Overview

Amazon sellers are facing a surge of black‑hat attacks that can hijack listings, manipulate reviews, or seize Seller Central accounts. These hostile actions appear abruptly, cut into revenue, and can tarnish a brand’s reputation. Knowing the typical tactics and implementing a multi‑layered defense is essential for preserving sales and buyer trust.

Key Points

• Listing hijack — Fraudsters create a new seller account, upload a counterfeit version of a high‑traffic ASIN, and capture the Buy Box within 24‑48 hours, as seen when a premium yoga‑mat brand lost the Buy Box to a copycat using a different UPC.
• Fake review manipulation — Competitors purchase bulk positive reviews for their own products while flooding a rival’s page with coordinated negative “verified purchase” feedback, causing a product rating to tumble from 4.8 to 3.2 in just one week.
• Account takeover — Phishing emails that mimic Amazon notifications trick sellers into entering credentials on a fake portal, allowing attackers to change the primary email address and lock the original owner out of Seller Central.
• Price‑war sabotage — Automated bots continuously submit lower offers, triggering Amazon’s price‑parity alerts and forcing the legitimate seller to slash margins, for example a $29.99 price being undercut to $24.95 in minutes.
• Brand‑registry bypass — Bad actors register a look‑alike trademark, submit a new Brand Registry request, and then edit product titles or images, enabling counterfeit listings such as “EcoPure+” to replace authentic “EcoPure” assets.
• Supply‑chain infiltration — Some attackers compromise a third‑party fulfillment partner, insert counterfeit units into the shipment stream, and then list those units under the original seller’s ASIN, resulting in a sudden spike in returns and negative feedback.

How Black‑Hat Attack Vectors Operate

1. Listing hijack initiation — The attacker scans Amazon for top‑selling ASINs, opens a fresh seller account, and uploads a counterfeit product with a slightly altered SKU or UPC; for instance, a “Premium Yoga Mat” listing appears under a new seller ID, instantly winning the Buy Box while the original brand’s listing drops to the second position.