There’s nothing like Halloween to lift your spirits when you’re bombarded with Amazon policy changes. To help make the transition easier for you, we’ve put together a list of 5 spine-tingling tips for Amazon sellers in 2016 and beyond.
Here are some hair-raising tricks to help you tackle some of the biggest Amazon policy changes:
1. $50 Minimum Purchase
We’ve mentioned the new review creation guidelines in a recent news post. They state that customers can only review their orders, leave answers and post on the forum if they’ve spent at least $50 on Amazon USA. This means that shoppers who haven’t placed large enough orders will be unable to share their experiences.
To be sure you make the best of this situation, write to customers yourself to ask that they review the product. But make sure you give them enough time to become eligible to leave reviews. Consider sending two product review requests, one after the buyer has had time to use the product, and one several weeks later. That way, new customers may be able to reach the $50 minimum in time.
2. Incentivized Review Ban
With the recent change to the Prohibited Seller Activities and Actions policy, vendors and sellers are scrambling to find new ways to promote their products. But just because incentivized reviews are forbidden doesn’t mean that anything needs to change for honest manufacturers, distributors or retailers.
If you’re a vendor and you want to have your products reviewed, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to join the Amazon Vine programme. There’s a loophole in the policy, and legitimate reviewing sites are taking advantage of it. It involves sellers stating that their incentivized reviews are optional, not compulsory for reviewers.
Also, at the moment, the ban applies to Amazon US reviews only. There are products with reviews pooled from various other venues. So, Amazon USA may display a review from a buyer in the UK, if there aren’t enough product reviews available.
That means that vendors can reach out to reviewers from other countries the product is sold in. Also, there are customers who check reviews on various other venues and platforms before they buy a product, so broadening your horizons could pay off.
3. Compulsory Box Content Information
If you’re having trouble entering box content information for the shipments you send to Amazon fulfillment centers, there are some software tools out there can help. Take SellerEngine Plus, for instance. It will help you create your shipments and print your labels. Simply enter the units for each SKU and the expiration dates (if applicable).
4. Permanent Critical Product Reviews
The Prohibited Seller Activities and Actions policy now forbids sellers from asking buyers to remove or modify their product reviews. What’s the workaround for this? Buyers can still comment on their own reviews. They simply look for the review in their accounts and click the Comment button next to the Permalink option.
Any unflattering remark in a critical product review is something the buyer can take back through a comment. Granted, you need to expand the comment section to be able to read it. Still, that shouldn’t be very inconvenient if customers have already taken the time to read the critical review above.
5. Prohibited Buyer Diverts
We notified you earlier this month that Amazon recently updated its Prohibited Seller Activities and Actions policy. The rule now forbids sellers from mentioning a website, a payment system, an email address, a hyperlink, a URL, or a special offer until the order is fulfilled.
What it doesn’t say is what marketing content your packing slips, invoices or leaflets can include. Considering many buyers don’t notice or keep the documents they find in the box, you could try to make them stand out.
One option is to use a colorful QR code in the space below the list of items. Another is to use a QR code on the back of a business card, and ask buyers to use it when they’re ready to provide feedback.
Melanie takes an active interest in all things Amazon. She keeps an eye on the latest developments, and keeps Amazon sellers up to speed