Amazon is strictly investigating small cards, banning accounts and laying off 700 employees

Amazon has shut down a large number of top sellers. After shutting down a number of top sellers due to the small card issue, Amazon began to conduct extensive investigations on the small card issue with more sellers. Among them, some sellers were told that "the product used inserts and other methods to require buyers to leave positive reviews", and their accounts have been deactivated; some sellers were suspected of using small cards and were required to provide a list of all ASINs involved within 3 days, otherwise they would also face account suspension.

For sellers whose main brands have been removed, dealing with employee issues has become a top priority. A major 3C seller has laid off more than 700 employees, leaving only a small number of employees. Although employees of major sellers have left, they are not careless about salary requirements. A talent from a major seller company still demands an annual salary of one million. The original ecology of the industry has been disrupted, and some mid-level sellers are trying to seize the opportunity to absorb talents.

Amazon strictly checks small cards, and a group of sellers are banned again

After the small card problem affected nearly 20 big sellers, the industry was in a state of panic. Amazon's cleanup has not stopped. Recently, some sellers were banned for products containing small cards, and those suspected of placing small cards were also ordered to submit all ASINs as soon as possible.

A seller whose products include gift cards received an email yesterday saying that his account was blocked because "it has been confirmed that the seller used inserts, flyers, coupons, brochures or similar materials in or on the product packaging to request buyers to leave positive reviews/ratings or offer incentives for buyers to leave reviews/ratings."

In addition to the accounts that have been confirmed to be using the praise cards, other accounts are also facing investigation for suspected use of the cards.

“We have been informed that you are allegedly using inserts, flyers, coupons, brochures, or similar materials inside or on product packaging to request positive reviews /ratings or to offer incentives for customers to leave reviews/ratings,” Amazon said in the notification email.

The account is still operational, but in this investigation, the seller was required to provide a list of all ASINs containing the review invitation cards within 3 working days, otherwise the platform will deactivate its account in accordance with Article 3 of Amazon's Business Solutions Agreement.

The small cards have become dangerous flames. Many card sellers are regretting their actions. Now they can only try their best to recover the goods and remove the cards that may cause fire.

One seller was very tired: "I had invited reviews with gift cards before, but decided not to do so two months ago. However, some of the old product inventory still had the cards. I was warned once before Prime Day, and just found a service provider to handle it, but I was warned again the day before yesterday..."

All sellers are not taking it lightly. One operator said: “We had a batch of goods to ship out last week, but the warehouse was short of staff. The boss called on everyone to go to the warehouse to take out the small cards that had been put in and repack them, and then gave everyone a red envelope of 500 yuan.”

The main brand was closed, and the big seller laid off 700 people

In addition to the big sellers exposed by foreign media, many sellers have also used small cards to invite reviews, but they have not been singled out before.

A seller complained: "My friend bought a product on Amazon and found that the seller put two product inserts in the package in exchange for a five-star review. My friend sent these pictures to Amazon's email address, but Amazon did not reply or take any action. Do all platforms now allow the use of advertising inserts to invite reviews?"

Therefore, many sellers are optimistic about this rectification, believing that after the platform is cleaned up, the rules will be clear, which will be conducive to optimizing products and improving the platform's ecological level.

The category ecology previously dominated by the top sellers has been disrupted, and the sellers whose accounts have been blocked are also facing company adjustments. According to sellers, a major 3C seller has laid off more than 700 employees, leaving more than 200 employees.

Among the more than ten big sellers whose accounts were blocked, layoffs and even bankruptcy are already unavoidable realities. Watching the recent tragedy of their peers, one big seller said: "This time they are ruthless. I heard that several companies have already started to lay off employees. If a company's accounts are almost closed, if you don't lay off employees at this moment, the employees will have nothing to do."

Talents leave from big selling companies, offering annual salary of 1 million yuan

The accounts of big sellers in the industry were blocked one after another, and small and medium-sized sellers were also affected by the small card incident . A foreign trade person said: "I asked a partner in Shenzhen, and some big-selling brands seemed to be in a very bad situation after being blocked, and many companies were ready to disband." For a while, some operational talents were released.

Previously, operators with experience in large-scale sales companies were in great demand. One seller gave an example: a newly graduated undergraduate worked in a large-scale sales company for half a year and asked for a basic salary of 15K-20K when looking for a job at the beginning of the year.

At present, the operations of big-selling companies are still very strong, and the salary and benefits of these talents do not seem to be affected by the wave of account bans.

There are two reasons for this situation: 1. These people are really capable. After the illegal operation of brushing reviews was banned, people with product selection and R&D capabilities are in high demand; 2. Some mid-level sellers are eager for talent.

Since the big sellers had problems, some mid-level sellers have been keeping a close eye on talent trends and started poaching various good operations and R&D talents in an attempt to take the company's business to the next level. At this time, the temptation of high base salary and high commission system for partners took turns to appear, and each company had different ways of poaching people.

An industry insider said that after the big sales were registered , the annual salary of these people who came out of the big sales companies was 1 million, not including commissions and dividends. It seems that these talents have seen the market demand and have not lowered their selection standards at all.

Some companies recruit people through a partnership system, with a base salary of about 20K-30K, and many companies will give high commissions and dividends based on sales performance.

Amazon accounts have been "cleaned", and the overall momentum of independent websites is improving. When some sellers consider joining the market, the salaries of independent website operators have risen sharply. An industry insider said that some companies have given 40-50% of gross profit commissions , and the basic salary for operators with one year of experience is 30K .

After the big sellers have fallen one after another, a group of mid-level sellers may rise. Looking at the current trend of mid-level sellers poaching people, it is not difficult to see the ambitions of some sellers, who want to take the opportunity to become the top.

Several Amazon sellers: No plans to expand this year

Of course, more sellers are not thinking about expanding their scale. What they are thinking about is: take steady steps in the second half of this year, not expand, hold on to their original positions, and survive first.

A relatively large seller in Guangzhou said that in the second half of this year, he would not launch new products because the cost of launching new products is very high, so he would just stick to the popular products that can make money and make less money . He would not extend the battle line too long , otherwise the capital cost would be too high.

Amazon's actions of banning seller accounts and cracking down on small card requests for reviews are extremely harmful to many domestic sellers. However, almost all the affected sellers have violated the platform rules, and some of them are not innocent.

Amazon's strict inspection is a good thing for sellers who already comply with the regulations, and it is also an opportunity for development. Mr. Yang, a seller in the industry, said: "This is good for sellers who compete on product strength. We don't fake orders, but he does. This is not fair to others, and it is not fair to everyone else. This rectification by the platform is definitely a very good thing."

Amazon, small cards, layoffs