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Account Health

Amazon’s Account Health Dashboard’s Policy Compliance Scorecard explained

February 8, 2021 Leave a Comment

Green, Red, Orange- the three colors in Account Health

By: Kayleigh Cockerill

Amazon is making some improvements! Specifically to Seller Central to help sellers stay on top of their online enterprise.  The Account Health Dashboard’s Policy Compliance Scorecard is for sellers to monitor their violations and appeal ASIN suspensions.

The Account Health Rating feature rates your seller Account Health metrics in three colors. Green for “good.” Orange for “at risk.” Red for “critical.”  It is meant to give sellers a visual of their policy violations and encourage them to take action if too many pile up.

While it is helpful at times, it also leaves a lot of unanswered questions.

How long will the violations negatively impact my account health?

The violations reflect your policy violations over the last 180 days, or six months, at which point they will disappear.

Can the violations come off with a successful appeal?

This is a complicated answer but usually, no.

The exceptions are if Amazon has stated in the performance notification that the violation will be removed with a successful POA. Or if Amazon has made a mistake.

If a buyer returns an item and leaves a comment stating, “I’m used to wearing a heavy jacket and this one was too light” but Amazon interpreted the word “used” as a condition complaint. They will likely remove the violation with a successful appeal.

Also, if a rights owner retracts their intellectual property violation complaint, the violation will likely be removed from your Policy Compliance Scorecard.Amazon Account Health

How many violations is too many?

Generally speaking, you want to remain in the green.

There isn’t a hard and fast answer about a specific number of violations that will cause your account to be suspended.

If you continue to accumulate similar violations over six months, neglect to appeal them, and aren’t actively improving the root cause of the complaints, there is cause for concern.

Be proactive, not reactive!

I’m in the orange – will my account be shut down soon?

It’s possible.

Amazon doesn’t want to suspend sellers who are prioritizing their account and Amazon’s policies.  Don’t wait for your account to be at risk before you implement some proactive measures to maintain the viability of your account.

  • Keep your invoices in an easily accessible central location.
    • Or use invoice software so you’ll be able to submit invoices as they’re requested
  • Appeal ASINs in a timely manner and institute the steps you’ve outlined in your appeal
  • Regularly review Amazon’s ever-changing policies so you know your account remains compliant
  • Regularly audit your inventory to ensure it meets Amazon’s condition guidelines and avoid returns for condition complaints
  • Ask for help from the experts at Riverbend! Our staff is largely comprised of ex-Amazonians and professionals who know the Amazon world inside and out.

 

If you have questions about your Account Health contact Riverbend Consulting or give us a call, 877-289-1017. Our team will be happy to help!


KayleighKayleigh relentlessly fights for clients with suspended Amazon accounts. With a degree is in Criminology and Criminal Justice, Kayleigh is inquisitive, process-oriented and pays close attention to detail. When she isn’t being a superhero to Amazon sellers, she enjoys crafting, reading, baking, taking voice lessons or participating in races and obstacle courses.

Filed Under: Account Health, Amazon, Amazon seller, Arbitrage, ASIN, General, Inventory Sourcing, Seller Central, Seller Performance, Supply Chain, Vendor Tagged With: Account Health, Amazon, Amazon seller, ASIN suspensions, Intellectual property violation, IP violations, Plan of Action, Policy Compliance, Scorecard, violations

Check My File has left the building

January 26, 2021 Leave a Comment

Amazon deleted this important seller tool, creating catalog errors and churn

By: Lesley Hensell

Being an Amazon Seller got harder during the fall of 2020, when Amazon took away the Check My File feature. And there is no easy fix in sight.

amazon check my file

Feeds were already challenging for even the most experienced of third-party sellers. Removing access to Check My File has created massive listings errors for some sellers. And surely it has created churn for Amazon as well, with hundreds or thousands of Seller Support cases opened to try and fix the bad listings now being uploaded to the Amazon catalog.

Previously, before uploading files, sellers used Check My File to double-check inventory files for warnings or mistakes. Seller Central would show the seller where errors existed, and those errors would be corrected. Wash, rinse and repeat until Check My Filed said that you passed. Then, an error-free feed could be pushed to Amazon.

Now, without the tool:

  • Errors are uploaded to the catalog, rather than caught during the Check My File process.
  • Often, these errors “stick” and cannot be resolved with another file upload.
  • Sometimes, these errors are significant. We saw one client accidentally break all their variations. Months later, these listings still are not all fixed.
When sellers mess up the catalog with bad feeds, they must reach out to Seller Support to fix what they broke. The support is … less than supportive
to say the least. Case after case after case, and the issues still are not solved. This causes unnecessary frustration for sellers simply trying to create or update their listings.
example check my file
The entire scenario is creating time-consuming, painful headaches for sellers and churn for Amazon. As an experienced seller and consultant, I honestly don’t understand the endgame. Even owning your company’s brand registry doesn’t seem to help. Hopefully, Amazon has noticed and will bring back Check My File.

If you need assistance, contact us at 877-289-1017 or visit  Riverbend Consulting. Our team can help.


Lesley HensellLesley is co-founder and co-owner of Riverbend Consulting, where she oversees the firm’s client services team. She has personally helped hundreds of third-party sellers get their accounts and ASINs back up and running. Lesley leverages two decades as a small business consultant to advise clients on profitability and operational performance. She has been an Amazon seller for almost a decade, thanks to her boys (19 and 13) who do most of the heavy lifting.

Filed Under: Account Health, Amazon, Amazon seller, Arbitrage, ASIN, General, Inventory Sourcing, Seller Central, Seller Performance, Supply Chain, Vendor Tagged With: 3P, Account Health, Amazon, Amazon seller, Arbitrage, Deactivation, Deal, Discount, Inauthentic, Inventory, Q4

ASIN, SKU, Offer, Listing, Detail Page. Are you familiar with these terms?

December 7, 2020 Leave a Comment

Do you know the Amazon terms to use when describing your listings?

By: Cathy Ceely

When selling at Amazon, you will encounter many terms used to describe your listings. As well as the product detail pages visible at Amazon. These terms include ASIN, SKU, Offer, Listing, Detail Page.

It’s important to know the difference between listings and detail pages.

Why does this matter?

Amazon staff does not use the terms interchangeably. Therefore, when interacting with Amazon staff, such as Seller Support or Seller Performance, sellers will want to use the correct term.

What is PDP?

It is the product detail page.

This is a shared space that displays attributes common to all offers, or listings, for that product. These attributes generally include:

  • Title
  • Image
  • Bullet points
  • Product Description
  • Variations (size or color)
  • Customer product reviews

Knowing your termsWhat is a listing?

A listing is a seller’s offer found on the product detail pages. Ideally, sellers will use the product’s UPC code to search for, and match to, existing detail pages. If a detail page does not exist, sellers may create a new ASIN for the product. Amazon owns the product detail page once created, regardless of who creates the page.

Sellers may see that Amazon takes enforcement against ASINs and/or listings. Here are some examples of ASIN level enforcement:

  • Restricted Products
  • Intellectual Property Infringement
  • Duplicate ASINs
  • Variation issues

Here are some examples of listing level enforcement:

  • Intellectual Property Infringement
  • Buyer-driven complaints, such as: product condition, authenticity, or safety

Any seller who has an active listing or SKU, even if the quantity is zero, may receive notification of an ASIN level enforcement. Sellers should consider appealing ASIN level enforcement, especially if the enforcement was an error. When listing level enforcement occurs, only the seller whose listing is impact may appeal.

Sellers who appeal ASIN or listing enforcements want to be clear whether they’re appealing on an ASIN or a listing. Clarity will help ensure that an appeal is successful.

This is a brief discussion that touches on some of the differences between ASINs and listings and is not intended to be all inclusive.

If you have further questions or need help with an ASIN or listing appeal, please reach out to Riverbend Consulting at: 877-289-1017; we’re happy to assist.


Cathy CeelyCathy utilizes 20 years of Amazon experience to advocate for sellers. She has extraordinary knowledge regarding Amazon selling policies and seller enforcement. Cathy was a founding member of the Amazon Executive Seller Relations and Product Quality teams, and Operations Manager for Seller Performance in Seattle. She was a Senior Program Manager with the Marketplace Growth team (now Strategic Account Services). Cathy has raised, trained and shown champion Doberman pinschers for 40 years.

Filed Under: Account Health, Amazon, General, Seller Central, Seller Performance Tagged With: Account Health, Amazon, Amazon seller, ASIN, Listing terms, Seller Performance, Seller Support, SKU

Why Amazon “deal sites” put 3P accounts at risk

November 6, 2020 Leave a Comment

Sellers should avoid flipping heavily discounted items

By: Lesley Hensell

Internet deal sites let users buy heavily discounted products on Amazon. That’s why new third-party sellers embrace these sites. It’s cheap inventory to get started. What could go wrong?

Unfortunately, this is a very high-risk strategy it’s best to avoid.

Why these deal sites exist

Deal sites and rebate sites are not for the convenience or happiness of the Amazon customer. These sites exist to help private-label sellers launch their products on Amazon. They are also used to increase Best Seller Rank (BSR) or gain product reviews.

There is an unspoken agreement between these sellers and the deal site customers. Most of the customers on deal sites understand that a product review is expected in return for the steep discount. When sales are made and reviews posted, a product’s Best Seller Rank rises. This, in turn, helps the product pop up higher in organic search results.

In most cases, the sellers using these deal sites are offering significant discounts – so much that they are violating Amazon policies against Platform Manipulation. As a result of these discounts, the sellers are losing money on sales made via the discount sites. In return, they hope to drive more buyers to their products.

Deal sitesWhat makes deal-buying dangerous

Third-party sellers purchase these deals and then flip them on their own Amazon accounts. But this is a risky strategy:

  1. Amazon does not always accept invoices from Amazon-to-Amazon flips that involve third-party sellers.
  2. Private-label sellers can easily file intellectual property complaints against other sellers who pop up on their listings – especially if their distribution is Amazon-only.

The private-label sellers are not going to remove their intellectual property complaints, once filed against you. This makes it particularly difficult to get the ASIN or account reinstated – whichever is the case.

What to do instead

There are lots of places to source products. Yes, they are more challenging than deal sites, retail arbitrage and online arbitrage. But they can help you develop a sustainable business:

  • Manufacturers
  • Distributors
  • Wholesalers

If you need assistance working through product lists, contact us at 877-289-1017 or visit  Riverbend Consulting. Our team can help you uncover potentially lucrative sourcing relationships!


Lesley HensellLesley is co-founder and co-owner of Riverbend Consulting, where she oversees the firm’s client services team. She has personally helped hundreds of third-party sellers get their accounts and ASINs back up and running. Lesley leverages two decades as a small business consultant to advise clients on profitability and operational performance. She has been an Amazon seller for almost a decade, thanks to her boys (18 and 12) who do most of the heavy lifting.

Filed Under: Account Health, Amazon, Amazon seller, Arbitrage, ASIN, General, Inventory Sourcing, Seller Central, Seller Performance, Supply Chain, Vendor Tagged With: 3P, Account Health, Amazon, Amazon seller, Arbitrage, Deactivation, Deal, Discount, Inauthentic, Inventory, Q4

Selling toys and games: play by the rules

October 30, 2020 Leave a Comment

Selling toys and games on Amazon? Be ready.

By: Caitlyn Way

Every year in prep for Q4 and the holiday season, Amazon emails sellers updating them on this year’s requirements. These updated requirements usually sent to those who sell toys and games on their platform throughout the holiday season.
These requirements can vary slightly year by year. They also differ from the normal Q1-3 requirements for Toys and Games.

For MFN Sellers in 2020, the requirements are as follows:

Performance Criteria based on Seller-Fulfilled Orders (not fulfilled by Amazon)

  • Your first sale on Amazon must be prior to September 1, 2020 and does not need to be specific to Toys & Games.
  • You must have processed and shipped at least 25 seller-fulfilled orders from August 15, 2020 through October 14, 2020.
  • Pre-fulfillment cancel rates must be no greater than 1.75% from September 15, 2020 through October 14, 2020.
  • Late shipment rates must be no greater than 4% from September 15, 2020 through October 14, 2020.
  • Order defect rate must be no greater than 1% as of October 14, 2020.Amazon games and toys

If your Amazon account doesn’t meet these requirements:

Amazon encourages you to take corrective action now to be able to sell through seller fulfillment in Toys & Games during the holiday season.

We have included the following suggestions to remain eligible or improve your performance.

  • Monitor your customer metrics and take corrective action when necessary.
  • Check your orders frequently in the Manage Orders section of your account.
  • Minimize order cancellations; only show inventory for sale that you have available to ship.
  • Update your account status when you are not available to fulfill orders (for example, on vacation).
  • Ship orders and confirm shipment in a timely manner.
  • Ensure your seller policies are up-to-date.
You can also review the below Seller Central Help Pages for more information:
Holiday Selling Requirements in Toys & Games
Monitor your account health
If you have any questions on these standards for the holiday season be sure to contact Riverbend Consulting. 877-289-1017

Caitlyn WayCait provides support to our clients and our operations team. She creates meaningful monthly reports that help us identify trends in client accounts. In addition, she helps manage workflow and ensure everything runs smoothly. Cait spent two years in Amazon Seller Support, where she specialized in feeds, variations, escalations, product compliance and gating. In her off time enjoys baking and exploring with her two daughters.

Filed Under: Account Health, Amazon, General, Seller Central, Seller Performance, Supply Chain, Toys and Games Tagged With: Account Health, Amazon, Amazon seller, Inventory, Q4, Toys and Games

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