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Seller Challenges
Hello Forums Community,
We would like to understand what challenges you have faced or continue to experience as a Seller.
Is there anything that you consider should be a priority to improve your experience.
Looking forward to hearing from everyone who wants to contribute.
Roberto
0 replies
Seller_zrHuWz47MZMp3
Actually respond to Capacity Manager additional capacity requests. I have submitted multiple requests at higher numbers than what it's showing is being approved, yet my requests are always left pending with no answer! The process makes zero sense and does not allow sellers to plan appropriately. Either approve or deny the requests!
Seller_VcRUyfZi9U7qZ
How about changing the ABSURD 4th Q return window? This way people can't purchase a Halloween costume on October 12th and return it on Jan 30th! No questions asked, as per usual. And a reimbursement claim takes me 15 minutes to put together, only to be granted $3.
Seller_MshMnjhXqb3ln
Hi Roberto,
I'm glad to see Amazon at least wants to do something for sellers.
In my opinion, listing hijacking is one of the biggest issue sellers facing right now. As long as your trademark hasn't fully registered yet, you can't get any help from Amazon about listing hijacking. Those Chinese sellers list their trash under best seller's listing with a extramely low price with FBM fulfillment. They collected enought orders during the fulfilment period and abandoned the seller account. They do it again and again without any punishment.
Amazon needs to do something to fix this issue.
Seller_Sram36TnVt73c
stop the variations abuse.
B0D62H7CTQ
B0CSFRF4BT
B0D62JCV3T
B0D4M1N4FF
These four ASINs have initial reviews for various random products, but the more recent reviews indicate this product is BURNING BUYERS. This was accomplished from generating inappropriate variation families using mostly dead/old listings.
Reported several times over the past 3 or 4 weeks, nothing happens.
Seller_ADSpSELQ5dOvX
Roberto,
1. Fix messaging, sometime it's important to get a hold of a customer and messages are a joke on this site. Don't have issues anywhere else. Calling is disconnected 70% of the time after you put all the information in. Give them a notification on the buyers site, it's like 10 screens to get to messages. I've always wondered how this was supposed to help buyers feel comfortable on this site when they can't get in touch with sellers.
We've had customer reach out and never get our response.
2. Seller support, they need to be able to support seller when we need assistance. I've seen and been told multiple times to do things that would shut my store down.
3. Hijacking of listing, this needs to be done with. Somehow people are able to take over a listing but we can't even edit our own listing half the time. When again contacting seller support to fix this we are told we aren't the brand owner and the endless nightmare that goes into this. Why is it easier to make a new listing then get the one you had back? Why isn't the seller instantly shut down when this is brought up?
4. Have some faith in your sellers to know what they are selling. Stop trusting robots so much.
We are constantly having to fix: categories (seller support is useless), descriptions being removed, photos, you name it. Just randomly gone and we can't fix for whatever reason, and seller support is seller support. Variations are a headache.
5. Lets go back to the old returns where we can protect ourselves from theft and abuse. This goes in hand with feedback. Impossible to get it but yet held so highly.
Seller_HRcJa1gdGHeov
As many other sellers have said the Seller Support is beyond bad, support agents are not trained properly and seem more concerned with closing casing that actually solving the problem. There is no accountability for Seller Support and bad performance seems to not only be tolerated but rewarded.
The one area that Amazon needs to desperately change is Account Health. This system is beyond broken; with many false positives from poorly programmed bots and the unwillingness of Account Health personnel to question the bots output you are getting good sellers suspended at an alarming rate!
Once suspended the path to re-instatement is beyond difficult and often is equivalent to a lottery ticket; just have to keep trying and hope you get lucky enough that someone will take the time to do the work and help you out.
Seller_p4aHGJV2iziFh
Fighting the mis-programmed BOTs have been a major issue for quite some time. @Roberto_Amazon
Having my brand hacked by a Chinese seller? Devastating as Amazon will not fix the obvious infraction and Seller Support is a clueless group designed to stress sellers out and waste our time explaining truths over and over. Copy and paste should never be a response to a serious seller issue.
Seller_fp2EbK8u09inn
Hi,
We have been sellers here since pre-launch on auctions & zshops and think we are the oldest of the remaining sellers on the platform (we were told we were #2 at the very start).
Amazon has in recent years managed to cultivate a pattern of bad buyer behavior that is unique among all the platforms we sell on (including Abebooks which Amazon owns and has far, far less issues). You are less than 10% of our sales and over 90% of our returns and fraud.
This is coupled with a mystifying tolerance for bad sellers and outright fraud (used items systematically sold as new being my #1 favorite).
I'd really like to understand from someone in charge what the company's goal is with this, and how your current policies work towards that goal.
Seller_5CZXqXVJFRqfg
1. I needed to say goodbye to a product I produced/fashioned out of silk (repurposed this fabric to provide true value and solutions to customers) because one sunny day this product got somebody in China's attention. And no matter how many test buys I did, and submitted the info to Amazon, tomorrow a new seller (Just launched or with a 50% feedback rate or less) was on and tanking the price, grabbing the bb with unlimited quantities and shipping customers completely unbranded, generic POLYESTER versions of this product.
Reviews went bad. And I was out of sales very fast. Who would buy a silk cloth at $11.99 when you could get "it" at $7.99? And of course sellers couldn't figure out why they were paying $7.99 for a product they could have gotten for $4.99!!!! And the product was just another one of those polyester stuff EVEN THOUGH the product title clearly stated that it was silk. What a scam!
And no...this is a product that was selling on Amazon for years...so I didn't have brand protection on it. The name has not been trademarked. I have not expanded this product line and didn't think it was worth the money to get the brand officially trademarked, since usage of the brand already gives me legal ownership over it anyway. And ...I see registered brands don't do much better with these issues...so what's the point?
2. Fair pricing isn't quite fair...to the seller. I am very often forced to sell products at a loss. This is a marketplace. Isn't it?
3. Investing 20-30k in a particular brand. Then suddenly getting notification that the brand is gated with a very ungenerous cutoff date until when I may continue to sell the product. Hi. Hello. Do you realize I just put in an order today? Do you realize it takes about a week to arrive to my prep center, another couple of days until my prep center acknowledges receipt, a week until the plan actually ships and who knows how long until it gets received by Amazon. Hi. Hello. Do you realize that I purchased inventory for Q4? About a 3 months supply?
Seller_LTGJyCqEDySii
1) As a seller of used books for many years, Amazon simply doesn't care about our business. They have lost (or inventory stolen) and I have been told that they won't look for it without an invoice. Used items don't have invoices. If Amazon doesn't want used items, why not just allow new listings only on all products?
2) Support is a joke. I get form responses and rarely do I get an actual answer to the questions that I ask. The other day I started a chat in hopes of having an interaction. The person entered the chat and didn't say anything, even after I sent a couple of messages. After 10 minutes, I gave up.
3) "General Adjustment" is an unfair practice. I asked what it was, and I couldn't get an answer. Why not make it more descriptive? The lack of transparency is disturbing.
4) When using FBA, if the shipment is late, Amazon refunds the buyer and then the seller (me in this case) has to wait a foolish amount of time to actually get paid, when it wasn't our fault.
5) Buyers take advantage of Amazon's more-than-liberal return policy to use our bookstore as a library/movie rental store. They use the items, hold them for as long as they can, and then return them claiming that they were defective when they weren't.
I think the most recent lack of willingness to even look for a used item, even though it was actually received and sat in a warehouse for 10 days (see point one) is probably the last straw for me. I just celebrated 25 years of business, almost all of which have been with Amazon. It is clear that Amazon doesn't want sellers like us anymore, so we will find other places that might care for us more. And I think that's the overall problem - Amazon has gotten so big, it just doesn't care.
Seller_IhPj9y9nSkKJV
Too late. Amazon managed to screw US based sellers with cheap junk from China, and the entire seller platform as well as seller "support" is complete garbage at this point. I could write a book, but I already waste too much time over the years.
The biggest problem? That this request for feedback is as useless as the feedback buttons on the website. NOTHING gets improved, only complicated.
We are about to dump this platform, and as a brand, we will order our dealers to remove any of our products on Amazon as well. Meanwhile we will invest all resources into our own online shop and new platforms.
Its time to send a message. Here it is.
Seller_TTc5Vo48AaOHg
It has been over a year now since I have listed any new products on Amazon, begun any ad campaigns, created any new EBC, added video, ran any experiments, tried any of the suggestions from Brands, or done anything to move my business on Amazon forward. Here are the basic reasons for that:
1. My time is consumed with the daily navigation of the maze, i.e., returns, bogus INR claims, and the current need to micro-manage every shipment to protect metrics instead of providing the best service. I constantly check messages, metrics, and announcements with dread.
2. The constant anxiety and fear of harsh consequences for things we cannot control, such as buyers' subjective and often factually inaccurate opinions, the lack of protection from outright scammers and thieves, the devious and destructive actions of unethical competitors, and the failures of carriers, drains away energy, motivation, ambition, and creativity.
3. The errors and problems created by the bots and the lack of an easy and efficient path to resolve even the most simple issues. This is especially true with misidentifying products as 'restricted' when they are not and the potential associated damage to one's Account Health that can result.
4. I am a rule follower with a low tolerance for risk. So, when I began selling on Amazon 15 years ago, I learned and followed the rules. I run my business ethically, provide prompt, friendly, and professional customer service, and stay squarely in line with policy.
I never feared being suddenly suspended or encountering any problem or inadvertent mistake that would be catastrophic. It's not that way now. Amazon has become an extremely hostile work environment. We now have to view every interaction with Amazon buyers, the carriers, and the venue itself with suspicion, unease, fear, and distrust, and that kind of climate is not conducive to making plans, setting goals, and devoting time and resources, which have become scarce, to try and expand and move onwards and upwards. Everything has become about just surviving.
Em
Seller_CW0P5hgbsiqWX
BUYER RETURN FRAUD!
To which Amazon has yet publicly address with buyers.
Possibly @Roberto_Amazoncan get Amazon to attach a message to all buyers warning them of the consequences stated at the Amazon Accelerate Conference.
Seller_3qllv6SY8mdjV
2 Month receive times at your warehouses are totally unacceptable. Sellers cannot be expected to keep reasonable inventory levels when shipments might be received a week later or over 2 months later. ABQ2 and PSC2 are the main offenders right now, and something needs to be immediately done to re-route shipments to other warehouses if these ones are full.
Seller_IMsC7YIe1vuDn
Please make it one click to compare prices with other sellers on the manage inventory page.
As a used book seller, repricing for is necessary on a regular basis. And with thousands of listings, the new format makes it nearly impossible. Please bring back the one click format. PLEASE, PLEASE, PRETTY PLEASE!!!!!
Roberto_Amazon
@Seller_IMsC7YIe1vuDn Hello there! We recently hosted an Ask Amazon event (Closed) to collect feedback related to the manage inventory page:
If you have additional questions or feedback about the Manage All Inventory page, please feel free to include them in a new thread in the Create and Manage Listings category.
Seller_Qbd0RsfZFEZBY
FBA expense per unit, not per order which eliminates any advantage to offering multi unit discounts for FBA offerings.
This also is a clear conflict of interest with serious ethical implications as it is known that the expense for fulfilling a unit goes down exponentially when there are multiple units in an order.
Seller_Qbd0RsfZFEZBY
Amazon sellers cannot set there own price independant of there competition due to Amazon Fair Price Policies.
This is known as "price fixing" and is illegal.
Seller_znqw4n02gkaBY
It's extremely frustrating when buyers send over addresses that are not correct. When you message them about it, the majority never get back to you. Because Amazon requires to ship in a certain time, we end up sending packages out that we know we will be getting back.
Seller_6JI9Tvk6B4iD4
I have been a used and rare dealer of books on Amazon since 2001. I think that I know best what the value, and the prices, should be on my books. You tell me my prices are too high? Prove it. I have one rare book - now moved to another site - that I first had priced at $35. First you told me it was priced too low, so I raised it to $60 to match the other copy. Then you told me that it was priced too high - but when I lowered it, I find that the only other seller with a copy of this book has removed their copy as well. So now nobody has this rare book for sale on Amazon, when I know that I have previously sold at least one copy here in the last 18 months. Your loss - I have already sold another copy of the title on that other site.
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