Amazon account function update, a group of unqualified sellers were blocked

Amazon’s “Account Health Rating” feature, which was tested in the United States and Canada in August, has been updated. As Amazon’s compliance policies are gradually tightened, sellers should strictly observe the red line.

Amazon's "Account Health Rating" feature update

" Amazon sent a mass email to everyone this morning regarding account ratings, " a seller said yesterday. What exactly is going on?

It is reported that many sellers have received emails from Amazon recently. The content of the emails shows that Amazon has added some new features to the seller's account status page to help sellers understand the status of their account more clearly.

The updated part is: in addition to the original color-coded labels, Amazon will also display the account health rating score with a number from 0 to 1000, so that sellers can judge the gap between the current risk and the threshold value of each risk level. The threshold value is the score required for the account health rating to change from green (good) to yellow (risky) and then to red (poor).

Specifically, if the seller's account status rating is green (good, score is 200-1000), it means that the seller's account is not at risk of being deactivated; if the account status rating is yellow (there is risk, score is 100-199), it means that the account is at risk of being deactivated; if the account status rating is red (poor, score is 99 or lower), it means that the seller's account has met the deactivation criteria or has been deactivated.

Figure 1

There is no doubt that Amazon will take account suspension measures for accumulated violations, and the account status rating is the decisive number; for sellers, this function can also clearly see the severity of each violation, and prevent and resolve violations.

At present, some sellers’ accounts have been blocked, and the number of violation records involved by the blocked sellers ranges from 1 or 2 to 30 or 100. After the account is blocked, Amazon will require the seller to appeal all the violation records of the store within a certain period of time. If the seller fails to provide relevant information within the time specified by Amazon, Amazon will permanently suspend the seller’s account.

Sellers have different reactions to Amazon's "move".

The new features seem more intuitive;

Several of our stores have 1000 points, and the operation is great;

Amazon account health is undergoing major changes. Some accounts have been converted into ratings, and if the score is below a certain level, you will be considered lost.

Why do I have no performance issues but my score is 600?

See how many points are deducted for various violations;

Some sellers even calculated based on the logic that Amazon's new accounts are given a default score of 200 points and 4 points are added for every 200 valid orders delivered in the past 180 days. If sellers want to get full marks, they need to stabilize the daily order volume at more than 223 orders.

In fact, as early as early August this year, Amazon’s fully upgraded account status rating function has been launched to sellers. It was first launched on Amazon’s US and Canadian sites, and is planned to be promoted on global sites in 2023.

Soon after the feature was launched, some sellers’ accounts were blocked. However, Amazon did not make a big deal about the blocking at that time, so some sellers thought that Amazon was "feinting". But now it seems that Amazon has never relaxed its compliance requirements, and sellers also need to be vigilant and not cross the red line.

As the peak season approaches, Amazon launches a number of new initiatives

Regarding Amazon's update of the account rating function, industry insiders said that this can be regarded as another warning to sellers to operate in compliance with regulations as the peak season is approaching. In addition to compliance warnings, promoting sales and increasing traffic have also become another major focus of Amazon recently.

Previously, Amazon's inventory capacity dropped sharply, which made sellers complain bitterly. However, many sellers reported that their inventory capacity has started to increase again recently. One seller said that his inventory limit has been eased on Monday this week, increasing by about 40%. The seller said that his current inventory limit has only dropped by about 15%-20% compared with August. If the limit remains at this week's level, he will still be able to cope with the peak season.

Many sellers later said that the storage capacity has indeed increased, but the increase is generally between 15% and 20%, and the increase of 40% is rare. "Perhaps Amazon is preparing for Black Friday and Cyber ​​Monday, so it has relaxed the inventory restrictions to ensure sufficient stock. Although the relaxation is not large at present, it may increase later." said a seller.

In terms of the overall feedback from sellers, the scope of the increase in storage capacity is not large. Some sellers also expressed concerns: "It would be best if the storage capacity increased gradually. I am afraid that it would fluctuate all the time. It is so hard to reach the peak season, but there is no stock to sell. Wouldn't it be a big loss?"

Amazon's expansion of warehouse capacity has made more sellers feel the tension of the peak season. At the same time, Amazon has also launched some new measures to increase the platform and sellers' traffic.

Unlike before, Amazon will allow sellers to send marketing emails to buyers and monitor the relevant results. However, sellers' marketing emails cannot be sent at will. They must be sent to designated objects through Amazon's "custom audience" tool. If the other party does not want to receive relevant emails, they must unsubscribe.

It is worth noting that Amazon began testing this tool this year, and after passing the test, it was only temporarily open to US sellers. It is still unknown whether the scope will be expanded in the future. Some sellers who intend to use this tool believe that the limited scope is quite disappointing.

In fact, as early as the first half of this year, there was news that Amazon would allow sellers to send marketing emails to buyers, which surprised many sellers. As a seller said: "After all, Amazon previously had strict regulations on the interaction between buyers and sellers."

In addition to allowing sellers to send emails, Amazon will also allow sellers to guide consumers to their own independent sites to place orders in the second quarter of this year, thereby increasing traffic, but sellers must use a feature called "Buy With Prime" on their own independent sites. This feature allows sellers to display their independent site products on Amazon, and buyers can jump to the corresponding independent site page by clicking on the product.

In terms of checkout, buyers do not have to worry about opening a new account. It is understood that this function allows Amazon members to use their own Amazon accounts to settle bills and handle goods issues.

Amazon has put a lot of effort into its new marketing initiatives, but sellers have different reactions. Some sellers believe that: "The new social media ads are managed by Amazon, and the advertising fees are expensive. After using them, I found that it is still the same as other platforms for attracting traffic, and the process is too complicated." Some sellers also said that if these features can also be used on their own sites, they are still willing to give it a try.

As always, when Amazon releases new rules and new features, some are happy while others are sad. Even measures to increase traffic will have different actual applications due to different testing times, locations and monitoring results. However, if features like sending marketing emails can be rolled out to more sites in the future, it will be of great help to sellers in increasing repurchase rates.

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