Problems for Amazon Sellers

#1

We are having nothing but issues with Amazon compared to other third party websites we sell on. Here are the issues we deal with. Do you deal with the same issues or what issues do you have selling on Amazon? We have been contemplating closing our seller account. Tough to actually make money with these issues.

  1. Amazon fees are ridiculously high cutting into almost all the profit. 15% seller fulfilled fee and 30% FBA Fee. Most of our items we would only make 30% on without any fees
  2. Buyers purchasing an item to just return a much less expensive different item. Amazon has never helped with this issue for sellers and seems like a lot of buyers know this or are learning this and it’s getting worse.
  3. If the shipping label is not made on Amazon and customer claims they did not receive the item the buyer always wins an A to Z Claim for item not received. Also being learned by customers and getting worse.
  4. If an item has misinformation it’s a huge pain to get Amazon to fix the misinformation (Most of the time it’s Amazon themselves that have incorrect information when they put the item on Amazon). Takes days to weeks to fix and hours and hours of phone calls to Amazon to get them to fix it. Sellers are responsible for this incorrect information even though Amazon messed it up themselves
  5. Their customer service doesn’t even know their own policies and are badly trained for these policies. Also can be extremely hard to understand the customer service half of the time when calling them. 1 Phone call can easily be an hour+
  6. Amazon will not remove customer feedback if it has to do with the Shipping Carrier not delivering in time or any issues with the shipping carrier. Once a seller gives a package to a shipping carrier we have no control over the item from there. This feedback should be going on the shipping carriers end and not the sellers end. We have used all shipping carries and all have had issues from time to time so impossible to fix this and not fair to sellers.
  7. Sellers are almost always competing with Amazon themselves where Amazon has it set up to win almost all the sales of an item.
  8. Amazon charges a fee to the seller when refunding a customer. Amazon forced free return’s on items a few months ago as well where the seller has to pay the return shipping charges no matter why the buyer is returning an item.
  9. Very high rate of returns from customers on Amazon compared to other third party websites. More Buy and Try then return issues as well. Can’t re-sell many returned items as new because of this.
  10. Amazon does not allow the seller to call the customer. Many situations are easily resolved with a quick phone call. I understand not calling the buyer since Amazon wants their fees and is a great way to skip Amazon but when a problem arises we should be allowed to call the customer to help resolve the situation.

These are the issues that stick out to our company but I’m sure there are many more out there. What issues are you having that frustrate you with Selling on Amazon and does this make you contemplate closing your Amazon seller account like we have been contemplating?

Forum feedback: Threads locked after 180 days
#2

Buyers have no way of knowing where you bought shipping from.

#3

Yes they do USPS if the tracking number begins with 93 it was purchased in Amazon if it doesn’t it wasnt

#4

dont forget amazons recent spat of removing listings without notification and leaving them marked as active in your inventory pages.

#5

For me, the main problem is that Amazon doesn’t offer any kind of seller protection for non-US sellers.

USA sellers can use Buy Shipping services and this will cover them against INR A-Z claims and negative feedbacks. I would love to buy shipping from Amazon if it was possible.

Also, I would like to have Automated Returns with a pre-paid label instead of having to approve every return request on my own.

Amazon needs to wake up and treat all sellers equally.

No.

#6

Its difficult to know where amazon is going with 3rd P sellers at the moment. Looking at the forums, most everyone is clearly unhappy. Since amazon is a billion dollar company and working towards a trillian, 3rd party is not really a radar factor anymore. First quarter “Meaning in years” get the company moving. 2nd Quarter bring in 3rd party to spark the rise. 3rd Quarter , Im so rich who cares what’s next. 4th Sky is the limit.

#7

The ones that know the system do know this with some labels. USPS Labels on Amazon look different then when we print them and these buyers are going to claim item not received either way. Amazon will at least cover it if the label is printed on Amazon so we will now print every label on Amazon.

#8

This is the problem. These companies become Multi Billion dollar beasts and can do whatever they want at the expense of third party sellers like us. It is very frustrating and Amazon just has no protection for third party sellers and the buyers are learning this and burning the sellers. It’s starting to become a lose lose situation. We will start to print all labels on Amazon and hopefully this will stop a ton of these issues we deal with.

#9

Then leave

If Amazon doesn’t fit your business model, find the door

This isn’t rocket surgery

#10

Amazon fees are ridiculously high cutting into almost all the profit. 15% seller fulfilled fee and 30% FBA Fee. Most of our items we would only make 30% on without any fees

The fees are what they are, you can do nothing about it. You can attempt to lower your own personal overhead to account for this, but it is what it is.

Buyers purchasing an item to just return a much less expensive different item. Amazon has never helped with this issue for sellers and seems like a lot of buyers know this or are learning this and it’s getting worse.

fraudulent returns are something, yes, we all deal with from time to time. It is up to YOU as the seller to more diligently document and fight these claims. You have to be on top of it. Amzs policies sometimes make it easier, but you’re using the biggest online marketplace in the world to sell your items. It’s going to seem like there’s more of it, but you’re just dealing with a larger pool of consumers.

If the shipping label is not made on Amazon and customer claims they did not receive the item the buyer always wins an A to Z Claim for item not received. Also being learned by customers and getting worse.
[/quote]

If this is happening to you often, you’re not purchasing and confirming shipments properly. requesting sig. confirmation is the only way to cut back on this. Or purchase through amazon because it is cheaper and easier.

If an item has misinformation it’s a huge pain to get Amazon to fix the misinformation (Most of the time it’s Amazon themselves that have incorrect information when they put the item on Amazon). Takes days to weeks to fix and hours and hours of phone calls to Amazon to get them to fix it. Sellers are responsible for this incorrect information even though Amazon messed it up themselves

Yes, people incorrectly edit webpages. This is my personal hell. Just something you have to deal with. And you could educate new sellers through the forum if you want to be proactive. Otherwise, it is what it is.

Their customer service doesn’t even know their own policies and are badly trained for these policies. Also can be extremely hard to understand the customer service half of the time when calling them. 1 Phone call can easily be an hour+

Sometimes this is the case. But the more rude you are because you are frustrated, the less you’re going to get accomplished. You need to have PATIENCE, because YOU ARE NOT THE ONLY SELLER IN THIS MARKETPLACE.

Amazon will not remove customer feedback if it has to do with the Shipping Carrier not delivering in time or any issues with the shipping carrier. Once a seller gives a package to a shipping carrier we have no control over the item from there. This feedback should be going on the shipping carriers end and not the sellers end. We have used all shipping carries and all have had issues from time to time so impossible to fix this and not fair to sellers.

You can re-open the case and try to have it reviewed again. Over the phone is best for this. But again, you’ll get more bees with honey here. Otherwise, if the decision is final, it’s final. It happens to allot of sellers, but it is what it is.

Sellers are almost always competing with Amazon themselves where Amazon has it set up to win almost all the sales of an item.

You do realize that you are selling on the AMAZON website right? If Amazon can sell it lower, they will. Dont sell the product, move on. This particular gripe is something you need to let go.

Amazon charges a fee to the seller when refunding a customer. Amazon forced free return’s on items a few months ago as well where the seller has to pay the return shipping charges no matter why the buyer is returning an item.

Buyers commit return fraud to not pay return shipping. If your product is badly made or has a high defect rate, then expect this to happen more often. If your return rate is high enough for this to be a problem, than the thing your selling is the at the heart of the issue. Also> These are the fees, nothing you can do about> You really should have read the TOS before entering the marketplace.

Very high rate of returns from customers on Amazon compared to other third party websites. More Buy and Try then return issues as well. Can’t re-sell many returned items as new because of this.

Again, if the return rate is high, then the way you are selling and WHAT you are selling are the issues. Again, nothing you can do about competition as long as it’s not a counterfeit issue.

Amazon does not allow the seller to call the customer. Many situations are easily resolved with a quick phone call. I understand not calling the buyer since Amazon wants their fees and is a great way to skip Amazon but when a problem arises we should be allowed to call the customer to help resolve the situation.

THIS WAS IN THE TERMS OF SERVICE YOU AGREED TO WHEN YOU ENTERED THE MARKETPLACE. You can contact the customer through email. You can contact customer service for assistance on steps to take. You can look through the forum and Seller University tools to figure out the best way to handle problems. Calling the customer is not a resource you need.

All in all, based on your issues I would say that the problem is not Amazon, although there are plenty of issues within Amazon. The problems are your expectations and basic business practices. You can either learn to adapt the challenges here in order to be successful, or get out of the game.

#11

I am not sure where to even start. Generally when I read this I realize that the seller does not have adequate information to protect themselves on the site or have not read up on their TOS.

#12

I would agree that every year it gets worse to deal with Amazon.

Are you going to use a different company? What do you recommend?

I’m quite discouraged as well.

#13

We are very aware of all of this and have read through everything with Amazon’s Policies related to what we posted in the forums. What I’m saying is Amazon makes it an unfair selling marketplace for third party sellers. Most of our returns are the not needed anymore. Not Defect Returns and now Amazon forces sellers to pay for all return shipping charges no matter what the return reason is. Started a few months ago. Return fee is annoying with the amount of returns that are dealt with. We deal on other third party websites that are way more helpful with the issues we deal with from customers. When trying to contact a customer via Amazon messages half the time the customer never reads the message. We have had multiple A to Z Claims saying seller never contacted me about the problems even though we did. Horrible messaging system from buyers end. Competing with Amazon causes massive inventory issues. Items we are competing with Amazon themselves don’t sell and you sit on them until Amazon runs out then you can start to get sales so it’s impossible to order properly from the manufactures. Hard to turn over products on Amazon properly. Most misinformation we deal with is because Amazon obviously does not have a golfer who knows about golf making their own listings. Information is continually incorrect and created by Amazon not other third party sellers for golf products. 90% amazon created and 10% seller for the misinformation we deal with on products. When Amazon has created the item on Amazon it’s 10 times harder to get Amazon to fix the mistake(s) their catalog department made.

#14

You could have just replied: “It is what it is” and added as much to the discussion, except it wouldn’t make you feel superior.

#15

eBay is the best marketplace we deal with. We are making some adjustment’s on Amazon. Printing labels on Amazon is the biggest. Safe-T Claims we almost always lose. Customers just continually claim they received the incorrect product. Multiple customers have returned items we don’t even carry at all and they just stand by the lie that they received a different item even though they did actually receive the correct item so we lose no matter what. Had this happen on eBay more than once and eBay has stepped in to take care of them (Nothing like how many Amazon buyers do this). We are paying them 100’s of thousands of dollars in fees every year so eBay steps in to take care of it. Amazon doesn’t care how much volume you do or don’t do so won’t step in to help in these situations. Hopefully printing the labels on Amazon fixes most of the issues with item not received claims. We will no be closing our Amazon selling account at least not yet. We will make some adjustments and go from there but either way Amazon is a very tough marketplace for third party sellers. The very successful third party sellers are the ones who have a company manufacture the product and are the only ones who carry the product thus can be the only ones selling it on Amazon so no competition from Amazon and other third party sellers.

#16

Then, like I stated, get out of the game. If you find it unfair or unjust then don’t sell in this marketplace. These issues are not unique to you, and it’s not personal. This is marketplace.

And yes you’re right, direct manufacturer to buyer is the only way to really avoid allot of this. You just have to adapt.

#17

It didn’t make me feel superior, but it seems I made you feel inferior. Sorry, that’s not my intention.

But you are right, my main point is it is what it is. There’s are hundreds of threads about these issues and they are not new or unique. You adapt or don’t… Or assemble a legal team and start building a case I guess…

closed #18

This topic was automatically closed 180 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.

opened #19
closed #20