Seller central

Think twice before creating a throwaway account

February 1, 2021 Leave a Comment

Have you been considering a throwaway account?

By: Sam Newlands

Amazon has recently relaxed their policies on sellers having multiple selling accounts. Meaning it isn’t required for sellers to obtain authorization from Amazon to open a 2nd or 3rd account.

However, it would be wise to use caution when opening another seller account.

Many sellers have seen this change in policy to test the waters of their Amazon accounts by creating a 2nd or 3rd account they don’t intend to utilize by selling inventory.

They view it as a throwaway account.

There are many possibilities of what could go wrong with your throwaway account that can cause a domino effect on your other accounts.

Remember, Amazon technology is smart.

Even thinking, “How will they know I did XYZ?” they do. They have brilliant algorithms that are continually running 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Things to keep in mind:

When you are creating a second account keep these things in mind-

Ensure your account information is different for each account, name, address, email, credit card, bank info, etc.
If you’re using the 2nd seller account, don’t list the same items in your other account.
Make sure you’re still adhering to all Amazon policies.

Suppose you create this throwaway account to see what happens when you fudge pricing or add inventory you don’t have, whatever it may be, you can still be deactivated for policy violations.

If one account goes down, all accounts will go down for being related to it.

The same goes for multiple accounts that are not throwaways.

Final steps:

You’ll also want to verify the email address and password you use to sign up for this 2nd account is something you can remember.

If your main account gets deactivated for being related to the 2nd account, you’ll need to be able to access the account to resolve the issue that caused the suspension.

You can’t do that if you can’t access it. Amazon, for privacy reasons, won’t provide that information. Not being able to access your extra account can be detrimental to your main seller account, especially if the Amazon platform is your livelihood.

Utilize seller forums, Seller University, bookmark Amazon policies, and read through them, and of course, contact your friendly Riverbend Consultant team if you have questions or concerns about how specific functions work within Seller Central. We’re here to help! 877-289-1017

Sam applies her impressive tenacity to get Amazon seller accounts and ASINs reinstated. She enjoys research and looking beyond the surface layer to help sellers solve their issues. While working at Amazon, Sam was involved with the AWS and SES teams looking for fraudulent account activity and unauthorized account take over. Sam is an avid reader, urban explorer and friend to all dogs.

Amazon FBA mistakenly flagging incoming boxes as “overweight”

September 19, 2019 Leave a Comment

Amazon sellers should take precautions to protect themselves from the penalties of overweight boxes

By: Lesley Hensell

Amazon FBA must have its scales out of balance. Over the last few weeks, a growing number of Amazon sellers are receiving warnings for sending allegedly overweight boxes to the FBA fulfillment center.

The rules are clear. Amazon has several requirements for boxes sent via small parcel delivery:

Units must be prepped according to Amazon’s packaging and prep requirements
Boxes must have both an FBA shipment label and carrier label
FBA boxes must not weigh more than 50 pounds each, unless they contain a single oversize item that weighs more than 50 pounds
Boxes must not exceed 25 inches on any side
Boxes must be packed properly, so they arrive at the fulfillment center intact

The sticking point lately revolves around the 50-pound weight limit. In some cases, Amazon is marking inbound shipments for breaking the overweight boxes rule – even if the weight is as low as 44 pounds.

Therefore, this begs the question – how can sellers protect themselves?

There are a few steps that you can take, to avoid penalties for overweight boxes:

Take pictures. After you print and apply the stickers to the outside of the box, snap a photo. The picture should include both the number on the scale and the weight on the carrier’s sticker, as well as the tracking number.
Get a receipt. If you drop off your boxes at a UPS location, they most likely weigh each carton. Get the shipping receipt and keep it on file. It includes the weight of the box, and it can be tied directly to the box via tracking information.

Certainly these precautions may be overkill for the average seller, or for any shipping boxes that weigh less than 40 pounds. However, they become more important if an account already has a warning. In conclusion, cover your behind. Nobody wants inbound shipping privileges suspended as we head into Q4.

For other Q4 warnings look at back at this popular blog, Q4 Headaches: the wrong way to drop ship.

Riverbend Consulting navigates online retail. Get your Amazon account reinstated, sell with confidence, and increase your bottom line. Contact us.

Lesley Hensell 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.

Amazon’s repackaging service now mandatory for FBA returns

September 9, 2019 1 Comment

Sellers cannot turn off repackaging, but should turn off new “refurbishment” setting ASAP

By: Lesley Hensell

Amazon has recently (and quietly) eliminated third-party sellers’ ability to turn off the horrific “repackaging” settings for FBA returns. This means, Amazon’s repackaging service is now mandatory for FBA returns. In addition, the company has added an optional “refurbishment” service – which fortunately does include an opt- out for Amazon sellers.

Unfortunately, this terrible decision is likely to lead to additional complaints for good sellers, who will see customers complaint about:

Inauthentic
Counterfeit
Used sold as new/condition

Why will there be more complaints? Easy. FBA returns grading and repackaging are of extremely poor quality, and sellers will suffer as a result.

What are repackaging services?

Repackaging services apply to FBA returns. When a customer returns an item, the unit is evaluated by fulfillment center staff. These team members determine whether the item can be repackaged and resold, or if it should instead go into a seller’s unfulfillable inventory.

According to Seller Central, repackaging can include replacing a polybag, bubble-wrapping, or re-boxing. It can also include repackaging of branded and unbranded boxes and poly bags.

Why is this a problem? Let us count the ways:

Used sold as new/condition. Amazon fulfillment center personnel do a flat-out terrible job at returns grading. They decide to re-sell items that should never be sent to customers. Examples from our clients include selling curling irons with hair in them, mouthwash without lids, multipacks of toothbrushes that were clearly opened, and supplements with broken safety seals. All of these mistakes can lead to complaints for used sold as new. In categories like grocery, or health and personal care, sellers can see their ASINs blocked for safety.
Inauthentic. When customers receive merchandise in less-than-optimal condition, they sometimes complain that the item was “inauthentic.” This can lead to nightmares for sellers, from ASIN suspensions to full-out account deactivation. But who could blame a customer for making an inauthentic claim if the item comes in unfamiliar or obviously generic packaging?
Counterfeit. Ask any shoe or mobile phone seller about their worst FBA scammers. They will put swap their old, used, nasty shoes for new ones, returning the soiled footwear for a refund. They use metal bars as precisely weighed substitutes for expensive mobile phones and return them for big bucks. Then, when Amazon carelessly re-sells the metal bar or the nasty shoes, the seller is hit with a return – and likely a complaint for counterfeit.

What are refurbishment services?

Amazon’s new refurbishment services carry an even higher level of risk than repackaging, so thank goodness that sellers can disable this feature. (Go under Settings to Fulfillment by Amazon. Under “refurbishment settings,” click “disable.”)

Here’s the shocking part. Amazon’s refurbishment services include behaviors that sellers should never, ever undertake – at the risk of being suspended by Amazon for selling used goods as new. (And they would deserve it!) Refurbishment services can include:

Re-taping, re-gluing and re-stapling boxes
Removing excessive tape, non-product labels and stickers
Re-boxing branded and unbranded corrugated boxes
For shoes and apparel, steaming and removing stains and odors

OK, my seller friends. Seriously? Did you read that last bullet? Did it make you shudder?

If you want to risk your account, go ahead and opt-in to refurbishment services. But assuming that you aren’t crazy and don’t relish angry customers, please disable this terrible feature.

What is our takeaway?

Here at Riverbend Consulting, we have had some rousing discussions since uncovering this horrific change at Amazon FBA. Our team includes former Seller Performance investigators and managers, as well as long-time Amazon third-party sellers. To a man, we believe this is a disastrous change for sellers.

Why did Amazon make this change? Without going through a lot of boring inside-baseball talk, I can distill our conclusion to the following. Because of the way Amazon accumulates data, and because of the methods Amazon’s managers use to report that data about their own teams up the chain, Amazon has a skewed view of its success at grading and repackaging returns. In other words, mangers like to make themselves look good. So they have convinced the higher-ups at Amazon that returns grading is impeccable at the FC, and that they are ready to expand the returns repackaging program.

They could not be more wrong.

Riverbend Consulting navigates online retail. Get your Amazon account reinstated, sell with confidence, and increase your bottom line. Contact us.

Lesley Hensell 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.

Amazon Selling Coach cannot be trusted

August 27, 2019 2 Comments

Just because the Amazon Selling Coach recommends items to sell, doesn’t mean they are safe to list

By: Lesley Hensell

Leon sells on Amazon in the Sports & Outdoors category. He hawks everything from outdoor lighting to basketballs to hanging baskets for plants. So when the Amazon Selling Coach suggested a line of kites that he should sell, he jumped on the opportunity.

“I’ve been selling on Amazon for about a year,” Leon said. “I’ve got about a half-dozen suppliers who provide me with a wide range of products, but what I really love is to find something that doesn’t already have tons of other sellers on the listing.”

Amazon Selling Coach is an automated tool on Seller Central. Analyzing other products listed in a seller’s inventory, it looks for ASINs in the Amazon catalog that have recent sales or search activity, but not a corresponding number of available offers. Third-party sellers can find the Selling Coach page here: https://sellercentral.amazon.com/hz/sellingcoach (login required).

The Coach populates a series of ASINs for sellers to review and see if they can source the inventory. These are found on the “inventory recommendations” page.

Here’s the problem. These suggestions do not – in any way, shape or form – mean you are “safe” to buy this inventory. Leon will explain that to you.

“Based on the Amazon Selling Coach recommendations, I bought some kites,” Leon said. “These are licensed kits, with various cartoon and superhero figures on them.”

Not long after listing the kites, Leon was hit with multiple intellectual property complaints – both from the manufacturer of the kites and the owner of the licensed characters. A few days later, his Amazon seller account was deactivated.

“I’m still in shock,” he said. “I’m selling the exact products that Amazon said it wanted me to sell. I bought high-quality, new stock from my distributor. I’m not doing anything wrong.”

Here are several ways that buying recommended inventory can cause a seller problems:

Just because Amazon recommends a product, the seller may not be ungated and able to list it. We see sellers blocked from listing recommended products at the category, brand and ASIN level. The same goes for topicals and other special gating types. If a seller buys the inventory before attempting to list it or check it in the Amazon app, they can find themselves with a bunch of inventory on-hand that they could not unload.
A product that is blocked as a restricted product is part of the recommendations! Clearly, the Amazon Selling Coach isn’t updated as quickly as the Amazon catalog in general, since the ASIN’s listing no longer exists.
Some brand owners are aggressive about filing intellectual property claims, even if a seller’s inventory is authentic and well-sourced. The Amazon Selling Coach will not take this into account – just ask Leon.
I know sellers who see these recommendations, and move heaven and earth to find the specific items. If the items are discontinued, the seller purchases liquidation or gray-market inventory, just so they can be on a listing without competition. This is a dangerous practice. (See our blog about liquidation here: https://www.riverbendconsulting.com/2019/02/20/why-liquidation-inventory-can-be-3p-kryptonite/)

In summary, beware of the recommendations of Amazon Selling Coach. It’s a simple, data-driven tool that’s only concern is providing broader product selection on the Amazon platform. Not caring about you or your account.

Riverbend Consulting navigates online retail. Get your Amazon account reinstated, sell with confidence, and increase your bottom line. Contact us.

Lesley Hensell 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.

Riverbend welcomes Cathy Ceely

August 26, 2019 1 Comment

The ultimate Amazon Seller Performance expert and insider, Cathy Ceely worked at Amazon for two decades

By Lesley Hensell

Amazon sellers now have the ultimate insider, Cathy Ceely, to help with account suspensions and other pressing account problems. After almost 20 years with Amazon Seller Performance and Strategic Account Management, Cathy is bringing her expertise to the 3P market as an account supervisor with Riverbend Consulting.

Cathy Ceely joined Amazon in 1999.

Her career highlights include:

Founding member of the Executive Seller Relations team in 2001, answering seller escalations to Jeff Bezos
The first Seller Performance investigator in 2005
Operations manager of Seller Performance
Founding member of the Product Quality Team, establishing many of the internal processes used by investigation teams worldwide
A member of the Strategic Account Management team, working with many of Amazon’s largest sellers to troubleshoot enforcement issues

Cathy brought the voice of the seller to the enforcement teams and drove enforcement improvements on behalf of Amazon sellers. Cathy’s new role as a consultant with Riverbend will allow her to bring her knowledge of Amazon selling policies directly to Sellers as they work to grow their businesses at Amazon.

Riverbend Consulting navigates online retail. Get your Amazon account reinstated, sell with confidence, and increase your bottom line. Contact us.

Have you been considering a throwaway account?

By: Sam Newlands

Things to keep in mind:

Final steps:

Amazon sellers should take precautions to protect themselves from the penalties of overweight boxes

By: Lesley Hensell

The rules are clear. Amazon has several requirements for boxes sent via small parcel delivery:

There are a few steps that you can take, to avoid penalties for overweight boxes:

Sellers cannot turn off repackaging, but should turn off new “refurbishment” setting ASAP

By: Lesley Hensell

What are repackaging services?

What are refurbishment services?

What is our takeaway?

Just because the Amazon Selling Coach recommends items to sell, doesn’t mean they are safe to list

By: Lesley Hensell

Here are several ways that buying recommended inventory can cause a seller problems:

The ultimate Amazon Seller Performance expert and insider, Cathy Ceely worked at Amazon for two decades

By Lesley Hensell

Her career highlights include:

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