The Pros of Amazon’s Buyer-Seller Messaging Service

By Sharon Fussell, August 28, 2014

At some point you may have to contact a customer or Amazon in relation to an order or query.

Many years ago you were able to contact buyers direct and I am sure this did lead to selling taking place other than through Amazon.

The advantages were that the seller would bypass Amazon’s fees and make a little more in profits.

So I suppose it was inevitable that Amazon reacted to this issue by creating a buyer/seller messaging service that virtually makes it impossible to contact buyers in a covert way (online that is).

In many respects, it does prevent ambiguity where the seller or buyer denies receiving any communication.

It did come in useful for me recently when a buyer placed an A–Z against me, stating I did not reply to any of her emails.

I was able to prove, through the messaging service, that I had indeed replied and responded correctly to the buyer’s correspondence: it was she that did not read her emails. Amazon responded by removing the A–Z rating: a rare occurrence, I believe.

Here is Amazon’s policy on their buyers/sellers messaging service. Note Amazon’s encrypted method of replying to emails. At first I was confused by the buyer’s strange email address!

You are also unable to enter a url or email address within the body of an email: Amazon will just zap it. This can be frustrating when you want to show a buyer an alternative item for them to purchase from your inventory.

I suspect many buyers do not receive emails because they are treated as spam by their email provider. That could account for confusion with buyers demanding they did not receive any correspondence.

Should this happen, try emailing again and ask buyers to check their spam box, or ask Amazon to intervene if it appears impossible to contact the customer.

Amazon take telephone numbers with each transaction, so they should be able to contact customers on your behalf if you have an issue that buyers do not respond to.

Don’t be afraid to ask Amazon to act on your behalf!