J&J clashes with Amazon over substandard third-party sales

Johnson & Johnson has clashed with Amazon after learning third-party sellers are marketing damaged, discontinued and expired versions of its products through the online retailer.

The complaints relate to the third-party resellers who use the Amazon platform to market their products but have no affiliation with the company. J&J discovered some of these stores are selling substandard versions of its consumer goods, prompting it to pull Tylenol, Band-Aids and other products from Amazon.

While the action meant Amazon was unable to sell J&J products itself, it did nothing to stop third-parties from marketing Tylenol and other goods on the online retail site. The Wall Street Journal reports J&J has now resumed selling some products directly through Amazon, but the dispute between the firms is ongoing.

Amazon has come under fire for its third-party reseller policy in the past. Last year headphone producer Klipsch ramped up its anti-counterfeiting efforts after a series of negative reviews of a product on Amazon alerted it to a third party who was selling fakes through the online retailer.