Amazon Seller Newsletter: COVID-19 Update (April 2020)
Many of you have reached out and told us about the significant challenges you are facing in maintaining inventory levels, coordinating operations, logistics, and fulfillment capabilities, and in managing your day-to-day business and employees. This is an incredibly difficult time to run a business. Many of you have also shared how you are having to balance this along with changes in your personal lives – including working from home, becoming a full-time educator for your children, and most importantly, ensuring your loved ones are safe and healthy. I have felt these changes first-hand as well, both personally and professionally. This is definitely not business as usual. These are challenging and unprecedented times, but our team is working hard to serve you, our customers, and the community. I wanted to share some of the key decisions that we have made, and some of the things that you can expect from us in the future as we get through this together.
For two decades, we have been fortunate to have the partnership of a vibrant community of sellers in our stores. You have helped provide amazing selection, great prices, and valuable convenience for customers, and this has led to inspiring stories of many businesses that have flourished as a result. Many people around the world are counting on our continued partnership to help provide a vital service for customers worldwide.
In our fulfillment centers, we have updated our processes to ensure the health and safety of our employees, expanded benefits, raised wages, and are hiring rapidly to add additional capacity to our network. For example, in the US, we have hired an additional 100,000 fulfillment center employees and plan to hire 75,000 more.
As a result of these efforts, we are allowing more products into our fulfillment centers. We continue to focus on ensuring our ability to fulfill the highest priority products that customers need at this time. While we are allowing a broader set of products to be sent to our fulfillment centers, some may have limits on the quantity you can send to Amazon. You can find the latest on what products you can inbound on the Restock Inventory page in Seller Central.
As we work to get our fulfillment capabilities back to regular operations, we expect that many of you are also facing challenges in running your businesses. To protect your account and ensure these difficulties do not affect your account health, we stopped suspension of selling accounts for high order defect, high cancellation, and high late shipment rates. These changes will stay in effect through at least May 15, and we will extend these as appropriate. Making reliable promises for customers is particularly important at this time, and we encourage you to put your account on vacation mode if you are not able to fulfill products.
For those who fulfill and ship your own products directly to customers, we have created the following content as a reminder of our policies and best practices. This includes information from our team as well as tips we have heard from experienced sellers in our store. If you have additional questions, please go to our forums – our moderators and a number of experienced sellers can answer any questions you may have.
We have also made several adjustments to fees and other programs to support you during this time, including:
1. Paused repayment of all Amazon Lending loans for sellers in the United States and the United Kingdom until April 30.
2. Waived two weeks of inventory storage fees for products stored in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Poland, and the Czech Republic.
3. Waived the April 15 long-term storage fees for inventory stored in those same countries.
We will continue to make changes as we learn more and adapt to meet your needs and those of our customers and communities. We are doing our best to communicate with you regularly in this dynamic environment, and we created a page in Seller Central that will stay up to date with relevant news related to the COVID-19 situation. In the coming weeks, we will be launching new ways for experts to share what they have learned and are doing to help businesses manage through this difficult time.
We want you to know that many of us at Amazon are working tirelessly to find new ways to support you and your business, and that as always, we are listening when you tell us about your challenges through our support team, the seller forums, or the emails you have sent over the past few weeks. We value you and your honest and open feedback to help us focus on what is most important to you right now.
We appreciate your continued partnership, and above all else, we hope that you and your loved ones are staying safe and healthy.
Thank you,
Dharmesh Mehta
Vice President, Customer Trust and Partner Support
99 replies
Seller_eMQMfwzDFWFyS
Thank you. Can you also expedite the process for getting incorrect information changed? I have had to refund customers because of incorrect titles and bullet points. Support tells me the brand owner controls the page and I can’t get the information changed. I doubt the brand owner put “single unit” in one place and “pack of 6” in another!
Seller_gdoqhjnMvxy60
Thank you so much for all the assistance its seems you have your finger on the heart of the difficulties we amazon sellers are facing. I am hoping to bring your attention to account health issues from suspected property violations to listing restricted items.
I dont know about other sellers but the product listing changes you promised for April are resulting in suspected intellectual property violations on items that we have had inacticve for 9 months, Items that at the time we bought directly from the seller that amazon allowed us to sell.
Then there are updates on restricted policy product violations that did not before exist and we had been allowed to add and the product violations sit hurting our account when we would willingly remove items you have made policy changes to that we were previously allowed to sell. Yet we are punished with product violations that we did nothing wrong with.
The product page changes for April that were promised and we do not object too are hurting us when weve done nothing wrong as I am sure other sellers have not and would gladly remove items taht no longer meet your requirements please put a hold on the bots crawling and hitting us with performance notifications for issues like this a simple please remove the item would do. I jhope you understand there are many sellers suffering this now on top of everything else.
Seller_GVHsZmwiDn02Y
I am glad to read that Amazon is with us during this difficult time. Thank You for Your support.
Seller_DCFkzXP9HeKJd
Thank you. I hope the next step in support for sellers is an intense effort to ship backlogged pending orders. I recognize that shipping orders has been prioritized in favor of essential goods - which is understandable. Now that there is a greater work force and as they gain some experience, can you please put a greater priority on getting the rest of our orders shipped in a more timely manner. Thanks again.
Seller_DvSjE7Huupslz
You are restricting what we can send in to FBA locations. This dramatically impacts Amazon sales and makes it very difficult to make Amazon lending payments. Please consider extending Amazon lending payment due dates at least 1 more month. It will take some time for customers to have confidence purchasing non-emergency type items as well.
Seller_cCzOKNQAUJTHn
Restricted Product Policy Violations are a huge issue. We have had many products removed erroneously removed and our account is at risk. Seller support is not helpful, any suggestions?
Seller_4IIpIYZ3HehXH
Thanks,I cannot see how to change the handling time on 169 FBM listings in bulk.Only by editing each individually.
Seller_o1sx2kY9w8Q5g
Please fix the false positive in the updated price bot that is triggered when it thinks a seller is selling an item grossly higher than others.
109 listings and growing, I have items priced at MAP / retail pricing and the bot is blocking those listings claiming i am violating the fair pricing policy and not a single price violates the WRITTEN POLICY
Seller_TDUBmq5zVK0Ah
Wow - I have never seem that much overt lies and BS crammed into one newsletter.
Where to start
our team is working hard to serve you, our customers
Hqahahahahaha oh wait you are trying to be serious. You treat us sellers like garbage. I can give a clear example… What Amazon is doing to Ed Yu. His mistreatment is clear evidence that Amazon is using Pandemic to harass sellers.
For two decades, we have been fortunate to have the partnership of a vibrant community of sellers in our stores.
We are not partners, we are just another group of independent contractors that you abuse and cheat. Our margins are your opportunity.
Amazon Seller Newsletter: COVID-19 Update (April 2020)
Many of you have reached out and told us about the significant challenges you are facing in maintaining inventory levels, coordinating operations, logistics, and fulfillment capabilities, and in managing your day-to-day business and employees. This is an incredibly difficult time to run a business. Many of you have also shared how you are having to balance this along with changes in your personal lives – including working from home, becoming a full-time educator for your children, and most importantly, ensuring your loved ones are safe and healthy. I have felt these changes first-hand as well, both personally and professionally. This is definitely not business as usual. These are challenging and unprecedented times, but our team is working hard to serve you, our customers, and the community. I wanted to share some of the key decisions that we have made, and some of the things that you can expect from us in the future as we get through this together.
For two decades, we have been fortunate to have the partnership of a vibrant community of sellers in our stores. You have helped provide amazing selection, great prices, and valuable convenience for customers, and this has led to inspiring stories of many businesses that have flourished as a result. Many people around the world are counting on our continued partnership to help provide a vital service for customers worldwide.
In our fulfillment centers, we have updated our processes to ensure the health and safety of our employees, expanded benefits, raised wages, and are hiring rapidly to add additional capacity to our network. For example, in the US, we have hired an additional 100,000 fulfillment center employees and plan to hire 75,000 more.
As a result of these efforts, we are allowing more products into our fulfillment centers. We continue to focus on ensuring our ability to fulfill the highest priority products that customers need at this time. While we are allowing a broader set of products to be sent to our fulfillment centers, some may have limits on the quantity you can send to Amazon. You can find the latest on what products you can inbound on the Restock Inventory page in Seller Central.
As we work to get our fulfillment capabilities back to regular operations, we expect that many of you are also facing challenges in running your businesses. To protect your account and ensure these difficulties do not affect your account health, we stopped suspension of selling accounts for high order defect, high cancellation, and high late shipment rates. These changes will stay in effect through at least May 15, and we will extend these as appropriate. Making reliable promises for customers is particularly important at this time, and we encourage you to put your account on vacation mode if you are not able to fulfill products.
For those who fulfill and ship your own products directly to customers, we have created the following content as a reminder of our policies and best practices. This includes information from our team as well as tips we have heard from experienced sellers in our store. If you have additional questions, please go to our forums – our moderators and a number of experienced sellers can answer any questions you may have.
We have also made several adjustments to fees and other programs to support you during this time, including:
1. Paused repayment of all Amazon Lending loans for sellers in the United States and the United Kingdom until April 30.
2. Waived two weeks of inventory storage fees for products stored in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Poland, and the Czech Republic.
3. Waived the April 15 long-term storage fees for inventory stored in those same countries.
We will continue to make changes as we learn more and adapt to meet your needs and those of our customers and communities. We are doing our best to communicate with you regularly in this dynamic environment, and we created a page in Seller Central that will stay up to date with relevant news related to the COVID-19 situation. In the coming weeks, we will be launching new ways for experts to share what they have learned and are doing to help businesses manage through this difficult time.
We want you to know that many of us at Amazon are working tirelessly to find new ways to support you and your business, and that as always, we are listening when you tell us about your challenges through our support team, the seller forums, or the emails you have sent over the past few weeks. We value you and your honest and open feedback to help us focus on what is most important to you right now.
We appreciate your continued partnership, and above all else, we hope that you and your loved ones are staying safe and healthy.
Thank you,
Dharmesh Mehta
Vice President, Customer Trust and Partner Support
Amazon Seller Newsletter: COVID-19 Update (April 2020)
Many of you have reached out and told us about the significant challenges you are facing in maintaining inventory levels, coordinating operations, logistics, and fulfillment capabilities, and in managing your day-to-day business and employees. This is an incredibly difficult time to run a business. Many of you have also shared how you are having to balance this along with changes in your personal lives – including working from home, becoming a full-time educator for your children, and most importantly, ensuring your loved ones are safe and healthy. I have felt these changes first-hand as well, both personally and professionally. This is definitely not business as usual. These are challenging and unprecedented times, but our team is working hard to serve you, our customers, and the community. I wanted to share some of the key decisions that we have made, and some of the things that you can expect from us in the future as we get through this together.
For two decades, we have been fortunate to have the partnership of a vibrant community of sellers in our stores. You have helped provide amazing selection, great prices, and valuable convenience for customers, and this has led to inspiring stories of many businesses that have flourished as a result. Many people around the world are counting on our continued partnership to help provide a vital service for customers worldwide.
In our fulfillment centers, we have updated our processes to ensure the health and safety of our employees, expanded benefits, raised wages, and are hiring rapidly to add additional capacity to our network. For example, in the US, we have hired an additional 100,000 fulfillment center employees and plan to hire 75,000 more.
As a result of these efforts, we are allowing more products into our fulfillment centers. We continue to focus on ensuring our ability to fulfill the highest priority products that customers need at this time. While we are allowing a broader set of products to be sent to our fulfillment centers, some may have limits on the quantity you can send to Amazon. You can find the latest on what products you can inbound on the Restock Inventory page in Seller Central.
As we work to get our fulfillment capabilities back to regular operations, we expect that many of you are also facing challenges in running your businesses. To protect your account and ensure these difficulties do not affect your account health, we stopped suspension of selling accounts for high order defect, high cancellation, and high late shipment rates. These changes will stay in effect through at least May 15, and we will extend these as appropriate. Making reliable promises for customers is particularly important at this time, and we encourage you to put your account on vacation mode if you are not able to fulfill products.
For those who fulfill and ship your own products directly to customers, we have created the following content as a reminder of our policies and best practices. This includes information from our team as well as tips we have heard from experienced sellers in our store. If you have additional questions, please go to our forums – our moderators and a number of experienced sellers can answer any questions you may have.
We have also made several adjustments to fees and other programs to support you during this time, including:
1. Paused repayment of all Amazon Lending loans for sellers in the United States and the United Kingdom until April 30.
2. Waived two weeks of inventory storage fees for products stored in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Poland, and the Czech Republic.
3. Waived the April 15 long-term storage fees for inventory stored in those same countries.
We will continue to make changes as we learn more and adapt to meet your needs and those of our customers and communities. We are doing our best to communicate with you regularly in this dynamic environment, and we created a page in Seller Central that will stay up to date with relevant news related to the COVID-19 situation. In the coming weeks, we will be launching new ways for experts to share what they have learned and are doing to help businesses manage through this difficult time.
We want you to know that many of us at Amazon are working tirelessly to find new ways to support you and your business, and that as always, we are listening when you tell us about your challenges through our support team, the seller forums, or the emails you have sent over the past few weeks. We value you and your honest and open feedback to help us focus on what is most important to you right now.
We appreciate your continued partnership, and above all else, we hope that you and your loved ones are staying safe and healthy.
Thank you,
Dharmesh Mehta
Vice President, Customer Trust and Partner Support
99 replies
99 replies
Seller_eMQMfwzDFWFyS
Thank you. Can you also expedite the process for getting incorrect information changed? I have had to refund customers because of incorrect titles and bullet points. Support tells me the brand owner controls the page and I can’t get the information changed. I doubt the brand owner put “single unit” in one place and “pack of 6” in another!
Seller_gdoqhjnMvxy60
Thank you so much for all the assistance its seems you have your finger on the heart of the difficulties we amazon sellers are facing. I am hoping to bring your attention to account health issues from suspected property violations to listing restricted items.
I dont know about other sellers but the product listing changes you promised for April are resulting in suspected intellectual property violations on items that we have had inacticve for 9 months, Items that at the time we bought directly from the seller that amazon allowed us to sell.
Then there are updates on restricted policy product violations that did not before exist and we had been allowed to add and the product violations sit hurting our account when we would willingly remove items you have made policy changes to that we were previously allowed to sell. Yet we are punished with product violations that we did nothing wrong with.
The product page changes for April that were promised and we do not object too are hurting us when weve done nothing wrong as I am sure other sellers have not and would gladly remove items taht no longer meet your requirements please put a hold on the bots crawling and hitting us with performance notifications for issues like this a simple please remove the item would do. I jhope you understand there are many sellers suffering this now on top of everything else.
Seller_GVHsZmwiDn02Y
I am glad to read that Amazon is with us during this difficult time. Thank You for Your support.
Seller_DCFkzXP9HeKJd
Thank you. I hope the next step in support for sellers is an intense effort to ship backlogged pending orders. I recognize that shipping orders has been prioritized in favor of essential goods - which is understandable. Now that there is a greater work force and as they gain some experience, can you please put a greater priority on getting the rest of our orders shipped in a more timely manner. Thanks again.
Seller_DvSjE7Huupslz
You are restricting what we can send in to FBA locations. This dramatically impacts Amazon sales and makes it very difficult to make Amazon lending payments. Please consider extending Amazon lending payment due dates at least 1 more month. It will take some time for customers to have confidence purchasing non-emergency type items as well.
Seller_cCzOKNQAUJTHn
Restricted Product Policy Violations are a huge issue. We have had many products removed erroneously removed and our account is at risk. Seller support is not helpful, any suggestions?
Seller_4IIpIYZ3HehXH
Thanks,I cannot see how to change the handling time on 169 FBM listings in bulk.Only by editing each individually.
Seller_o1sx2kY9w8Q5g
Please fix the false positive in the updated price bot that is triggered when it thinks a seller is selling an item grossly higher than others.
109 listings and growing, I have items priced at MAP / retail pricing and the bot is blocking those listings claiming i am violating the fair pricing policy and not a single price violates the WRITTEN POLICY
Seller_TDUBmq5zVK0Ah
Wow - I have never seem that much overt lies and BS crammed into one newsletter.
Where to start
our team is working hard to serve you, our customers
Hqahahahahaha oh wait you are trying to be serious. You treat us sellers like garbage. I can give a clear example… What Amazon is doing to Ed Yu. His mistreatment is clear evidence that Amazon is using Pandemic to harass sellers.
For two decades, we have been fortunate to have the partnership of a vibrant community of sellers in our stores.
We are not partners, we are just another group of independent contractors that you abuse and cheat. Our margins are your opportunity.
Seller_eMQMfwzDFWFyS
Thank you. Can you also expedite the process for getting incorrect information changed? I have had to refund customers because of incorrect titles and bullet points. Support tells me the brand owner controls the page and I can’t get the information changed. I doubt the brand owner put “single unit” in one place and “pack of 6” in another!
Seller_eMQMfwzDFWFyS
Thank you. Can you also expedite the process for getting incorrect information changed? I have had to refund customers because of incorrect titles and bullet points. Support tells me the brand owner controls the page and I can’t get the information changed. I doubt the brand owner put “single unit” in one place and “pack of 6” in another!
Seller_gdoqhjnMvxy60
Thank you so much for all the assistance its seems you have your finger on the heart of the difficulties we amazon sellers are facing. I am hoping to bring your attention to account health issues from suspected property violations to listing restricted items.
I dont know about other sellers but the product listing changes you promised for April are resulting in suspected intellectual property violations on items that we have had inacticve for 9 months, Items that at the time we bought directly from the seller that amazon allowed us to sell.
Then there are updates on restricted policy product violations that did not before exist and we had been allowed to add and the product violations sit hurting our account when we would willingly remove items you have made policy changes to that we were previously allowed to sell. Yet we are punished with product violations that we did nothing wrong with.
The product page changes for April that were promised and we do not object too are hurting us when weve done nothing wrong as I am sure other sellers have not and would gladly remove items taht no longer meet your requirements please put a hold on the bots crawling and hitting us with performance notifications for issues like this a simple please remove the item would do. I jhope you understand there are many sellers suffering this now on top of everything else.
Seller_gdoqhjnMvxy60
Thank you so much for all the assistance its seems you have your finger on the heart of the difficulties we amazon sellers are facing. I am hoping to bring your attention to account health issues from suspected property violations to listing restricted items.
I dont know about other sellers but the product listing changes you promised for April are resulting in suspected intellectual property violations on items that we have had inacticve for 9 months, Items that at the time we bought directly from the seller that amazon allowed us to sell.
Then there are updates on restricted policy product violations that did not before exist and we had been allowed to add and the product violations sit hurting our account when we would willingly remove items you have made policy changes to that we were previously allowed to sell. Yet we are punished with product violations that we did nothing wrong with.
The product page changes for April that were promised and we do not object too are hurting us when weve done nothing wrong as I am sure other sellers have not and would gladly remove items taht no longer meet your requirements please put a hold on the bots crawling and hitting us with performance notifications for issues like this a simple please remove the item would do. I jhope you understand there are many sellers suffering this now on top of everything else.
Seller_GVHsZmwiDn02Y
I am glad to read that Amazon is with us during this difficult time. Thank You for Your support.
Seller_GVHsZmwiDn02Y
I am glad to read that Amazon is with us during this difficult time. Thank You for Your support.
Seller_DCFkzXP9HeKJd
Thank you. I hope the next step in support for sellers is an intense effort to ship backlogged pending orders. I recognize that shipping orders has been prioritized in favor of essential goods - which is understandable. Now that there is a greater work force and as they gain some experience, can you please put a greater priority on getting the rest of our orders shipped in a more timely manner. Thanks again.
Seller_DCFkzXP9HeKJd
Thank you. I hope the next step in support for sellers is an intense effort to ship backlogged pending orders. I recognize that shipping orders has been prioritized in favor of essential goods - which is understandable. Now that there is a greater work force and as they gain some experience, can you please put a greater priority on getting the rest of our orders shipped in a more timely manner. Thanks again.
Seller_DvSjE7Huupslz
You are restricting what we can send in to FBA locations. This dramatically impacts Amazon sales and makes it very difficult to make Amazon lending payments. Please consider extending Amazon lending payment due dates at least 1 more month. It will take some time for customers to have confidence purchasing non-emergency type items as well.
Seller_DvSjE7Huupslz
You are restricting what we can send in to FBA locations. This dramatically impacts Amazon sales and makes it very difficult to make Amazon lending payments. Please consider extending Amazon lending payment due dates at least 1 more month. It will take some time for customers to have confidence purchasing non-emergency type items as well.
Seller_cCzOKNQAUJTHn
Restricted Product Policy Violations are a huge issue. We have had many products removed erroneously removed and our account is at risk. Seller support is not helpful, any suggestions?
Seller_cCzOKNQAUJTHn
Restricted Product Policy Violations are a huge issue. We have had many products removed erroneously removed and our account is at risk. Seller support is not helpful, any suggestions?
Seller_4IIpIYZ3HehXH
Thanks,I cannot see how to change the handling time on 169 FBM listings in bulk.Only by editing each individually.
Seller_4IIpIYZ3HehXH
Thanks,I cannot see how to change the handling time on 169 FBM listings in bulk.Only by editing each individually.
Seller_o1sx2kY9w8Q5g
Please fix the false positive in the updated price bot that is triggered when it thinks a seller is selling an item grossly higher than others.
109 listings and growing, I have items priced at MAP / retail pricing and the bot is blocking those listings claiming i am violating the fair pricing policy and not a single price violates the WRITTEN POLICY
Seller_o1sx2kY9w8Q5g
Please fix the false positive in the updated price bot that is triggered when it thinks a seller is selling an item grossly higher than others.
109 listings and growing, I have items priced at MAP / retail pricing and the bot is blocking those listings claiming i am violating the fair pricing policy and not a single price violates the WRITTEN POLICY
Seller_TDUBmq5zVK0Ah
Wow - I have never seem that much overt lies and BS crammed into one newsletter.
Where to start
our team is working hard to serve you, our customers
Hqahahahahaha oh wait you are trying to be serious. You treat us sellers like garbage. I can give a clear example… What Amazon is doing to Ed Yu. His mistreatment is clear evidence that Amazon is using Pandemic to harass sellers.
For two decades, we have been fortunate to have the partnership of a vibrant community of sellers in our stores.
We are not partners, we are just another group of independent contractors that you abuse and cheat. Our margins are your opportunity.
Seller_TDUBmq5zVK0Ah
Wow - I have never seem that much overt lies and BS crammed into one newsletter.
Where to start
our team is working hard to serve you, our customers
Hqahahahahaha oh wait you are trying to be serious. You treat us sellers like garbage. I can give a clear example… What Amazon is doing to Ed Yu. His mistreatment is clear evidence that Amazon is using Pandemic to harass sellers.
For two decades, we have been fortunate to have the partnership of a vibrant community of sellers in our stores.
We are not partners, we are just another group of independent contractors that you abuse and cheat. Our margins are your opportunity.
