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Privacy of my Sales Data
Privacy of my Sales Data

I worry about you using my product ideas, or other information.

Michael avatar
Written by Michael
Updated over a week ago

Why does it happen that most software creators are also Amazon sellers ? Do they use sales information from other sellers, for their own good?

The reason all software owners are Amazon sellers themselves, is because an outsider would not know what sellers need and how Amazon works.
Most of the time those software owners started as Amazon sellers, saw that they need something automated, hired a developer to create it for them, and eventually decided to open the tool up to other Amazon sellers.

I am also one of them. Being an Amazon seller, I realized there was no other app on the market that could do what I needed, so I started Shopkeeper.

People who run software apps are inventors, creators - they like to create ideas of their own, instead of borrowing them. Plus, they are so busy with the software business, that they usually leave their Amazon business dormant. 

Intellectual Property of Amazon Sellers

I understand the value of hiding your trade secrets. In Amazon business, things like our product, our supplier, our inspection company, our freight forwarder - the whole distribution chain - is our Intellectual Property (IP). Through sweat, stress and hard work - you discover what works and how it works, what makes money and what doesn't - and this knowledge is your power. Any new competitor will first have to spend a lot of time learning and discovering, to get to where you are. 

And the reality is, even if anybody ever finds out what you sell,
it’s very low chance they will actually copy.

To copy, they would need to:

  1. Have the same passion for this product as you, they need to be willing to spend their time on this product. They would have to gain experience in this niche, research, learn, etc - all of which takes time and effort, and if they did not create the product idea themselves, they will quickly loose interest in it.

  2. To invest at least $5,000 of their own money, and that's not easy to do for a product you have no passion for.

  3. After getting the product, they will have to outrank your product, which is already established with reviews and sales history. This is very hard to do if the products are identical. 

So essentially product idea is meaningless to others - they would need to reaaally match up with experience, time and money. I think it would almost never happen. And if they copy, they would quickly loose interest, after hitting the first bump in the road.

We are legally bind by the terms and service agreement of MWS authorization, so we would never exploit your business information, because it can later hurt our own business.

As per Amazon MWS Developer Code of Conduct, we follow these strictly:

  1. Don’t publicly disclose or share information obtained through MWS (for instance, a seller’s sales revenue or an item’s product description) with any third parties. Do not do this even if you omit or obfuscate the seller’s identity or if you share aggregated seller data without identifying individual sellers.

  2. Maintain top-notch information security and controls. If a seller has provided you with access to information about their business, that suggests the seller trusts you. Do not betray that trust. Make sure you take appropriate technical and organizational measures to protect against unauthorized or unlawful access or use of the information the seller provided to you. 

Be assured, your Amazon business information is safe with us. 

We believe in Good Karma points. 

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