Liquidation

Think like Amazon – prioritize the buyer experience

June 26, 2020 Leave a Comment

Customer service, insert cards and avoiding suspensions

By: Kayleigh Cockerill

“Amazon aims to provide an excellent buying experience for all of its customers.” If your ASIN has ever been suspended for a single complaint, you know this to be true. Amazon will oftentimes side with an unsatisfied buyer, even if a seller has processed hundreds of sales with a perfect track record. In the world of Amazon, the buyer experience is paramount. This platform gives customers multiple opportunities to express their dissatisfaction through Buyer-seller messaging, returns, product reviews, feedback, and the dreaded chargebacks and A-Z claims. Furthermore, customers are more likely to leave a review for a negative experience than they are for a positive experience, making it much more likely to hear from all your dissatisfied buyers. So how can you, the dedicated seller, prevent a small buyer issue from turning into an ASIN or account suspension?

Buyer-Seller Messaging Service

MFN Sellers know how critical Buyer-Seller Messaging is in resolving buyer complaints. Before leaving a negative review, buyers often try to resolve their issues with the seller directly. A delayed response or poor resolution will frequently lead to negative feedback, a chargeback, or A-Z claim. Too many of these and your account is at risk for being suspended for a High Order Defect Rate.

To mitigate this from happening, here are some helpful tips:

Designate an employee with strong customer service skills to handle Buyer-Seller Messaging. If you are a one-man operation, block off time and dedicate it to communicating with your buyers. Prioritize your customer service; don’t let it be an afterthought. Many sellers forget these communications make up their Customer Service Rating. Amazon surveys buyers who contact sellers via buyer-seller messaging asking, “Did this solve your problem?” Yet, another opportunity to rate their experience.
Check and respond to buyer messages regularly – ideally once in the morning and once in the evening. Buyers value a quick response, a fast resolution, an apology (if necessary and even if only for their inconvenience), and a follow-up message to ensure the issue is resolved.
Create template responses that require minor personalization, like the customer’s name. This will cut down on your response time and allow you to give each buyer a helpful, friendly, grammatically correct, and complete message every time.
Always give the buyer the benefit of the doubt and ask the buyer what resolution would be satisfactory. You have every right to ask for photos if the buyer is willing to keep a defective item at a discount. But decide ahead of time if the extra steps add value to your resolution or if the buyer is even willing to take a partial refund.
Follow through on your agreed-upon resolution quickly. If you wait to process a refund you’ve promised through Buyer-Seller Messaging and it is not issued quickly, impatient buyers will file a chargeback or A-Z claim.

Never ask a buyer to remove negative feedback or incentivize them to leave positive feedback. This is a violation of Amazon’s Code of Conduct and can lead to account suspension. Therefore, never direct buyers to a site outside of Amazon. For obvious reasons, Amazon wants to keep all traffic within its platform. Don’t forget, Amazon has visibility to all buyer-seller communications so follow all rules and policies without fail.

Insert Cards for MFN orders

Insert Cards prompt buyers to contact a seller directly in case there are problems with their order. Language like Happy with your product? Things not going as planned? Problems with your order? followed by your store’s email address and phone number encourage buyers to contact you if they have issues with their order. Instead of contacting Amazon, you become the first solution they are presented with. If you sell in a category where buyers often order the wrong item for their needs, like automotive parts, this tool can make the difference between an ASIN suspension for condition and a replacement product or discount.

As with buyer-seller messaging, the insert card cannot direct the customer to a site outside of Amazon, incentivize the buyer to leave a review or ask for only positive reviews.

In conclusion, prioritizing the buyer experience will decrease your incidents of negative feedback, poor product reviews, chargebacks, and A-Z claims. Not sure how you’re performing in these areas or need advice on specific problems your store faces? The Riverbend team regularly assesses and consults with sellers on these very issues and more. Let’s talk 877-289-1017 or visit our website.

Consultant Kayleigh Cockerill, 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.

What is the Amazon Captive Team?

May 22, 2020 Leave a Comment

When Seller Central isn’t helping, there is another option.

By: Caitlyn Way

Working through issues in Amazon Seller Central can be exhausting.

It is not uncommon to run into issues in Seller Central. From inventory issues, technical errors, or listing problems that only Amazon Employees can fix. You can find yourself in an endless loop of phone calls, emails and unanswered questions. The Amazon Captive Team is exactly what you need to get over this hurdle.

The Amazon Captive Team?

Amazon Seller Support Captive Team is a team of internal Amazon employees that have access to tools and knowledge that not all front line or partner associates have. There is a common misconception that all Captive associates are North American based. This is not true as a large majority of Captive Amazon Seller Support Agents are internationally based in India, Costa Rica, North America and the UK.

Escalating Cases

If you continue to have issues, even after working with a member of the Captive team, never be shy to “escalate” an issue.

Escalating the issue can do two things:

It will bring it to the attention of the direct manager (or advisor, they will refer to themselves as a member of the ‘Amazon Leadership Team’) who will hopefully be more knowledgeable and retain the case until it is resolved.
It can eventually be transferred, if necessary, to the Amazon Escalations Team. This escalations team is a highly trained, typically North American Captive Team, who will resolve the issue at hand or bring it to the attention of the appropriate internal team. Escalation associates are specifically trained to handle aged and more complicated issues that have fallen through the cracks of the front-line agents

How do I contact the Captive Team?

You can open an email case with Amazon Seller Support here.

However, please note that this is one of the slowest ways to receive support, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Once your case is created, request that it be transferred to the Captive team. This may take a few attempts. Another, faster option is to request phone support.

What is the Seller Support phone number?

Unfortunately, there is no direct phone number for Seller Support. The best way to contact Seller Support by phone is through your seller account and requesting a contact.

To do this, follow the instructions given below:

Step 1: Open the Contact us page of Seller Central at this link.

Step 2: At this page, it is important to first choose what your problem is associated to. You will normally see two options:

Selling on Amazon – Select this option if you have queries related to selling or listing on Amazon.com.

Advertising & Stores – Select this option if you have questions related to sponsored brands, stores or sponsored products.

Step 3: The next page will be a list of common issues and questions. Choose your concern from this list, or select ‘Other Issue.’

Step 4: This is where you can create either an email, phone, or chat-based case. For these purposes, select ‘Phone.’

Step 5: Enter your phone number, select whether this issue is urgent, and then include a short description of your issue. Whenever you contact seller support, it is important to address each concern separately and clearly. This will ensure the fastest resolution and the least amount of pushback and confusion.

Step 6: Select the ‘Call Me Now’ button. You will be in the queue for a phone call right away. Be prepared to be on the phone. Have your Seller Central account open, your account details and billing information handy as the associate on the other end of the phone may ask you for it.

Step 7: Request to be transferred to the Captive Team.

Have questions about your Amazon seller account, the Riverbend Consulting team is ready to help you. Let’s talk 877-289-1017 or visit our website.

Caitlyn Way 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.

Amazon suspends sellers for inauthentic, sells their “fake” goods to the public

May 22, 2020 Leave a Comment

Does Amazon really believe 3P sellers offered bad products, or is it trying to make a quick buck?

By: Lesley Hensell

Is Amazon liquidation safe? Unsuspecting members of the public are buying goods Amazon labeled as “inauthentic” or in violation of a brand’s intellectual property (IP). In similar fashion, third-party sellers who purchase liquidation lots from Amazon’s warehouses are buying stock fraught with authenticity and IP problems.

This shocking strategy reasonably upsets veteran Amazon 3P sellers. In essence, Amazon either suspends their products (ASINs) or even their selling accounts. Then, the company refuses to return inventory if it has been characterized as counterfeit, an intellectual property violation, or inauthentic.

But what happens to the goods then?

To dispose or not dispose

In cases of counterfeit (or accused counterfeit) goods, Amazon destroys the goods. This is a legal requirement that is likely followed to the letter.

But then there are the rest of the goods. Imagine a third-party seller is listing perfume for sale. A buyer says that the perfume doesn’t “smell like she remembered this brand smelling” and complains that the item must be inauthentic. Amazon suspends the seller’s ASIN and asks for proof that the products are authentic – in the form of invoices.

The seller submits the invoices – real ones – to Amazon. For whatever reason, Amazon will no accept the invoices. They tell the seller no dice, you cannot sell that ASIN again, and we are going to dispose of it.

But then, Amazon does not dispose of the item. Rather, they put it up for sale on their Amazon Warehouse Deals account.

Shocking? Absolutely. After all, Amazon’s own in-house risk management team decided the goods could not be confirmed as authentic. Yet Amazon seizes them and sells them on its own 3P account. At what point does this become both theft from the seller and/or fraudulent behavior on the part of Amazon? It certainly shows cognitive dissonance and corporate schizophrenia.

Here’s a great example from one of our own clients. He was accused of an IP violation on his own trademarked, private-label item. The seller came to us for help, and we helped win the appeal. Unfortunately, by the time he hired Riverbend, Amazon had already seized $180,000 worth of his ASIN. What happened after the client won his appeal? Amazon claimed it had destroyed the inventory. And then, it popped up as an Amazon Warehouse Deal.

Liquidation spreads the problem far and wide

If Amazon Warehouse Deals doesn’t want the “fake” inventory, it most often goes into liquidation lots sold out of the Amazon warehouses. Amazon allows several companies – including its wholly owned subsidiary Woot! – to piece together lots of inventory. These goods have been “disposed of” by third-party sellers, or by Amazon at the direction of Seller Performance and Vendor Performance.

This allegedly law-breaking inventory that is inauthentic or an IP violation goes from the liquidation companies to all manner of purchasers. They then sell it on secondary and tertiary markets.

And guess who makes up a significant percentage of purchasers of liquidation lots? You guessed it. Amazon third-party sellers. These unsuspecting sellers believe (or are told) that if the inventory was liquidated out of an Amazon warehouse, it must be safe for sale on Amazon again.

Unfortunately, nothing could be further from the truth, and the cycle continues. Through it all, the only one getting rich is Amazon.

Have questions about your Amazon seller account, the Riverbend Consulting team is ready to help you. Let’s talk 877-289-1017 or visit our website.

Lesley is co-founder and co-owner of Riverbend Consulting, where she oversees the firm’s client services team. She leverages two decades as a small business consultant to advise clients on profitability and operational performance. Lesley has been an Amazon seller for almost a decade.

Amazon now permanently holding funds for a wide range of “sins”

April 9, 2019 2 Comments

If your Amazon seller account gets suspended, will you get your funds?

Maybe not. Amazon is now permanently holding funds for a wide range of “sins”.

For years, Amazon dispersed the funds for closed accounts in almost every case. Fraud and counterfeit were the occasional exceptions.

But now, Amazon is permanently attaching sellers’ funds for a wide range of alleged violations of its Business Services Agreement. And frankly, some of these offenses seem quite minor. While the seller’s mistakes may have warranted account deactivation, our team has been shocked that they have resulted in permanent loss of earned revenues.

First, here are some basics. When a seller’s account is deactivated, Amazon stops disbursing funds. The account balance just sits there while the seller tries to get back on the platform. If Amazon refuses to reactivate the account, funds are supposed to be released after 60 days. This allows for any A-to-z claims, returns and other fees to be debited from the seller’s balance. After the magical 60 days, remaining funds are sent to the seller’s bank account. (It’s important to know that Amazon’s calculation of when the 60 days starts is somewhat confusing. It’s usually when the company decides to permanently block the seller for the last time – which can be months after the original suspension.)

But then came the decisions to not release funds. The first volley in this new offensive was somewhat predictable. Sellers of e-cigs and vaping accessories had long abused the platform by creating bogus listings, selling a few units, and deleting the listings. This would be repeated ad nauseum, until Amazon caught the seller and suspended their account.

These sellers would then create a new account and repeat the entire process over again. Amazon got tired of the rule-breaking and held funds permanently for these folks – thus stopping the cycle of launching yet more new accounts in the vaping space.

Over the last few months, however, much more typical – and seemingly harmless – suspensions have resulted in permanent holds. We will start with the most egregious seller sins, and then move to the lesser ones:

Counterfeit goods. Amazon will (rightly) hold your funds, destroy your inventory, and block you from the platform. (This does beg the question of how Amazon can keep the funds from the sale of counterfeit goods, rather than turning them over to the Secret Service or another government agency. But that’s an Amazon rant for another day.)
Forged documents. It’s tempting to believe that this is the same as counterfeit goods. But alas, it is not. Many forged documents suspensions we are seeing relate to invoices submitted for ungating, rather than in response to a suspension or Seller Performance inquiry. Since the seller probably wasn’t ungated based on their forged invoice, they are essentially suspended for items never sold. When funds are then held, it’s based on an assumption of counterfeit by Amazon – even though counterfeit goods likely were never involved. Just wow. Also, there are more false positive suspensions for forged docs than you would like to believe – sadly.
Inauthentic. In the past, only having your products labeled as “counterfeit” would trigger a funds and inventory hold. But now, Amazon is refusing to return funds in many cases when products were labeled as inauthentic – a lesser crime than counterfeit in the Amazon hierarchy of broken dreams. In the cases of our clients, the products generally were authentic goods. Our clients bought gray market or otherwise couldn’t provide good invoices, so Amazon slapped them with the inauthentic label and decided to keep their money and their FBA inventory. Forever.
Linked accounts. This is perhaps the most surprising reason for holding funds we have seen thus far. Clients with more than one account on Amazon – without permission – have seen a denial when they requested a release of their funds. Amazon specifically stated in the notice that this was a consequence of having multiple accounts. Perhaps an argument can be made that this is similar to the vaping situation mentioned above. Yet in some cases we have worked, there was no major rule-breaking going on.
Fraudulent and systematic abuse of customers. Recently, a client was denied funds for this stated reason. We had thoroughly reviewed his account and were absolutely baffled as to how his mistakes led to such a strongly worded denial. Fortunately, we were able to get the account reinstated and his nearly $400,000 in funds released for disbursement just a few days later. What did he do wrong? There was definitely poor customer service, as well as serious product quality problems. But the account was suspended for suspected inauthentic – which we disproved with invoices and a strong letter from the seller’s supplier. What was Amazon Payments thinking? We still don’t know.

Unfortunately, we anticipate that the list of reasons for holding funds – permanently – is only going to grow. How can sellers protect themselves?

Shore up your sourcing. Make sure your invoices meet Amazon’s standards, and that you have authorization letters whenever possible.
Keep good banking records. If an invoice shows a balance, it helps to prove that you paid it. This is one more step toward convincing Amazon you have valid relationships with quality suppliers.
Don’t open multiple accounts. If you want a second account, get Amazon’s approval. Just do it the right way.
Don’t submit forged documents – for any purpose. This means don’t alter a date, a quantity, a product, an address – nothing. If it’s not an original invoice, please don’t submit it to Amazon.
Be on your game with customers. Tempted to circumvent the opt-out? Thinking about yelling at an abusive customer? Just don’t. Create great template email responses and outsource customer service to experts who have the time to follow through with every transaction.
Monitor your ASINs. Do you have problematic ASINs that make up a significant portion of your returns or customer complaints? Pull those suckers and solve the problems. Amazon is going to hold you responsible if they perceive your products are fraudulent.

If your funds are being held, reach out to Riverbend. We have strategies for getting your money released – and your account reinstated. Contact us.

By Lesley Hensell
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.

Why liquidation inventory can be 3P kryptonite

February 20, 2019 1 Comment

As major retailers clean out their warehouses post-Q4, the secondary markets are filled to bursting with liquidation inventory. Third-party sellers can find a treasure trove of hot deals across every category – all for pennies on the dollar. What could go wrong?

By Lesley Hensell

Everything. In fact, things could go so wrong that you lose your Amazon seller account permanently. Liquidation inventory has been a hotly debated topic in the Amazon 3P world for a decade. Many experts in the space excitedly tell their social media audiences about the killing they made on auction inventory or lots of overstocks. “After all,” they point out with dollar signs dancing in their eyes, “Amazon doesn’t say anything in terms of service about liquidation inventory. It’s totally OK!”

True, Amazon does not specifically address liquidation inventory in the ToS, nor anywhere in the help section. But a little common sense will tell you that liquidation carries elevated levels of risk. Consider the shortcomings of liquidation products:

In almost all cases, it’s impossible to prove the chain of custody for the products. In other words, you cannot show it is authentic if asked for invoices, or if you field an intellectual property complaint.
The products might be counterfeit. Some of the most popular sources of liquidation inventory are Amazon fulfillment centers. But much of this inventory comes from third-party sellers, and some of it is outright fake.
The items are often returns. They’ve been opened, used, or refused because they don’t work. Even if you have a great inspection process in place, these pieces are only fit for resale as used, or at best, open-box.
Shelf-wear has taken a toll. Inventory on the secondary market has been through the wars. It’s traveled to multiple warehouses, stores and customers. Boxes are worn, torn, faded, discolored and dirty. It often just doesn’t look new.

Consider a few tales of woe from fellow Amazon sellers who became Riverbend Consulting clients:

A large private-label seller decided to expand his Amazon catalog. He purchased a large lot of Amazon FC liquidation inventory via Woot! Almost immediately, he was hit with a slew of IP complaints – more than 100! The vast majority of the brand owners refused to remove the complaints, and his account was deactivated.
A relatively new seller ran across an opportunity to buy name-brand phone cases and accessories from a chain of convenience stores that was closing. When Amazon demanded invoices, he could only show PayPal confirmations. Amazon deactivated his account.
An experienced, long-time seller bought closeout housewares from an auction company, which sourced the items from big-box retailers. The seller inspected the boxes and saw they were sealed, so he sent the inventory to FBA. When the coffee makers he had purchased were sold to Amazon customers, they reported finding moldy coffee inside. Clearly, these were returns that had been re-sealed at the warehouse of the big-box retailer. The seller’s account was suspended.

Happily, all three sellers above became Riverbend clients and were reinstated. But it wasn’t an easy process, and there are costs associated with any account suspension. Their Amazon appeal letters were complex and required a great deal of research, work and implementation.

Is there a time and place for liquidation inventory? Here’s the unpleasant answer to that question: Maybe.

It all depends on your personal risk profile – and the risk profile of your business. Many sellers move liquidation inventory quite successfully. If you’re determined to sell liquidation, it’s important to know the risks. In addition, take the steps to mitigate that risk whenever possible:

Be reasonable in your sourcing. Ask yourself – how trustworthy is the chain of custody for these items? For example, a recent client purchased liquidation inventory from a large liquidator that buys directly from big box chains and has the invoices to prove it. Clearly, this carries less risk than buying from a no-name liquidator on eBay.
Perform serious quality inspections. Liquidation inventory cannot simply be stickered and shipped to FBA. Plus, your team must research to ensure you understand what the items were supposed to look like, what pieces and parts are included, whether the original box had seals, etc.
Adjust your ideas about condition. Conservative is the way to go. If it is even possible that an item was opened, don’t grade it as “new.”
Put serious thought into brand choices. Intellectual property complaints abound on the Amazon platform. Certain brands carry much higher risk than others. It makes sense to stay away from liquidation inventory for premium brands and high-dollar items. In addition, many consumer electronics items would make more sense in the Renewed (certified refurbished) program.

If you find yourself at the wrong end of a suspension that involves liquidation inventory, don’t hesitate to contact us at Riverbend Consulting. Contact us.

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.