Another Amazon seller's account was blocked, and a large number of product links became bots

Another Amazon hot seller, Zebao, ran into trouble on the eve of Prime Day. The product links were constantly changing. The Wall Street Journal directly reported that Zebao had fake orders. Some sellers even revealed that the account of the hot seller was blocked because Amazon was banning Chinese brands going overseas. According to the latest news from foreign media, Amazon has confirmed that it has removed the Zebao brand, and previously removed A***y and M**w.

As of press time, the editor searched for the Zebao store on Amazon and found that a large number of its product links have not yet been restored!

Amazon seller Zebao's account is down, and many product links have become disabled

Yesterday afternoon, something went wrong with Zebao’s account. The news about the problems with its three well-known brands has been flooding the cross-border circle . Not only in the circle of friends, but even in various cross-border groups, the news about Zebao ’s problems can be seen everywhere, making it hard not to see it!

When I searched for Zebao on Amazon , I found that the product links of the three major brands had basically all gone awry . A large number of product links of its RA****er brand could not be found, and the page showed "we couldn't find that page". This made the sellers in the industry say that it was even bigger than Wang's melon. What mistake did Zebao make that made Amazon take such a move on the eve of Prime Day!

Early this morning, the latest reports from foreign media have confirmed the fact that Zebao’s account has been blocked . Amazon confirmed to The Verge that it has removed Zebao ’s brand and had previously removed A***y and M**w.

Although Amazon did not explain why it took action, the initial signs of this were revealed on May 20 when Amazon issued an open letter to all sellers , which explicitly required sellers not to abuse reviews and also suspended the sales privileges of some sellers as a warning. Zebao seems to be making trouble by taking advantage of the situation .

Wall Street directly named: Zebao fake orders

Everything has a cause and an effect. In the direct example given by Wall Street, a fast charging product under ZEBO has five stars and its rating is over 9,800 , which attracted the attention of the consumer. Due to the trust in Amazon, the consumer directly purchased the product.

I received the product one day later and found a small orange insert inside the product packaging. On the insert was a $35 gift card, which is about half the price of the product. Just like the picture shows, "Congratulations on becoming our lucky customer, you will receive a $35 Amazon gift card."

On the back of the card, the redemption instructions for the gift card are detailed: You can contact us via email and send us your order ID (screenshot) and screenshots of your product reviews . Although these words are very euphemistic, they undoubtedly violate Amazon's market rules.

Zebao said it just wanted to see how much people liked the product and did not force customers to leave five-star reviews to receive gift cards. However, an Amazon spokesperson said the inserted content violated the company's policy, which prohibits sellers from offering financial incentives for reviews .

Seller: The ban on Zebao may be Amazon's attempt to block Chinese brands going overseas

A well-known Amazon seller in Shenzhen said that Zebao’s ban may be related to the instigation of a US congressman, who is pushing Amazon to ban Chinese overseas brands. Judging from the recent frequent account bans, Amazon’s targets are all top sellers in China, and never top sellers in the United States.

Some sellers said that this is a mistake that every brand will make. Amazon directly The entire Zebao brand has been blocked , which is undoubtedly a fatal blow to Chinese sellers, and it is also a bit like killing a chicken to scare the monkeys. However, where does Amazon's advertising revenue of tens of billions of dollars a year come from? Amazon's move is just accelerating the speed of everyone's escape.

It is reported that when sellers promote products on Amazon, the advertising costs they invest are like a bottomless pit , which is quite terrifying. Some sellers even said that before promoting the product, there will be a gamble, but this behavior will fail in nine out of ten cases, mainly because the platform is not very friendly.

It is worth noting that excessively high marketing costs are the main reason why sellers commit illegal actions . As long as the platform does not change the rules and weights of evaluations, simply blocking accounts and brands can only achieve a deterrent effect.

The revenue of the three blocked brands accounts for 31% of Zebao’s total Amazon revenue

Relevant data shows that ZEBO 's revenue in 2020 has reached 4.774 billion yuan, of which the net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies is as high as 247 million yuan. According to sellers, the revenue of the three blocked brands accounts for 31% of ZEBO's total revenue on Amazon. Amazon's move is undoubtedly a heavy blow to ZEBO . You know, there are only five days left until Prime Day. How can ZEBO sprint for performance?

Some sellers said that they could probably predict how much they would lose if their brand was blocked for one day. In response to the frequent blocking of big seller accounts, industry leaders also gave their own suggestions .

The first point is that sellers should pay attention to profits. When the platform focuses on advertising, no one can kill anyone by involution, and sellers should not fall into the trap of the platform.

The second point is to be prepared to withdraw from Amazon at any time and look for other channels or platforms. If you want to continue operating on Amazon, you must diversify risks, hide yourself, and strive for profits.

The third point is not to expand this year, at least not to expand on Amazon, but to retain strength and continue to look for a way out.

In addition, sellers should not think about expanding their scale through financing, because this will only give Amazon a legal channel to check your multiple accounts. Even if you have financing, do not make it public and just keep it hidden.

Amazon asks social media companies to help it root out fake reviews

In a blog post on Wednesday, Amazon said sellers of fake reviews are turning to outside platforms to solicit fake reviews , making it more challenging for the company to stamp out such activity on its site. Amazon is now calling on social media companies to help curb the spread of fake reviews on its site.

In the article, Amazon also accused social media companies of being too slow to flag fake review activity on its platforms, while noting that response times should be improved to remove fake reviews more quickly.

Amazon has previously acknowledged the problem of fake reviews and that 200 million reviews were blocked last year , but it has shirked responsibility for the fake reviews. Over the years, there have been numerous media reports that Amazon is full of knockoff products and fake reviews, making it look like Amazon is on solid footing, but that is not the case.

As we all know, Amazon reviews are questionable as a quality indicator . Multiple reports have found that Amazon buyers have organized to send meaningless five-star reviews to sellers in exchange for free products or cash. Such incidents have been repeatedly banned, and Amazon's mechanism is inevitably questionable.

Yesterday, Amazon also announced plans to create a trustworthy customer review experience, saying it will continue to enhance its detection tools, simplify partnership processes, and "work hard" to hold scammers accountable. It seems that Amazon's next wave of crackdowns will follow, and sellers must be careful and not walk on the edge of violations.

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