like, an hour and an hour and a half before we were going to do happy hour and was like, can you pick me up? And he was an hour away, so had to deal with that drama. Sorry, everyone. And, we got a welcome back, ladies from Brian. Thank you. Brian. I am so excited today because I think we've got something great going here. We have a lot of really excited clients and friends who have started sending us questions when we do these. And, our marketing team. Thank you, Roy and Sheila and everyone else who works on this to get it out there. They've been sending out emails, asking for questions and posting on social media asking for questions. And y'all, we are being inundated with questions. It is so awesome. And also, if you are watching us live right now or even after this, feel free to post questions in the chat and we can answer them now. Or and another show. Or if it's really pressing, we email you. Yeah, you can direct message our team as well. And, we got y'all. This is such a nice day. I didn't I don't have a question, but I want to say thank you to Leslie and your great team. Oh, we love you. Thank you so much. We do have the best team ever. Just saying. 

Kelly [00:02:43] That's not by accident, either. That was a lot of hard work to get there, wasn't it? 

Lesley [00:02:47] It is a lot of hard work and totally worth it. And now we could to help a lot of sellers all the time and it's fantastic. So without further ado, let's get going with some questions. And for those of you who haven't met Kelly before, the reason that Kelly is here is because I am smart enough to hire people who are smarter than I am, and also people who have lots of ex Amazon experience. And Kelly is an Amazonian, so we will endeavor to answer your questions. Let's start with one from Daniel. You ready Kelly I'm ready. This is the first time Kelly's hearing these questions. Yep. It's just like some kind of twisted game show. My account has been deactivated over a dropshipping violation. Several attempts, including assistance from a professional, have failed to get the account reactivated. Amazon is still holding my funds. How difficult is it to get these funds? The 90 day hold period will be up in another week. 

Kelly [00:03:51] That's a good question. And I I'd love to give you a really hard and fast answer. But everyone's situation is really different. It's hard to say why your appeals weren't successful. but we have seen success in getting people's funds back, even if we can't get their account back. Ideally we'd like to get you everything, especially if you really want to continue to sell. If you don't and you're more interested in your funds, great. But there's absolutely no reason why that can't be pursued. And even though you've already used a professional and it didn't work that time, it might behoove you to do it again, but have a kind of top to bottom review of what was done in the previous appeals to see if there's something that needs to be either re-emphasized or de-emphasized or added to the funds appeal. But it's absolutely possible. And especially if Amazon hasn't told you forget, you never, ever expect to see your money again if they've only given you that 90 day, benchmark, that's actually a pretty good sign that there's a good shot. We can get those funds back for you. So I wouldn't give up. Whether you use us somebody else or go on your own. Don't leave those funds in the account. You have an option. 

Lesley [00:05:02] Right. And so, you know, step number one is when the time period is up, the 90 day hold period. Reach out to Amazon and say, hey, hey, I want my money nicely. You know what? You're going to essentially say, hey, the time period has passed. My funds should be available to me now. Please release them. And, sometimes they will. But you are right to be concerned because it is dropshipping. Amazon is very aggressive on its dropshipping violations. So, yeah. Like Kelly said, reach out and have someone help. But first just ask. They might give you the money. If not, yeah. Yeah. We want to know. 

Kelly [00:05:40] Yeah, absolutely. Good luck. And whatever happens, I hope it turns out the way you want. 

Lesley [00:05:45] Yeah. Me too. Okay, here's a great question from Todd. 

Kelly [00:05:50] Okay. 

Lesley [00:05:51] Are we getting any closer to eliminating Amazon's gating of sellers, brands and products that bots have been pulling? There's a couple different ways that I can do this. 

Kelly [00:06:04] I know I'm like, I'm not really sure. I would love to hear your interpretations because I think I'm about to go off on the wrong path. 

Lesley [00:06:11] Because when you talk about gating of sellers, brands and products, you can be talking about we're getting them so that other people can't come in and sell on them. And you're a seller and you want to be able to sell those. Or you could be saying, hey, I'm a private label brand. Why can't I get this gated? Because I don't want anyone messing with my products. And I think he's talking about the second one. 

Kelly [00:06:36] Actually, the third option. 

Lesley [00:06:38] Ooh, there's. 

Kelly [00:06:38] More where I know and there's more. And it's always bad. No, I'm just kidding. There's the option. And I have seen this happen where your private label brand gets gated and you get kicked out of it, even though it's yours. 

Lesley [00:06:54] That's the worst, y'all. We should talk about that after this question and explain why that happens. Because that's just evil. That crosses a crosses the Rubicon into evil. So let's talk a little about Amazon's theory of gating. Amazon's theory of gating is Amazon likes. No. I don't think Amazon really ever wants to gate anyone because it's a pain in their behind. Yeah, and it's just something else for them to manage and do. And it is something else for sellers to circumvent and get in trouble for. And they've got a look. So when you're gated out or something it just means you know I as a seller can't sell either a product or a category or a brand. And so I have to apply to Amazon to be able to sell that. Sometimes they will say applications are closed. And so you can't, you know, not open at this time. So you can't apply. And sometimes you apply and they say no. And to apply typically you have to send them invoices showing that you have a legit supplier that your or a letter of authorization. No one has those come on. 

Kelly [00:08:08] Over. 

Lesley [00:08:09] Or blah blah blah. In the letter. Yes. Yes that even if even if the supplier knows you, they don't want to give you for some reason. So whatever, man, it's usually just invoices. And then they decide, yes, you can sell or no, you can't sell. So a lot of times Amazon does this because they've been threatened with litigation. So let's say you're Nike or Samsung or Apple. Those are the three that leap into my mind that I know for sure, have threatened litigation or sued Amazon and said, you gotta do something about counterfeits on your platform. Right. And so Amazon has gated those brands, to prevent, counterfeits on the platform. They also gate things like fine jewelry. For obvious reasons, because, I mean, how many people do we trust to sell fine jewelry y'all like, right? I honestly, I love the Amazon. I wouldn't buy fine jewelry on Amazon. 

Kelly [00:09:06] Yeah. I mean, I can't say I blame you. It just you nailed it. It's one of those things. It's like. Yeah, I think not. 

Lesley [00:09:14] But yeah. And like luxury beauty is another one that most of the soul to get into. Luxury beauty are really great sellers. So you can trust the brands. But it's you know, it's risky. So Amazon doesn't love gating but they will if they have to. And also just if they're seeing a whole lot of returns and contract for particular brands or Asians, they'll do that. There are sellers out there and I'm guessing this is who taught is there are private label sellers out there and good brands that get really frustrated because they have lots of knockoffs, and they went through brand registry, and they believed, as most all of us did when it started, when Brand Registry 2.0 started, that part of that would be we would get more control over our own brand and that like random dude, you know, who has a vendor account or another seller account couldn't just come in and make changes to our listings, and they also couldn't sell knockoffs of our listings. And it would protect us and, you know, protect our products. And that has never happened. And now we all understand that Amazon never intended to use Brand Registry 2.0 that way. It was really for them. What was the price? It was just. 

Kelly [00:10:32] Who saw that coming? I had no idea. 

Lesley [00:10:35] I know you're shocked. Oh. Yeah. And then there's there are tools, you know, like Project Zero is a tool, where sellers can remove people if they're trusted. And there's, you know, reported violation and brand registry. But those are still suggestions, really, when it comes down to it, those are not, you know, you're not the law. Amazon is so. I personally don't think Amazon will ever gate brands upon request, unless you can somehow make a case that your product is so counterfeited and also dangerous to buyers, that it is a clear and present danger to allow other sellers to either mess with your listing or sell your product. Now, there are people who have made the case, and I have talked to them that they should get gated from, contributions from third party sellers because they were attacked so much by competitors. Like, they could show this incredible history of abuse from competitors, and they got their pages locked down. Unfortunately, when they make changes now, there's this whole rigamarole they have to go through to get the changes made. But as far as gating anyone from selling your product. No, because that's Amazon's entire. As much as. Yes. As much as they tell us you can't do this, you can't do that. Think of it as like Microsoft compared to Apple. It's open source. It's a platform. It is not a closed loop, system. And so if they start saying you can't add this product, you can't sell this product, you can't do this and you can't do that. All of a sudden it's actually not a marketplace anymore. 

Kelly [00:12:18] Right. And, you know, their whole reason for being is to be the everything store. So when they can avoid restricting people's ability to list, they're going to. But that doesn't mean that they're not going to follow the law or do whatever else they need to do to be compliant or reduce their risk or whatever it is, or avoid litigation, by enacting that category brand or a certain level gating is needed. It's just something that they will do. And I agree with you. I don't think that you're ever going to be able to push a button and send an application saying, here's why I should be gated, like I should have gone to college. Please let me in, you know? No, it's not going to it's not gonna work like that. And, I just the complexities of managing that process alongside what they're already not doing very well. Yeah. It's just not not going to happen. So. Yeah, that's what we have to say about that. 

Lesley [00:13:23] Well, let's also think about this quickly from a legal and regulatory framework. Right. Not to get all like crazy nerdy and boring on y'all, but, if Amazon starts treating its platform like it owns everything, it is only giving more credence and power to the Federal Trade Commission allegations that it is a monopoly that controls all the things, like a wizard. My argument is that they are not a monopoly. First of all, just because a monopoly means you own almost all the market and they don't. But for getting that small detail about, you know, the whole definition of the word monopoly. Second thing is, do they actually control all the things? No, they don't, because they don't control how individual sellers choose their products. Price their products for the most part. You know how they list them, the photos they show, who they compete with and who they don't. They don't control all that. And if they start trying to control all of those things, then all of a sudden Amazon isn't a marketplace and Amazon is controlling everything, and you give credence to all of those arguments. Also, they're continually having to work with the EPA and with the FTC and with the. 

Kelly [00:14:33] FDA. 

Lesley [00:14:34] Thank you. 

Kelly [00:14:35] Okay. 

Lesley [00:14:35] Other three letters. Agency and. 

Kelly [00:14:37] USDA. And and and and and. 

Lesley [00:14:40] Yes. But those are the big three that are always on them. And they can, at least with some, verifiability, say we're doing our best to police all these people on our platform, but they're not us. So we, you know, we're going to enforce against them, but get off our backs a little bit because we're trying. Yeah. 

Kelly [00:15:01] That's that's accurate. I mean, and so back to the question. I'm again, I'm not really sure what the and the actual ask was there. From the angle of am I a brand? Am I just somebody who resells and all this kind of stuff? But my personal prognostication for this particular area of Amazon is it is not going to get better this year. I think you're likely to see more problems, more errors, and more people getting gated out, because we have certainly seen an increase in the work that we do in that space. And granted, you know, we're one firm can't be representative of the whole space. But, you know, the trend is unmistakable. A lot of people are losing access to brands that they've sold for years, and we've had interesting success rates with those. I mean, some of the folks got back, like almost instantly, which usually implies, maybe a mistake was made. But some of the others, it's been a really long slog, an argument to get them back to where they were to, to restore that parity. So it's very interesting what is happening in that space, I think, is going to be somewhat of a bellwether later on this year if there are additional changes that start popping up with gating issues, I think we might see other changes in the way that they enforce. It's a guess, but we'll see what happens. 

Lesley [00:16:16] Wonderful observations as usual. And and because Amazon is just like one enormous black box, you know, half of what we're saying is guessing, but we're right a whole lot. So I gotta throw out a comment here, that we have from our friend Ryan B, he says might want to listen to the latest episode of the smartest Amazon seller. Very intriguing episode today. About 4 million in fraud via stolen semi truck loads of items. So first I have to say the smartest Amazon seller is a great podcast. It's our friend Scott Needham, who's a friend of Riverbend, and he was a smart scout and he is indeed very smart. And, and has a great podcast with lots of great information. So highly recommend. 

Kelly [00:16:59] Yeah, but that's a terrible headline. 

Lesley [00:17:02] Yes. And I just want to throw out there because you mentioned it and, most people don't know. So here's some fun things to find out. Probably one of the biggest vehicles for money laundering on the planet, is if you add together Amazon and eBay. Yeah. Tremendous amounts of money laundering through those platforms. And, so sometimes when you're mad at seller performance, asking for an invoice, just know that there are criminals, who use Amazon for their dirty deeds. And just today, I was talking to a seller about their stolen. Drugs, over-the-counter drugs that they sell. 

Kelly [00:17:47] So what I was like, they're what? 

Lesley [00:17:50] Over the counter. That they sell. And let's. 

Kelly [00:17:56] Leave. That had to have been an interesting. 

Lesley [00:17:59] Yes. Some of our clients do bring us interesting problems, but not usually that interesting. But these were. This is so bad. It's a they have a three ple who got phished and, the whoever the fisherman was, use the information that they gained to pick up truckloads. So, you know how you can go out on those boards and you post loads yet? Then truckers will, you know, trucking companies will sign up for. And so they had to okay, this particular three PL had four instances. Four. No, three. I'm sorry, three stolen truckloads of goods that were via someone faking who they were. And so if the name of the company was Bob's Trucking, then they said, you know, Bob's Trucking instead of Bob's Trucking, it's easy to fake it. And came in and picked up the load and drove off with it. And this client we have of the three loads that were stolen from the three PL two were theirs. 

Kelly [00:19:09] Oh, no. 

Lesley [00:19:10] And so now they have dozens of sellers popping up on Amazon who were selling the product. So there were thousands of cases stolen. And so, I have other sellers that I've worked on this issue for, someone who had a truckload, for example, stolen right out of port of LA. And what we've seen is when these truckloads are stolen, and a lot of this happens in California just because that's where all the traffic is. They they don't do what you might think they do. So they will sell them online. They'll sell them on, barter groups. They will take them to swap meets. And so the sellers who are selling them, they only have, like a case or two cases of 5000 stolen cases. And so, like this particular Ethan is up to 28 resellers that all have stolen goods. And we know that they're stolen goods because this is the very first run of the product. 

Kelly [00:20:19] And, and so I want to say something real quickly about how this happened, because this is one of my areas of expertise. And if you have a business with more than even if it's just you, but especially if you have people working for you, social engineering, which is what that was, is what will come to get you. A lot of scammers don't get you via high tech means they get you just like this happened. They impersonate somebody, they make you think there's somebody else and that you give them information. When I was at Amazon, we had actual classes on how to avoid being taken by social engineering because they knew that people could randomly they could find out phone numbers, they could dial random, an extension, see who they got, and talk people into giving up sensitive information because it happens and it happens at every company. Microsoft just got, taken that way. One of their big, big breaches started because of social engineering. So it's something to be aware of. And if your people don't know what it is, you need to make sure that they do so that they can try to hedge their bets against anything like that. Sometimes nothing you do is enough. And that could have very well been with this case. But that's a good way to help stop those things from happening. 

Lesley [00:21:35] That's really great feedback, Kelly. And if you're a seller on Amazon, you've gotten phishing stuff. It's just part of it and very frustrating. Also, if you're actually watching us instead of just listening. I apologize that I'm like eating podcast, which is something I never do. It's been a really long day considering. 

Kelly [00:21:54] We started all this drinking. Like literally drinking. I think you can be forgiven. I have some water. I mean, well, you're not in my office, so I'm. I'm being responsible. 

Lesley [00:22:06] So today I'm drinking Austin East ciders. I love dry cider. I am, someone commented. oh. I know who this is. Real mess. The hunger is real. Yeah. There's. I love dry ciders, which I discovered when I was overseas. And there is a place in Austin that creates, dry ciders. So this is the tropical punch, Austin, East Siders and Kelly. It is 8.3%. Woo! So ye. Yeah. That also y'all crazy thing okay this isn't an Amazon thing but it's a retail thing. And I've just got to tell you about this I wasn't I annoyed Kelly this weekend because I sent her like 20 pictures of a store, so I wasn't I was in Houston. I went to Houston to be with an MDS group, $1 million sellers group there. Fantastic group of people. Saw them on Friday night. Then on Saturday I was visiting my kid who lives in Houston, and he took me to a liquor store. He's of age, don't worry. And you know, you think he took you to a liquor store? What? He took me to this liquor store because he said, mom, you've never seen anything like it. It's specs. So specs is a chain in Texas. We walk in and the first thing is this case of cakes and cookies and, oh, handmade candies. They had this deli that was crazy that they had, like, you could do all your grocery shopping there. They have fresh vegetables and fruit. They had like all these treat fun things like international candies. 

Kelly [00:23:47] And it's like market the what's that world market meets Total Wine and H-e-b in there somehow. 

Lesley [00:23:56] Yes. And the wine section was so big it made no sense. And they had every country and then they have this great cider section. And so I had to try out this new flavor, Tropical Punch. But anyway, if you ever get a chance to go to this incredible spec super store thing, it's like, it's nuts. So I'm not even a shopper. And I was like, woo, this is crazy. Okay, back to business. I have a KDP question. Kelly. 

Kelly [00:24:21] Oh my favorite. So hit me, hit me. 

Lesley [00:24:25] KDP is Kindle Direct Publishing, y'all. And that's where you publish the book. And own it on the Amazon platform. Amazon terminated my KDP account in February. They said I have multiple accounts and that my account is related to an account terminated before. I've never created two accounts. I don't have any existing KDP account under my name. I later discovered that someone used it, used my phone to log into their own KDP account without my consent. I have appealed to Amazon countless times. They insist on upholding their decision. All my money invested in the account time, energy, resources, sleepless nights, all my royalties, everything gone just like that. What's the best way to go about regaining this? My account. And that is from a CPA. And thank you for that question. I'm so sorry you're going through this. 

Kelly [00:25:14] Yeah I am. The pain of these situations is so very real. And I and I want to assure you that no matter. How I. I don't know if you're judging your own efforts here. I kind of get the feeling that you might be. But, you know, if I'm wrong, I'm wrong. But if you're judging your efforts to get your account back, please do not beat yourself up. We deal with a lot of really complex issues. This is one of the toughest, if only because of what the nature of it is. You violate a policy on Amazon, let's say you, you know, you sell this water and you're not allowed to sell this. And they say you can't sell whatever this is anyway. You can't sell it, but you do it. That's really obvious. You did a bad thing, right? Easy. Everybody can understand that. That's like grade school level enforcement on the playground. You can't do that. This is different. This is a risk action where Amazon has said whoa whoa whoa whoa. We think you might be related to somebody who did some bad things. How do you prove a negative? You just you just very clearly laid out your case. I've never done this. I've never done this. I've never done this. I've never done this. And honestly, it's really hard. What you're looking at is difficult. It is not, however, impossible. We have restored at least two KDP accounts recently in the same scenario that you've been in, and hundreds of selling accounts that have been in this same scenario. There is a path. There is a way. It's never certain because Amazon owned all the cards. But when you know what you need to say and the way you need to say it, it gets a lot more doable and fixable. So there is hope, and I would really love it if you would reach out to our sales team to talk, because this is something that we absolutely have the market share of experience on, because we just have smart people, but also just a ton of experience getting it fixed. For people in your situation, whether it's KDP or something else.

Lesley [00:27:20] Kelly called me smart because I won those last two KDP cases. 

Kelly [00:27:24] Like, I don't call you smart call. Oh, yeah. Okay. I can call you smart, and then, you know I don't mean it. 

Lesley [00:27:31] That is true. So one of the interesting. And when I say interesting, I'm being really sarcastic things about the KDP enforcement team. You know, I know all of you think seller performance is, unfair, uneven, difficult. And only since you can messages, well, make that worse. And then you've stepped into KDP. They pretty much will read one appeal. Maybe sometimes they will. You'll say, I want to appeal and they'll say, okay, I've submitted your appeal. And you're like, what to wear? What? I didn't tell you what to say. What, what what did you write? I mean, it's bizarre. Yeah, it's a bizarro world. I'll tell you, Kelly's right. We have two recently. We have other KDP as well. From prior to that, I don't think we've ever gotten anything reinstated from the KDP team. It's always gone from escalating to an executive and sometimes to multiple executives. So this isn't you? Like she said, also, they. Okay, so Amazon has this, like, grid thing for related accounts, and it has like, you know, you use the same credit card, same address, same, billing address, same bank information. You know, all these things. And one of the things on there was like thumbprint or fingerprint or whatever they call it for your computer. And then another thing is like IP. So what IP address you're using. So I am told by my Amazonian friends that, like, if one of those things pops up, they're not just supposed to say, oh, you're related. Because what if that IP address was a public area or, you know, there are people who know each other and will be at the same business or home and be on the same IP. It doesn't mean they're in the same business or share a business. So if this is just this one factor, that's that's bad enforcement. If there's nothing else leaking, you use with you. 

Kelly [00:29:39] So sorry. The pollen is terrible here. And I do have my door open because it's 80 degrees in my office, so I. 

Lesley [00:29:43] Oh, that's very warm. 

Kelly [00:29:45] You don't want to listen to my air. My voice. This is the. What the heck is that? The big giant plane that the Air Force flies to the C-130 is what this freaking thing sound? Anyway, sorry. Go ahead. 

Lesley [00:29:59] But they're not supposed to enforce just based on that one thing, so you know they're wrong. So, really, we need to make a nice case for you and then get it up to an executive who will care. And they do care, especially if there's money in your account. They know it's not fair. And I, I am starting to get the sense that the executive teams also know that KDP just is not great enforcement, because a lot of times the first escalation, they just turn it back on. 

Kelly [00:30:29] Yeah. So it's not unusual. And I think that there's probably a number of things that contribute to that. I didn't work a ton with the KDP team when I was in solar performance. Yes, I am one of those people. And I'm doing my penance now, so, please forgive me, but we, we didn't always do a lot with them, but their team just may not have the same resources and staffing and all kinds of things that can contribute to why the process is so much worse. But Leslie's right. You typically have to bypass them, pretend they're not even there, and go to somebody who's going to listen. So don't give up. Please give us a call, because I really feel strongly that there's an option for us to help you. And and maybe we can figure out what's missing, because it's probably just a matter of just tweaking what you've already told them a little bit and getting in front of the right people who who care. And that really is what it comes down to a lot of times. 

Lesley [00:31:22] Okay, I've got another question. Okay. 

Kelly [00:31:25] I'm ready. I think maybe. 

Lesley [00:31:27] This one's really short and sweet. It's from David. Okay. But it's so annoying. Not you. David. It's like. Whoa! Not you. David. Amazon. This is. This is not the. No. David. Books. Okay. No. David. No. 

Kelly [00:31:43] If you read my mind, I was like you. David. 

Lesley [00:31:46] Yeah, yeah. Go into Schitt's Creek. Yeah. No, I have submitted all the proper paperwork, but I keep getting a generic email saying they're looking at the issue, and we'll get back to me when they can. So, in other words, we have, sent your, issue to the referred your issue to the concerned team. And we'll get back to you. 

Kelly [00:32:11] So call us. We'll call. 

Lesley [00:32:13] You. So, David, I'm so sorry because this is so frustrating. And when you say submitted all the proper paperwork, you know, this could be a few things. I'm wondering if it's an identity verification because you did, say, submitted all the proper paperwork. That sounds like a pile of stuff. And that's usually verification. So if this is verification, they are running behind. They're running far, far behind. And in many cases, we have had to help our clients ping the team saying, when are you going to set up our call? If it's one that they need to do a call for or saying, hey, hey, you finish, you finish, you finish. Now, if you're actively selling right now and things are going well and you've submitted everything and you're just waiting, but you're actively selling, then. 

Kelly [00:33:02] Yeah, just pretend it's not there. 

Lesley [00:33:04] Just just leave it be because it's possible they'll just, like, never talk to you again. It is possible that they'll say, okay, we looked it's fine. If they were really super worried about you and you're actively selling, they would have done something by now. Yep. Now if this is I'm trying to sell and I've been suspended or I'm trying to set up a new account and I'm waiting. Waiting. 

Kelly [00:33:29] Waiting and waiting some more. 

Lesley [00:33:31] If you are passed, I would say 14 days. It is ripe for an escalation. If this is harming your revenue or your ability to operate, or you are suspended. Call us because this is ripe for an escalation. At this time, most things in Amazon your your over SLA. And just because they pinged you I know they I know why they do this. Because we've all worked someplace that has a ticket system. You have to do this and you have to say I'm working on it. And they're trying to reset the clock for themselves. But if a human goes and looks at that, they will see they have not reset the SLA clock. They are just making you wait. I've got a client right now that I really feel for them, because they are a vendor whose vendor account was suspended and no one responded to our first several escalations and appeals. And when they got suspended, it it was such gibberish. The messages they got were absolute gibberish and made no sense. We don't even know why. They were kind of guessing it, why they were suspended. Then we figured out they had a seller account that was suspended. At some point we got that seller account reinstated. So now we're going back and saying, hey, hey, so this yeah. So we escalated to like executive number four and that executive directed the team, the concern team to look at it. And you know what they did? They sent our client this message that was it was ridiculous. It said if you'd like to be a vendor, you have to be invited to be a vendor to set up a vendor account or something. We're like, no, this is our existing account that we've had for like four years and we've been selling to you. Come on up. 

Kelly [00:35:11] It was so frustrating. 

Lesley [00:35:12] So we we had to go back to the executive first. We tried writing that guy back and saying, I think you misunderstood our question. And then when they didn't respond, then we had to go back to the executive and say, these people didn't understand our question. And so then they're like, okay, we're working on it with the concern team that the escalation that got them to finally do something was on the 2nd of April. It is the 17th, and every two days they get we're still working on your issue. So I feel you it is frustrating I hate that. But if you're past 14 days and this is a normal old issue, yeah, it is ripe for escalating. 

Kelly [00:35:52] Yeah. And and we we're seeing this in, in a lot of different teams, but I think, I think probably certain workflows, specific types of problems that sellers run into is where we see it more versus, you know, a team, because I've seen it in the seller side, I've seen it on the vendor side, I've seen it in associates and KDP and ads and all the different spaces. So it literally can happen anywhere. A lot depends on how that gets to the team. So if it's going through 87 transfers to get to the right team, sometimes you see that kind of delay. It's like sitting there and who knows how backed up different teams are. Some of them could be really, really backed up. And it's not immediately obvious, but that's why it just sits there. And sends a reminder, like when you're on hold with the bank going, someone will be with you in just a moment. No they won't. Don't lie to me. So I get it. 

Lesley [00:36:46] Okay. Got another question for you. 

Kelly [00:36:48] All right. 

Lesley [00:36:48] This is from Colonel. 

Kelly [00:36:50] Colonel. I'm ready. 

Lesley [00:36:52] Where do you see Amazon's future going with low inventory fee and Amazon storage fee? What do you think Amazon is trying to do? 

Kelly [00:37:02] Line their pockets is my answer, but I'm an idiot when it comes to the inventory stuff. Leslie. So this is yours. 

Lesley [00:37:10] So it's interesting. While they were doing all these new fees, they also cut some fees for clothing. And that was a result of seeing what's happening in the marketplace with. Okay. Make sure I say these. Right. Tamu. teemo. 

Kelly [00:37:30] I think I just thought it was Teemo. 

Lesley [00:37:32] I think it's Tamil. 

Kelly [00:37:33] Okay. Team Teemo. Temu. 

Lesley [00:37:35] You and Sheen. Yes. No, not shine. 

Kelly [00:37:40] Shein.  

Lesley [00:37:42] So what do they sell? They sell lots and lots of clothes, especially to younger people. And that Amazon was taking a hit on that competitively. And so they were like, oh golly, maybe we need to give an incentive to people who sell clothing. And they cut those referral fees a little bit, to try and make things better. So I will tell you what I think they're trying to do. I think it's misguided, too aggressive, and they're hurting themselves right now, but I think I know what they're trying to do. Amazon really, really, really wants to have as much ubiquitous one day delivery as possible. And also the same day as well, because I think that the way they see the marketplace with these low cost guys coming in, you know, people will talk a good game about not wanting to be an irresponsible consumer, not wanting to add to the landfill, not wanting to buy stuff that's garbage. But then they buy disposable clothing and they enjoy it because then they can just throw it away and buy something new. So people who say, I just want to buy quality, I want to buy made us all these things. You know, it's true for some consumers, but the masses, they want something cool and new and they want it now. So these sellers who are selling from China, they can't give it to you now, with China Post, they can get it to quicker than you think. But they're not doing one day delivery, same day delivery. And Amazon can do the vast majority of the population. So I think they are really investing in that growth. The other day I was driving down a street not far from where I live. That's kind of out toward the county, where there's a lot of warehouses and this fleet of those great Amazon delivery vans started driving by. It was about 1:00, 2:00 in the afternoon. They'd obviously gotten back to get their last deliveries of the day. And I thought the line was never going to end of these. I mean, it was just one after another after another going by. That is what they are trying to build is this ubiquitous delivery network. In their minds, they think that sellers see the world the same they way they do. So they think that because they don't, they're kind of like people in politics. You know, you get really into your political circle and you spend all your time like, if you're a Democrat, you spend all your time with Democrats or Republicans, then I'll term with Republicans or whatever group, I think any group. And so you spend all your time with these people like you, and then you assume everyone's like you, and then you go outside that circle and you're like, people have other thing. That's why, so Amazon, you know, they're in their little corporate circle and they're all in China. All they you know, they don't even use slack like the rest of us. They're all in time all day and all their little meetings and and they think that sellers are like, oh, sellers are going to benefit from this one day and two day delivery. They don't even understand how great this is going to be for them. And they don't understand that sellers don't care about that if they go to business because they can't afford a frickin beast for it. 

Kelly [00:40:36] Well, and it's the feedback that I've seen on LinkedIn is that people, again, way smarter than me, that specialize in inventory stuff have said that the thing that they're seeing even more since a lot of these fees are coming into play, is shipments going out and then being split, like sending stuff that goes to Texas, only for it to go back to New York and they're in New York and vice versa. So there's either some bugs in the way that they're calculating this or they're, you know, mythical magical formula that they've come up with for why this is better doesn't make sense to the rest of us, because we're not them. And like you said, they're in their own little echo chamber of this is what we're going to do and why we're going to do it. And they just assumed that when they put out a press release, everybody's going to go, oh, sure. That makes a lot of sense when it doesn't actually work that way. And I and I have to wonder, as someone who sees this from my perspective, which is, again, not an expert in inventory or logistics at all, but I go, are you really building a ubiquitous delivery network? Are you do you or do you just think that you are and that this is the way to do it? Because, I mean, speaking from what I see again, in my limited purview, I don't feel like FBA has gotten better. I feel like it's gotten a lot worse and sellers are fighting for so much. Time and energy to get things back to a level set because either they're getting shorted items, items are arriving damaged, and or trans stuff is stepping trans ship forever. How many people have we talked to? They've had removal orders and stuff that just sit there chilling for six months. 

Lesley [00:42:08] Yeah. 

Kelly [00:42:09] So it's just it's really curious to me if they think that that's what they're doing. I hope it pays off, because right now it still looks like more of the same inefficient nonsense. 

Lesley [00:42:22] Yeah. And I also have questions. Because you said, you know, are you really are you really building this? They want to be the everything store they always have. They don't call themselves that anymore. But that's always been part of the goal, because the way that you have a huge percentage of the American public, search on Amazon instead of Google. And it's some crazy number. I don't remember what it is, but it's like 60% of people with a Prime membership search for products on Amazon first, and then use that as their benchmark to go search other places. I do that. Absolutely. And so. I think they underestimate. And these are numbers. They could actually they could get if they spent the time. I think they underestimate if they price mom and pop sellers out of the marketplace. How much selection they're going to lose. The people who do as much as the professional sellers look down on and mock arbitrage arbitrage make Amazon so much freaking money at Christmas every year. Just to have that revenue is important. The hot toy. Pick the five hottest toys of the year. How are you going to source that stock if you're Amazon? If you don't have it on vendor or if you have the dumb vendor you sell out, you're going to get it from the arbitrage. And and that revenue matters because it isn't so much. So there's so much of it. And Mom and Pop, also provide you with products that are quality products that you can't find elsewhere, necessarily. It's there's there's a lot to be said for having the reasonable fees in the marketplace. And what they're doing is they're actually having less if they push this, if they continue to push this and they don't rollback these fees, they're going to have less FBA selection because a lot of sellers are going to get a merchant fulfilled. 

Kelly [00:44:19] Right. 

Lesley [00:44:20] And when the FTC is pushing them to re-engineer the buy box to take away making prime availability. A primary factor in deciding the buy box. So they'd have to give equal consideration. Number of failed offers. Right. They're shooting themselves in the foot. Yep. 

Kelly [00:44:39] Well and this also goes to the thing that we've here the evergreen question that we hear almost every time we do this. So we haven't heard tonight. So I'm going to bring it out because why not. Is is Amazon going to ban retail and online arbitrage. And the answer is no because of what you just said, that selection outweighs the problems and other things that can come with that largely. And I think while we may see more efforts to control it and. Great top grade sellers, meaning make them be better by changing the standards upward. I don't think it'll go away, but that's why. So anyway. 

Lesley [00:45:20] Can we have a live question? From Rolando. Thank you, Rolando, and thank you for watching us on YouTube. Yes. What is your suggestion to get rid of annoying hijackers that keep popping up on listings? Amazon seems to keep ignoring the same bad actors that pop in and out of listings. Although I think he said that they submit. Let me get the full text here. They submit IP complaints that once they submit, they don't have the same product and are shipping something materially different. 

Kelly [00:45:51] Oh, man. There is no silver bullet. I'm going to be straight up honest with you. As much as I would like to be able to say, here is exactly what you should do. That scenario does not exist largely. Now there are again tons of variables with how these things can play out. But one thing that I can tell you is that. It's probably not likely that they're ignoring, especially IP complaints because they're legally required to action those. The only reason they won't action an IP complaint is if it is incomplete or filed in some way that is incompatible with the law that it is based on. Typically, that means you've not submitted a penalty of perjury statement. You didn't provide enough information. There's no way to contact you or whoever you've designated as your rights on or, you know, technical junk that is missing somehow. But there's just not a surefire way. The problem is, is that the scammers can outsmart Amazon way faster than Amazon can figure out how to round these people up and kick them off the Amazon coil. They get blocked, they create new accounts. They have multiple live accounts that they probably shouldn't have. They just shift their actions between those accounts. And Amazon has no way to really detect that behavior. There's a lot of things that go against it. But I think the the number one advice I would have is making sure that you are filing your complaints completely and totally to spec for the law. You're filing them in good faith, and you continue to hammer on these people, because if you do not, if you give up because you don't think you're seeing results, then I guarantee you you will not see results. It's like a lot of things with Amazon. And I know this is going to agree may not agree with me when I say this. It is a marathon, not a sprint. There are no surefire ways to fix things, but persistence is what wins the game. Almost all of the time. And this probably this issue more than any other. 

Lesley [00:47:45] Also, Rolando, I know that you said they're shipping something materially different. So my question would be have you done a test by and then filed a counterfeit complaint because if it is materially different it's counterfeit products. 

Kelly [00:48:00] Yeah. And you know one thing that we have had success with in getting some of these people off things like if you've got a particular persistent barnacle that's on one of your heroes, since you can't get rid of, there are executives who very much care about what is happening in that space, meaning they care about the exposure to Amazon from a legal standpoint, like, oh my gosh, we're opened up to a lawsuit because we're not actually these viable counterfeit or trademark complaints. And they care about the broken processes and enforcement. That's not happening. So there can be ways to try to get some of those people off, but just know that this is a cost of doing business on Amazon or any platform where you're going to have to fight against these people. But no more than no where else will you have to do that? More, I think, than Amazon, because it's the big it's the big platform everybody wants to be on. It's the Shakespearean stage that all of us want to give our roses tossed on to. So everybody I know, I know, you love that. Everybody. Don't make me start quoting it. I, definitely think that this is the big stage that people look at and go, well, yeah, I have the most to gain. So I'm going to, you know, go out there and barnacle myself to these listings and hope for the best and see how long I can get away with it. So that means you have to have that resilience and desire to continue to push. It's hard and it's draining and it feels really, really dumb. But that persistence is what keeps you going and gets you results. 

Lesley [00:49:26] So Roland has done multiple test buys and he's showed images and videos, which is crazy, see. And so make sure you're calling it counterfeit. And now I'm going to okay. So Rolando first of all thank you. He says love you guys. Gave you some good pointers all the proper verbiage. Thank you I love feedback when it's that yummy. But we've got a similar question from Rick. So I want to read Rick's question and then give an additional, piece of advice. So Rick says, how do you get Amazon to accept copyright complaints on images and designs other sellers are using? I've submitted complaints with my copyright registration number and they keep getting rejected. Okay. That's ridiculous. Especially when you show the registration number. So for you, Rick, I would definitely, in the complaint, I would send a link to the copyright, page that you have on the database for the, Copyright Office. So if you can find that page and send that link, that's awesome. As well as the other information. But then also, for both of you, for Rolando and for Rick, if you are giving all of this information, you're doing everything you're supposed to do. You're swearing to it, doing all the things, doing the testifies. It is time for you to escalate, because if this isn't working through brand registry and report a violation, it's time to escalate. So we're going to give you the advice that we love to give people, because it is, often confused in the marketplace. Jeff is no longer in the building at Amazon, but his email address lives on. Send an email to Jeff at Amazon.com. And you're going to address that email, which is comes from the primary login address from your seller account. And you're going to address it too. Dear executive seller relations. Dear executive seller relations. That is because you want them to know that you know, so that they know that you know that you're not emailing Jeff. You're emailing them. So you're not just like some sap who thinks that Jeff is still there running the show, and you're going to lay out your case and you're going to do it quick and easy and bullet points. You're going to say, hey, I'm a seller or I'm a brand. I'm being hurt materially because, there are counterfeiters on my listing or because there are people using my intellectual property. I have made reports already to brand registry, and then you're going to give the case IDs or the report numbers, whatever you've got to say. I've done this, this and this. But they keep rejecting me. This is a valid report that I've sworn to. Please help. So you're going to make it really short like that. Give the history and please help give the eastern number, of course, so that they know what you're talking about and see if you can get a response from executive seller relations. And in both these cases, if you still can't get any traction, give us a call. We would love to see if we can help further, but try that one first. 

Kelly [00:52:36] I just looked at the form because I'm nosy and it's been a minute and it has changed. If you're not doing brand registry, if you were. Just filing through the regular infringement tool, and it looks like there's multiple areas for you to screw up as a submitter. So what I would also recommend is make sure that you are reporting the right essence, and you're checking the boxes about the penalty of perjury, because I believe that's already in that form. But there are so many places where you might be missing tiny bits of information, but if you've done everything the right way and it sounds like you have what Leslie said is the correct thing, and, yeah, we can absolutely help you if that doesn't work. But man, that's frustrating. Especially when you have put all that time and effort into making these reports and you're seeing your IP abused. I'm so sorry. 

Lesley [00:53:23] And there is nothing wrong with using the reporting violation tool in Seller Central and filing a report and brand registry. Especially if one of them has not worked, do the other one. Try both, but the one on brand registry is more likely to actually work. Rick says. They keep saying they can't take action because the copyright doesn't match the reported content. They stink. Yes they do. And that. So that's probably an issue for escalation, because a human being with a brain and some time needs to actually look and see. So mentioned that an escalation say your team keeps saying they can't take action because of this. Here's proof. Boom, boom. And and show them that it does match that. 

Kelly [00:54:08] And that proof. That's where you want your screenshots and and anything that you can to show this product is my IP because it's great to share links. But I think sometimes having that image right there in front of that person is even more, you know, impactful. And you can send those kinds of things as long as the files aren't giant like JPEGs typically are the best choice. To executive seller relations, they can accept images, and they will, as long as they're not, you know, again, huge try. Try that too. I think that could help. 

Lesley [00:54:41] I know. And then. And then. Yeah. And then last annoying hint. I know sometimes we give too much detail, but then I also think that the reason we still have people watching 54 minutes in is because you actually like the detail, because you're nerds like us who actually want to solve the problem. 

Kelly [00:54:56] And replay exists for a reason. 

Lesley [00:54:58] Yes, absolutely. So we we like to also if there's if they don't respond or if the images are too big or whatever, create an appendix and say I've included all the detail for this in the, that Rick says, love the details. Yeah. Create an appendix and say I couldn't include all the images in this email because they're too big. So I've included a PDF, and so then create a PDF, and it has all the images and the links and all that jazz, and then shrink it a whole lot and attach it on there. You are safe usually to include a PDF, going to executive seller relations, not to other people in Amazon, but to them. Yes. 

Kelly [00:55:38] Yeah, definitely. And I highly recommend that strategy that can be super effective. Because one thing that I think happens sometimes is we try to jam too much information up here. And really, an appendix or an attachment like that can make it so much clearer and cleaner and easier for the person to go, oh, this is this problem. Let me hand it to this person who I know can take care of it, because that is the challenge, I think, in this modern world anymore is making sure that when you're dealing with anybody, whether it's customer service at your bank or anywhere else, that you're presenting that information in a clear and cogent format. And the more frustrated you are, the less likely you are to do that. So it's very difficult, and that's where we can really help guide you, to get you into the the right way of doing these things and pushing that language in a way that really clarifies. It's amazingly hard, it's super important, is a skill, and I probably could go teach a course on it somewhere, but it is hard and it's not native to everybody's skill set. You could be great at math or all these other things, and this is just like not something you do well. So don't feel bad if you feel like you're struggling in that area. That's why we're here, is to give you the pointers that you can take with them and go and do it yourself, so we can teach you to do it. 

Lesley [00:56:48] Yeah. Rolando sums up what I think every day at the end of the day. No it's not. You have. It's nuts that you have to jump through hoops to solve a problem that benefits both Amazon customers and sellers, and then yay, nerds. Yeah, I'm I'm a fan of nerds. I. Yeah, whole team of nerds. Okay, we got one last question. I'm gonna try and squeeze in so that I can, you know, because it's late or. I mean, it's past dinner time for Kelly. It's late. Oh. That's okay. Is there a pass? So yeah, I just have to start and say, Joe, I love your question that you even start with, is there a path? Because that means you already understand the whole Amazon ecosystem way too much. Yeah. And you know the pain. Is there a path for brands to remove parallel imports? We work with some large brands that have major issues with overseas sellers that aren't authorized by the brand to import the products. In other words, these are things that they have a geographic restriction on them. So if you are a seller in the EU, you aren't supposed to sell North America. If you're selling in North America, you are supposed selling the EU. So Kelly has thoughts on this, but I just want to start by saying, yes, Amazon does care about this. 

Kelly [00:58:00] They do. And I will say traditionally, in my experience, parallel imports were much better enforced in the European marketplaces. So if you were a seller in France or in the UK or any of the other, any of the marketplaces, in Europe, that was a much more robustly handled complaint. Then it is in the North American marketplaces of Canada, Mexico and the US. That doesn't mean that Amazon doesn't care, but they seem to have a really different view of why it matters, which I think is fascinating. Like, I look at it from my experience with my UK colleagues in particular, because this is where I saw it pop up a lot. They were very focused on that geographic restriction and it not being suitable. And, you know, this doesn't belong here. It's supposed to be sold in Australia or whatever. Whereas in the United States, they seem really focused on the fact that it doesn't match the detail page. Okay. Yeah. That's true. Both of these things are true. But is that really the most important thing to focus on? Because I think to me, the material differences are probably fewer than they are when it comes to the warranty, features on the product itself. You know, there's there's a lot of different things. It depends on what it is. I mean, packaging can sometimes be very different. Ingredients can be different if it's a consumable. So there's, there's different considerations. But the people managing the North American stuff don't seem to see it the same way. And they just are to me, a lot more inconsistent. Although we have seen some enforcement this year for the first time in a long time on the.com side. 

Lesley [00:59:46] So so Kelly, if you are in this position and you're it sounds like he says, you know they're managing for brands. So if you've got brand registry, which to me seems like the first path for this. How would you report it. Is it like material difference. Is it what what is it? Because it's not that it's not counterfeit. 

Kelly [01:00:07] And that's where it gets really weird because Amazon really expressly states, that you it will not, enforce distribution on your behalf. And this is kind of in that vein. So I wonder if there's confusion within Amazon about how to handle this. But for a second, by the way, you are right about the pronunciation. It is Tamo. All right. Jill says, good job. Leslie. One of my analysts who does fantastic research in real time all the time. I think it would depend on what the product was. So if I was a brand and I had brand registry. I would start there and I would be like, okay, look, hey, I am the brand owner for whatever my widgets are. Brand is, and I make products that are to be sold only in, in France and the United States. And I have all these people selling the French products in the United States, and it differs from the.com detail page in this way and lists the most important reasons that it's different first. So, for example, if the French warranty is 5000 years and it's only two in the United States, that's a big difference. If it has features that are particular to France and those are not present on the U.S. or vice versa, list those. If there's some kind of weird compliance issue that affects what is sold in France versus what is sold in the United States, please don't even get me started on that part because it's so complicated. 

Lesley [01:01:39] But the language. 

Kelly [01:01:41] And language, language on the packaging, because so often there are requirements to have like Canada, you got to have French and English. So there can be a lot of different variables. But I would start with the most important ones, whether it's warranty feature, compliance, whatever it might be. Just list those strongest to weakest and say, this is not that product. Yes, it's the right brand. Yes it's this, but this is only to be sold in this marketplace and these sellers are selling it here. And just be really factual about it in clear cut. Like kind of like what we're talking about with IP. Because if you get too much into the weeds about the distribution piece and why this is an outrage, but it is, you're going to lose your audience. 

Lesley [01:02:24] So, Joe, I'll tell you, I would start this out in brand registry so that you have a case ID to refer to to show that you've tried to go through proper channels, because if you don't go through proper channels first, they get really bitchy and they won't talk to you. But, brand registry. I could be wrong, but my my feeling is they're not going to help you with this, but you need to, put your best appeal in with them, and then you're going to need to escalate it and use that ESR, that executive seller relations. Jeff app that we were talking about earlier, I would go to them and say, hey, hey, ESR team, we are this brand and we are very concerned about buyers on the US marketplace. Who are getting your having a bait and switch experience because they are receiving products from the wrong, you know, continent. And so nothing about distribution per se, but just saying the wrong version of this product, because this is an overseas version, it is not meant for an American audience. And then you're going to say exactly what Kelly did, that there is compliance issues or that there's language issues they're really big on, like if it's in French or if it's in Japanese. That's a big no no. So then hit bing, bing bing of why you these offers should not be on the platform. I would try it that way. And if that doesn't work, then, give us a shout, because there are some people at Amazon who oversee brands that might care about this that we could help you reach out to. And then he has a follow up question. Would transparency be appropriate to remove them. And I'll tell you okay. See transparency has a lot of pros and cons. Yeah. So the biggest con is it's a big expense. Also, if you do have authorized sellers or resellers that you're happy for them to sell on that brand. Wow. That's a headache and a nightmare. You can even accidentally get them suspended. You can accidentally get their existing inventory they've already sent in, seized and destroyed, which then creates all kinds of bad will. Not goodwill, but bad will or bad feelings. It it really locks things down. It can limit even your own brands options for how they want to distribute in the future. It's really hard to get transparency removed. So if so, to me, transparency is an option. If you have headaches that are so bad that you don't sleep at night, ever. That's just my opinion. Other people might tell you different. I would I would try this other strategy first and play the Whac-a-mole game. Also, have you directly messaged them or had an attorney directly message the sellers or send them registered mail because now you can get their address. And, you know, even if they're overseas, you can still message to them. So the Amazon sellers sleep bots. I know you're funny. Yeah. So, you know, a lot of times if you message people and just threaten them in a really friendly way, like. Hey, hey, we noticed you're selling these cars. Did you know this is the wrong version? That's really a problem for us as the brand owner. So if you could please remove those offers from the US, that'd be super cool. We'd be really happy for you to sell them in appropriate market place. Yeah. You know, sometimes people, you've probably already done that, but I'm just throwing it out there because some people skip that step and go straight to Amazon. 

Kelly [01:06:10] Yeah. Valid development. Valid point for you. I mean that's just definitely something that you can try. And I agree with Leslie's advice about starting in the path that she described. I one thing I can tell you too, is that when I was at Amazon, we were told very, very clearly that if they sounded like they were talking about distribution, nope, nope, nope. We don't enforce distribution, so you definitely avoid that language. Stick to the differences between the product that it doesn't match the detail page. That's probably one reason why Amazon for U.S side stuff and Canada. Mexico sticks to that kind of perspective, because the EU had all this language around parallel imports and why it was wrong, and it was just such a night and day difference between the two. But the enforcement, like I said over there, has always been way more robust and clear versus what you will see on the main site in the United States. 

Lesley [01:07:02] Okay, so we have gone over time and we have so many questions left. So I just want to say thank you so much everyone who sent a question. I'm going to reach out to you all. See how I can help you directly, because I don't want anyone to feel like they didn't talk to me. And then also because that would be mean. And also, we're going to save some of these, too, for next time around because there's some great questions in here. Anyone who is left wondering, how can I really solve this problem? If you go on over to riverbend.com. There's forums on there you can fill out and someone will reach out to you, or there's a phone number, and I don't think anyone's answering it now because it's late. Right now in new Jersey where our sales offices. But, they are answering the phone all day during the day. Lot of your Friday and an actual human being. We'll talk to you. And our sales guys aren't just sales guys. When we call them customer relationship managers, we actually mean it because they will listen to you describe the problem, and then they'll tell you straight up, you know, how about you try this simple fix and if it doesn't work, come back just like we do here. They will tell you that. They will say, we don't do that, but I know someone who does. Or they'll say, yes, we can do that for you. Or, you know, I really wouldn't spend my money on this because. So they're they're really great about being consultative sellers and, and giving you the advice that you need. Not necessarily always what you want to hear. I mean, sometimes we'd love to take your money and we won't do it because we can't help you. So, I mean. 

Kelly [01:08:38] Those situations exist. And she's right. All of our gentlemen are very good at that. And we want to help you. So, you know, reach out. Say you saw us and watched us on the happy hour and that you have a question and that, you know, we didn't get to your question. We're happy to answer those and try to help you find a way forward that works for you. 

Lesley [01:08:56] Yeah. So thank you again, everyone, for all the awesome questions and for being here with us. And until next time, happy selling. 

Kelly [01:09:04] See you all.