I bet these were first published in German right?
LOL!

Definitely seem to have the EU in mind.

Definitely makes the agreement appear to be less one-sided.

Definitely will help more bad guys than good guys, but will help good guys who were wrongly caught in the web of policies.

Worth reading all the details.

1. General Terms “Introduction” : we are clarifying seller contractual obligations by defining a discrete set of Program Policies.

“Discreet” ? Why would policies that sellers are to abide by ever be considered “discreet?!”

Maybe I missed something in the translation into English … ?

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article do not necessarily represent my own.

A story posted in Endgadget:

Amazon doesn’t have a shining reputation when it comes to the way it handles its third-party sellers. Merchants have reported restrictions on where they can sell, being kicked off the site for no obvious reasons and issues with counterfeiting. But Germany has forced Amazon to change its attitude, and the retailer will now be overhauling its terms of service for third-party sellers worldwide.

Germany’s anti-trust authority has agreed to drop a seven-month investigation into Amazon’s merchant terms after Amazon said it would amend its Business Services Agreement. The new terms, which will take effect within 30 days, will mean Amazon now complies with European rules governing liability towards its business partners on its European platforms. It will have to give merchants 30 days’ notice – and an explanation – before removing a seller from the platform, and merchants in Europe will be able to take Amazon to court in their own country. Previously this was only possible in Luxembourg.

According to the Federal Cartel Office, other changes will cover product descriptions, ease of understanding Amazon’s terms of services and fairer presentation of customer reviews. Merchants will also be able to appeal against Amazon’s decisions on who bears the costs of returns and refunds.

The changes will take effect in Germany, Britain, France, Italy and Spain, as well as other worldwide sites in America and Asia. In a statement, Amazon said it will “continue working hard, investing heavily, and inventing new tools and services to help [its] selling partners around the world reach new customers and grow their business.”

The announcement comes on the same day that the European Commission[opened a formal antitrust investigation against Amazon, designed to assess whether Amazon’s use of sensitive data from independent retailers who sell on its marketplace is in breach of EU competition rules. It’s perhaps unsurprising, then, that Amazon has conceded to new terms for merchants. As Reuters reports, according to a person familiar with the matter, the European Commission has already been consulting third party merchants for months. So its new terms could well be an attempt to show willing in the face of what could eventually be a hefty penalty.

Would anyone mind explaining to us (Amazon sellers) “in Laymans’s Terms” what Amazons new/revised terms are for “Selling Partner API Terms” (was called “Marketplace Web Service”) mean to the average seller who uses these paid subscriptions or Chrome extensions.

Basically, will this impact the access of general users to have access to these services (MWS now Selling Partners API Terms)

This is found under the “Amazon Services Business Solutions Agreement” and will go into effect. August 16, 2019.

Does this mean that I can FINALLY list collectable diecast farm toys without Amazon demanding that they be fulfilled from their costly warehouses? If it does not, then I really could care less.

Probably has some German influence but also reference the recent law passed in California that aims to protect some of seller’s rights.

Thank you for sharing this.

This doesn’t appear to apply to sellers at all? Just Businesses who integrate with the API?

Unclear how any of these changes would actually stop one of the most rampant abuses on Amazon - people filing manipulative or just completely fake “infringement” complaints. Often these are from other sellers trying to remove competing offers. Anyone remember that seller TOOGOO and friends (from People’s Republic of China)? WOW how many sellers did they shutter? Amazon can still use any one of these so-called “complaints” to shutter a seller without notice. This behaviour appears contrary to the intentions of say the First Sale Doctrine, but Amazon rules are not the same as judicial rules.