What is Amazon Listing Hijacking and How Do You Prevent It?
Listing hijacking is one of the most frustrating challenges brand owners face on Amazon. A hijacker is an unauthorized seller who lists on your ASIN — often selling a counterfeit version of your product or unauthorized gray market goods — and in doing so can win the Buy Box, damaging your brand reputation and stealing your revenue.
What is Amazon Listing Hijacking?
Listing hijacking occurs when an unauthorized third-party seller adds their own offer to your product listing. Amazon's open marketplace model allows any seller to list on any ASIN if they claim to have the same product. A hijacker can undercut your price, win the Buy Box, and ship a counterfeit or inferior product to your customers — all while your brand takes the reputational hit from negative reviews.
Types of Hijacking
- Counterfeit hijacking: seller lists a fake version of your product and wins the Buy Box
- Gray market hijacking: seller lists genuine product acquired through unauthorized channels (expired, repackaged, international versions)
- Diverter hijacking: resellers who acquired discounted bulk stock and are undercutting your MAP price
- Data hijacking: competitor changes your listing content (title, images, description) to benefit their similar product
How to Detect Hijacking
- Set up Buy Box monitoring — if you are the brand but not winning your own Buy Box, investigate immediately
- Check your listing weekly for unauthorized sellers in the "Other Sellers" section
- Purchase test buys from suspicious sellers to verify product authenticity
- Monitor for sudden negative reviews mentioning incorrect product or different product received
- Use third-party monitoring tools like Keepa, Brand Alert, or Channel Defender for automated alerts
The fastest way to detect hijacking is to monitor your Buy Box win rate. If you are the brand owner and you are not winning your own Buy Box, something is wrong. Set up Buy Box monitoring on your top ASINs and investigate immediately any time your win rate drops unexpectedly — do not wait for negative reviews to tell you a hijacker is on your listing.
How to Remove Hijackers
- Send a formal cease and desist notice to the seller's registered email (available in Seller Central)
- File an intellectual property infringement report through Brand Registry if you have trademark protection
- Open a Seller Support case documenting the unauthorized listing
- Use Project Zero (available to Brand Registry members) to remove counterfeit listings directly
- For persistent hijackers, engage Amazon's brand protection team and consider legal action
Long-Term Hijacking Prevention
- Enroll in Amazon Brand Registry — this gives you IP tools and listing authority
- Enroll in Amazon Transparency — unique serialized codes on each unit prevent counterfeit fulfillment
- Maintain strict MAP policies and enforcement across your distribution network
- Register your product UPCs/EANs and trademark to make infringement claims stronger
- Consider Amazon's Project Zero, which gives you self-service removal rights for counterfeit listings
How Brand Registry Helps with Hijacking
Amazon Brand Registry significantly reduces hijacking risk by giving you listing content authority (your edits take precedence over unauthorized sellers), IP infringement reporting tools to submit violation cases directly, access to Project Zero for self-service counterfeit removal without opening a Seller Support case, and the Amazon Transparency program which serializes each unit so counterfeit items cannot be fulfilled through Amazon's network. Brand Registry does not automatically prevent all unauthorized sellers from listing on your ASINs, but it gives you the tools to detect and remove them much faster.
Frequently Asked Questions
Listing hijacking occurs when an unauthorized third-party seller adds their own offer to your product listing. Amazon's open marketplace model allows any seller to list on any ASIN if they claim to have the same product. A hijacker can undercut your price, win the Buy Box, and ship a counterfeit or inferior product to your customers — all while your brand takes the reputational hit from negative reviews.
There are four main types: counterfeit hijacking (seller lists a fake version of your product), gray market hijacking (genuine product from unauthorized channels such as expired or international versions), diverter hijacking (resellers with discounted bulk stock undercutting your MAP price), and data hijacking (competitor changes your listing content to benefit their similar product).
Set up Buy Box monitoring — if you are the brand but not winning your own Buy Box, investigate immediately. Check your listing weekly for unauthorized sellers in the "Other Sellers" section. Purchase test buys from suspicious sellers to verify authenticity. Monitor for sudden negative reviews mentioning incorrect or different products received. Use third-party tools like Keepa, Brand Alert, or Channel Defender for automated alerts.
Send a formal cease and desist notice to the seller's registered email available in Seller Central. File an intellectual property infringement report through Brand Registry if you have trademark protection. Open a Seller Support case documenting the unauthorized listing. Use Project Zero to remove counterfeit listings directly. For persistent hijackers, engage Amazon's brand protection team and consider legal action.
Enroll in Amazon Brand Registry for IP tools and listing authority. Enroll in Amazon Transparency for serialized codes on each unit that prevent counterfeit fulfillment. Maintain strict MAP policies and enforcement across your distribution network. Register your product UPCs/EANs and trademark to make infringement claims stronger. Consider Amazon's Project Zero for self-service removal rights on counterfeit listings.
Brand Registry significantly reduces hijacking risk by giving you listing authority, IP infringement reporting tools, access to Project Zero for self-service counterfeit removal, and the Amazon Transparency program. It does not automatically prevent all unauthorized sellers from listing on your ASINs, but it gives you the tools to detect and remove them much faster.
About Perfality
Perfality is an end-to-end ecommerce and marketplace management agency trusted by 75+ global CPG and DTC brands including Spectrum Brands, Kenneth Cole, Black+Decker, Stella & Chewy's, and Galderma. With 8 years of hands-on experience and a 100+ specialist team based in Jaipur, India, Perfality helps brands grow on Amazon, Walmart, Chewy, Petco, and other major marketplaces through listing optimization, A+ content, PPC management, account operations, chargeback recovery, and data intelligence. Learn more at www.perfality.com.
Perfality's brand protection team monitors for hijacking, files removal cases, and builds prevention programs for 75+ global CPG brands. Let's protect your listings.
