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Amazon Seller Account

Are automatic reimbursements a smart Amazon strategy?

July 29, 2019 Leave a Comment

This may sound like a good idea. But allowing software to file cases for automatic reimbursements can take down your Amazon seller account.

By Lesley Hensell

Amazon’s FBA Service and automatic reimbursements can be a life-saver for large third-party sellers. It can also provide the worst-possible fulfillment service, with no accountability and zero concern for sellers’ probability.

That’s why it’s critical for sellers to watch their inventory and ensure they are reimbursed when Amazon:

  • Loses inventory
  • Damages inventory
  • Doesn’t receive inventory
  • Fails to credit an account when a return is not received
  • And many other shady circumstances

Sometimes, Amazon does reimburse a seller without being asked to do so. But in many cases, the payment needed to make a seller whole never happens unless a case is filed.

This has led to the creation of many services that offer to find and file for reimbursements. In fact, we here at Riverbend find tends of thousands of dollars for our clients every single month.

But sellers need to know one important thing: there are some reimbursement strategies that can put your account at risk. Definitely pursue your funds, but avoid doing the following:

  1. Automatic case creation. Some software services automatically create cases with Amazon. This is dangerous and should be avoided. Amazon wants a human being to create the cases asking for return of funds.
  2. Duplicate funds requests. Were you already reimbursed for a particular ASIN, either by Amazon automatically or after you asked for the funds? You or your service provider must maintain a comprehensive database or spreadsheet of cases that have been filed. If you ask for the same funds repetitively, the Gods of Amazon grow angry.
  3. Too many cases at once. You should only file a limited number of reimbursement cases at a time. If you always have three to five cases open, you should be fine. Be patient, and ensure cases are resolved before you attack new ones.

Finally, follow-up is key. When Amazon promises you cash, make sure they actually fund it to your account in the guaranteed timeframe, which will be anywhere from 15 to 45 days.

Want to get all the cash Amazon owes you, without the accounting or administrative hassles? Let Riverbend work for you. We don’t make a dime unless we get your funds back.

 

Lesley is Partner at Riverbend Consulting, she offers practical know-how to improve retail performance. Lesley’s  experience with Amazon compliance gets accounts back up fast.

Filed Under: Amazon, FBA Tagged With: Amazon, Amazon FBA, Amazon Seller Account, FBA, Inventory, Money, Reimbursement

Rebates are Risky – and often against Amazon Terms of Service

July 22, 2019 3 Comments

By Lesley Hensell 

Whether you’re manually providing rebates via PayPal or using a rebate service, Amazon has the technology to find what you’re doing – and deactivate your account.

When private-label sellers launch new products, they look for any way to get an edge. For many years, rebates have been a popular option in the seller community. But now, two factors are coming together to make this incredibly risky. First, services have launched to offer rebates in a hands-off manner. Secondly, at the same time, Amazon has become increasingly aggressive about finding and suspending accounts using this technique.

What’s a rebate?
Typically, sellers initiate rebates so they can improve their best seller rank or gain product reviews:

  1. Using Facebook groups, ads or mailing lists, they ask for a purchase of their product. When the purchase has been made, the buyer sends an email asking for the rebate, along with proof of purchase. They are paid via PayPal.
  2. Sellers create an account with an online rebate service, specifying the product they need pushed and fully funding a specific number of rebates. Buyers purchase the products listed on the service and then apply for their rebate, which is paid out by the third party.

In recent months, we’ve heard repeatedly that these services have “spoken to legal” at Amazon, and that they are operating within Terms of Service.

Sorry, folks. These services – as well as direct PayPal rebates – are almost always a blatant violation of Amazon’s rules for sellers. The written regulations say:

Misuse of sales rank:
The best seller rank feature allows buyers to evaluate the popularity of a product. Any attempt to manipulate sales rank is prohibited. You cannot solicit or knowingly accept fake or fraudulent orders, including placing orders for your own products. You cannot provide compensation to buyers for purchasing your products or provide claim codes to buyers for the purpose of inflating sales rank.

Not convinced? Check out this language under “Inappropriate product reviews”:

The following are examples of prohibited activities. This is not an all-inclusive list.

  • A seller offers a third party a financial reward, discount, or other compensation in exchange for a review on their product or their competitor’s product. This includes services that sell customer reviews and websites or social media groups with implicit or explicit agreements or expectations that an incentive is contingent on customers leaving a review.
  • A seller offers to provide a refund or reimbursement after the buyer writes a review (including reimbursement via a non-Amazon payment method).

Some proponents of rebate services argue that there is no request for a product review on their web sites. If they are offering rebates themselves via PayPal, they can point out that their emails never even mention the word “review.”

This is still problematic, in two ways:

  1. With the wording above, Amazon can easily argue that there is an implicit request for a review based on this financial incentive.
  2. Amazon is now aggressively enforcing against accounts for misuse of Search and Browse. This includes “Artificially simulating customer traffic (through Internet bots, paying for clicks on organic search results, etc.).” Obviously, giving people free products is an artificial stimulation of customer traffic.

Wrong again.
Proponents of rebates who are not convinced by the policy language above then typically argue that Amazon can’t detect this particular policy violation. Wrong again. Amazon can uncover data patterns among buyers. In other words, the same set of buyers are seeking out rebate deals across multiple products, and it becomes obvious that their purchases are not organic. In addition, Amazon has managed to track buyers in Facebook groups, who also share a common purchase history.

Are there times that rebates can be considered kosher? Maybe. If you’re a brand owner, rebates could be used as a normal part of doing business, if and only if:

  1. The rebate amounts are 25% of the product’s value or less.
  2. There is absolutely no request – explicit or implied – for a review or feedback.

Our best recommendation? Just don’t do it. Using rebates is fraught with peril. Our clients who were suspended for this activity typically only received a limited number of purchases and a handful of reviews. The risk definitely isn’t worth the minor reward. Instead, rely on PPC and coupons. Both work well to drive traffic, without the risk.

Still not convinced? Know this. Amazon has adopted a two-strikes-you’re-out policy for platform manipulation. Do it once, and you can get reactivated. Do it twice, and your time on the platform is over – permanently. Private-label sellers simply cannot afford to lose their branded accounts.

Finally…
If you’re currently using a review service, visit their web site. Notice that there are no familiar names of people on the site – even though the owners of these businesses are well-known in the seller community. There is no readily available contact information. There’s a good reason for that. We’ll discuss it further in our next blog.

If you’ve been suspended for platform manipulation, we are here to help! Contact Riverbend Consulting, and let us review your marketing materials, create a plan, and get your account back up and running.


Lesley is Partner at Riverbend Consulting, she offers practical know-how to improve retail performance. Lesley’s  experience with Amazon compliance gets accounts back up fast.

Filed Under: Account Health, Amazon Tagged With: Amazon, Amazon Account Suspension, Amazon seller, Amazon Seller Account, Paypal, Private Label, Rebates, Riverbend

No, Virginia, there isn’t a 30-day grace period before Amazon suspension.

July 17, 2019 Leave a Comment

The updated Business Solutions Agreement may signal minor operational changes like a “grace period”, but Risk Management still prevails.

By Lesley Hensell

This week, Amazon announced changes to the Amazon Services Business Solutions Agreement. This is essentially the “terms of service” under which third-party sellers operate. Almost immediately, many in the Amazon seller community began hailing the changes as a 30-day “grace period” before account suspension. I’m here to tell you – that simply is not what the new agreement says.

A review of the red-lined version reveals these changes:

  1. Amazon has upped its game for account verification. No longer can you simply sign up or provide only a driver’s license/passport and utility bill. Amazon now says you must provide “any other information we may request.” Takeaway? They are making it much harder to establish the kind of duplicate/second accounts that so many sellers have created in the past.
  2. Amazon will give you 30 days’ notice before terminating your “use of services” or Business Solutions Agreement. Sounds nice, right? But if you read a little more, Amazon gives itself every possible out. They can suspend or terminate your use of any services immediately for:
    • Material breach of the BSA. That is about as broad as it gets.
    • Failure to cure within seven days of a cure notice. In other words, if you get a warning in performance notifications, and you don’t fix it, you’re done. This is already the standard for many suspensions.
    • You exposed Amazon to liability toward a third party. That could mean a rights owner/brand owner who filed an IP claim, anyone complaining about fake merchandise, product liability issues, customers not receiving orders, etc.
    • Your account has been or “may be used” for deceptive, fraudulent or illegal activity. Again, this can include so many things: inauthentic merchandise, counterfeit merchandise, not shipping products, platform manipulation, fake reviews and more. If you don’t have pristine invoices that Amazon accepts, you fall into this bucket.
    • You have harmed or “might harm” other sellers, customers, or “Amazon’s legitimate interests.” Again, this is terribly broad. Amazon could claim that ANY seller “might harm” Amazon’s legitimate interests.
  3. Amazon will tell you about suspension or termination, including the reason and any options to appeal. Amazon already does this.
  4. Amazon will not tell you the reason for suspension or termination if they believe it will “hinder the investigation or prevention of deceptive, fraudulent, or illegal activity, or will enable you to circumvent our safeguards.” In other words, Amazon is not going to provide information that will put its risk management practices in jeopardy.
  5. Amazon retains the right to halt any of your transactions, prevent or restrict access to services, or take any other action to restrict access or availability of any inaccurate listing, any inappropriately categorized items, any unlawful items, or any items otherwise prohibited.
  6. You have 30 days to appeal A-to-z claims.
  7. The language for FBA reimbursements has changed from “reimburse” to “compensate.” In other words, they will decide how much you deserve to be paid for your inventory – not you. This has always been the case. Now it’s in writing.
  8. Amazon can immediately dispose of your inventory if they decide it is a safety risk, or a liability risk; if you engaged in fraudulent or illegal activity; or if Amazon terminated your account and is exposed to liability. In other words, if you cannot prove the inventory is valid and authentic, they can throw it away. Right now. Amazon has always had the right to destroy inventory they believed was risky. Again, nothing has changed.
  9. You have 30 days to appeal customer returns that you think were made in error.
  10. Everything in the prior agreement regarding MWS has been replaced with language about the API. I haven’t analyzed this and will take more time to read it later. It’s long and complex.

So, as you can see, Amazon still retains all of the power.

Why? Risk management. Amazon must control the platform to prevent fraud and abuse. Will Amazon’s SOP change? Maybe a little. They might edit some emails or timeframes as well.

But overall, very little will change. It’s still Amazon’s platform. Don’t fall for the “grace period.” And no, Virginia, it’s not a kinder, gentler platform.

Concerned about other Amazon pit-falls call Riverbend Consulting 877-289-1017.

Lesley is Partner at Riverbend Consulting, she offers practical know-how to improve retail performance. Lesley’s experience with Amazon compliance gets accounts back up fast.

 

Filed Under: Fulfillment, General, Private Label, Seller Performance, Vendor Tagged With: Amazon, Amazon Account Suspension, Amazon seller, Amazon Seller Account

Amazon FBA Reimbursements – Amazon Owes You Money!

April 11, 2019 3 Comments

Amazon reimbursement

If you have been selling on Amazon using FBA, Amazon owes you money!

Click Here to View Demo Video

You are most likely entitled to an Amazon reimbursement if you’ve been selling products utilizing FBA.

FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon) is an essential component for a majority of Amazon sellers. FBA allows the seller to store inventory in Amazon’s fulfillment centers so Amazon can pick, pack, ship, and provide customer service for the seller’s products.

Utilizing FBA helps your business be more efficient and makes your products eligible for Amazon Prime. But even though Amazon is one of the most respected online retailers, sellers don’t always get credited for inventory that slips through the cracks.

If you want to get a fast estimate of how much you can get refunded, check out our Amazon FBA Refund Calculator.

Why does Amazon owe FBA sellers money?

All of these situations can result in reimbursements:

  • Customer was refunded more than the price they paid
  • Item got lost or damaged in Amazon’s fulfillment center
  • Item was destroyed without permission
  • Amazon overcharged for the weight or dimensional fee
  • Amazon reimbursed the customer but not the correct amount
  • Item was damaged by carrier or Amazon
  • Replacement was sent to customer or a refund was granted, but the order was never returned
  • Amazon claims they have reimbursed the seller, even though they haven’t
  • Amazon claims they restocked the item into your inventory, but they haven’t
  • The wrong item is restocked into your inventory

How do Amazon FBA sellers file an Amazon reimbursement claim?

What NOT to do

You want to approach your Amazon reimbursement claims with caution. Simple mistakes can result in your Amazon seller account getting shut down.

The most important thing you should NOT do is use an automated FBA reimbursement tool to try to collect your refund. Amazon policy prohibits using automated tools to open cases. In addition, opening up too many cases at once can result in a warning or account suspension.

So this might leave you wondering, how do I get reimbursed from Amazon?

What you should do

To maximize your dollars, rely on an Amazon reimbursement service. Here at Riverbend Consulting, we take a deep dive into your account’s history to find missing and lost inventory, missing returns, and other reimbursements that Amazon miscalculated over the last 18 months. In addition, we review your inbound FBA shipments for the last 90 days to ensure all inventory is present and accounted for.

We only get paid a percentage of what you get back, incentivizing us to find every last penny for your account.

Riverbend is a team of former Amazon employees and Amazon experts who have a deep understanding of how Amazon works from the inside.

We don’t automate any part of the reimbursement process, ensuring that you have the best possible reimbursement experience – and no risk of warnings or enforcement against you.

If you would like to learn more about Amazon reimbursements or to get in contact with our team, please visit here.

Filed Under: Amazon, FBA, General Tagged With: Amazon, Amazon seller, Amazon Seller Account, FBA, Inventory, Money, Refund, Reimbursement

Amazon is refusing to release funds for some suspended sellers!

December 18, 2017 1 Comment

Amazon is refusing to release funds, they are permanently holding funds for some suspended sellers

By Lesley Hensell

Amazon appears to have made a recent policy change, where it will permanently attached the funds of some suspended sellers. Yes, Amazon is refusing to release funds.

This has happened in the past in cases of counterfeit or fraud. But now, Amazon is going after sellers who it deems have engaged in a pattern of repeatedly breaking Amazon’s rules.

For example, a client was selling products that Amazon deems “prohibited” for sale on the platform, even though they are legal in all 50 states. Amazon didn’t like the way our client listed the products. Instead of simply suspending him, they also attached the nearly $20,000 in his account – and say they will never give it back.

We are working to get the funds released and will keep the community updated.

The moral of the story? Don’t engage in a pattern of breaking Amazon’s rules. They will figure it out. And now, they might just be a lot more aggressive about ensuring you never do it again.

Lesley is Partner at Riverbend Consulting, she offers practical know-how to improve retail performance. Lesley’s experience with Amazon compliance gets accounts back up fast. Check out more of Lesley’s videos, here.

Filed Under: Amazon Tagged With: Account Reinstatement, Account Suspension, Amazon, Amazon Account Reinstatement, Amazon Seller Account, Related accounts

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