Guide
Seller Investigation Framework
A worksheet for deciding who an unknown Amazon seller is — the questions in order, what each source can and cannot establish, the three honest outcomes, and the record each one needs.
This framework is the worksheet version of How to Investigate an Unknown Amazon Seller. It is designed to be worked top to bottom for one seller in ten to twenty minutes, and to end in one of three outcomes, each with the record it needs. Nothing in it infers authorization from anything observable, because nothing observable establishes it.
The principle
Unknown means "nobody here has decided". It is a legitimate state. The job of an investigation is to move a seller from unknown to a decision the brand can stand behind — authorized, with an entry that explains it, or unauthorized, with a reason — or to leave them unknown with a note about what was checked. "Probably unauthorized" is not an outcome.
Step 1 — The record (before opening Amazon)
Open the seller's history in your monitoring tool. Answer:
| Question | Where | What the answer tells you |
|---|---|---|
| When were they first seen, and last seen? | Seller page | A one-off three weeks ago versus a daily presence. |
| On how many of our products? | Seller page | One product suggests a lot; the whole catalog suggests a supply relationship. |
| Under what names? | Aliases | A previous name you may recognize as a partner. |
| Have their prices been at, above or below our floor? | Observations | Whether this is a pricing problem at all. A seller consistently at or above MAP is not, whatever their standing. |
| Is there a case already? Periods? Recurrence? | Cases | Whether this is new or ongoing. |
| What has anyone here already recorded? | Standing and notes | Whether a colleague already looked. |
Write down the seller id. Everything else in the investigation is keyed to it.
Step 2 — Your own list
Before looking at the storefront, look at yourself.
- Search the Authorized Network for the seller id. (A name search is a hint; an id search is an answer.)
- Search for the storefront name and each alias among your partners' known storefronts.
- Ask the account manager for the territory the seller appears to operate in.
- Ask the distributor for that territory whether this is a customer of theirs, and whether they will confirm the seller id.
A large share of unknown sellers resolve here: a partner's second storefront, a regional dealer nobody added, a distributor's customer. If so, add the storefront to the network with its id and dates and stop; the standing is now explained by an entry.
Step 3 — The storefront
Open the storefront on Amazon and record facts, not impressions.
| Observe | Can establish | Cannot establish |
|---|---|---|
| Business name and address on the seller profile | Who is behind the storefront, sometimes | Any relationship with the brand |
| Seller id | Confirms the identity your record uses | — |
| Product range | Generalist / liquidator (you are one line among thousands) versus specialist (possibly a partner or a partner's customer) | Where the stock came from |
| Fulfillment | Whether Amazon or the seller ships | Whether the stock is genuine |
| Feedback volume and age | Trading scale and duration | Whether they will respond to a notice |
| Price pattern on your products over time | Repricer, clearance, or strategy | Intent |
Do not conclude authorization from a familiar name. Do not conclude anything from a price.
Step 4 — Weigh what you have
Three questions, answered from Steps 1–3:
- Is there any evidence of a supply relationship? A distributor's confirmation; a partner's sub-distributor list; a known storefront alias. If yes → Outcome A.
- Has the brand decided this seller is not authorized, on a basis it can state? An agreement that ended on a date; a distributor's confirmation that they are not a customer; an investigation that found no legitimate source. If yes → Outcome B.
- Otherwise → Outcome C.
Note what is not on the list: below-floor pricing, a generic-sounding name, a large product range, a low feedback score. None of these is a basis for Outcome B.
The three outcomes
Outcome A — a partner you had not recorded
Add them to the Authorized Network with the seller id, the marketplace, the contract reference and the term. Standing becomes authorized, explained by the entry. If their prices are below the floor, this is a conversation with a partner: route it to the account manager, not to the enforcement queue. Consider whether a monitor only exception is appropriate while the conversation runs.
Record: network entry; who confirmed the relationship and how.
Outcome B — not authorized, and decided
Record the standing as unauthorized with the reason, in words a colleague could read and agree with: "Agreement ended 2026-03-31"; "Distributor X confirms not a customer, 2026-09-10"; "No supply relationship identified; sourced through [source] per [evidence]". This is the brand's decision, made by someone with the authority to make it.
Record: standing, reason, date, who decided. If enforcement follows, the evidence package will snapshot this standing at capture.
Outcome C — still unknown
Leave the standing as unknown. Add a note: what was checked, when, and what would resolve it ("awaiting Distributor Y's customer list"). Set a reminder if the tool has one; otherwise it comes back round in the weekly pass. A seller who reappears with more products and lower prices has answered part of the question.
Record: the note. Nothing else changes.
What must never happen
- A seller classified unauthorized because they matched nothing. Matching nothing is Outcome C.
- A seller classified from a name, an address, a price or their own claim. A reply saying "we are authorized" is recorded as a claim and checked against Step 2.
- A notice sent before the investigation is complete. The notice will cite the standing; the standing must be a decision.
The weekly pass
Investigations accumulate one scan at a time. Once a week: filter the seller list to unknown, sort by products observed (most first) or last seen (most recent first), and work the top of the list with this framework. A well-kept program's unknown list is short and consists of storefronts that appeared this week. The Authorized Reseller Management Guide covers the routine around it.