Hi Amazon Mods,

I have been searching for a clear answer on whether or not a competitor's product imagery violates Amazon's code of conduct and product image requirements policies, but have not been able to find any clear answer and have not been able to effectively report it as a violation through any of Amazon's tools. I'll openly state that this is about a competitor's products so obviously this discussion is motivated. However, the outcome/findings from this discussion will help guide my own strategy to try to stay competitive in the marketplace so I appreciate your feedback.

This particular competitor has recently - in the past few months - added a prominent "#1 Choice" badge onto the product packaging in their primary product image. Almost all of their products have this #1 Choice badge now. None of the imagery of their produt packaging in the comments has this badge and it appears photoshoped. I've searched through their various product details, their posts, blogs, website - there is nothing that substantiates the claim that their products are a #1 Choice. And this badging has a substantial impact on the performance of their products - I paid for A/B testing, comparing their product imagery with the #1 Choice badge against my own product imagery and 60% of respondents chose this competitor's product because of the #1 Choice claim.

When I read through the policies I find two areas that I feel like this violates:

Violation in “Product Image Requirements” policy:

In the product image requirements policy, it states:

"Not include any badges used on Amazon, or variations, modifications, or anything confusingly similar to such badges. This includes, but is not limited to "Amazon's Choice," "Premium Choice," "Amazon Alexa," "Works with Amazon Alexa," "Best seller," or "Top seller." For more details on trademark usage, go to Intellectual Property Policy for Sellers - FAQ about Trademark."

“#1 Choice” is a ‘confusing’ and ‘similar’ badge and a variation that I think can be confused with Amazon’s existing “Premium Choice” and “Amazon’s Choice” badges.

Violation in “Selling policies and seller code of conduct”

This policy states that "Providing misleading or inappropriate information to Amazon or our customers" and "Manipulating sales rank (such as by accepting non-authentic orders or orders that you have paid for, or refunded externally or orders that you discounted externally) or making claims about sales rank in product titles or descriptions" is an unfair activity and is prohibited.

For claims like "#1 Choice" to be valid on Amazon, they should be backed by reliable and verifiable data, no? This feels like a manipulation of sales through unsubstantiated claims about sales rank in the product image. It is false and is misleading consumers.

When I attempted to report this in the Report Abuse form, https://sellercentral.amazon.com/abuse-submission/form/incorrect-content, my submission was immediately rejected upon submission (I received an automated email within 2-5 seconds of submission). I raised a case as well that I'd love escalated if it's relevant - id 16540437701 - but haven't had any luck getting clarity on if it's a violation and whether my abuse claims are valid.

I guess my questions here would be:

1. Is this badge a violation of Amazon's policies, misleading and unsubstantiated?
2. IF SO, should it be reported and pulled down? Who is responsible for doing that given my lack of success with the abuse form and support?
3. IF it is NOT a violation - can I add an unsubstantiated claim like this to my product packaging to keep my products competitive in the marketplace?

Thanks in advance for your support. Tagging some of the mods I've seen in other similar discussions!

@Glenn_Amazon @Tatiana_Amazon @Cooper_Amazon @Danika_Amazon @Jameson_Amazon @Michelle_Amazon @Danny_Amazon @Blake_Amazon @Jim_Amazon @Dougal_Amazon @Quincy_Amazon @Steve_Amazon @Rose_Amazon @Joey_Amazon