Seller Challenges.
Hello all Sellers,
We would love to know what challenges you have faced or are still facing as a seller. Additionally, is there anything you'd like to improve, but don't know how to?
Jurgen
10 replies
Seller_7LrAV0m5llaI7
-Seller Support needs to return to North America. Forum moderators should not have to do seller support.
-Account Level Reserve should be wiped out for trusted sellers with a real business after a certain time period or account health level. eBay pays out in 2 days, not 3 weeks. It's murder on cash flow for a small business. Accounts are NET30 with wholesale suppliers. You cant get FBA inventory shipped, received and sold and paid out within 30 days with Amazon's current payment system when it takes Amazon 3 weeks to pay out after a sale and FBA receiving delays of 2-3 weeks. We have a shipment sent the 3rd week of July and it still hasn't been received yet, it is now August 15th.
-Amazon AI robots updating the title of a listing to something that isn't correct, and seller support not accepting of it and allowing it to be changed back, even with proof. This causes loss of sales for both Amazon and the seller.
-Items in the wrong category even with proof. I have a car wash soap that Amazon has in the Pesticides category. Every 3 months they take the listing down due to it being a pesticide and then it takes a couple months with seller support to get it back up again, and it repeats every 3 months because it's in the wrong category and seller support won't change it, because there is no common sense with seller support anymore, they believe a car wash soap requires a Health Canada pesticide number, because that is what the AI tells them (which is wrong). This is down for 2 months every 3 so for almost 6 months of the year the listing isn't buyable, which sends Amazon's customers to other marketplaces to buy it. Amazon loses out on the sale and Amazon's customer has a poor buying experience.
-Amazon not allowing sellers to update the photo of the item when the brand changes the packaging. This makes the customers thinking they are buying old stock compared to other marketplaces, and Amazon loses out on sales due to an outdated picture that just will not update no matter how hard we try.
-Amazon deactivating listings for price being too high. Well, Amazon requires all Canadian customers to pay the same price including shipping to any address, with the exception of the 3 northern territories that can be a different rate. When you shut a listing down due to competitive price, it isn't including the shipping on the competitors website/marketplace, so therefore it's false as we offer free shipping on Amazon, and then Amazon's customers can't buy it for 3-4 weeks while you deal with seller support to fix the issue, and Amazon's customers have a poor buying experience and have to buy the item elsewhere and pay more until you finally get your case escalated at seller support and get someone who understands pricing.
-When a customer returns an item via FBM, the customer has no spot to upload a return tracking number, and the customers never message the seller the tracking number so they can keep an eye out for their return and provide a refund when it comes back in a timely manner. Sometimes stuff gets delayed or lost and then the customer asks "Where's my refund" and we're like "Where's the item"? Even eBay has this figured out.
-Amazon losing inventory at FBA. Why don't they take responsibility after we prove ownership? Amazon quite literally steals inventory they don't own.
-A to Z claims where Amazon does not follow their own policies, it is currently a Shoot First, ask questions later system, despite what Amazon policies says
-A to Z claims are still hitting Order Defect Rate for the Canada Post Lettermail exemption for orders under $30. This has been broken for 2 years. Those orders are exempt from tracking in the Canadian Marketplace. It should not be hurting a sellers Order Defect Rate.
-Offshore sellers hijacking listings and selling counterfeit items and Amazon blaming us the real sellers and not doing anything about it. Then we create a new listing to be able to get the product up for sale again and get a violation for a duplicate listing....*facepalm*..... since the OG listing still has some of the original attributes that are duplicated and Amazon's AI picks up on that in the back end of the item description.
-Amazon suppressing listings where there is actually no issues with the brand Name or UPC/EAN barcode, even after proof is given to seller support
-Hazmat/Dangerous Goods Storage in Canada. Build some new warehouses or rent some more space for Hazmat. Amazon's customers are paying way more than they should be when a seller has to FBM hazmat themselves.
-Still No Partnered Buy Shipping in Canada for FBM, but with the way it looks like it's going in the US forums for customers for buying shipping, Amazon isn't protecting the sellers even if using buy shipping, and since Canada doesn't have safe-t-claims, won't really make a difference anyways
-The Purolator Tracking Issue is Still Ongoing since April and it is now August. Some fraudulent customers see this on their app that there order is lost 2 days after delivery, and file an a to z claim, only for it to update on the 3rd day, but then the A to z claim is already auto approved.
-Feedback removal needs to be improved as the bots reject feedback removal for product reviews, and customers should not be able to leave negative feedback or any feedback for that matter for buyer cancelled orders
Seller_xwrlvWEgt08EH
Been selling FBM on Amazon for 14 years. It used to be great, but is a shell of what it once was, and is on pace to become more hassle than it's worth.
Agree with all of what JPart2 noted. And to add to that list, my DAILY frustrations with selling USED K-12 Textbooks on Amazon's marketplace:
1. STOP deactivating listings due to your bot's ridiculous "high price alerts". This is supposed to be a marketplace - let the customer decide if they want to order!! There are no hidden costs for the customers, they can see the price and decide to purchase or not. We have hundreds of listings deactivated which not only hurts our revenue, but also does not provide Amazon the ability to earn commission and closing fess on them. Where's the logic in that?
2. STOP messing around with our shipping costs. We get weekly messages that listings have been deactivated because we are charging too high of a shipping rate. Well, we are NOT. It costs over $20 to ship a 1.5kg hard cover textbook across Canada with tracking, let along signature to avoid A-Z scams. From BC to Atlantic Canada it can be $30+ to remote areas. Let the customer decide if they want to order!
These forms have loads of content about how FBM sellers see how Amazon is making their life harder and harder every year. Many conclude that Amazon is purposely wiping FBM sellers out. I'm sure they have their reasons, but they earn millions, if not billions of dollars each year from commissions, closing fees, and monthly fees from FBM sellers who do all the work. It costs Amazon virtually nothing when we make a sale and pay them commission. Why get rid of that kind of revenue stream?
I can tell you right now we will NEVER go FBA. The complete incompetence Amazon shows on a daily basis is shocking, and we will never EVER allow our business to be at the whim of their employees. If FBM goes, so will we.
Seller_BE6kG3AuJzznl
Thank you for the opportunity to speak on some of the struggles that Amazon Sellers currently face.
It is beyond my comprehension how we can apply to be ungated in a product, receive approval, buy the stock, ship it to Amazon and then receive notice that we have stranded listings because Amazon has restricted the product. Seriously, this can all happen in under 7 days.
In almost 100% of these cases, within a few days, Amazon is now selling.
Or, Amazon sellers actually have a profitable listing, it is doing very well which is currently not common. It used to be. Next thing, Amazon is on the listing.
It is a great business model for Amazon. Allow the third-party sellers to build the listing, Amazon makes a ridiculous amount of profit, then Amazon takes it over and the third-party seller is left with inventory to remove and attempt to dispose of and lose even more money.
I think it is important to note here, that Amazon makes almost all of their money from third-party sellers.
The high price errors as indicated by @Seller_xwrlvWEgt08EH. With the fees that sellers have to pay, we don't have an option to have higher prices in some cases. If a customer wishes to purchase at the higher price, why deactivate the listing?
The bots... If the bots are responsible for choosing listings that aren't correct, please have an actual human review.
I have had numerous listings closed for absolutely ridiculous reasons.
An ingestible product that they indicate is a pesticide. Or any variation of this.
Mainstream products that are sold in every retailer across Canada that is deactivated because it doesn't meet Health Canada Guidelines.
The best part, is there are always 4-5 reasons why the listing was deactivated. You aren't told which reason is your issue and you can no longer even see the listing to see if the french language inclusion was potentially missed off of one photo.
We should always be able to see the listing after deactivation.
I have also had listings that Amazon has gotten on and completely changed the product. This is very dangerous. If i don't reopen the listing when I am replenishing, I am now sending an incorrect product for a listing that should never have been changed. How does this happen? I now spend hours reopening listings that I shouldn't need to. And what about the sellers that don't realize this is an issue?
I am a member of many different online groups. I now understand why many long term sellers are moving to different forums and closing their Amazon Seller Accounts. These are long term sellers!
I love the idea of the Amazon space. However, with all due respect, I think Amazon needs to understand that it isn't untouchable.
Where is the respect for the many third-party sellers that bring Amazon the money that allows them to sell their listings at losses?
I have so many more examples...
I will let others have their turn to speak.
Respectfully,
Jenn
Seller_LTv2zrpA8Qcn1
Been selling here for 15+ years. My suggestions are not exhaustive but most detrimental to my selling abilities here.
1) AMAZON SHOULD PAY FOR ALL A-Z CLAIMS, FOR WHICH ITS OWN POLICIES ARE NOT BEING FOLLOWED, WHEN GRANTING THESE CLAIMS. At least (AT LEAST!) Amazon should acknowledge this problem has been happening for a long time.
Clearly, it is Amazon who benefits from the reputation of readily granting A-Z claims, and should therefore pay for that (wrongfully gained) reputation.
2) STOP WITH THE HIGH/LOW PRICE ALERTS. They are irritating, mis-informed, financially unsound, misguided, baseless and embarrassingly unsophisticated in their logic.
3). Sadly, I've given up on making suggestions for Catalogue changes (of conflicting book titles, images, etc). Even when providing proof (which is often very time-consuming), nothing happens. Now, I just dump my items which don't match the catalogue.
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This is NOT directed at Jurgen specifically, but I do wonder about these Tell-us-what's-bothering-you surveys:
- What is actually done with our contribution?
- Who looks at our responses?
- What are the plans on re-acting to them?
- What would the needed changes depend on??
- What is done with the daily surveys we've been responding to for years??
- Are we being appeased??
I ask these questions because it is not difficult for Amazon to simply look at these forums to know what needs improving. (I'll do it for free, if they ask me).
Seller_PvunyCQQFBOX7
Hello,
I have been working with the FBA model on Amazon for exactly one year. During this time, I have faced many seemingly pointless issues and have tried to contact customer support many times due to these problems. Amazon is completely ineffective at resolving issues. This is the most significant problem. Despite clearly defining the issue, 99% of the responses I receive are either meaningless or unhelpful. I actually know what causes this problem, but I am skipping mentioning it because you might consider it racist.
Secondly, there are the common shipping issues everyone faces. For example, lost shipments, incorrectly counted packages, constantly postponed investigation dates, etc. Similarly, after creating a shipment, you automatically show us a warehouse address, say in City A. After we send the products there, you tell us that you will send them to City B instead. And this period can sometimes exceed one month. Personally, many of my products are not sold with the Prime label due to the FC transfer nonsense, and because delivery dates are very late, they are not preferred by customers. If my products are going to another warehouse, why don’t you initially ask us to send them there?
Also, for one of my current shipments, there are 87 items in a box, and only 22 were counted on the day of delivery. It has been 5 days like this. I don’t know if the worker who received the box got tired after counting 22 items and left the rest aside or threw the box around. And I have to wait one month to investigate this because that’s how Amazon wants it. Why? Amazon wants it this way. I think you need to overcome these kinds of nonsense. We are running a serious business here and make great efforts every day to comply with your rules.
I have been selling on Amazon for exactly one year, and there has been no serious violation of my account. Yet, whenever I encounter a problem, I can never reach a solution. The most recent issue is with insurance. You sent an email about insurance requirements for sellers like me selling in Canada and recommended two insurance companies. The email says so. Have you spoken with the insurance companies you recommended? They say they don’t provide insurance to clients who are not based in Canada. Since my company is based in the US, I cannot obtain insurance from the companies you recommended. Moreover, there is no "insurance information" section on the Canadian store, even if I had insurance. If I were to get insurance, I would have to enter this information into the US store, but I do not sell in the US. I opened a case about this 15 days ago. They told me every two days that they were investigating the issue, and the final response was “Ensure your insurance covers Canada.” I didn’t even understand what problem this response was addressing.
I apologize for the length, but in summary, as sellers on Amazon, we are completely left alone when we face issues. Sometimes, I really wonder if it is worth all this effort. I hope you will fix some of these things.
best regards.
Seller_7LrAV0m5llaI7
I just wanted to add some more issues and challenges we have faced this year as an amazon seller:
-We had a listing deactivated for a product recall. That was news to us, as we have a brick and mortar store and the brand owner would have contacted us directly to pull the inventory as we are an authorized reseller.
We checked the Canadian Government product safety recall database and there wasn't a single item recalled by the brand owner here in Canada.
Imagine our surprise once we contacted the brand owner and asked them about the recall, and they said "What recall?" I asked, is there any recalls in North America in the past for this product, and they said no.
Ok, a copy of that statement from the brand owner should be enough to get seller support to rectify the issue within 24-48 hours, you would think. ABSOLUTELY NOT.
It took 4 months back and forth with seller support. They kept asking for a "letter from the brand owner that signifies the end of the recall", which the BRAND OWNER COULD NOT PROVIDE because, THERE WAS NO RECALL!
All they kept doing was copy pasting that quote "letter from the brand owner that signifies the end of the recall", "letter from the brand owner that signifies the end of the recall", "letter from the brand owner that signifies the end of the recall". Even when the brand owner had signified that THERE WAS NO RECALL, Amazon made it up themselves.
After further investigation, escalations, the jeff executive seller support email, and seller support moderator escalations, I finally hear back from the Amazon product safety team 3 months later, where a part number in NORWAY, completely different from the north american part number, completely different formulation, was recalled in NORWAY. not NORTH AMERICA. And that the product safety team had started taking down listings in North America that was similar to the item in Norway and then the AMAZON product safety team decided to take it upon themselves to classify it is a GLOBAL RECALL for that BRAND, all by themselves. Even though, the manufacturer and brand owner DID NOT RECALL THE ITEM.
This was 4 months that a listing was down of a top selling item, usually within a 2 to 3 digit sales rank in it's category, that Amazon's customers could not purchase the item from Amazon and had to purchase the item elsewhere.
Amazon themselves even sell the brand as well and have a direct connection to the brand owner!
This is something that should be taken care of with support within 24-48 hours, not 4 months. Common sense has eroded from seller support, and it seems in some cases, the escalation team as well
Seller_dHNG4PrDTSCCE
Hello Jurgen,
The lost return processes are extremely difficult and completely disconnected from the context, soulless automatic responses are received.
Case ID15853594581
Although 1 shipment was delivered to the Amazon warehouse and I proved with a Fedex document that it was delivered and who received it from the Amazon warehouse, the response I received is as follows;
We checked and verified the count a second time, we do not have a record of this delivery.
Although I have repeatedly stated in many cases that I am a very serious victim, my victimization is not resolved in any way. For example, you can approach this process sincerely and make improvements and developments.
Seller_zeFcCxS46gcIy
You are opening up Pandora's Box...but then again if you and the other concerned Amazon employees/executives simply read the forums you would have all that you need.
With that said, here are my issues/concerns, some of which were already mentioned:
1) High Pricing Alert - Even with proof that our price is competitive, it still takes 1-2 weeks before everything is settled and the listing reactivated. Then often times, we will get another alert for the same ASIN within 2 weeks...nothing has changed. As someone mentioned, leave pricing up to us...if it's too high, people won't buy our products. No harm no foul.
2) Missing/Lost/Stolen FBA Shipments - When asking for a review, Amazon almost immediately answers back stating that a second count was done and upholds its decision on the missing inventory. I'm a one man operation, I lay out my shipment, take pictures, print my labels and label each item myself. I then pack them all while taking pictures/videos along the way, seal the box (we do one box at a time to simplify counting for Amazon) and then ship it. So when you say there's missing inventory, it's impossible unless UPS or an AMZ seller stole them. You ask us for proof which we provide but how about you provide us your proof it's missing...with all of the security cameras in your warehouse, I'm sure there's one pointed at my shipment as it's being unpacked. Also, can you how a 10kg box received by AMZ miraculously is empty when opened?
3) Product titles in foreign language and unable to change them - I've had and still have products that have a title in German, in Chinese and in Italian. When I contact seller support to change it back to English, I'm told they can't do that. We are in Canada where the official languages are English and French...so titles should only be allowed in one of those. Respect the laws of the country where you operate.
4) French is lacking in Amazon employees - This is not an issue for myself but often times I see and hear of Francophones trying to get help from Amazon and they either get no response or one that went through Google Translate and I won't even mention how it's impossible to some who speaks French. I know it's not easy finding bilingual employees but maybe if you didn't outsource everything overseas to India, etc...you would have an easier time finding them. As mentioned in #3, respect the laws of the country you operate in.
5) Artificial Intelligence and BOTs - I understand the need for AI and BOTs, especially when you are as big as Amazon is however please do not let them make decisions that will impact a seller's livelihood without first being reviewed by an actual human. Use the tech to flag suspicious activities and such but let a human decide what to do next.
6) Reporting buyers - We all know there are buyers who make a living scamming on Amazon. There are Reddit posts, Telegram groups, etc...that help them exploit all possible loopholes to steal from Amazon and 3rd party sellers. We as sellers are rated by buyers, then maybe we should be able to rate buyers as well. Have it tagged to their username/email/IP address or allow us to have a tool where flagged problematic or scamming buyers are identified so we can protect ourselves.
7) Amazon should take responsibility for its actions - If Amazon decides to circumvent its own policies/rules and it ends up costing us sellers money, then Amazon should take the hit, not the sellers. You allow a return past 30 days and item is unsellable, then Amazon pays for it...the item can be sold, the you credit us back the seller/fulfillment fees. You want to grant an A to Z claim even proof is available because you want to keep the client happy, that's totally fine but you pay for it.
I'm sure there's more but for now these my thoughts.
Even though I'm pretty sure nothing will come of this, I appreciate those of you that took the time to read my rants...I mean suggestions.
Seller_VXA2aspMqpZ4o
- Do not permit ANY A-Z Claims without the buyer messaging the seller first
- Humans should investigate EVERY A-Z claim
- BOTS incorrectly identifying products and automatically removing the listing. Have a HUMAN review these. We sell only car detailing products (car wash soaps etc.) and have numerous products removed because they were identified as "drugs" or "insecticides. Far too cumbersome a procedure to have an item reinstated.
- Seller Support needs a total revamping with far more qualified staff. Here is one small example. Customer calls support asking where he can get the invoice for a purchase. Support emails US telling us to send the customer the invoice. We email customer explaining how they can download the invoice directly from their Orders page. Buyer support is too incompetent or lazy to just explain this to the customer?
- High pricing deactivation is ridiculous. We have items deactivated because of this when we know for a fact the other seller priced in error (the listing photo does not match the listing description)
- A total failure to understand (or care) by most Amazon staff that we as sellers are YOUR customers based on the fees we pay to sell on your platform. We deserve a lot better protection from scammers
- Much easier and effective way to report buyers. Yes we should be able to "flag" scammers and when enough sellers have flagged a buyer, action should be taken
- We used to see a note on a return request saying "out of policy" if a buyer requested a return beyond 30 days. I believe the return window was changed to 90 days because of Covid. Well guess what, Covid is over! The return windows should be a FIRM 30 days and we should be able to automatically just deny the return if over 30 days
- Feedback removal criteria is way too tight. Have more HUMAN intervention. One example: Customer returns product. We process refund within 10 minutes of it coming through the door. 2 days later customer leaves feedback calling us "scammers" because they didn't get their refund. Should be a "no-brainer" to get that removed. Couldn't get it removed.
We have been selling here over 8 years. Amazon's performance has declined steadily over this time.
I for one will also echo what academic_books noted:
- What is actually done with our contribution?
- Who looks at our responses?
- What are the plans on re-acting to them?
- What would the needed changes depend on??
- What is done with the daily surveys we've been responding to for years??
- Are we being appeased??
I may be wrong for one in 8 years have never seen any policy change based on seller input
Seller Challenges.
Hello all Sellers,
We would love to know what challenges you have faced or are still facing as a seller. Additionally, is there anything you'd like to improve, but don't know how to?
Jurgen
Seller Challenges.
Hello all Sellers,
We would love to know what challenges you have faced or are still facing as a seller. Additionally, is there anything you'd like to improve, but don't know how to?
Jurgen
10 replies
10 replies
Seller_7LrAV0m5llaI7
-Seller Support needs to return to North America. Forum moderators should not have to do seller support.
-Account Level Reserve should be wiped out for trusted sellers with a real business after a certain time period or account health level. eBay pays out in 2 days, not 3 weeks. It's murder on cash flow for a small business. Accounts are NET30 with wholesale suppliers. You cant get FBA inventory shipped, received and sold and paid out within 30 days with Amazon's current payment system when it takes Amazon 3 weeks to pay out after a sale and FBA receiving delays of 2-3 weeks. We have a shipment sent the 3rd week of July and it still hasn't been received yet, it is now August 15th.
-Amazon AI robots updating the title of a listing to something that isn't correct, and seller support not accepting of it and allowing it to be changed back, even with proof. This causes loss of sales for both Amazon and the seller.
-Items in the wrong category even with proof. I have a car wash soap that Amazon has in the Pesticides category. Every 3 months they take the listing down due to it being a pesticide and then it takes a couple months with seller support to get it back up again, and it repeats every 3 months because it's in the wrong category and seller support won't change it, because there is no common sense with seller support anymore, they believe a car wash soap requires a Health Canada pesticide number, because that is what the AI tells them (which is wrong). This is down for 2 months every 3 so for almost 6 months of the year the listing isn't buyable, which sends Amazon's customers to other marketplaces to buy it. Amazon loses out on the sale and Amazon's customer has a poor buying experience.
-Amazon not allowing sellers to update the photo of the item when the brand changes the packaging. This makes the customers thinking they are buying old stock compared to other marketplaces, and Amazon loses out on sales due to an outdated picture that just will not update no matter how hard we try.
-Amazon deactivating listings for price being too high. Well, Amazon requires all Canadian customers to pay the same price including shipping to any address, with the exception of the 3 northern territories that can be a different rate. When you shut a listing down due to competitive price, it isn't including the shipping on the competitors website/marketplace, so therefore it's false as we offer free shipping on Amazon, and then Amazon's customers can't buy it for 3-4 weeks while you deal with seller support to fix the issue, and Amazon's customers have a poor buying experience and have to buy the item elsewhere and pay more until you finally get your case escalated at seller support and get someone who understands pricing.
-When a customer returns an item via FBM, the customer has no spot to upload a return tracking number, and the customers never message the seller the tracking number so they can keep an eye out for their return and provide a refund when it comes back in a timely manner. Sometimes stuff gets delayed or lost and then the customer asks "Where's my refund" and we're like "Where's the item"? Even eBay has this figured out.
-Amazon losing inventory at FBA. Why don't they take responsibility after we prove ownership? Amazon quite literally steals inventory they don't own.
-A to Z claims where Amazon does not follow their own policies, it is currently a Shoot First, ask questions later system, despite what Amazon policies says
-A to Z claims are still hitting Order Defect Rate for the Canada Post Lettermail exemption for orders under $30. This has been broken for 2 years. Those orders are exempt from tracking in the Canadian Marketplace. It should not be hurting a sellers Order Defect Rate.
-Offshore sellers hijacking listings and selling counterfeit items and Amazon blaming us the real sellers and not doing anything about it. Then we create a new listing to be able to get the product up for sale again and get a violation for a duplicate listing....*facepalm*..... since the OG listing still has some of the original attributes that are duplicated and Amazon's AI picks up on that in the back end of the item description.
-Amazon suppressing listings where there is actually no issues with the brand Name or UPC/EAN barcode, even after proof is given to seller support
-Hazmat/Dangerous Goods Storage in Canada. Build some new warehouses or rent some more space for Hazmat. Amazon's customers are paying way more than they should be when a seller has to FBM hazmat themselves.
-Still No Partnered Buy Shipping in Canada for FBM, but with the way it looks like it's going in the US forums for customers for buying shipping, Amazon isn't protecting the sellers even if using buy shipping, and since Canada doesn't have safe-t-claims, won't really make a difference anyways
-The Purolator Tracking Issue is Still Ongoing since April and it is now August. Some fraudulent customers see this on their app that there order is lost 2 days after delivery, and file an a to z claim, only for it to update on the 3rd day, but then the A to z claim is already auto approved.
-Feedback removal needs to be improved as the bots reject feedback removal for product reviews, and customers should not be able to leave negative feedback or any feedback for that matter for buyer cancelled orders
Seller_xwrlvWEgt08EH
Been selling FBM on Amazon for 14 years. It used to be great, but is a shell of what it once was, and is on pace to become more hassle than it's worth.
Agree with all of what JPart2 noted. And to add to that list, my DAILY frustrations with selling USED K-12 Textbooks on Amazon's marketplace:
1. STOP deactivating listings due to your bot's ridiculous "high price alerts". This is supposed to be a marketplace - let the customer decide if they want to order!! There are no hidden costs for the customers, they can see the price and decide to purchase or not. We have hundreds of listings deactivated which not only hurts our revenue, but also does not provide Amazon the ability to earn commission and closing fess on them. Where's the logic in that?
2. STOP messing around with our shipping costs. We get weekly messages that listings have been deactivated because we are charging too high of a shipping rate. Well, we are NOT. It costs over $20 to ship a 1.5kg hard cover textbook across Canada with tracking, let along signature to avoid A-Z scams. From BC to Atlantic Canada it can be $30+ to remote areas. Let the customer decide if they want to order!
These forms have loads of content about how FBM sellers see how Amazon is making their life harder and harder every year. Many conclude that Amazon is purposely wiping FBM sellers out. I'm sure they have their reasons, but they earn millions, if not billions of dollars each year from commissions, closing fees, and monthly fees from FBM sellers who do all the work. It costs Amazon virtually nothing when we make a sale and pay them commission. Why get rid of that kind of revenue stream?
I can tell you right now we will NEVER go FBA. The complete incompetence Amazon shows on a daily basis is shocking, and we will never EVER allow our business to be at the whim of their employees. If FBM goes, so will we.
Seller_BE6kG3AuJzznl
Thank you for the opportunity to speak on some of the struggles that Amazon Sellers currently face.
It is beyond my comprehension how we can apply to be ungated in a product, receive approval, buy the stock, ship it to Amazon and then receive notice that we have stranded listings because Amazon has restricted the product. Seriously, this can all happen in under 7 days.
In almost 100% of these cases, within a few days, Amazon is now selling.
Or, Amazon sellers actually have a profitable listing, it is doing very well which is currently not common. It used to be. Next thing, Amazon is on the listing.
It is a great business model for Amazon. Allow the third-party sellers to build the listing, Amazon makes a ridiculous amount of profit, then Amazon takes it over and the third-party seller is left with inventory to remove and attempt to dispose of and lose even more money.
I think it is important to note here, that Amazon makes almost all of their money from third-party sellers.
The high price errors as indicated by @Seller_xwrlvWEgt08EH. With the fees that sellers have to pay, we don't have an option to have higher prices in some cases. If a customer wishes to purchase at the higher price, why deactivate the listing?
The bots... If the bots are responsible for choosing listings that aren't correct, please have an actual human review.
I have had numerous listings closed for absolutely ridiculous reasons.
An ingestible product that they indicate is a pesticide. Or any variation of this.
Mainstream products that are sold in every retailer across Canada that is deactivated because it doesn't meet Health Canada Guidelines.
The best part, is there are always 4-5 reasons why the listing was deactivated. You aren't told which reason is your issue and you can no longer even see the listing to see if the french language inclusion was potentially missed off of one photo.
We should always be able to see the listing after deactivation.
I have also had listings that Amazon has gotten on and completely changed the product. This is very dangerous. If i don't reopen the listing when I am replenishing, I am now sending an incorrect product for a listing that should never have been changed. How does this happen? I now spend hours reopening listings that I shouldn't need to. And what about the sellers that don't realize this is an issue?
I am a member of many different online groups. I now understand why many long term sellers are moving to different forums and closing their Amazon Seller Accounts. These are long term sellers!
I love the idea of the Amazon space. However, with all due respect, I think Amazon needs to understand that it isn't untouchable.
Where is the respect for the many third-party sellers that bring Amazon the money that allows them to sell their listings at losses?
I have so many more examples...
I will let others have their turn to speak.
Respectfully,
Jenn
Seller_LTv2zrpA8Qcn1
Been selling here for 15+ years. My suggestions are not exhaustive but most detrimental to my selling abilities here.
1) AMAZON SHOULD PAY FOR ALL A-Z CLAIMS, FOR WHICH ITS OWN POLICIES ARE NOT BEING FOLLOWED, WHEN GRANTING THESE CLAIMS. At least (AT LEAST!) Amazon should acknowledge this problem has been happening for a long time.
Clearly, it is Amazon who benefits from the reputation of readily granting A-Z claims, and should therefore pay for that (wrongfully gained) reputation.
2) STOP WITH THE HIGH/LOW PRICE ALERTS. They are irritating, mis-informed, financially unsound, misguided, baseless and embarrassingly unsophisticated in their logic.
3). Sadly, I've given up on making suggestions for Catalogue changes (of conflicting book titles, images, etc). Even when providing proof (which is often very time-consuming), nothing happens. Now, I just dump my items which don't match the catalogue.
-----------------------------------------------------------
This is NOT directed at Jurgen specifically, but I do wonder about these Tell-us-what's-bothering-you surveys:
- What is actually done with our contribution?
- Who looks at our responses?
- What are the plans on re-acting to them?
- What would the needed changes depend on??
- What is done with the daily surveys we've been responding to for years??
- Are we being appeased??
I ask these questions because it is not difficult for Amazon to simply look at these forums to know what needs improving. (I'll do it for free, if they ask me).
Seller_PvunyCQQFBOX7
Hello,
I have been working with the FBA model on Amazon for exactly one year. During this time, I have faced many seemingly pointless issues and have tried to contact customer support many times due to these problems. Amazon is completely ineffective at resolving issues. This is the most significant problem. Despite clearly defining the issue, 99% of the responses I receive are either meaningless or unhelpful. I actually know what causes this problem, but I am skipping mentioning it because you might consider it racist.
Secondly, there are the common shipping issues everyone faces. For example, lost shipments, incorrectly counted packages, constantly postponed investigation dates, etc. Similarly, after creating a shipment, you automatically show us a warehouse address, say in City A. After we send the products there, you tell us that you will send them to City B instead. And this period can sometimes exceed one month. Personally, many of my products are not sold with the Prime label due to the FC transfer nonsense, and because delivery dates are very late, they are not preferred by customers. If my products are going to another warehouse, why don’t you initially ask us to send them there?
Also, for one of my current shipments, there are 87 items in a box, and only 22 were counted on the day of delivery. It has been 5 days like this. I don’t know if the worker who received the box got tired after counting 22 items and left the rest aside or threw the box around. And I have to wait one month to investigate this because that’s how Amazon wants it. Why? Amazon wants it this way. I think you need to overcome these kinds of nonsense. We are running a serious business here and make great efforts every day to comply with your rules.
I have been selling on Amazon for exactly one year, and there has been no serious violation of my account. Yet, whenever I encounter a problem, I can never reach a solution. The most recent issue is with insurance. You sent an email about insurance requirements for sellers like me selling in Canada and recommended two insurance companies. The email says so. Have you spoken with the insurance companies you recommended? They say they don’t provide insurance to clients who are not based in Canada. Since my company is based in the US, I cannot obtain insurance from the companies you recommended. Moreover, there is no "insurance information" section on the Canadian store, even if I had insurance. If I were to get insurance, I would have to enter this information into the US store, but I do not sell in the US. I opened a case about this 15 days ago. They told me every two days that they were investigating the issue, and the final response was “Ensure your insurance covers Canada.” I didn’t even understand what problem this response was addressing.
I apologize for the length, but in summary, as sellers on Amazon, we are completely left alone when we face issues. Sometimes, I really wonder if it is worth all this effort. I hope you will fix some of these things.
best regards.
Seller_7LrAV0m5llaI7
I just wanted to add some more issues and challenges we have faced this year as an amazon seller:
-We had a listing deactivated for a product recall. That was news to us, as we have a brick and mortar store and the brand owner would have contacted us directly to pull the inventory as we are an authorized reseller.
We checked the Canadian Government product safety recall database and there wasn't a single item recalled by the brand owner here in Canada.
Imagine our surprise once we contacted the brand owner and asked them about the recall, and they said "What recall?" I asked, is there any recalls in North America in the past for this product, and they said no.
Ok, a copy of that statement from the brand owner should be enough to get seller support to rectify the issue within 24-48 hours, you would think. ABSOLUTELY NOT.
It took 4 months back and forth with seller support. They kept asking for a "letter from the brand owner that signifies the end of the recall", which the BRAND OWNER COULD NOT PROVIDE because, THERE WAS NO RECALL!
All they kept doing was copy pasting that quote "letter from the brand owner that signifies the end of the recall", "letter from the brand owner that signifies the end of the recall", "letter from the brand owner that signifies the end of the recall". Even when the brand owner had signified that THERE WAS NO RECALL, Amazon made it up themselves.
After further investigation, escalations, the jeff executive seller support email, and seller support moderator escalations, I finally hear back from the Amazon product safety team 3 months later, where a part number in NORWAY, completely different from the north american part number, completely different formulation, was recalled in NORWAY. not NORTH AMERICA. And that the product safety team had started taking down listings in North America that was similar to the item in Norway and then the AMAZON product safety team decided to take it upon themselves to classify it is a GLOBAL RECALL for that BRAND, all by themselves. Even though, the manufacturer and brand owner DID NOT RECALL THE ITEM.
This was 4 months that a listing was down of a top selling item, usually within a 2 to 3 digit sales rank in it's category, that Amazon's customers could not purchase the item from Amazon and had to purchase the item elsewhere.
Amazon themselves even sell the brand as well and have a direct connection to the brand owner!
This is something that should be taken care of with support within 24-48 hours, not 4 months. Common sense has eroded from seller support, and it seems in some cases, the escalation team as well
Seller_dHNG4PrDTSCCE
Hello Jurgen,
The lost return processes are extremely difficult and completely disconnected from the context, soulless automatic responses are received.
Case ID15853594581
Although 1 shipment was delivered to the Amazon warehouse and I proved with a Fedex document that it was delivered and who received it from the Amazon warehouse, the response I received is as follows;
We checked and verified the count a second time, we do not have a record of this delivery.
Although I have repeatedly stated in many cases that I am a very serious victim, my victimization is not resolved in any way. For example, you can approach this process sincerely and make improvements and developments.
Seller_zeFcCxS46gcIy
You are opening up Pandora's Box...but then again if you and the other concerned Amazon employees/executives simply read the forums you would have all that you need.
With that said, here are my issues/concerns, some of which were already mentioned:
1) High Pricing Alert - Even with proof that our price is competitive, it still takes 1-2 weeks before everything is settled and the listing reactivated. Then often times, we will get another alert for the same ASIN within 2 weeks...nothing has changed. As someone mentioned, leave pricing up to us...if it's too high, people won't buy our products. No harm no foul.
2) Missing/Lost/Stolen FBA Shipments - When asking for a review, Amazon almost immediately answers back stating that a second count was done and upholds its decision on the missing inventory. I'm a one man operation, I lay out my shipment, take pictures, print my labels and label each item myself. I then pack them all while taking pictures/videos along the way, seal the box (we do one box at a time to simplify counting for Amazon) and then ship it. So when you say there's missing inventory, it's impossible unless UPS or an AMZ seller stole them. You ask us for proof which we provide but how about you provide us your proof it's missing...with all of the security cameras in your warehouse, I'm sure there's one pointed at my shipment as it's being unpacked. Also, can you how a 10kg box received by AMZ miraculously is empty when opened?
3) Product titles in foreign language and unable to change them - I've had and still have products that have a title in German, in Chinese and in Italian. When I contact seller support to change it back to English, I'm told they can't do that. We are in Canada where the official languages are English and French...so titles should only be allowed in one of those. Respect the laws of the country where you operate.
4) French is lacking in Amazon employees - This is not an issue for myself but often times I see and hear of Francophones trying to get help from Amazon and they either get no response or one that went through Google Translate and I won't even mention how it's impossible to some who speaks French. I know it's not easy finding bilingual employees but maybe if you didn't outsource everything overseas to India, etc...you would have an easier time finding them. As mentioned in #3, respect the laws of the country you operate in.
5) Artificial Intelligence and BOTs - I understand the need for AI and BOTs, especially when you are as big as Amazon is however please do not let them make decisions that will impact a seller's livelihood without first being reviewed by an actual human. Use the tech to flag suspicious activities and such but let a human decide what to do next.
6) Reporting buyers - We all know there are buyers who make a living scamming on Amazon. There are Reddit posts, Telegram groups, etc...that help them exploit all possible loopholes to steal from Amazon and 3rd party sellers. We as sellers are rated by buyers, then maybe we should be able to rate buyers as well. Have it tagged to their username/email/IP address or allow us to have a tool where flagged problematic or scamming buyers are identified so we can protect ourselves.
7) Amazon should take responsibility for its actions - If Amazon decides to circumvent its own policies/rules and it ends up costing us sellers money, then Amazon should take the hit, not the sellers. You allow a return past 30 days and item is unsellable, then Amazon pays for it...the item can be sold, the you credit us back the seller/fulfillment fees. You want to grant an A to Z claim even proof is available because you want to keep the client happy, that's totally fine but you pay for it.
I'm sure there's more but for now these my thoughts.
Even though I'm pretty sure nothing will come of this, I appreciate those of you that took the time to read my rants...I mean suggestions.
Seller_VXA2aspMqpZ4o
- Do not permit ANY A-Z Claims without the buyer messaging the seller first
- Humans should investigate EVERY A-Z claim
- BOTS incorrectly identifying products and automatically removing the listing. Have a HUMAN review these. We sell only car detailing products (car wash soaps etc.) and have numerous products removed because they were identified as "drugs" or "insecticides. Far too cumbersome a procedure to have an item reinstated.
- Seller Support needs a total revamping with far more qualified staff. Here is one small example. Customer calls support asking where he can get the invoice for a purchase. Support emails US telling us to send the customer the invoice. We email customer explaining how they can download the invoice directly from their Orders page. Buyer support is too incompetent or lazy to just explain this to the customer?
- High pricing deactivation is ridiculous. We have items deactivated because of this when we know for a fact the other seller priced in error (the listing photo does not match the listing description)
- A total failure to understand (or care) by most Amazon staff that we as sellers are YOUR customers based on the fees we pay to sell on your platform. We deserve a lot better protection from scammers
- Much easier and effective way to report buyers. Yes we should be able to "flag" scammers and when enough sellers have flagged a buyer, action should be taken
- We used to see a note on a return request saying "out of policy" if a buyer requested a return beyond 30 days. I believe the return window was changed to 90 days because of Covid. Well guess what, Covid is over! The return windows should be a FIRM 30 days and we should be able to automatically just deny the return if over 30 days
- Feedback removal criteria is way too tight. Have more HUMAN intervention. One example: Customer returns product. We process refund within 10 minutes of it coming through the door. 2 days later customer leaves feedback calling us "scammers" because they didn't get their refund. Should be a "no-brainer" to get that removed. Couldn't get it removed.
We have been selling here over 8 years. Amazon's performance has declined steadily over this time.
I for one will also echo what academic_books noted:
- What is actually done with our contribution?
- Who looks at our responses?
- What are the plans on re-acting to them?
- What would the needed changes depend on??
- What is done with the daily surveys we've been responding to for years??
- Are we being appeased??
I may be wrong for one in 8 years have never seen any policy change based on seller input
Seller_7LrAV0m5llaI7
-Seller Support needs to return to North America. Forum moderators should not have to do seller support.
-Account Level Reserve should be wiped out for trusted sellers with a real business after a certain time period or account health level. eBay pays out in 2 days, not 3 weeks. It's murder on cash flow for a small business. Accounts are NET30 with wholesale suppliers. You cant get FBA inventory shipped, received and sold and paid out within 30 days with Amazon's current payment system when it takes Amazon 3 weeks to pay out after a sale and FBA receiving delays of 2-3 weeks. We have a shipment sent the 3rd week of July and it still hasn't been received yet, it is now August 15th.
-Amazon AI robots updating the title of a listing to something that isn't correct, and seller support not accepting of it and allowing it to be changed back, even with proof. This causes loss of sales for both Amazon and the seller.
-Items in the wrong category even with proof. I have a car wash soap that Amazon has in the Pesticides category. Every 3 months they take the listing down due to it being a pesticide and then it takes a couple months with seller support to get it back up again, and it repeats every 3 months because it's in the wrong category and seller support won't change it, because there is no common sense with seller support anymore, they believe a car wash soap requires a Health Canada pesticide number, because that is what the AI tells them (which is wrong). This is down for 2 months every 3 so for almost 6 months of the year the listing isn't buyable, which sends Amazon's customers to other marketplaces to buy it. Amazon loses out on the sale and Amazon's customer has a poor buying experience.
-Amazon not allowing sellers to update the photo of the item when the brand changes the packaging. This makes the customers thinking they are buying old stock compared to other marketplaces, and Amazon loses out on sales due to an outdated picture that just will not update no matter how hard we try.
-Amazon deactivating listings for price being too high. Well, Amazon requires all Canadian customers to pay the same price including shipping to any address, with the exception of the 3 northern territories that can be a different rate. When you shut a listing down due to competitive price, it isn't including the shipping on the competitors website/marketplace, so therefore it's false as we offer free shipping on Amazon, and then Amazon's customers can't buy it for 3-4 weeks while you deal with seller support to fix the issue, and Amazon's customers have a poor buying experience and have to buy the item elsewhere and pay more until you finally get your case escalated at seller support and get someone who understands pricing.
-When a customer returns an item via FBM, the customer has no spot to upload a return tracking number, and the customers never message the seller the tracking number so they can keep an eye out for their return and provide a refund when it comes back in a timely manner. Sometimes stuff gets delayed or lost and then the customer asks "Where's my refund" and we're like "Where's the item"? Even eBay has this figured out.
-Amazon losing inventory at FBA. Why don't they take responsibility after we prove ownership? Amazon quite literally steals inventory they don't own.
-A to Z claims where Amazon does not follow their own policies, it is currently a Shoot First, ask questions later system, despite what Amazon policies says
-A to Z claims are still hitting Order Defect Rate for the Canada Post Lettermail exemption for orders under $30. This has been broken for 2 years. Those orders are exempt from tracking in the Canadian Marketplace. It should not be hurting a sellers Order Defect Rate.
-Offshore sellers hijacking listings and selling counterfeit items and Amazon blaming us the real sellers and not doing anything about it. Then we create a new listing to be able to get the product up for sale again and get a violation for a duplicate listing....*facepalm*..... since the OG listing still has some of the original attributes that are duplicated and Amazon's AI picks up on that in the back end of the item description.
-Amazon suppressing listings where there is actually no issues with the brand Name or UPC/EAN barcode, even after proof is given to seller support
-Hazmat/Dangerous Goods Storage in Canada. Build some new warehouses or rent some more space for Hazmat. Amazon's customers are paying way more than they should be when a seller has to FBM hazmat themselves.
-Still No Partnered Buy Shipping in Canada for FBM, but with the way it looks like it's going in the US forums for customers for buying shipping, Amazon isn't protecting the sellers even if using buy shipping, and since Canada doesn't have safe-t-claims, won't really make a difference anyways
-The Purolator Tracking Issue is Still Ongoing since April and it is now August. Some fraudulent customers see this on their app that there order is lost 2 days after delivery, and file an a to z claim, only for it to update on the 3rd day, but then the A to z claim is already auto approved.
-Feedback removal needs to be improved as the bots reject feedback removal for product reviews, and customers should not be able to leave negative feedback or any feedback for that matter for buyer cancelled orders
Seller_7LrAV0m5llaI7
-Seller Support needs to return to North America. Forum moderators should not have to do seller support.
-Account Level Reserve should be wiped out for trusted sellers with a real business after a certain time period or account health level. eBay pays out in 2 days, not 3 weeks. It's murder on cash flow for a small business. Accounts are NET30 with wholesale suppliers. You cant get FBA inventory shipped, received and sold and paid out within 30 days with Amazon's current payment system when it takes Amazon 3 weeks to pay out after a sale and FBA receiving delays of 2-3 weeks. We have a shipment sent the 3rd week of July and it still hasn't been received yet, it is now August 15th.
-Amazon AI robots updating the title of a listing to something that isn't correct, and seller support not accepting of it and allowing it to be changed back, even with proof. This causes loss of sales for both Amazon and the seller.
-Items in the wrong category even with proof. I have a car wash soap that Amazon has in the Pesticides category. Every 3 months they take the listing down due to it being a pesticide and then it takes a couple months with seller support to get it back up again, and it repeats every 3 months because it's in the wrong category and seller support won't change it, because there is no common sense with seller support anymore, they believe a car wash soap requires a Health Canada pesticide number, because that is what the AI tells them (which is wrong). This is down for 2 months every 3 so for almost 6 months of the year the listing isn't buyable, which sends Amazon's customers to other marketplaces to buy it. Amazon loses out on the sale and Amazon's customer has a poor buying experience.
-Amazon not allowing sellers to update the photo of the item when the brand changes the packaging. This makes the customers thinking they are buying old stock compared to other marketplaces, and Amazon loses out on sales due to an outdated picture that just will not update no matter how hard we try.
-Amazon deactivating listings for price being too high. Well, Amazon requires all Canadian customers to pay the same price including shipping to any address, with the exception of the 3 northern territories that can be a different rate. When you shut a listing down due to competitive price, it isn't including the shipping on the competitors website/marketplace, so therefore it's false as we offer free shipping on Amazon, and then Amazon's customers can't buy it for 3-4 weeks while you deal with seller support to fix the issue, and Amazon's customers have a poor buying experience and have to buy the item elsewhere and pay more until you finally get your case escalated at seller support and get someone who understands pricing.
-When a customer returns an item via FBM, the customer has no spot to upload a return tracking number, and the customers never message the seller the tracking number so they can keep an eye out for their return and provide a refund when it comes back in a timely manner. Sometimes stuff gets delayed or lost and then the customer asks "Where's my refund" and we're like "Where's the item"? Even eBay has this figured out.
-Amazon losing inventory at FBA. Why don't they take responsibility after we prove ownership? Amazon quite literally steals inventory they don't own.
-A to Z claims where Amazon does not follow their own policies, it is currently a Shoot First, ask questions later system, despite what Amazon policies says
-A to Z claims are still hitting Order Defect Rate for the Canada Post Lettermail exemption for orders under $30. This has been broken for 2 years. Those orders are exempt from tracking in the Canadian Marketplace. It should not be hurting a sellers Order Defect Rate.
-Offshore sellers hijacking listings and selling counterfeit items and Amazon blaming us the real sellers and not doing anything about it. Then we create a new listing to be able to get the product up for sale again and get a violation for a duplicate listing....*facepalm*..... since the OG listing still has some of the original attributes that are duplicated and Amazon's AI picks up on that in the back end of the item description.
-Amazon suppressing listings where there is actually no issues with the brand Name or UPC/EAN barcode, even after proof is given to seller support
-Hazmat/Dangerous Goods Storage in Canada. Build some new warehouses or rent some more space for Hazmat. Amazon's customers are paying way more than they should be when a seller has to FBM hazmat themselves.
-Still No Partnered Buy Shipping in Canada for FBM, but with the way it looks like it's going in the US forums for customers for buying shipping, Amazon isn't protecting the sellers even if using buy shipping, and since Canada doesn't have safe-t-claims, won't really make a difference anyways
-The Purolator Tracking Issue is Still Ongoing since April and it is now August. Some fraudulent customers see this on their app that there order is lost 2 days after delivery, and file an a to z claim, only for it to update on the 3rd day, but then the A to z claim is already auto approved.
-Feedback removal needs to be improved as the bots reject feedback removal for product reviews, and customers should not be able to leave negative feedback or any feedback for that matter for buyer cancelled orders
Seller_xwrlvWEgt08EH
Been selling FBM on Amazon for 14 years. It used to be great, but is a shell of what it once was, and is on pace to become more hassle than it's worth.
Agree with all of what JPart2 noted. And to add to that list, my DAILY frustrations with selling USED K-12 Textbooks on Amazon's marketplace:
1. STOP deactivating listings due to your bot's ridiculous "high price alerts". This is supposed to be a marketplace - let the customer decide if they want to order!! There are no hidden costs for the customers, they can see the price and decide to purchase or not. We have hundreds of listings deactivated which not only hurts our revenue, but also does not provide Amazon the ability to earn commission and closing fess on them. Where's the logic in that?
2. STOP messing around with our shipping costs. We get weekly messages that listings have been deactivated because we are charging too high of a shipping rate. Well, we are NOT. It costs over $20 to ship a 1.5kg hard cover textbook across Canada with tracking, let along signature to avoid A-Z scams. From BC to Atlantic Canada it can be $30+ to remote areas. Let the customer decide if they want to order!
These forms have loads of content about how FBM sellers see how Amazon is making their life harder and harder every year. Many conclude that Amazon is purposely wiping FBM sellers out. I'm sure they have their reasons, but they earn millions, if not billions of dollars each year from commissions, closing fees, and monthly fees from FBM sellers who do all the work. It costs Amazon virtually nothing when we make a sale and pay them commission. Why get rid of that kind of revenue stream?
I can tell you right now we will NEVER go FBA. The complete incompetence Amazon shows on a daily basis is shocking, and we will never EVER allow our business to be at the whim of their employees. If FBM goes, so will we.
Seller_xwrlvWEgt08EH
Been selling FBM on Amazon for 14 years. It used to be great, but is a shell of what it once was, and is on pace to become more hassle than it's worth.
Agree with all of what JPart2 noted. And to add to that list, my DAILY frustrations with selling USED K-12 Textbooks on Amazon's marketplace:
1. STOP deactivating listings due to your bot's ridiculous "high price alerts". This is supposed to be a marketplace - let the customer decide if they want to order!! There are no hidden costs for the customers, they can see the price and decide to purchase or not. We have hundreds of listings deactivated which not only hurts our revenue, but also does not provide Amazon the ability to earn commission and closing fess on them. Where's the logic in that?
2. STOP messing around with our shipping costs. We get weekly messages that listings have been deactivated because we are charging too high of a shipping rate. Well, we are NOT. It costs over $20 to ship a 1.5kg hard cover textbook across Canada with tracking, let along signature to avoid A-Z scams. From BC to Atlantic Canada it can be $30+ to remote areas. Let the customer decide if they want to order!
These forms have loads of content about how FBM sellers see how Amazon is making their life harder and harder every year. Many conclude that Amazon is purposely wiping FBM sellers out. I'm sure they have their reasons, but they earn millions, if not billions of dollars each year from commissions, closing fees, and monthly fees from FBM sellers who do all the work. It costs Amazon virtually nothing when we make a sale and pay them commission. Why get rid of that kind of revenue stream?
I can tell you right now we will NEVER go FBA. The complete incompetence Amazon shows on a daily basis is shocking, and we will never EVER allow our business to be at the whim of their employees. If FBM goes, so will we.
Seller_BE6kG3AuJzznl
Thank you for the opportunity to speak on some of the struggles that Amazon Sellers currently face.
It is beyond my comprehension how we can apply to be ungated in a product, receive approval, buy the stock, ship it to Amazon and then receive notice that we have stranded listings because Amazon has restricted the product. Seriously, this can all happen in under 7 days.
In almost 100% of these cases, within a few days, Amazon is now selling.
Or, Amazon sellers actually have a profitable listing, it is doing very well which is currently not common. It used to be. Next thing, Amazon is on the listing.
It is a great business model for Amazon. Allow the third-party sellers to build the listing, Amazon makes a ridiculous amount of profit, then Amazon takes it over and the third-party seller is left with inventory to remove and attempt to dispose of and lose even more money.
I think it is important to note here, that Amazon makes almost all of their money from third-party sellers.
The high price errors as indicated by @Seller_xwrlvWEgt08EH. With the fees that sellers have to pay, we don't have an option to have higher prices in some cases. If a customer wishes to purchase at the higher price, why deactivate the listing?
The bots... If the bots are responsible for choosing listings that aren't correct, please have an actual human review.
I have had numerous listings closed for absolutely ridiculous reasons.
An ingestible product that they indicate is a pesticide. Or any variation of this.
Mainstream products that are sold in every retailer across Canada that is deactivated because it doesn't meet Health Canada Guidelines.
The best part, is there are always 4-5 reasons why the listing was deactivated. You aren't told which reason is your issue and you can no longer even see the listing to see if the french language inclusion was potentially missed off of one photo.
We should always be able to see the listing after deactivation.
I have also had listings that Amazon has gotten on and completely changed the product. This is very dangerous. If i don't reopen the listing when I am replenishing, I am now sending an incorrect product for a listing that should never have been changed. How does this happen? I now spend hours reopening listings that I shouldn't need to. And what about the sellers that don't realize this is an issue?
I am a member of many different online groups. I now understand why many long term sellers are moving to different forums and closing their Amazon Seller Accounts. These are long term sellers!
I love the idea of the Amazon space. However, with all due respect, I think Amazon needs to understand that it isn't untouchable.
Where is the respect for the many third-party sellers that bring Amazon the money that allows them to sell their listings at losses?
I have so many more examples...
I will let others have their turn to speak.
Respectfully,
Jenn
Seller_BE6kG3AuJzznl
Thank you for the opportunity to speak on some of the struggles that Amazon Sellers currently face.
It is beyond my comprehension how we can apply to be ungated in a product, receive approval, buy the stock, ship it to Amazon and then receive notice that we have stranded listings because Amazon has restricted the product. Seriously, this can all happen in under 7 days.
In almost 100% of these cases, within a few days, Amazon is now selling.
Or, Amazon sellers actually have a profitable listing, it is doing very well which is currently not common. It used to be. Next thing, Amazon is on the listing.
It is a great business model for Amazon. Allow the third-party sellers to build the listing, Amazon makes a ridiculous amount of profit, then Amazon takes it over and the third-party seller is left with inventory to remove and attempt to dispose of and lose even more money.
I think it is important to note here, that Amazon makes almost all of their money from third-party sellers.
The high price errors as indicated by @Seller_xwrlvWEgt08EH. With the fees that sellers have to pay, we don't have an option to have higher prices in some cases. If a customer wishes to purchase at the higher price, why deactivate the listing?
The bots... If the bots are responsible for choosing listings that aren't correct, please have an actual human review.
I have had numerous listings closed for absolutely ridiculous reasons.
An ingestible product that they indicate is a pesticide. Or any variation of this.
Mainstream products that are sold in every retailer across Canada that is deactivated because it doesn't meet Health Canada Guidelines.
The best part, is there are always 4-5 reasons why the listing was deactivated. You aren't told which reason is your issue and you can no longer even see the listing to see if the french language inclusion was potentially missed off of one photo.
We should always be able to see the listing after deactivation.
I have also had listings that Amazon has gotten on and completely changed the product. This is very dangerous. If i don't reopen the listing when I am replenishing, I am now sending an incorrect product for a listing that should never have been changed. How does this happen? I now spend hours reopening listings that I shouldn't need to. And what about the sellers that don't realize this is an issue?
I am a member of many different online groups. I now understand why many long term sellers are moving to different forums and closing their Amazon Seller Accounts. These are long term sellers!
I love the idea of the Amazon space. However, with all due respect, I think Amazon needs to understand that it isn't untouchable.
Where is the respect for the many third-party sellers that bring Amazon the money that allows them to sell their listings at losses?
I have so many more examples...
I will let others have their turn to speak.
Respectfully,
Jenn
Seller_LTv2zrpA8Qcn1
Been selling here for 15+ years. My suggestions are not exhaustive but most detrimental to my selling abilities here.
1) AMAZON SHOULD PAY FOR ALL A-Z CLAIMS, FOR WHICH ITS OWN POLICIES ARE NOT BEING FOLLOWED, WHEN GRANTING THESE CLAIMS. At least (AT LEAST!) Amazon should acknowledge this problem has been happening for a long time.
Clearly, it is Amazon who benefits from the reputation of readily granting A-Z claims, and should therefore pay for that (wrongfully gained) reputation.
2) STOP WITH THE HIGH/LOW PRICE ALERTS. They are irritating, mis-informed, financially unsound, misguided, baseless and embarrassingly unsophisticated in their logic.
3). Sadly, I've given up on making suggestions for Catalogue changes (of conflicting book titles, images, etc). Even when providing proof (which is often very time-consuming), nothing happens. Now, I just dump my items which don't match the catalogue.
-----------------------------------------------------------
This is NOT directed at Jurgen specifically, but I do wonder about these Tell-us-what's-bothering-you surveys:
- What is actually done with our contribution?
- Who looks at our responses?
- What are the plans on re-acting to them?
- What would the needed changes depend on??
- What is done with the daily surveys we've been responding to for years??
- Are we being appeased??
I ask these questions because it is not difficult for Amazon to simply look at these forums to know what needs improving. (I'll do it for free, if they ask me).
Seller_LTv2zrpA8Qcn1
Been selling here for 15+ years. My suggestions are not exhaustive but most detrimental to my selling abilities here.
1) AMAZON SHOULD PAY FOR ALL A-Z CLAIMS, FOR WHICH ITS OWN POLICIES ARE NOT BEING FOLLOWED, WHEN GRANTING THESE CLAIMS. At least (AT LEAST!) Amazon should acknowledge this problem has been happening for a long time.
Clearly, it is Amazon who benefits from the reputation of readily granting A-Z claims, and should therefore pay for that (wrongfully gained) reputation.
2) STOP WITH THE HIGH/LOW PRICE ALERTS. They are irritating, mis-informed, financially unsound, misguided, baseless and embarrassingly unsophisticated in their logic.
3). Sadly, I've given up on making suggestions for Catalogue changes (of conflicting book titles, images, etc). Even when providing proof (which is often very time-consuming), nothing happens. Now, I just dump my items which don't match the catalogue.
-----------------------------------------------------------
This is NOT directed at Jurgen specifically, but I do wonder about these Tell-us-what's-bothering-you surveys:
- What is actually done with our contribution?
- Who looks at our responses?
- What are the plans on re-acting to them?
- What would the needed changes depend on??
- What is done with the daily surveys we've been responding to for years??
- Are we being appeased??
I ask these questions because it is not difficult for Amazon to simply look at these forums to know what needs improving. (I'll do it for free, if they ask me).
Seller_PvunyCQQFBOX7
Hello,
I have been working with the FBA model on Amazon for exactly one year. During this time, I have faced many seemingly pointless issues and have tried to contact customer support many times due to these problems. Amazon is completely ineffective at resolving issues. This is the most significant problem. Despite clearly defining the issue, 99% of the responses I receive are either meaningless or unhelpful. I actually know what causes this problem, but I am skipping mentioning it because you might consider it racist.
Secondly, there are the common shipping issues everyone faces. For example, lost shipments, incorrectly counted packages, constantly postponed investigation dates, etc. Similarly, after creating a shipment, you automatically show us a warehouse address, say in City A. After we send the products there, you tell us that you will send them to City B instead. And this period can sometimes exceed one month. Personally, many of my products are not sold with the Prime label due to the FC transfer nonsense, and because delivery dates are very late, they are not preferred by customers. If my products are going to another warehouse, why don’t you initially ask us to send them there?
Also, for one of my current shipments, there are 87 items in a box, and only 22 were counted on the day of delivery. It has been 5 days like this. I don’t know if the worker who received the box got tired after counting 22 items and left the rest aside or threw the box around. And I have to wait one month to investigate this because that’s how Amazon wants it. Why? Amazon wants it this way. I think you need to overcome these kinds of nonsense. We are running a serious business here and make great efforts every day to comply with your rules.
I have been selling on Amazon for exactly one year, and there has been no serious violation of my account. Yet, whenever I encounter a problem, I can never reach a solution. The most recent issue is with insurance. You sent an email about insurance requirements for sellers like me selling in Canada and recommended two insurance companies. The email says so. Have you spoken with the insurance companies you recommended? They say they don’t provide insurance to clients who are not based in Canada. Since my company is based in the US, I cannot obtain insurance from the companies you recommended. Moreover, there is no "insurance information" section on the Canadian store, even if I had insurance. If I were to get insurance, I would have to enter this information into the US store, but I do not sell in the US. I opened a case about this 15 days ago. They told me every two days that they were investigating the issue, and the final response was “Ensure your insurance covers Canada.” I didn’t even understand what problem this response was addressing.
I apologize for the length, but in summary, as sellers on Amazon, we are completely left alone when we face issues. Sometimes, I really wonder if it is worth all this effort. I hope you will fix some of these things.
best regards.
Seller_PvunyCQQFBOX7
Hello,
I have been working with the FBA model on Amazon for exactly one year. During this time, I have faced many seemingly pointless issues and have tried to contact customer support many times due to these problems. Amazon is completely ineffective at resolving issues. This is the most significant problem. Despite clearly defining the issue, 99% of the responses I receive are either meaningless or unhelpful. I actually know what causes this problem, but I am skipping mentioning it because you might consider it racist.
Secondly, there are the common shipping issues everyone faces. For example, lost shipments, incorrectly counted packages, constantly postponed investigation dates, etc. Similarly, after creating a shipment, you automatically show us a warehouse address, say in City A. After we send the products there, you tell us that you will send them to City B instead. And this period can sometimes exceed one month. Personally, many of my products are not sold with the Prime label due to the FC transfer nonsense, and because delivery dates are very late, they are not preferred by customers. If my products are going to another warehouse, why don’t you initially ask us to send them there?
Also, for one of my current shipments, there are 87 items in a box, and only 22 were counted on the day of delivery. It has been 5 days like this. I don’t know if the worker who received the box got tired after counting 22 items and left the rest aside or threw the box around. And I have to wait one month to investigate this because that’s how Amazon wants it. Why? Amazon wants it this way. I think you need to overcome these kinds of nonsense. We are running a serious business here and make great efforts every day to comply with your rules.
I have been selling on Amazon for exactly one year, and there has been no serious violation of my account. Yet, whenever I encounter a problem, I can never reach a solution. The most recent issue is with insurance. You sent an email about insurance requirements for sellers like me selling in Canada and recommended two insurance companies. The email says so. Have you spoken with the insurance companies you recommended? They say they don’t provide insurance to clients who are not based in Canada. Since my company is based in the US, I cannot obtain insurance from the companies you recommended. Moreover, there is no "insurance information" section on the Canadian store, even if I had insurance. If I were to get insurance, I would have to enter this information into the US store, but I do not sell in the US. I opened a case about this 15 days ago. They told me every two days that they were investigating the issue, and the final response was “Ensure your insurance covers Canada.” I didn’t even understand what problem this response was addressing.
I apologize for the length, but in summary, as sellers on Amazon, we are completely left alone when we face issues. Sometimes, I really wonder if it is worth all this effort. I hope you will fix some of these things.
best regards.
Seller_7LrAV0m5llaI7
I just wanted to add some more issues and challenges we have faced this year as an amazon seller:
-We had a listing deactivated for a product recall. That was news to us, as we have a brick and mortar store and the brand owner would have contacted us directly to pull the inventory as we are an authorized reseller.
We checked the Canadian Government product safety recall database and there wasn't a single item recalled by the brand owner here in Canada.
Imagine our surprise once we contacted the brand owner and asked them about the recall, and they said "What recall?" I asked, is there any recalls in North America in the past for this product, and they said no.
Ok, a copy of that statement from the brand owner should be enough to get seller support to rectify the issue within 24-48 hours, you would think. ABSOLUTELY NOT.
It took 4 months back and forth with seller support. They kept asking for a "letter from the brand owner that signifies the end of the recall", which the BRAND OWNER COULD NOT PROVIDE because, THERE WAS NO RECALL!
All they kept doing was copy pasting that quote "letter from the brand owner that signifies the end of the recall", "letter from the brand owner that signifies the end of the recall", "letter from the brand owner that signifies the end of the recall". Even when the brand owner had signified that THERE WAS NO RECALL, Amazon made it up themselves.
After further investigation, escalations, the jeff executive seller support email, and seller support moderator escalations, I finally hear back from the Amazon product safety team 3 months later, where a part number in NORWAY, completely different from the north american part number, completely different formulation, was recalled in NORWAY. not NORTH AMERICA. And that the product safety team had started taking down listings in North America that was similar to the item in Norway and then the AMAZON product safety team decided to take it upon themselves to classify it is a GLOBAL RECALL for that BRAND, all by themselves. Even though, the manufacturer and brand owner DID NOT RECALL THE ITEM.
This was 4 months that a listing was down of a top selling item, usually within a 2 to 3 digit sales rank in it's category, that Amazon's customers could not purchase the item from Amazon and had to purchase the item elsewhere.
Amazon themselves even sell the brand as well and have a direct connection to the brand owner!
This is something that should be taken care of with support within 24-48 hours, not 4 months. Common sense has eroded from seller support, and it seems in some cases, the escalation team as well
Seller_7LrAV0m5llaI7
I just wanted to add some more issues and challenges we have faced this year as an amazon seller:
-We had a listing deactivated for a product recall. That was news to us, as we have a brick and mortar store and the brand owner would have contacted us directly to pull the inventory as we are an authorized reseller.
We checked the Canadian Government product safety recall database and there wasn't a single item recalled by the brand owner here in Canada.
Imagine our surprise once we contacted the brand owner and asked them about the recall, and they said "What recall?" I asked, is there any recalls in North America in the past for this product, and they said no.
Ok, a copy of that statement from the brand owner should be enough to get seller support to rectify the issue within 24-48 hours, you would think. ABSOLUTELY NOT.
It took 4 months back and forth with seller support. They kept asking for a "letter from the brand owner that signifies the end of the recall", which the BRAND OWNER COULD NOT PROVIDE because, THERE WAS NO RECALL!
All they kept doing was copy pasting that quote "letter from the brand owner that signifies the end of the recall", "letter from the brand owner that signifies the end of the recall", "letter from the brand owner that signifies the end of the recall". Even when the brand owner had signified that THERE WAS NO RECALL, Amazon made it up themselves.
After further investigation, escalations, the jeff executive seller support email, and seller support moderator escalations, I finally hear back from the Amazon product safety team 3 months later, where a part number in NORWAY, completely different from the north american part number, completely different formulation, was recalled in NORWAY. not NORTH AMERICA. And that the product safety team had started taking down listings in North America that was similar to the item in Norway and then the AMAZON product safety team decided to take it upon themselves to classify it is a GLOBAL RECALL for that BRAND, all by themselves. Even though, the manufacturer and brand owner DID NOT RECALL THE ITEM.
This was 4 months that a listing was down of a top selling item, usually within a 2 to 3 digit sales rank in it's category, that Amazon's customers could not purchase the item from Amazon and had to purchase the item elsewhere.
Amazon themselves even sell the brand as well and have a direct connection to the brand owner!
This is something that should be taken care of with support within 24-48 hours, not 4 months. Common sense has eroded from seller support, and it seems in some cases, the escalation team as well
Seller_dHNG4PrDTSCCE
Hello Jurgen,
The lost return processes are extremely difficult and completely disconnected from the context, soulless automatic responses are received.
Case ID15853594581
Although 1 shipment was delivered to the Amazon warehouse and I proved with a Fedex document that it was delivered and who received it from the Amazon warehouse, the response I received is as follows;
We checked and verified the count a second time, we do not have a record of this delivery.
Although I have repeatedly stated in many cases that I am a very serious victim, my victimization is not resolved in any way. For example, you can approach this process sincerely and make improvements and developments.
Seller_dHNG4PrDTSCCE
Hello Jurgen,
The lost return processes are extremely difficult and completely disconnected from the context, soulless automatic responses are received.
Case ID15853594581
Although 1 shipment was delivered to the Amazon warehouse and I proved with a Fedex document that it was delivered and who received it from the Amazon warehouse, the response I received is as follows;
We checked and verified the count a second time, we do not have a record of this delivery.
Although I have repeatedly stated in many cases that I am a very serious victim, my victimization is not resolved in any way. For example, you can approach this process sincerely and make improvements and developments.
Seller_zeFcCxS46gcIy
You are opening up Pandora's Box...but then again if you and the other concerned Amazon employees/executives simply read the forums you would have all that you need.
With that said, here are my issues/concerns, some of which were already mentioned:
1) High Pricing Alert - Even with proof that our price is competitive, it still takes 1-2 weeks before everything is settled and the listing reactivated. Then often times, we will get another alert for the same ASIN within 2 weeks...nothing has changed. As someone mentioned, leave pricing up to us...if it's too high, people won't buy our products. No harm no foul.
2) Missing/Lost/Stolen FBA Shipments - When asking for a review, Amazon almost immediately answers back stating that a second count was done and upholds its decision on the missing inventory. I'm a one man operation, I lay out my shipment, take pictures, print my labels and label each item myself. I then pack them all while taking pictures/videos along the way, seal the box (we do one box at a time to simplify counting for Amazon) and then ship it. So when you say there's missing inventory, it's impossible unless UPS or an AMZ seller stole them. You ask us for proof which we provide but how about you provide us your proof it's missing...with all of the security cameras in your warehouse, I'm sure there's one pointed at my shipment as it's being unpacked. Also, can you how a 10kg box received by AMZ miraculously is empty when opened?
3) Product titles in foreign language and unable to change them - I've had and still have products that have a title in German, in Chinese and in Italian. When I contact seller support to change it back to English, I'm told they can't do that. We are in Canada where the official languages are English and French...so titles should only be allowed in one of those. Respect the laws of the country where you operate.
4) French is lacking in Amazon employees - This is not an issue for myself but often times I see and hear of Francophones trying to get help from Amazon and they either get no response or one that went through Google Translate and I won't even mention how it's impossible to some who speaks French. I know it's not easy finding bilingual employees but maybe if you didn't outsource everything overseas to India, etc...you would have an easier time finding them. As mentioned in #3, respect the laws of the country you operate in.
5) Artificial Intelligence and BOTs - I understand the need for AI and BOTs, especially when you are as big as Amazon is however please do not let them make decisions that will impact a seller's livelihood without first being reviewed by an actual human. Use the tech to flag suspicious activities and such but let a human decide what to do next.
6) Reporting buyers - We all know there are buyers who make a living scamming on Amazon. There are Reddit posts, Telegram groups, etc...that help them exploit all possible loopholes to steal from Amazon and 3rd party sellers. We as sellers are rated by buyers, then maybe we should be able to rate buyers as well. Have it tagged to their username/email/IP address or allow us to have a tool where flagged problematic or scamming buyers are identified so we can protect ourselves.
7) Amazon should take responsibility for its actions - If Amazon decides to circumvent its own policies/rules and it ends up costing us sellers money, then Amazon should take the hit, not the sellers. You allow a return past 30 days and item is unsellable, then Amazon pays for it...the item can be sold, the you credit us back the seller/fulfillment fees. You want to grant an A to Z claim even proof is available because you want to keep the client happy, that's totally fine but you pay for it.
I'm sure there's more but for now these my thoughts.
Even though I'm pretty sure nothing will come of this, I appreciate those of you that took the time to read my rants...I mean suggestions.
Seller_zeFcCxS46gcIy
You are opening up Pandora's Box...but then again if you and the other concerned Amazon employees/executives simply read the forums you would have all that you need.
With that said, here are my issues/concerns, some of which were already mentioned:
1) High Pricing Alert - Even with proof that our price is competitive, it still takes 1-2 weeks before everything is settled and the listing reactivated. Then often times, we will get another alert for the same ASIN within 2 weeks...nothing has changed. As someone mentioned, leave pricing up to us...if it's too high, people won't buy our products. No harm no foul.
2) Missing/Lost/Stolen FBA Shipments - When asking for a review, Amazon almost immediately answers back stating that a second count was done and upholds its decision on the missing inventory. I'm a one man operation, I lay out my shipment, take pictures, print my labels and label each item myself. I then pack them all while taking pictures/videos along the way, seal the box (we do one box at a time to simplify counting for Amazon) and then ship it. So when you say there's missing inventory, it's impossible unless UPS or an AMZ seller stole them. You ask us for proof which we provide but how about you provide us your proof it's missing...with all of the security cameras in your warehouse, I'm sure there's one pointed at my shipment as it's being unpacked. Also, can you how a 10kg box received by AMZ miraculously is empty when opened?
3) Product titles in foreign language and unable to change them - I've had and still have products that have a title in German, in Chinese and in Italian. When I contact seller support to change it back to English, I'm told they can't do that. We are in Canada where the official languages are English and French...so titles should only be allowed in one of those. Respect the laws of the country where you operate.
4) French is lacking in Amazon employees - This is not an issue for myself but often times I see and hear of Francophones trying to get help from Amazon and they either get no response or one that went through Google Translate and I won't even mention how it's impossible to some who speaks French. I know it's not easy finding bilingual employees but maybe if you didn't outsource everything overseas to India, etc...you would have an easier time finding them. As mentioned in #3, respect the laws of the country you operate in.
5) Artificial Intelligence and BOTs - I understand the need for AI and BOTs, especially when you are as big as Amazon is however please do not let them make decisions that will impact a seller's livelihood without first being reviewed by an actual human. Use the tech to flag suspicious activities and such but let a human decide what to do next.
6) Reporting buyers - We all know there are buyers who make a living scamming on Amazon. There are Reddit posts, Telegram groups, etc...that help them exploit all possible loopholes to steal from Amazon and 3rd party sellers. We as sellers are rated by buyers, then maybe we should be able to rate buyers as well. Have it tagged to their username/email/IP address or allow us to have a tool where flagged problematic or scamming buyers are identified so we can protect ourselves.
7) Amazon should take responsibility for its actions - If Amazon decides to circumvent its own policies/rules and it ends up costing us sellers money, then Amazon should take the hit, not the sellers. You allow a return past 30 days and item is unsellable, then Amazon pays for it...the item can be sold, the you credit us back the seller/fulfillment fees. You want to grant an A to Z claim even proof is available because you want to keep the client happy, that's totally fine but you pay for it.
I'm sure there's more but for now these my thoughts.
Even though I'm pretty sure nothing will come of this, I appreciate those of you that took the time to read my rants...I mean suggestions.
Seller_VXA2aspMqpZ4o
- Do not permit ANY A-Z Claims without the buyer messaging the seller first
- Humans should investigate EVERY A-Z claim
- BOTS incorrectly identifying products and automatically removing the listing. Have a HUMAN review these. We sell only car detailing products (car wash soaps etc.) and have numerous products removed because they were identified as "drugs" or "insecticides. Far too cumbersome a procedure to have an item reinstated.
- Seller Support needs a total revamping with far more qualified staff. Here is one small example. Customer calls support asking where he can get the invoice for a purchase. Support emails US telling us to send the customer the invoice. We email customer explaining how they can download the invoice directly from their Orders page. Buyer support is too incompetent or lazy to just explain this to the customer?
- High pricing deactivation is ridiculous. We have items deactivated because of this when we know for a fact the other seller priced in error (the listing photo does not match the listing description)
- A total failure to understand (or care) by most Amazon staff that we as sellers are YOUR customers based on the fees we pay to sell on your platform. We deserve a lot better protection from scammers
- Much easier and effective way to report buyers. Yes we should be able to "flag" scammers and when enough sellers have flagged a buyer, action should be taken
- We used to see a note on a return request saying "out of policy" if a buyer requested a return beyond 30 days. I believe the return window was changed to 90 days because of Covid. Well guess what, Covid is over! The return windows should be a FIRM 30 days and we should be able to automatically just deny the return if over 30 days
- Feedback removal criteria is way too tight. Have more HUMAN intervention. One example: Customer returns product. We process refund within 10 minutes of it coming through the door. 2 days later customer leaves feedback calling us "scammers" because they didn't get their refund. Should be a "no-brainer" to get that removed. Couldn't get it removed.
We have been selling here over 8 years. Amazon's performance has declined steadily over this time.
I for one will also echo what academic_books noted:
- What is actually done with our contribution?
- Who looks at our responses?
- What are the plans on re-acting to them?
- What would the needed changes depend on??
- What is done with the daily surveys we've been responding to for years??
- Are we being appeased??
I may be wrong for one in 8 years have never seen any policy change based on seller input
Seller_VXA2aspMqpZ4o
- Do not permit ANY A-Z Claims without the buyer messaging the seller first
- Humans should investigate EVERY A-Z claim
- BOTS incorrectly identifying products and automatically removing the listing. Have a HUMAN review these. We sell only car detailing products (car wash soaps etc.) and have numerous products removed because they were identified as "drugs" or "insecticides. Far too cumbersome a procedure to have an item reinstated.
- Seller Support needs a total revamping with far more qualified staff. Here is one small example. Customer calls support asking where he can get the invoice for a purchase. Support emails US telling us to send the customer the invoice. We email customer explaining how they can download the invoice directly from their Orders page. Buyer support is too incompetent or lazy to just explain this to the customer?
- High pricing deactivation is ridiculous. We have items deactivated because of this when we know for a fact the other seller priced in error (the listing photo does not match the listing description)
- A total failure to understand (or care) by most Amazon staff that we as sellers are YOUR customers based on the fees we pay to sell on your platform. We deserve a lot better protection from scammers
- Much easier and effective way to report buyers. Yes we should be able to "flag" scammers and when enough sellers have flagged a buyer, action should be taken
- We used to see a note on a return request saying "out of policy" if a buyer requested a return beyond 30 days. I believe the return window was changed to 90 days because of Covid. Well guess what, Covid is over! The return windows should be a FIRM 30 days and we should be able to automatically just deny the return if over 30 days
- Feedback removal criteria is way too tight. Have more HUMAN intervention. One example: Customer returns product. We process refund within 10 minutes of it coming through the door. 2 days later customer leaves feedback calling us "scammers" because they didn't get their refund. Should be a "no-brainer" to get that removed. Couldn't get it removed.
We have been selling here over 8 years. Amazon's performance has declined steadily over this time.
I for one will also echo what academic_books noted:
- What is actually done with our contribution?
- Who looks at our responses?
- What are the plans on re-acting to them?
- What would the needed changes depend on??
- What is done with the daily surveys we've been responding to for years??
- Are we being appeased??
I may be wrong for one in 8 years have never seen any policy change based on seller input
