Amazon Seller Pro Tips: A Quick Reference Guide

This publication is for online sellers who want to master their Amazon Seller accounts and resolve issues quickly on their own.

Foreword

Amazon Sellers work faster when they can find information without having to depend on external resources. This book should help many sellers with small or larger issues to solve them, and get up and running again.

Entries are easy to find, in alaphabetical order. These give practical tips for working with online operations or troubleshooting. Managers, who don’t want to get stuck in service calls, will find useful instructions to get back on track.

Effective account management saves time and money. This leaves more time for sales and customer service.

Sellers will find this book will pay for itself to solve any important problem or issue.

Disclaimer

This is not an official Amazon corporation or amazon.com publication. The author is entirely responsible for any faults or omissions.

How to Use this Guide

This isn’t a standard book you would read, which is divided into traditional chapters. Few people will read the entire text.

Instead, Amazon Seller Pro Tip has alphabetically divided entries, which work like a dictionary or an encyclopedia. Readers should look for topics of interest using keywords or search terms. This is a useful book for managing a seller account or troubleshooting.

There are more than 600 basic searchable text entries, with corresponding tips, related to 20 sub-categories of interest. These guidelines and topics are designed to help sellers use the most important features of their accounts. It may be a good idea to scroll through the entries to get an overview of what’s available for later use. There’s also a section of Reference Links and Resources if additional help and information is needed.

You are an important part in using this book. Developing intelligent search methods will pay back important dividends as you find the answers to questions for topics or issues of interest. Feedback, reviews and comments about your reading experience would also be greatly appreciated for future changes or improvements. I hope this helps you achieve a better understanding and greater benefits from your seller account.

The Amazon Selling Platform is a complex system. As other sellers have discovered, you may face challenges and obstacles in using your seller account, including a few setbacks and failures. This book should help you save time, energy and money, so you’ll make fewer mistakes, and can focus on becoming successful at doing what you want most.

As you gain confidence, you’ll discover that even your mistakes can be important stepping stones to achievement.

To be an effective seller, you’ll become an experienced user, learn to experiment, use trial and error, respond to feedback, and develop techniques or strategies to improve your performance. Selling is about sharing and using resources, with people oriented services. Becoming the best possible seller involves developing a talent stack of several skills rather than doing just one thing very well.

Resources in your account also include help pages and tutorials. This guide should help you find the specific information you need about a wide variety of topics. Trouble shooting tips will give useful details about issues sellers frequently find as they use their accounts.

Best wishes for your future sales and success.

Classification of Entries

Entries are in alphbetical order and classified in general categories to help find information.

Part I—A to M

Chapter 1 - A

Acceptable and unacceptable packing materials for FBA inbound shipments [FBA] [SHP]

Part of complying with Amazon Packaging requirements is to use what Amazon considers are permitted and not permitted packing materials. These packing materials are to be used when placing the units in their corresponding master carton/box. Acceptable forms of packing material are bubble wrap, full sheets of paper, inflatable pillows or foam sheets. Not permitted packing materials include shredded paper, crinkle wrap or any type of packing peanuts including foam strips. Keep in mind that fragile items should pass a drop test (from a height of 3 feet). Products which don’t meet packaging standards or present repeated problems may not be accepted for future inbound shipments.

Acceptable standard boxes for FBA inbound shipments [FBA] [SHP]

Amazon has clear requirements when it comes to the proper packaging of units before shipping them to a fulfillment center. Acceptable types of boxes are Regular Slotted Carton, B flute, ECT 32 and 200 lb. burst strength boxes. Make sure to choose the correct size of the box or container in which you will place the units. If you pick a much larger box for the amount of units you’ve planned to ship, make sure you place enough packing material. This helps minimize possible damage to the units by not having them loose inside the box, and it also makes the container strong enough to hold a heavier box if placed on top of it.

Accepting a mistake [PER]

If you make a mistake, it’s important that you recognize, deal with it, and move on. Not recognizing or accepting you made an error usually makes the situation worse than if you accept the error and see what you can do (if possible) to fix or improve the situation.

Tip: Everyone makes mistakes. How you experiment and make mistakes can be important for your development if you learn from them. This natural process can have beneficial results when you make corrections.

Account Closure—upon request [GEN]

You may request closure of your account if you 1) are not affiliated to another account, 2) cancel your listings, 3) have no pending claims, 4) have no pending orders, and 5) have no pending (a zero) account balance. Contact Amazon Seller Support to do this. When your account is definitely closed, no one will be able to access your account or use it for any reason.

Account Closure—by Amazon [GEN]

If you’re violating Amazon policies or there are serious problems, Amazon will close your account. There are a variety of reasons why this might happen including fraud, hacking, poor performance, policy violations, no active use, listing counterfeit items, or other reasons for which the Amazon platform would no longer allow your participation. Once your account is closed, you won’t be able to open another account.

Account Health [GEN]

Account health depends upon your Seller Performance metrics. These are based on your sales history performance record for A to Z claims, cancellations, chargebacks, communications, feedback, handling time, late shipments, messaging, orders, order defect ratio, notifications, refunds, returns, sales, and shipments. The seller performance dashboard in your account will show your account health with calculations based on the volume of orders and sales over the course of time.

You’ll also get requests, notifications, or suggestions, which show you how to improve performance. Low performance ratings may indicate areas (through alert notifications, or warnings) which need improvement. High performance ratings increase your seller and product rankings, visibility, search results and buy box eligibility.

Account Health [PER]

Account health is measured in 6 ways for your performance metrics.

Order Defect Rate—Order defects may come from A to Z claims, chargebacks, or negative feedbacks. The order defect rate of your account is the number of orders with defects divided by the total number of orders (within a given time period). Order Defect Rate=Order Defects/Total Number of Orders (ODR=OD/TTLO)

Cancellation Rate—The cancellation rate is the number of orders cancelled divided by the total number of orders (within a given time period). Cancellation Rate=Orders Cancelled/Total Number of Orders (CR=OC/TTLO).

Tip:If a customer wants to cancel, make sure you have a written message contact confirming this and put as a reason: buyer requested cancellation.

Late Shipment Rate—The late shipment rate is the number of orders shipped late divided by the total number of orders (within a given time period). Late Shipment Rate=Late Orders/Total Number of Orders (LSR=LO/TTLO).

Policy Violations—Policy Violations are notifications of warnings or violations sent to you by the Seller Performance Team.

Tip:It’s important to check and read notifications as soon as they’re sent to you, or you’ll see an alert as a reminder to read them.

On time Delivery—This is the percentage of packages delivered within the estimated delivery date window, as shown by confirmed tracking information.

Contact Response Time—Contact Response Time is the percentage of messages that are answered within 24 (from when they are received). This is calculated as the number of messages that you answer within 24 hours, divided by the total number of messages you have received (within a given time period). Contact Response Time=messages answered within 24 hours/total number of messages.

Tip: Try to answer email messages, as soon as you receive them, every day in less than 24 hours.

Account Risk Management [ARM] [DEF]

This refers to a risk analysis system Amazon uses to track all inventory product listings, disbursements, payments, and transactions. This system is intended to prevent or minimize fraud on all levels, and to provide complete information history for all transactions.

Account Suspension [GEN]

An account may be suspended for poor performance, for policy violations, if counterfeit item(s) is/are sold, or if a fraudulent transaction is detected. Usually, you’ll have an option to provide an appeal with a Plan of Action (POA) which clearly shows how you’ll improve.

Tips:

Selling privileges may be reinstated if your appeal is effective, and if your plan of action is acceptable, realistic, and viable.

If you ignore the suspension of your account without responding, the Seller Performance Team will probably proceed to close your account.

You should take warnings and notifications seriously if you don’t want to be permanently suspended.

Account Termination [GEN]

When an account is completely closed, it will no longer be accessible by you or anyone else. You won’t be able to reactivate an account after you’ve closed it, nor will you be able to use the same partner or business name it was given.

Act of God? [GEN]

Some sellers think their responsibilities end when a shipment leaves their business or warehouse. Experienced sellers know there’s more involved than that. A few sellers think if a shipment is damaged or never arrives, it might seem an Act of God, and no one can be responsible for that. However, An order transaction is a combination of everything a customer experiences from beginning to end of the transaction, including delivery.

Tip: An accident, climate event, or disaster isn’t a reason to deny responsibility for what you’re a part of, when something suddenly goes wrong. If something unpredictable happens, best practice is to be proactive and offer an exceptional solution for an extraordinary situation.You may end up losing at the time, but customers will remember what you do—or don’t do.

Adding Fulfillment by Amazon to your account (FBA) for existing sellers [FBA]

If you’re already selling with Amazon, this process is easy for sellers. Simply login to your seller account. Go to Settings, My Account Info, Manage Account, Add FBA to your account. The system will take you to a page in order to confirm your registration; you must check the box stating you have read and accept the Amazon Services Business Solutions Agreement and then click on Get Started Fulfillment by Amazon. This will complete the process of adding FBA program to your selling account. From this point forward it’s just a matter of initiating the process to ship your inventory to Amazon fulfillment centers. Seller Central has several help pages that are very useful, including tutorial videos, that can help guide you and navigate through every step. And you’ll always have Seller Support to assist with every step.

A_GEN_TAX [TAX] A General Tax

This is the product tax code used most by sellers for their inventories. As a default in tax settings, A_GEN_TAX is applied to all stock items in your inventory, unless you have overrides or choose other product tax codes.

Tip: Make sure you choose a default product tax code in your tax settings. Otherwise, the products in your inventory may not be enabled for tax collection.

Alert [DEF]

A signal for something you need to pay attention to. You may see Alerts in the form of yellow triangles with explanation marks (often used to show were listing details need corrections, or with red asterisks. These may indicate you need to add important data or information).

Alerts-Red [GEN] [NTF]

A red alert is a warning that requires your immediate attention, since it may signal a negative impact in some area of your account, which may affect your performance metrics. Identify the issue or problem, consider what may have caused this, and how you should respond.

When you’re first listing a product, a red asterisk next to certain product details indicates that these must be filled out in order to list your product.

Alerts-Yellow [GEN] [NTF]

A yellow alert is a cautionary warning that specifies something that requires your attention for improvement. This flags and gives you an opportunity to improve an image, a listing, or some other aspect related to the quality of your service performance.

Tip: It’s a good idea to improve whatever aspect that is highlighted, since this is also likely to improve your performance metrics as well. A yellow alert is often a quality alert related to suppressed listings or a performance indicator.

Algorithm [DEF]

An algorithm is a step-by-step formula used for data processing. Amazon uses algorithms to determine ranking or positions of data sets, such as product listing detail pages and sales ranking. For proprietary reasons, Amazon does not reveal the exact details how these formulas are set up, so people cannot make their own calculations to determine or change them.

Tip: In simple terms, an algorithm is used for an automated purpose to execute certain functions.

Amazon [GEN]

Amazon refers to the Amazon Corporation, and more specifically it refers to the Amazon platform of Seller Central. (This is distinct from Customer Service for Amazon). References to Amazon mentioned in this book refer to seller services related to your account.

Amazon Algorithms [GEN]

Amazon Algorithms have proprietary information or formulas, which are not available for the public, nor known to Seller Support associates. Product, sales, and seller ranking all use Amazon algorithms, which are classified information. These use information that is widely available, such as seller performance metrics, sales history, price, and ASIN sales volume, but the way this is calculated is not.

Tip: Amazon algorithms are automated and cannot be changed by sellers or Seller Support.

Amazon Seller Participation Agreement [GEN]

This is a contract that specifies the terms and conditions for your seller account. It’s important to read through this document carefully when you sign up for your account. It contains legal terms and conditions, including special terms, financial conditions, and requirements.

Tips: If you have any doubt about the terms which regulate your selling account, re-read or study the agreement carefully.

See the help page link or your service level agreement: Amazon Services Business Solutions Agreement

Amazon (or another seller) stole my detail page!

Although you may initially create a detail page for your product, you aren’t technically the owner of that detail page even if you contributed the information, images, product details or other details. Amazon technically owns the catalog of detail pages and allows you to use it. Detail pages may be used by Amazon or other sellers according to certain guidelines and policies.

Amazon won’t take sides in disputes between sellers [PER]

If you have a dispute with another seller, Amazon won’t take a side with you or the other seller because this would unfairly leverage competition. The most you can expect is arbitration (if that is required) for cases within Amazon’s range of actions and policies.

Appeal [GEN]

Any decision made by Amazon can be appealed if you have reason to believe there’s more evidence or information which could be considered that might change that decision.

Tip: Present an appeal if you have additional information or evidence that could affect a decision that has been made by Amazon, or if a previous presentation was incomplete.

Appealing an A to Z claim decision [PER]

Reversing a decision which has already been made by Amazon is difficult but there are certain reasons which may reverse it. Consider the following for making a new appeal:

You and the buyer have reached an agreement, which is supported through Buyer-Seller Messaging.

You have new supporting evidence or information that might change the decision.

You have discovered an error in previously provided information that could change a decision.

Explain clearly why Amazon should reverse its decision. Be sure to provide new evidence or relevant information that will support your appeal. This should be applicable within Amazon’s policies.

Tips:

A decision won’t be reversed if you didn’t respond to the claim or didn’t provide proof of delivery.

Objecting to Amazon policy isn’t a good argument. Disagreeing with a decision (although it may be relevant) isn’t an applicable argument to reverse a decision.

Appeal the removal of your selling privileges [ACT] [PER]

When you appeal the removal of your selling privileges, first review the reasons why your selling account was suspended, then make a well-prepared Plan of Action that specifically addresses each of the issues mentioned and how you will resolve or improve what’s needed to gain reinstatement and improve your account management from now on. Be sure to include specific evidence related to your account and include any necessary reference to ASIN’s or other information to provide supporting data.

Tip: See the help page link in your account for "Appealing