How to spot and deal with unauthorized sellers on Amazon

If you’ve been selling on Amazon for a while, you’ve probably had that unsettling moment when you open your listing and spot another seller offering your product, often at a price that feels too good to be true.

Chances are, you’re looking at what the industry calls unauthorized sellers on Amazon.

Unlike authorized resellers or legitimate distributors who have a contract with your brand, unauthorized sellers slip into the marketplace without your permission, often sourcing products through gray markets, liquidation channels, or even counterfeit supply chains.

For brands in 2025, unauthorized sellers are more than just a random inconvenience. When left alone, it can turn into a significant threat to your profitability, brand-customer trust, and your Buy Box control.

In addition to unauthorized sellers can slash your margins, violate MAP (Minimum Advertised Price) policies, flood your listing with bad customer experiences, and, in the worst cases, cause Amazon to question your product’s authenticity. That’s why knowing how to remove unauthorized sellers on Amazon is important for modern brand protection.

But the tricky part is that not every seller who lists your product is necessarily bad. Some are genuine distributors, while others may be third-party resellers you didn’t know about. The challenge for brand owners today is learning how to verify unauthorized sellers on Amazon to separate legitimate partners from opportunistic sellers undermining your brand.

And the sooner you master that process, the better you can protect your margins, your Buy Box, and your customer experience.

Why Unauthorized Sellers Are a Bigger Problem for Brands

The reality is unauthorized sellers on Amazon don’t affect every brand the same way. If you’re a small, up-and-coming private label brand, you might be marked because resellers don’t see enough volume in your catalog and think of you as a threat to their shady activities.

On the other end of the spectrum, big global brands have entire legal teams and compliance departments whose full-time job is tracking down resellers and cutting them off.

This is where unauthorized sellers hurt the most, because every lost Buy Box rotation or negative review has an outsized impact on your growth trajectory. And it’s exactly why learning how to remove unauthorized sellers on Amazon isn’t just a best practice; it’s survival.

Let’s break it down:

1. Buy Box win rate – Even a single unauthorized seller can steal your Buy Box by undercutting your price. Amazon doesn’t care if you’re the brand owner; it cares about the lowest landed cost and delivery speed. The more Buy Box share you lose, the more your ad spend and SEO work go down the drain.

2. Pricing control / MAP violations – Unauthorized sellers don’t care about your Minimum Advertised Price (MAP). They’ll slash prices to move units quickly, and once that price is out in the wild, your authorized resellers may pressure you to match it, or worse, other retailers outside Amazon may notice and demand price concessions.

3. Customer experience & reviews – When a rogue seller ships expired goods, repackaged returns, or low-quality counterfeit items, it is your listing that takes the hit. In 2025, with Amazon’s algorithm increasingly weighing review quality and return behavior, one bad wave of reviews from unauthorized sellers can drop your product ranking overnight.

4. Brand perception – Customers don’t think, “Oh, that’s just a rogue reseller.” They think, “This brand feels cheap,” or “I had a bad experience with this product.” Unauthorized sellers drag down the perception you’ve worked so hard and invested so much to build.

Unauthorized sellers erode your control from pricing to customer trust. And while Amazon gives brand owners more tools than ever in 2025 to fight back, those tools only work if you know how to spot, verify, and ultimately remove these sellers before they do lasting damage.

Signals of an Unauthorized Seller

Here are the biggest signals sellers notice, with no advanced software required:

1. A sudden drop in your Buy Box percentage – If your pricing and fulfillment haven’t changed but you’re losing the Buy Box, it’s often because an unauthorized seller jumped onto your listing. Amazon’s algorithm rewards the cheapest landed price and fastest shipping, not necessarily the brand owner.

2. Unfamiliar seller names under “Other Sellers on Amazon” – Keep an eye on that section of your listing. If you see store names you don’t recognize, it’s a clear warning sign that someone outside your authorized distribution chain has found their way in.

3. Strange shipping origins – If your products are supposed to ship from the U.S. but you suddenly see sellers shipping from random states, overseas warehouses, or even residential addresses, that’s another clue. Unauthorized sellers often operate this way to avoid detection.

4. Prices that don’t make sense – When a seller undercuts your MAP by a wide margin, it usually means they’re liquidating stock, selling gray-market goods, or moving counterfeit units. Either way, it drags down your pricing integrity and puts pressure on your legitimate resellers.

5. Too many anonymous seller names – If you’re used to seeing “Sold by your Brand,” but now there are multiple vague storefront names competing with you, that’s a sign your listing is being hijacked.

Spotting these signals early is half the battle. The other half is acting decisively, documenting evidence, reporting violations through Brand Registry, and tightening your distribution network so you’re not constantly playing defense. In 2025, when competition is fiercer and margins thinner, the sellers who win are the ones who know how to combine vigilance with strategy.

Step-by-Step: How to Identify Them with Amazon’s Tools

One of the biggest misconceptions about dealing with unauthorized sellers on Amazon is that you need expensive third-party software to catch them. Sure, tools help, but Amazon itself gives you a surprising number of breadcrumbs if you know where to look.

As a brand owner, you can often spot who’s hijacking your listing with nothing more than Amazon Seller Central. Here’s how to break it down:

1. Manage Inventory & Listing Detail Page
You can start with the basics:

Open up your product listing and check the “New/Used” offers tab. This is where you will find that Amazon displays every seller currently attached to your ASIN. If you see names you don’t recognize or if someone is selling at a suspiciously low price, that’s your first clue.

2. Buy Box Analytics
Go to your Buy Box performance reports inside Seller Central. If your win rate is suddenly collapsing, even though your pricing, shipping, and account health haven’t changed, there is are chance that you’re dealing with an unauthorized seller. Amazon’s algorithm is ruthless: it doesn’t care who owns the brand; it cares who offers the cheapest landed cost.

3. Order Defect Rate Patterns
This one is sneaky but powerful. If you see an unusual spike in returns, negative feedback, or claims about damaged or counterfeit items, it might not be you; it might be an unauthorized seller piggybacking on your ASIN and sending out subpar stock.

Watch your Order Defect Rate (ODR) closely. In 2025, Amazon’s system is even more sensitive to ODR fluctuations, which means counterfeiters can drag down your metrics without you realizing it.

4. Business Reports in Seller Central
Drill into your unit session percentage vs. sales volume. If traffic to your listing is steady but conversions are suddenly slipping, it could be because customers are buying from a cheaper unauthorized seller in the “Other Sellers” section instead of you. This mismatch is often one of the earliest indicators that someone has jumped onto your listing.

Also, when you connect these dots across Amazon’s native tools, you’ll start to see the full picture. And once you confirm that a reseller is at play, you can move to the next step: documenting proof and learning how to remove unauthorized sellers on Amazon before they drag down your brand reputation.

Advanced Monitoring Methods (Low Budget to Paid Tools)

Amazon’s own reports can take you pretty far, but as your catalog and sales grow, spotting unauthorized sellers on Amazon manually gets exhausting. That’s where outside monitoring methods come in. Depending on your budget and scale, you can build a lightweight system or invest in more advanced tools to catch unauthorized activity the moment it happens.

Low-Cost: Google Alerts
Sometimes the simplest solutions work out. You can set up Google Alerts for your product ASINs, brand name, and the word “Amazon” can flag suspicious listings outside your sight. It won’t catch everything in real time, but it’s a free and easy first step solution.

Moderate: Keepa or CamelCamelCamel

These tracking tools are lifesavers for sellers. Keepa and CamelCamelCamel provide historical price and seller activity charts, so you can see when a new seller enters the picture, how long they stick around, and how aggressively they undercut pricing. This helps you distinguish between a one-off arbitrage seller and a recurring problem.

Paid Tools: SellerApp & Beyond

When you’re ready to scale your monitoring, investing in dedicated Amazon analytics tools pays for itself. SellerApp’s Reports, for example, let you track Buy Box performance, price changes, and suspicious seller activity in near real-time.

Distributor Agreement Tracking
Even the best tools won’t help if you don’t know your legitimate reseller network. One of the most overlooked strategies is simply keeping clean internal records of every distributor, every reseller, and where they’re allowed to sell. Cross-checking Amazon storefronts against your list helps you confirm whether a seller is unauthorized or just someone you overlooked.

Moreover, the cost of ignoring unauthorized sellers is always higher than the cost of monitoring them. Whether you’re relying on free alerts or advanced analytics platforms, building a layered system makes it easier to act on how to remove unauthorized sellers on Amazon before they impact your Buy Box, your profit margins, or your brand reputation.

How to Confirm They’re Unauthorized

Catching a suspicious storefront is only step one. The harder part is figuring out whether they’re truly an unauthorized seller on Amazon or a distributor you’ve simply lost track of.

Acting too quickly can strain legitimate relationships, but moving too slowly can damage your Buy Box, pricing integrity, and reviews. The key is to confirm before you escalate. Here’s how sellers typically approach it in 2025:

1. Reach Out to Verify
Your simplest move can be the smartest one. You can send a polite and direct message asking for proof of authorization, or a distribution history can quickly clarify things. If it’s a genuine reseller who bought through one of your wholesale partners, they’ll usually be transparent. If they’re reluctant or unresponsive, that’s unusual.

2. Cross-Check Invoices and Sourcing Trails
When in doubt, ask for documentation. Authentic resellers should be able to provide invoices that trace back to your official distributors. No paperwork usually means the products were sourced through gray markets, liquidations, or worse, counterfeits. In 2025, with Amazon tightening its policies around invoice verification, this step carries even more weight.

3. Verify Stock Location and Quantity
Another telltale sign of an unauthorized seller is their inability to maintain consistent stock. Counterfeiters and gray-market resellers often operate with small, scattered quantities shipped from random warehouses or even residential addresses.

By contrast, authorized partners will have predictable inventory flows. If you see inconsistent shipping origins or constant “Out of Stock” notices, it’s a strong indicator you’re dealing with an unauthorized seller.

The goal here isn’t just to play detective; it’s to gather enough evidence so that when you move on to how to remove unauthorized sellers on Amazon, you’re prepared. Amazon responds best when you can back up your claims with data: screenshots, invoices, and clear sourcing inconsistencies.

How to Tell if an Amazon Seller is Legit

You must have been advised to check reviews or look at feedback, but counterfeiters and gray-market sellers have gotten more sophisticated. By 2025, illegitimate sellers can now fake reviews, rotate storefront names, and even seize listings in ways that will make you look twice. If you want to really verify legitimacy, you need to dig deeper.

We have listed few advanced signals and verification methods:

1. Seller Identity Verification

Business Name Cross-Check: Amazon requires sellers to list their legal business name. Cross-reference that name with state business registries, LinkedIn, or company websites. If nothing shows up, it’s often a fly-by-night operation.

Multiple Storefronts Under the Same Entity: Many counterfeiters run multiple stores using variations of the same name.

2. Sales & Buy Box Behavior

Aggressive Undercutting: Legitimate resellers stick close to MAP or wholesale pricing. Sellers slash prices by 20-40% to grab the Buy Box.

Inconsistent Buy Box Activity: Using tools like Keepa, you can see if the seller pops in and out of the Buy Box erratically. Real distributors usually maintain a consistent presence.

3. Geographic & Logistics Clues

Fulfillment Origin: Amazon now discloses “Ships from” locations. If a supposed U.S. brand is shipping from a residential address in Ohio one week and a warehouse in Shenzhen the next, it’s not legit.

Prime Badge Trickery: Some unauthorized sellers route products through Amazon FBA to look credible. Advanced sellers look at FNSKU (Fulfillment Network Stock Keeping Unit) labels in customer returns to see if units trace back to their own authorized inventory.

4. Product Authenticity Verification

Amazon Transparency Codes: Many brands now use Transparency barcodes that customers can scan to confirm authenticity. If a seller can’t provide transparency codes on request, it’s a red flag.

Inconsistent Packaging/Versioning: Check if images or SKU details match official brand listings. Counterfeiters often recycle old packaging or foreign versions (e.g., EU vs. US labeling differences).

5. Data-Driven Detection

ODR & Review Spike Analysis: Experienced sellers monitor spikes in Order Defect Rate, “not as described” reviews, or sudden increases in return requests. A legit seller doesn’t cause those anomalies.

Seller History Tracking: Tools like SellerApp Reports can show when a seller first appeared on the ASIN. If they’ve only been around for a few days but are already undercutting, it’s usually gray-market.

6. Legal & Distribution Cross-Checks

Invoice Validation: Legit sellers can show invoices that trace back to your authorized distributors. Fake ones often provide doctored or unverifiable invoices.

Distributor Mapping: Brands create “authorized seller registries” to identify who’s allowed on Amazon. If an Amazon storefront isn’t on the map, it’s unauthorized

What to Do Once You Find Unauthorized Sellers

Once you’ve confirmed that a storefront is indeed an unauthorized seller on Amazon, the real work begins. This is where many mid-market brands struggle. In 2025, the most effective strategy is a tiered approach: start simple, escalate only when necessary, and always keep records.

1. Document Everything
Before stepping in, it is better to gather proof. Screenshots of the listing, price tracking data, seller IDs, ASIN details, timestamps, and everything that clearly shows the unauthorized activity. Amazon responds best when you can present organized evidence rather than just vague complaints. This makes your case stronger.

2. First Move: Direct Outreach
A firm but professional email can work as well. Smaller offenders, like a local retailer diverting in Amazon reselling, may not even realize they’re crossing a line. A clear message from your side outlining your brand’s reseller policy and asking them to cease usually gets quick results. Keep it polite but authoritative.

3. Escalation: Use Amazon’s Enforcement Tools
If outreach doesn’t work, it’s time to go through Amazon itself.

Brand Registry’s Report a Violation Tool

This is your go-to for unauthorized sellers who are violating on your intellectual property, selling counterfeits, or otherwise misrepresenting your brand. Amazon prioritizes brand-registered sellers in enforcement.

Amazon Transparency Program

For repeat offenders, Transparency adds serialized codes to each product shipped. Only if the merchants are genuine, brand-sourced inventory can pass through the inspection. This is especially powerful in current times, when counterfeiting and parallel imports remain prevalent.

4. MAP Enforcement and Legal Action
If the seller is blatantly violating your Minimum Advertised Price (MAP) or persistently attacking your listings, legal help may be unavoidable.

Many mid-market brands now partner with e-commerce-focused law firms or enforcement agencies to issue cease-and-desist letters. While it’s the costliest option, it also sends the strongest signal that your brand takes unauthorized sales seriously.

Additionally, understand that not every unauthorized seller requires legal firepower, but none should be ignored. By combining internal documentation, smart outreach, and Amazon’s own enforcement programs, you’ll not only know how to remove unauthorized sellers on Amazon, but you’ll also build a system that prevents repeat offenders from undermining your growth.

And here is an example, so this incident happened to a seller:

A hijacker or unauthorized seller appeared on the seller’s Amazon listings, offering product at a suspiciously low price. Even though the seller hold a registered U.S. trademark, have been Brand Registered since 2023, and is the sole manufacturer with copyright protections, the seller persisted. The seller tried contacting directly via email and phone, even sent a cease-and-desist letter, but nothing worked.

Filing a “Report a Violation” through Amazon Brand Registry also didn’t produce results, and the hijacker seems to be digging in, lowering prices, and ignoring all outreach.

The frustrating reality is that Amazon doesn’t automatically remove sellers just because a brand claims exclusivity; they require objective evidence of counterfeit or IP misuse.

What you should be doing is take detailed photos of the packaging, the product itself, and any identifiers that show it’s not genuine. Keep the order ID, timestamps, and note any discrepancies. This transforms your complaint into concrete evidence, which Amazon is much more likely to act on. When you resubmit your violation report, include these photos along with your trademark certificate, copyright registration, and Brand Registry information to strengthen the case.

Once you have the evidence, escalate through the appropriate channels. Use the Report a Violation tool to flag counterfeit or trademark infringement, and if Amazon is slow to respond, request escalation to the Counterfeit Crimes Unit, which prioritizes serious cases.

While your product is still in the process of enrolling in the Transparency program, this test-buy approach is your best short-term strategy. Once Transparency is active, its serialized codes will prevent unauthorized sellers from listing your product in the future, giving you both immediate recourse and long-term protection.

Preventing Future Unauthorized Listings

Catching and removing unauthorized sellers on Amazon is one thing. Stopping them from showing up again is where real brand protection happens. Too many brands spend all their energy chasing offenders instead of tightening the leaks in their system. It is safe to build safeguards now so you don’t have to keep fighting the same battle later.

1. Strong Distribution Agreements
Your wholesale contracts are your first line of defense. Add explicit clauses that restrict resellers from product listing on Amazon without written authorization. In 2025, many brands also require their distributors to share monthly sales channel reports so there’s full visibility into where products are moving. If someone breaks the agreement, you’ll have legal grounds to act.

2. Enroll in Brand Registry & Transparency
Amazon’s Brand Registry isn’t optional anymore; it’s essential. Beyond giving you access to the “Report a Violation” tool, it signals to Amazon that you’re the rightful brand owner. Pair it with Amazon Transparency, where each unit you ship carries a unique scannable code. Unauthorized sellers can’t replicate those codes, which makes it nearly impossible for them to pass as legitimate.

3. Arrange Tracking and Unique Identifiers
You can take control at the manufacturing level by adding serialized tracking, hidden identifiers, or batch codes that allows you to trace where your inventory ends up. If a suspicious seller surfaces, you can pinpoint whether the product came from a rogue distributor or was counterfeit altogether. It also strengthens your case if you escalate to Amazon or legal channels.

4. Educate Your Wholesale Network
Many unauthorized listings start innocently with wholesalers flipping extra units onto Amazon without realizing the consequences.

You can fix this through educating and sharing your enforcement policies, explaining why unauthorized Amazon sales hurt both the brand and its partners, and specifying that violations will lead to account suspension or termination. Transparency on your side builds accountability on theirs.

Furthermore, the easiest way to master how to remove unauthorized sellers on Amazon is to prevent them from ever popping up in the first place. With tight contracts, brand protection programs, and proactive partner communication, you’ll spend less time chasing rogue sellers and more time scaling your brand.

Final thoughts

Unauthorized sellers on Amazon can be an irritation, but moreover, they’re a direct threat to your margins, your customer trust, and your ability to control your own brand story.

For sellers, the risks are even higher: you don’t have the luxury of flying under the radar like smaller brands, and you don’t have the corporate legal muscle of the giants. You’re in a problem where every Buy Box lost, every MAP violation, and every counterfeit review can affect.

By learning how to spot the early red flags, using Amazon’s own reports, layering in third-party monitoring tools like SellerApp, and confirming whether a seller is truly unauthorized, you give yourself the data to act quickly.

With SellerApp’s custom reports, you can flag sudden price inconsistency, track competitors’ ASINs, and benchmark your own performance against unauthorized competition. Our competitor analysis reports reveal who’s really moving units in your category.

Meanwhile, Share of Shelf reports give you a real-time picture of how much visibility you’re losing to unauthorized sellers on Amazon, especially in the Buy Box and Sponsored placements.

But the smartest play is always prevention. Tight distribution agreements, serialized tracking, and educating your wholesale partners reduce the chance of unauthorized listings appearing in the first place.

Additional Readings:

How to Sell on Amazon Without Inventory: A Guide for Amazon Sellers

Top 5 Problems Encountered by Newbie Amazon Sellers

New Product Launch Pro Tips For Amazon Sellers: Achieve Your Amazon Dream Now!

10 Mistakes Amazon Sellers Need to Avoid at All Costs