Amazon has redesigned its review mechanism. How should sellers plan?

As May approaches , explosive news comes from the Amazon circle : Amazon shuts down the main accounts of top domestic sellers, and many products in stores are removed ... This punishment has gradually expanded from the North American site to multiple sites in Europe . The product links listed on the websites of many large sellers cannot be opened . Even if the links are opened , the products are in a state where they cannot be purchased . It has to be said that the punishment this time is quite severe !

In fact , as early as February and March , foreign media websites revealed this information : the information of sellers and buyers on e-commerce platforms such as Amazon and eBay was exposed .

Next , based on the cause of this incident , let’s talk about how small and medium-sized sellers can re-position the e-commerce platform market to avoid being at a loss due to their stores being closed .

1. Why does Amazon punish top sellers?

The source of the punishment is the accumulation of insignificant little things . A seller received a VIP full cashback review a few months after placing an after-sales service card . The buyer honestly left a 3-star medium review, but the seller asked him to give a 4-star review before the cashback. The buyer was so angry that he exposed the matter directly to the media . The media once criticized Amazon's behavior : there was no monitoring in place and no punishment measures !

Looking back at the time when Shenzhen Huaqiangbei played tricks on Apple officials and returned refurbished phones instead of new ones to the officials , it can be said that Apple lost more than ten billion yuan in vain . This lesson also led to Apple's requirements for domestic users becoming more stringent again : returns can only be applied within 14 natural days from the date of delivery of the goods .

The media then further reported that in March 2021 , a foreign computer security team discovered an unencrypted ElasticSearch database containing a large amount of information on Amazon sellers’ fake orders, including Amazon fake order exchange and refund records, chat records between operators and fake order buyers , etc. There are as many as 13 million such fake order records, with a total data capacity of up to 7 GB . In other words , at least 200,000 Amazon sellers participated in fake orders, most of whom were Chinese sellers , including many large sellers in the first-level category .

As the incident continues to ferment , it can be seen that under the dual pressure of Western media and users , Amazon officials will collect evidence of store reviews . If Amazon turns a blind eye to this , it will most likely be condemned by public opinion and punished by the government .

This action also sends a related signal : the cake of the Amazon platform will be redistributed , and the ecological development needs to maintain a balance to avoid a monopoly .

On the whole, sellers who have been reviewed by Amazon are doomed this time . No matter whether they are big sellers or small sellers , they must be prepared for failure . There is one less way for them to take shortcuts and make quick money .

2. How should small and medium-sized sellers plan their overseas markets?

Everyone admires Li Ka-shing's vision and wisdom . Only by seeing far and running early can one get out of the market safely . The same is true for Amazon . If sellers have laid out other e-commerce platforms in advance , such as independent websites , Shopee , and Wish , the blow they suffered may not be so severe .

But some sellers still have hope and expectations for Amazon , so what should they do ? Comply with Amazon's rules .

In fact, Amazon also has a set of data to identify fake orders . According to experience, Amazon uses artificial intelligence technology + big data models to identify and combat fake product reviews. These technical factors include MAC segment, IP traffic access efficiency, product conversion rate, buyer page stay time, buyer account age, logistics tracking information accuracy, and the intersection of confirmed fake order accounts.

Similarly , Amazon is not friendly to FBA sellers and Dropshippers . FBA sellers need to invest heavily in shipments . If unexpected situations occur and the products are unsalable , they will be under great financial pressure . What should they do? Loss-making promotion? Find a service provider to clear the stock? These are not reasonable options. Dropshippers have been blocked for a long time , but countless training institutions and people who want to develop side businesses still have high expectations for dropshipping . Think about it carefully. Even sellers whose main business is cross-border e-commerce can hardly continue. Friends who develop "dropshipping" business, how confident are you that you can make this side business?

Are there any sellers who have made money and left the FBA business without any problems? No! There is no way! But paying some tuition is much better than choosing the FBA heavy asset model . Are there any sellers who have made money and left the FBA business without any problems? No! There is no guarantee that there will be any in the future.

Why? Because human greed is infinite. Amazon gives you the opportunity to make money with a heavy asset model and a certain percentage. You are very happy to see that you have made 1 million in Amazon sales. In fact, the investment is much greater than 1 million. Counting the cost of holding goods, there is no profit! Because these goods are stored in Amazon's warehouse, so, FBA sellers are led by Amazon to a certain extent !

Until the incident like the one in May 2021 when Amazon closed the stores of domestic sellers, the leaked data directly triggered Amazon's review and audit mechanism, and many sellers' accounts were blocked, listings were deleted, and the capital chain was broken. Although the top sellers have sales of tens of millions a day, they still need to deal with suppliers upstream and pay employees downstream, and the pressure from all sides is still very great.

The platform has won praise and good reputation for its hard work in stocking up and satisfying customers . However, Amazon has passed the risk to the merchants. Even if a store is marked with a red flag one day , users will sigh for a while, but will turn around and choose other stores.

The ending of the heavy asset model is not good, and if many people use the previous company as collateral, it is even more not worth it. How many Amazon sellers can achieve a monthly inflow of hundreds of thousands or even millions, but what about the profit? What's more, in China, where the economy is getting worse and worse, more and more Chinese sellers are flocking into the e-commerce industry, and the prices of various price wars and advertising are also rising, and the cost of this part is ignored from time to time. We should give up things with high risks and low profits.

Instead of waiting to be changed by Amazon , it is better to take the initiative and need new product growth lines . The development trend of independent sites is getting better and better , and the layout is getting bigger and bigger . It may be the first choice for some of our sellers .

3. Multi-platform operation

The biggest limitation of running a platform is the platform rules, while an independent website will not have so many rules and restrictions. It is similar to your own website. You can configure sales and reviews yourself. The difficulty lies in attracting traffic. It is indeed getting harder and harder to make a lot of orders on a platform, but if an independent website is well done, it is completely possible to make stable orders.

Of course, before doing any business, you must first determine the product , then select the product , and then attract traffic . At present, there is no outstanding independent station selection tool in China , Findniche is one of them .

After you have a clear product positioning, you need to find a website to imitate. If you are just starting to build an independent website, remember to imitate only one website first. After you have looked at many websites, you may not know what to do. At the beginning, you don’t need to spend too much time on the so-called website data analysis. Quickly identify a website and copy it. In this process, you will master a lot of basic things. The dumbest method is the simplest. Then use the bigspy advertising search tool to see which product keywords have good advertising effects .

However, independent websites are not suitable for everyone . Promotion is a big problem . Social media operation , Facebook advertising , SEO and Internet celebrity recommendations are all areas that need to be explored . Sellers who are used to Amazon's natural traffic sources , <&l

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