Clarification on Messaging / “potential high price error” Fail / Virtual Event Recap and Next One.

1️⃣ Amazon announced changes/clarification that will go into effect Nov 3 regarding buyer/seller messaging. Here is a great summary on the “changes”. It’s mainly clarification with uncharacteristically specific and clear TOS rules (HT Amazon).

2️⃣ More takeaways on Amazons excellent Virtual Conference. ASGTG / Retail Global is Sept 23a. A rep warned. “Never change your ASIN to dodge enforcement”. Please never ever relist inventory under a new ASIN because the existing ASIN was blocked (even if unfairly)b. Seasonality is built into ASIN limitations. This implies that if you mainly sell an item Nov, the inventory limit will adjust based on sales of Nov and not just past 30 days. I would not bank on this though.c. Amazon is pushing buyers to do holiday shopping early so they are not overloaded holiday season. Holiday Season essentially has already started as no point in “saving inventory” for later.

3️⃣ When it comes to cash flow, over 60% of businesses claim to have faced challenges, but there are ways to seize growth opportunities when funds are tight. Payoneer’s Capital Advance program offers cash boosts for your business (up to $500,000) based on the performance of your online store. When you receive offers, you can get the funds instantly with no interest, no credit checks, and just one fixed fee. Each offer features a convenient gradual settlement from your future receivables. Find out more about Payoneer’s Capital Advance today and for more information contact [email protected]. (sponsored)

4️⃣ Some new options to report abuse.

5️⃣ From a concerned ASGTG member: “Items on an inbound shipment to Amazon were showing up on the catalog pages as Backordered. These were not warehouse transfers; they were still in transit from us to FBA. I suspect this is another way Amazon is trying to keep prices lower. It may also be part of the reason that they came out with the new rule about missed delivery appointments.”

6️⃣ Account health has increased the frequency of proactive calling for sellers to resolve issues on the dashboard. This can be useful depending on the rep.

7️⃣ As of Sept 1, your address is showing on your profile. To change the address, go to “business address” and change it. No tax interview is needed and the address updates right away on amazon. Changing the business name (under legal entity) triggers a tax interview and is a much bigger deal. If your address is your home, you may want to consider changing the address for safety.

8️⃣ “We received your submission and we cannot accept this invoice because we are unable to verify the supplier. We removed some of your listings because of repeated invoice submissions for which we were unable to verify the supplier.

9️⃣ Many sellers are having items deactivated for “potential high price error” even though their item is the cheapest on the listings and higher priced items are shown.

🔟 Some huge sellers have stated that the rank on major keywords are jumping up and down erratically since the end of Aug.

Good Shabbos – Ed Rosenberg – ASGTG – The Voice of the Seller