Is a new wave of account suspension coming? Sellers received 57 warning letters at once, and all links were removed

Since the beginning of this year, Amazon has launched an unprecedented crackdown on illegal activities, so that a large number of sellers are like frightened birds, and their hearts tremble when the platform makes the slightest move ...

In fact, the platform's iron-fisted crackdown on top sellers has spread to small and medium-sized sellers. Some sellers received warning letters for only posting one review. Data shows that Amazon deleted more than 200 million fake reviews last year . According to the current trend, it is estimated that the number of reviews deleted this year will be even higher than 200 million.

At present, the blocked accounts of big sellers have not yet been returned. Small and medium-sized sellers have expressed their opinions on the blocking and fake orders. Big seller Yibai Network also expressed its views. At the same time, the Ministry of Commerce also spoke out about the Amazon account blocking.

The editor learned that with the instability brought about by the frequent new policies of platforms such as Amazon in recent years, a large number of sellers have implemented multi-platform and multi-market business strategies to diversify the risks brought by Amazon. For example, big sellers such as Anker Innovations and Vesync have increased their investment in the domestic market!

All links were removed, and the seller received 57 warnings despite no violations

As Amazon cracks down on fake reviews, the words sellers fear hearing most nowadays are “account blocked” and “link removed”.

After last week’s yellow flag incident, when sellers thought they could take a breather, there have been signs recently that Amazon has not given up on its crackdown on fake reviews.

A few days ago, a seller said that he received 57 warnings, all of which contained the same content: violating the buyer product review policy. Now all the links have been removed.

Not 5, not 7. Many sellers were shocked by the staggering number of warnings.

It is reported that the seller did not make false reviews or conduct any illegal operations. Therefore, many sellers speculated that he was maliciously reviewed by competitors.

This speculation is not unfounded. Because recently many sellers have reported that since Amazon has cracked down on fake reviews, some sellers with ulterior motives have stopped brushing reviews for themselves and instead brushed reviews for their competitors.

One service provider also said that recently some sellers approached them to arrange reviews for their competitors.

In addition to the above reasons, other sellers also gave the following guesses as to why the seller received so many warnings at one time:

1. There is trademark abuse and the brand is implicated .

2. Big discounts, off-site promotions, relatively large short-term traffic, and sudden increase in orders .

3. There is a problem with the link that is copied and sold across sites .

4. System error .

Regardless of the reason, the fact that the seller received more than 50 warnings about manipulated reviews at one time shows that Amazon is now very sensitive to false reviews. Once the seller takes any action, they face the risk of having their links removed.

Therefore, the editor would like to remind all sellers to stop using non-compliant methods such as reviews and fake orders as soon as possible.

Some sellers have now experienced Amazon’s drastic measures and have begun to seriously consider the issue of compliance operations. Recently, a seller lamented that honest operation is more important than anything else. Amazon has been strictly guarding against fraud recently. After just one order, he received a warning.

Amazon deleted 200 million reviews last year and has never been soft on dealing with fake reviews

The problem of fake reviews has always plagued Amazon, and it has also been widely criticized for this. In fact, Amazon has never stopped its governance of fake reviews, and even deleted hundreds of millions of reviews in just one year.

Amazon recently claimed that it removed more than 200 million fake product reviews on its platform last year .

Amazon has also increasingly taken legal action against organizations that sell fake or fabricated reviews. On Saturday, the company announced in Munich that it had filed 30 lawsuits against such companies in Germany alone since 2018.

In order to effectively manage fake reviews, Amazon has also invested a lot of money. It is reported that Amazon currently spends $700 million on employees and projects worldwide each year to prevent or detect fraud and manipulation.

According to Amazon, it removed more fake reviews in 2020 than it did in previous years.

Monitoring service Fakespot evaluated 720 million Amazon reviews from March to September last year, of which about 42% were unreliable, up from about 36% in the same period in 2019.

“We’ve only seen these kinds of numbers during Black Friday or Christmas in 2019,” said Saoud Khalifah, founder and CEO of Fakespot.

Those organizations that seek to profit from this either help sellers hype up the advantages of their products or maliciously give sellers bad reviews to affect the sales of the product.

Amazon has been plagued by fake reviews for years, despite its efforts to remove them. Now, in addition to the United States, European countries such as the United Kingdom are also putting pressure on it to crack down on fake reviews.

It’s worth noting that a variety of automated services have emerged that can help consumers assess whether the reviews they read are genuine.

The Ministry of Commerce speaks out on the account ban, and Yibai Network comments on Amazon's major rectification

Let's talk about the recent uproar over the blocking of a large number of sellers' accounts. Some people say that people who fake orders should die, while others say that you can't sell on Amazon without fake orders. The editor learned that the big seller Yibai Network also expressed its views on the Amazon account blocking:

Some high-quality cross-border export e-commerce companies have indeed had their accounts blocked and their products removed from the Amazon shelves. According to media reports, this situation is mainly caused by fake orders and fake reviews, which touches Amazon's bottom line .

However, under the operation model of cross-border export e-commerce enterprises with a large number of SKUs, no emphasis on developing private brands, and low average order value, it is not necessary , economically efficient, or sustainable to increase revenue and product rankings through fake orders . Amazon's rectification is helpful for the healthy development of the industry and is a positive stimulus to Yibai.

In fact, many small and medium-sized sellers share the same view as Yibai Network. This wave of large-scale account bans has also made a large number of sellers refocus their attention on operating in compliance with regulations. However, many sellers still stated that although Amazon has the right to suspend store operations, it has no right to hold the seller’s goods and funds, which will lead to further damage to the merchants.

The editor learned that recently, Li Xingqian, Director of the Department of Foreign Trade of the Ministry of Commerce, also responded to the issue of Amazon account blocking .

Li Xingqian said that it is understood that some merchants' behavior is considered to have violated the Amazon platform's "Seller Code of Conduct" and other standard terms, and their operations are restricted. The Ministry of Commerce has always required enterprises to abide by the laws and regulations of various countries, respect local customs and habits, and conduct business in compliance with laws and regulations. The Ministry of Commerce will help enterprises improve their risk control level and strengthen their connection with international economic and trade rules and standards, firmly support enterprises to take reasonable measures to protect their legitimate rights and interests, and promote various upstream and downstream entities to strengthen exchanges and cooperation to promote the healthy development of the industry.

Li Xingqian stressed that, in general, this is a problem that has emerged in the development of new foreign trade formats, a temporary "incompatibility" and "growing pains". In the process of learning by doing and mutual understanding, he hopes that the platform will cherish the important contributions made by the majority of enterprises, fully respect all types of trading entities , and believe that the platform and enterprises can find a solution that is both compliant and reasonable. The Ministry of Commerce will continue to pay attention to relevant progress.

Anker Innovations, Vesync and other big sellers increase domestic investment

The blocking of big sellers' accounts also reflects that the unstable platform policies have dealt a heavy blow to sellers. Perhaps for this reason, North American small appliance giants such as Vesync and Anker Innovations have also increased their investment in the domestic market.

Data shows that North American small appliance brand Vesync has entered the domestic kitchen appliance market . As a North American small appliance brand that has just entered the Chinese market, Vesync has launched its first new kitchen appliance product in the mainland market .

In addition, Anker Innovations also stated that it will continue to increase its investment in the Chinese market this year. The editor learned that Anker Innovations has increased its investment in the Chinese market since 2020 .

Yang Meng, founder of Anker Innovations , believes that now is a good opportunity to increase investment in the Chinese market because the Chinese market is undergoing rapid consumption upgrades, and more importantly, the younger generation of consumers has genuine trust and pride in "Chinese brands."

Regarding future plans for the Chinese market, Wang Shiyuan, general manager of the China region, said that the pace of innovation will be accelerated for Chinese users.

The increased domestic market presence of big sellers also sends a signal to Amazon sellers again: don’t put all your eggs in one basket.

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