An Honest Newbie Guide for Amazon Sellers

Hi everybody!


I go through many new sellers over Amazon who are stuck with suspended accounts with nowhere to go. Well, it’s time to spread the word that there is no such thing as an easy way of selling over Amazon and earning big ‘continuously’. Selling over Amazon is not an easy job and a simple gap in communication can land you into the danger zone and obviously towards permanent suspension. I have been dealing with all sorts of suspensions over Amazon and eBay and have gone through some real stuck situations and boy were they hard to tackle too! But here too, the key is to be clear in your conduct and your words. You can put up a thorough plan of action, there would still remain a bright chance that Amazon rejects it and straight off asks you about ‘Greater Details’.


So, what to do and what not to do would really be flexible and can seriously make or break your case here. Let me put up a regular sketch to how things can go from smooth to super messy, as a preface. You are a registered seller over Amazon and are going about your everyday business. You did brilliant research and chose an item that is all set to blow the roof off and to make you huge greens. But the very next day, you wake up to a message from Amazon that your listing has been removed and your selling privileges stripped. Panicking is always on the table but I strongly suggest otherwise that you should really focus on improving your business model. For accounts that are new, Amazon can ask for invoices right out of the gate just to verify the seller and that must not be a thing to worry about.


Ok, now the thing is, Amazon can evolve real fast and the current situation is that you’ll need to evolve along with it. You’ll have to prepare beforehand for a potential suspension scenario where you’ll need to submit invoices to Amazon to clear your name off the suspected sellers' chart. Alright, suggestions time! Be choosy about your supplier and be wise with the item you choose. You must be able to link your supplier with the manufacturer i.e the brand itself with the documents that you have. Playing safe would be best for newbies so be careful with that as you don’t want to be shut down the moment you start off. You need a boost in the beginning and you pre-planning things would be just that.


You need to do fair research for an item that can turn out to be a potential best seller and it doesn’t matter that you do FBA or FBM, you need to be ready to tackle this sort of suspension as there is about a 75% chance of it. As a matter of fact, it can help make Amazon a much greater place for the customers and we must do what’s required for Amazon to achieve that. A quick response from your end to Amazon would appreciate the result big time and this can count for you to get back to selling with ease that you always planned for.


I very much hope that I can be of any help to new folks wishing to start selling over Amazon.

In case you got any other related queries, feel free to ask me. I’ll be posting similar threads in the future dealing with a thing like how to create the best framework that can fit right in with Amazon’s policies.

Regards.

Great post, I've been a reseller on Amazon EU since 2011; and the new Account Health metrics introduced more recently are a real problem if you're a reseller, and not a brand holder like me. We find ourselves heavily exposed for Trademark and IP claims; most of which are unfounded and some even involved another seller changing a brand to their own on an ASIN, and then file an IP claim. More recently, since August's new TOS with Sellers - we've been subjected to 3 account blocks from Amazon, in Aug, Sept, and now again in Oct. It's a frightening situation as when you're blocked you can't respond to emails so you get a spike in Negs and A-Z'; so if/when reinstated; you can get blocked or suspended again for your ODR. I do hope this will sort itself out, and if someone has a solution please let us know.

Jake0405 said:

Great post, I've been a reseller on Amazon EU since 2011; and the new Account Health metrics introduced more recently are a real problem if you're a reseller, and not a brand holder like me. We find ourselves heavily exposed for Trademark and IP claims; most of which are unfounded and some even involved another seller changing a brand to their own on an ASIN, and then file an IP claim. More recently, since August's new TOS with Sellers - we've been subjected to 3 account blocks from Amazon, in Aug, Sept, and now again in Oct. It's a frightening situation as when you're blocked you can't respond to emails so you get a spike in Negs and A-Z'; so if/when reinstated; you can get blocked or suspended again for your ODR. I do hope this will sort itself out, and if someone has a solution please let us know.

Click to expand...

Hi Jake!

it is what it is!
the thing is that even when you do clear the A-to-Z claim by dealing with it with all your heart, it reflects in the ODR for about 60 days.

I found this very interesting and useful

Thanks, we're currently waiting the 60 days for the ODR to clear and then hopefully the nightmare with metrics is over! Lesson learnt on this.