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Deprecation notice - Critical Messaging in Amazon Buyer Seller Messaging will be deprecated.
Has anyone ever received this message? We just received nine emails from Amazon stating:
"We've noticed you have recently sent a Critical Message via the Buyer Seller Messaging Platform using [Important] in the subject line.
If you continue to send Critical Messages after 04-25-2025 they will be subject to Buyer's opt-out preferences and may not be delivered.
The recommended alternative for Critical Messaging is to use one of our templates found on the Contact Buyer Page in Seller Central or via API in order to proactively communicate with your customers."
Thanks for the additional insight.
Seller_i6S8knzW6zU6Z
Hi @Seller_ZRl2jImJfnYfJ,
Let me help explain what this means based on Amazon's help pages.
Right now, you can use "[Important]" in email subject lines to ensure delivery of critical messages even when buyers have opted out. You can find details about this in the "Send a critical message to a buyer" help page >here<.
After April 25, 2025, this will change. Instead of using "[Important]", we'll need to use Amazon's templated messaging system through either the Contact Buyer Page or API. These templates are explained in the Buyer-Seller Messaging templates page >here<.
The good news is that these templates will handle several things automatically:
- Translations into the buyer's preferred language
- Including required order IDs
- Ensuring delivery of truly critical messages
Hope this helps explain the upcoming change!
19 replies
Seller_kIukTwdhvntAp
"We just received nine emails from Amazon stating"
You've been around for a couple years now. You should know that Amazon does not want sellers communicating with THEIR customers for any reason. If you sent 9 messages to their buyers and it did not involve something urgent they view it as a problem.
How many messages are you sending to AMAZON buyers and for what reasons?
They claim we are 'partners' but anyone who has been here longer than a New York minute knows that is NOT the case. We are only revenue streams for them.
Seller_K1q4JUhS12oHx
I just received this as well. I have not written to anyone 9x (Ferris Beuller) I would say a good 60% to 70% of my messages to customers are never answered.
Seller_XSqPquQH4FvW1
I sent an emai to a buyer offering a price reduction or cancellation because I found underlining in a book. No answer, so I sent another. Then I got this message today, although both were sent from the Contact Buyer Page - because how else would I contact the buyer? Maybe it's a glitch?
Seller_r9wMm8LrE5iKj
Just got this, when responding to an out of Out of Policy Return, explaining that we won't refund, but we will help them with a Warranty Claim with the manufacturer, which is generous and should "delight" the customer.
Whatever template Amazon is going to shove down our throat (or up our b*tt) is not going to allow us to communicate the level of nuance necessary to provide exceptional customer support. Like their own CS, Amazon corp. believes that the entire world can be shoved into a template and script, that the human experience can be automated, and that nothing is lost thinking like a automaton.
Amazon, you are the worst character ever.
Seller_ZRl2jImJfnYfJ
I think Amazon has done something to trigger these. We haven't used the [Important] key in a good while.
Seller_MpXSoTqk9VPqa
I have been receiving them since Friday.
We sell custom items that we need to proof to our customer to make sure they didn't spell their own name wrong.
We use Amazon's "Confirm Customization Details" option to send our proofs so that we can control the wording of the message the customer sees and make it clear to them that we will be shipping the item as proofed when it is due to ship, regardless of whether or not we hear back from them (since most customers never respond).
It is very frustrating to get these emails from Amazon, since I am not the one putting [Important] in the subject line - Amazon is.
I did a test and used Amazon's "Request approval for custom design" option for messaging and I didn't get the Deprecation notice email for that.
Unfortunately, Amazon's wording for that option cannot be edited, and really doesn't work for our purposes since it tells the customer "Once you approve the design, we will complete your order." What if they never approve it? We can't just leave it there unshipped. And if we do ship it to avoid a hit on our metrics, the customer then has the opportunity to say they didn't approve the order.
Long story short, yes, we are getting the emails as well and yes, it is annoying.
Seller_XB0lFaTWAgMqj
We have just started getting these messages from Amazon as well.
Not sure the reason as we do not send critical messages to customers.
Critical Message via the Buyer Seller Messaging Platform
Seller_HP0CuTSNvJvu9
Wow.
No, I haven't seen this...because I don't use the [Important] tab unless IT IS IMPORTANT and the customer NEEDS TO RECEIVE IT.
Guess my cancelation rate is going up. It will be fun canceling the the same customer's orders 5 times in a row because I can't confirm an important detail.
Seller_HP0CuTSNvJvu9
I'm going through my emails sent with [Important] flag. This is all of them. Let's see...
- [Important] Manufacturer Packaging Error - Refund Issued (There were 6 orders for this product, I sent 6 of these emails out to get ahead of the issue and provide excellent service)
- [Important] Quantity Confirmation for your order (Customer ordered 36 cases of 12. I noticed that 36 is divisible by 12. A case weighs 29 lbs. Yep, customer wanted 3 cases. Dodged a really expensive return with that one.)
- [Important] Quality Control found damage during shipment - Refund issued (Dock found damage that occured after order was picked while loading the carrier trailer, good to know huh?)
- [Important] Amazon Order 000-0000000-0000000 - Suite/Apartment Number Required ($1,600 order missing suite#, need that to ship.)
- [Important] Your Requested Return label (customer called for a return, and I offered to send a label. Needed to email it.)
- [Important] Information Required for Shipment of your Amazon Order (Freight order, need to confirm if they have a dock or need liftgate service)
MAYBE some of these weren't required, but they were information that the customer felt was important. There's nowhere to type a message on most of the templates, it's already too difficult to communicate with customers. Now you're going to make it all but IMPOSSIBLE.
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