Textbook Publishers and Amazon in Conspiracy to Accuse Sellers of Counterfeiting
It appears that textbook publishers have been targeting Amazon sellers in a "massive sting operation". This involves the textbook publishers, Amazon, and a law firm conspiring to falsely accuse sellers of listing “counterfeit” textbooks. The law firm, based in Rockville, MD, is allegedly making these orders from a fictional “Mike Candy”, then reporting them to Amazon as counterfeits.
The goal of this sting is speculated to be the removal of used textbooks from the platform, in order to increase textbook publishers’ profits. Many sellers have reported being restricted from selling certain textbooks, receiving policy warnings, and even receiving threatening letters from the law firm.
Peter Valley of FBA Mastery speculates that Amazon and the textbook publishers have entered into a settlement to crack down on counterfeits. He suggests that this could be why sellers have been receiving these fake orders, then falsely accused of selling counterfeits. If you’ve received a large textbook order from Rockville, MD, the advice is to cancel the order and ignore any threatening letters.
Peter Valley
