Are You As Cynical and Jaded As Me?
Be honest folks......
Who here when they just read the recent beginning of the post "Is there an official who can help..." and already answered "no" and chuckled to themselves before you even knew what the OP was going to wish for help on?
It is a sad state of affairs when 3rd party sellers have become so jaded and cynical (like myself), from the systematic abuse and neglect we've all suffered by trying to sell on Amazon.
I don't understand why, if 3rd party actually represent 50+% of Amazon's business, why Amazon would not want to help us more? Why would Amazon not want to make things easier for us so we can all sell more?
Amazon takes a hefty commission and is always making up more and more fees for sellers to pay. Why then would they not be doing everything they can to make their ecosystem better so they we can sell more; so they can earn more? Like....come on Amazon, help me help you!
Amazon generally makes twice as much as I do on every item I sell, when I sell it. Call me crazy, but wouldn't it make sense for them to actively work to improve the system to help us and encourage us as 3rd party sellers to do even more? I feel like I'm taking crazy pills!
Like; if one of my employees was like "hey man, if you get me a tape gun, a table to work on, and pay me a commission for how much I do, not just how long I'm here, my output would increase 30%", I'd get that done immediately.
Amazon, you have sooo many good people here. I'm not talking about the scammers. I'm talking about the good people here trying to make a living and who actually contribute and add value.
Just a little help would go a long way.
Realistically, if you just did the following, my estimate is that my sales would increase 30% at a bare minimum.
-Give us US based Seller Support
-Enabled US based Seller Support to actually help, not just refer to the "internal team"
-Allow us to modify the ASIN we sell if we have a track record of selling it
-Allow us to speak with customers to provide assistance
-Have a US based appeals team for Seller Feedback that listens to reason
-Give us a loyalty credit for years on platform
-Give us a referral fee discount for maintaining certain metrics (carrot, not stick)
-Charge a restocking fee for FBA returns that are not returned in the same condition as when they were sent
-Guarantee a 2 week receiving time outside of Q4 and Prime week
-Pay us for the sales where you "Missed Fulfillment Promise"
I could go on forever, but you get the idea.
Again, I don't understand why Amazon won't do these simple things that would make each of our businesses thrive and thus make THEM significantly more money. I mean, everyone wins, so why do it?
15 replies
Seller_4zBzdtgCyS9EI
simple!
Because sellers take it!
Because after a ton of units are lost at the warehouse and Amazon wont reimburse, they write it off and send more
Because when they get suspended, they fight like hell to get back in
Because when they unjustly have refunds applied to buyers, they write it off and keep selling like it doesn't happen
Because, even seeing what Amazon does to it's sellers, they continue to feed Amazon more money on the buyer side
Because greed....and survival for some others.
Because
They can.
There is NO incentive for them to spend money on support people when a bot can crash the system just fine and get away with it.....
don't forget, we see only the dirty end of the stick around here. There are millions of sellers and only a few hundred a month reporting horror stories. The rest DON'T EVEN bother to get a solution, they write it off as cost of selling here and don't even care.....
NO BUSINESS ever gives up money or spends more money, out of the goodness of their "heart" because they don't have one. They have an accountant
Seller_kIukTwdhvntAp
"why Amazon would not want to help us more? Why would Amazon not want to make things easier for us so we can all sell more?"
In addition to what @Seller_4zBzdtgCyS9EI has noted, the answer is really pretty simple. OFFSHORE ACCOUNTS that Bezos encouraged as the 'future' of Amazon when he wanted to spend several billion to open a website that FAILED in China.
For every US based seller that gets frustrated, irritated, and, actually leaves there are thousands more offshore accounts being opened and paying those fees.
AND, when one of those sellers loses their account for some cr#$ they just open a different one with false documents and get away with it.
About 50% (or more) of the problems would be eliminated IF Amazon instituted an exam that prospective sellers needed to pass BEFORE they could open an account.
The warehouses would NOT be flooded with shipments that aren't labelled correctly and MAYBE lost items could be located as a result.
The bottom line is cash and Amazon makes tons of it by collecting $40/month from unprepared, inept, incompetent sellers that saw all the stories about how 'easy' it is to sell here and make a fortune.
Greed knows no boundaries at Amazon and has no conscience.
Seller_XSqPquQH4FvW1
I am here because Amazon has a virtual monopoly, and this is where the customers are, unfortunately. But I don't use FBA and I would rather take my books off Amazon than send my valuable stock to them. I am constantly surprised at the number of sellers coming on this forum with their personal problems - "unfair" feedback, why don't I have the buybox, etc. You and 1000's of other sellers.
As to why Amazon doesn't seem to realize that they make money when we sell something, that is a mystery to all of us.
Seller_6fK2KJK28pv1W
Friend - we all are as jaded as you and more....
1) the over 40% in fees
2) the thousands of dollars stolen from us in inventory
3) the broad swath regating of basic brands that we have sold for years
4) the monopolistic grabs on Vans, Adidas, Clinique, and host of others to name a few.
YEAH, WE ARE TICKED!
Seller_4HsL3GZbyDLea
Amazon allows us to sell here in order to see what works and what doesn't work. They make money while we test ideas and build products. We create new ideas, source products, make listings and market those products. Amazon watches the whole time. When we become successful they will find our sources, steal our ideas, undercut us and use their algorithm to sink us and get rid of us.
Amazon actually resents our presence here, but they tolerate us and squeeze us for every penny, use us and then dispose of us like used toilet paper.
Seller_KrIZiAqW5Ddf0
I'd feel a lot less discouraged if at least one of our political parties actually cared about small businesses. We've all been abandoned by the so-called elite class.
Seller_uVvIgjWQGpUJE
You are right about the Seller Support
Seller_QhvrIp4npKDGG
I have a hypothesis. The average front line agent for sellecentral is from India or Mexico. They get ( maybe) minimum wage and for them that is plenty. They are going to hang onto their jobs as if their lives depend on it, because it does. Therefore seller's complaints are not taken seriously. They will make no attempt to streamline certain issues that are a constant problem. They'll not complain to middle management lest they are seen as troublesome. Because...job security. In fact they may go one step further and gum up the works on purpose. I have good reason to believe that is happening. Because of....job security. I'll submit that at the very least 50 percent of cases that an agent attend to per day have been churning through the system for weeks and months already. Because of....job security. You'll notice I say " cases attend to per day"....not cases solved per day. Im sure that are under pressure to "attend" to x amount of cases per day. What is easier than just bouncing your concern right back to you with a vague generic email and then marking that case as closed, for the day at least . On to the next one. The insentive is not there to solve cases because of....job security.
