Amazon Seller Top Mistakes
Amazon Seller Top Mistakes Some of the biggest mistakes are the easiest to fix. I can always tell a new seller even before I look at their feedback by seeing their shipping rates. Generally, they price themselves right out of the competition. I’m sure they never get any sales. Another rookie mistake is to not use a repricer. Very quickly, all the competition is priced just low enough that the merchant will never make any sales. Here is a list of other, simple-to-fix errors. The picture has to match the product If your image does not match the product you are sending, there is going to be trouble. And trouble will arrive right now. I cannot stress this enough. There must be no ambiguity. For instance, we sell gimmicked coins. If I want to show the front and the back, I have to use two images. If you show these in one image, the customer will think they are getting two coins. This might sound crazy to you, but it won’t to your customer. The title has to match the product Like the image, the title must be clear. Some merchants like to put the words “2 pack” in the title. This is a problem if you have been selling them one at a time. When you are setting up new products in Seller Central, you have the choice to sell more than one of an item. It is on the “Vital Info” tab and it is called “Package Quantity”. If this number is “1”, then the words “2 pack” should not appear in the title. This will just confuse the buyer and cause you problems. The dimensions are “approximate” We sell performance pads for magicians. These are soft pads that they put on the table before they do a card trick or some other magic. We sold one to a customer who had built an entire table around our exact dimensions. Then they ordered the pad. Our dimensions were off by less than ÂĽ of an inch. This was enough to throw him into a rage. I’m sure I spent 30 minutes on the phone with him. Needless to say, all our descriptions state that all our dimensions are “approximate.” This allows us a little wiggle room on each product.  The description has to be complete If you do it right, you should only have to do a new listing one time. I try to give complete information each time I do a new listing. This includes providing mundane information like the size of the packaging and the size of the product. (See Chapter 7 for an explanation of the difference between “packaging” and “product.”) This may seem crazy, but I strive to do it right the first time, because doing it all over again is a disaster. Be honest about your product. Don’t make claims you can’t meet. Give details. When customers are looking online for a product, many of them know exactly what they want. They are trying desperately to find this exact item. The more detail you give, the more likely they are to find you. Answer all customer service emails within 24 hours OK. This is one of the downsides to selling on Amazon. You must respond to customer inquires with 24 hours. This means that you have to check your email at least every 24 hours. I have email sessions no more than every 23 hours. That means that someone in your company has to look at a computer for somewhere between 2 and 30 minutes each day, every single day of the year. Yes. I read my email on Christmas Day. We get between 4 and 12 emails per day. Usually 6 or less on weekend days. If you can’t check your email and respond, your sales will suffer. And an “out of office” email will not work. Amazon will catch it if you are doing this. Manage your feedback You will get some negative feedback. It is a fact of selling online. I have never seen a seller who didn’t get negative feedback. Some feedbacks can be removed. Here is Amazon’s list: * The feedback includes obscene language. * The feedback includes seller-specific personally identifiable information, such as e-mail addresses, full names, telephone numbers, etc. * The entire feedback is a product review. * The entire feedback is regarding fulfillment or customer service for an order fulfilled by Amazon.* I have never had a feedback with obscene language. I think we’ve only ever had one feedback with SELLER-specific information. We have used the last two multiple times to remove negative feedback.  To use the “product review” exception, you must meet a few criteria. First, the feedback can’t state that the product failed right away. Amazon feels that in this case, this is a defective product and should be handled by you contacting the customer and offering a replacement.  Second, the feedback can’t state that the item was different than the description. Again, Amazon feels that this is between you and the customer and you have to work it out. (I can’t stress enough that it is really important to provide accurate information with an exact image of the product.) If you can get over these hurdles, you’ll probably get the feedback removed. In this case, Amazon does allow the customer to leave another feedback. Nevertheless, I attack negative feedbacks right away.  Most recently, my main success has been with the last exception – The “FBA” exception. We have at least one or two negative feedbacks per week that complain that they didn’t receive their order, or it was damaged in transit. Amazon will strike through these feedbacks and add a statement that they are at fault. I don’t know what is gained by leaving them there, but I do know that they don’t count against you and that is what is important.Â













