• travelhead 11 hours ago

    After 5 years building BeltBro with 5 patents and 3 million customers, I watched my Amazon sales collapse overnight.

    The reason? 250+ duplicate listings from Chinese sellers flooding my category—all selling the identical product under fake brand names with manipulated (fake) reviews.

    I investigated and found that 42 of the top 100 "New Releases" in Men's Belts are duplicate listings by the same seller network. Same 5.9" x 1.5" dimensions. Copy-paste descriptions. Identical videos. Coordinated launches.

    They aren't just dominating organic searches on Amazon, but they also use Amazon ads to drive tens of thousands of sales per month to their infringing products.

    When I tried to report patent infringement through Amazon's APEX program, they limit me to 10 reports per month. Meanwhile, 100+ new infringing listings appear in the same timeframe.

    Amazon's response when I asked for more reporting capacity? "We are unable to discuss this criteria."

    This isn't just my problem. Chinese networks control 63% of Amazon's third-party marketplace—$35 billion annually—using shell brands to dominate search results and destroy American small businesses that actually innovate and hold patents.

    I've documented the full investigation with evidence in the HN link above.

    If you work at Amazon, represent government, work in media, or have connections that can help—please share this. Small businesses deserve a marketplace that rewards innovation instead of manipulation.