Recent changes at Amazon that might affect your sales
Do you ever read the ‘notice board’ information placed by Amazon in the middle section of your sellers account?
Some of the information may not be applicable to you, for example, much of the notices apply to FBA selling – not merchant selling.
Some information though, is of course very relevant to whatever methods of selling you undertake on Amazon.
Below I have found some information that may just apply to you
As ‘forewarned is forearmed’, I thought I would draw these notices to your attention, just in case you have missed them.
That said, all notices – even if superseded by new messages – are available from the links contained on your seller account.
From July 31, you need to ensure that non-media products have a photograph. If not, Amazon will suppress these listings from view.
This will be catastrophic to you if you sell products other than books, CDs DVDs and videos.
If your sales reduce suddenly, this new change could be responsible. If this is the case, get clicking: add a photo ASAP.
Here’s what Amazon says:
1 Jul 2013
Images now required for listings of Non-Media products:
Beginning Wednesday, 31 July 2013, Amazon will suppress from search and browse all listings in the EU marketplaces that are missing a main image, with the exception of listings in the following categories:
* Media categories (Books, Music, Video, DVD, Software, and Video Games)
* Automotive & Auto Parts
The suppressed listings will continue to be visible in your seller account and accessible via Manage Inventory, so you can easily identify and upload missing images. Customers can also find the suppressed listings if they navigate directly to the listings via the product ASINs.
To learn more, search for ‘suppressed listings’ and ‘adding images’ in Seller Help.
Other recent changes to Amazon are as follows…
Since March 2013, it has been possible for buyers to choose to return an item without contacting you first.
On the one hand this is good news, as customer returns will not affect your account performance negatively.
On the other hand, it does take a little control away from you in that you may prefer to liaise with your customer regarding the return.
Amazon says:
1 Mar 2013
Buyer-Seller Messaging Service Adds ‘Cancel Order’ Link To Emails
We have launched a new feature that will allow buyers to cancel an order without affecting seller ratings. Seller-to-buyer messages now contain new text in the footer that reads: “To cancel your order, please click here”. When the buyer clicks the link, they are guided through the order cancellation process. Orders cancelled in this manner will be marked as buyer-requested.
Recently, Amazon contacted me concerning a pricing error in my listings.
It appeared that – by accident – I had priced a book for £5,555.
Unfortunately, no buyer felt like buying it at this price!
I was glad Amazon had drawn my attention to the error, otherwise it will remain unsold and attracting a storage fee (with FBA) forever, presumably!
Amazon says:
7 Feb 2013
New Warning Alerts You to Potential Pricing Errors
The ‘Add a Product’ tool now will alert you if it detects a potential pricing error on new products. For example, if you enter a price of £500 for an item, and other sellers list the same item for £50, an alert will appear asking you to verify that the £500 price is indeed correct.
Sometimes, when I am in contact with a buyer, they respond to an email with a thank you, which does not require a response back from me.
Trouble is that it used to be the case that if a buyer contacted me, I was compelled to reply, otherwise Amazon would have likely penalised me.
Now though, this does not need to happen, as Amazon have added a facility that enables you to not reply when its unnecessary:
24 Dec 2012
Buyer-Seller Messaging Service Adds ‘Mark As No Response Needed’ Link To Emails
When a message from a buyer does not require a response, you can now mark it as such by clicking a new link in the email. After clicking the link, you’ll see a message in your browser confirming that the email has been marked as ‘no response needed’.
Take a look: there are plenty of other messages that may apply to you. Just go to your seller account and read the notice board.
What do you think?
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