Amazon launched three new features in a row, and sellers were furious

Amazon has never stopped launching new features, and most of them will cause sellers to complain. Recently, Amazon has launched new features again, and it has launched 3 new features in a row.

The first two new features come from the US site, where the platform launches recommended actions and key phrases on the customer voice dashboard, which seems to further restrict sellers and cannot change the problems of bad reviews and returns. Another new feature is that the German site shortens the return period for some products from 30 days to 14 days, which is relatively good.

The US site has launched two new features. Sellers: They don’t care about my life or death at all

Amazon US released an announcement reminding sellers that the platform has launched two new features on the Voice of the Customer dashboard : Recommended Actions and Key Phrases.

The Voice of the Customer dashboard highlights products that need more attention by categorizing them into “Poor” and “Very Poor” health grades. The new feature provides specific suggestions to help sellers improve their listings and get more customer feedback.

The new feature, Recommended Actions, adds several new features, expanding from the existing Edit Listing and Delete Inventory options to the current:

Seller education content : Helps sellers understand and resolve product conditions, such as expiration and general product quality issues;

Information about Amazon Preparation Guides : Recommended product preparation to reduce improper handling of products;

Size chart tool: used to update size chart information and reduce size-related customer issues;

Product Lifecycle Support: Allow customers to learn more about your products through videos and on-site to reduce returns.

New feature 2 Key Phrases expands customer feedback from just reviews to include feedback from customer service meetings, buyer-seller messages, seller feedback, and A-to-z claims.

After the US site, the German site also followed suit with these two new features. Amazon is under the banner of helping sellers, but in fact it is for a better customer experience.

This move also triggered protests from many sellers. They shouted to Amazon: Why don’t you improve seller satisfaction and stop charging expensive fees? We are crying for help. Amazon should listen to customers, but it should also consider the feelings of sellers. Doing this completely disregards the lives of sellers. Stop it now!

Many sellers think the new feature is ridiculous. It doesn't really work when customers choose "defective" to get a free product. Specifically, sellers complained about the following:

First, Amazon repeatedly restricts sellers. Some sellers believe that Amazon should track all comments from deceptive customers instead of repeatedly restricting sellers. Because some customers will deliberately make up lies to get free products, it is not enough for Amazon to be messed up by customers' lies, but it needs to further enhance customers' authority.

Second, there is no way to change the negative review rate. "I have never found customer reviews useful. One month I had a 75% negative review rate because two customers left a negative review for the product, one because the postman put the package on her trash can; other than that, only one customer left a positive review. This product sold over 2,000 units during the holiday season, but only three reviews determined that it had a 75% negative review rate, and the other 1,997 sales were meaningless.

Why can't Amazon count those users who didn't rate or didn't file a claim within 30 days as positive reviews? This way, sellers won't have such a ridiculous negative review rate, which makes us look like sellers with bad reviews. And it's worth noting that most buyers won't praise something after buying it, but will definitely complain if something goes wrong with it. "One seller said.

Some colleagues agreed with the seller's suggestion that if no review is given within 30 days and no claim is made, it will be counted as a positive review.

A colleague said that no one leaves feedback, that is good, positive feedback, because unhappy people leave bad feedback . I saw a customer feedback saying that this thing is cheap, which has nothing to do with the product. I tried to delete it, but was told no twice.

Third, it is impossible to change the negative reviews caused by uncontrollable factors. A seller shared his experience: "Every product I sell is packaged carefully, because products such as toys and water bubbles may be more easily bumped, and I will also put labels accordingly to remind. However, Amazon ships products in unfilled plastic bags , and the negative reviews I received are all because the boxes were damaged during transportation , not the products, and I can't do anything about it !

We know Amazon is improving Voice of the Customer , but as sellers, when do we get the opportunity to interact with customers about points they are dissatisfied with?

When will Amazon delete the negative reviews , because some reviews are obviously Amazon 's problem, not the seller's problem. Just like the new keyword phrase function this time, if there is a keyword saying "packaging damage", will Amazon be responsible?"

Fourth, returns cannot be changed. A colleague believes that this policy is rubbish. Buyers always find many reasons to return products . It is useless to prove to customer service that there is no problem with the product . Unless Amazon wants the basic data to be good , it will only make sellers more sad .

The new features of the US site cannot change the return policy, while the new features of the German site directly address the return issue.

The return period for most electronic products has been shortened to 14 days

Recently, Amazon Germany announced that starting from March 25, 2024, the return time for most electronic products will be shortened from 30 days to 14 days. It is worth mentioning that after the German site, the Italian site also announced this new policy, and it is expected that this new policy will be implemented on other EU sites one after another.

According to the announcement, the return time for categories such as cameras, electronics, office supplies, computers, wireless, video games, music and video /DVD will be shortened to 14 days from the date of delivery , excluding Amazon devices and refurbished products.

Regardless of whether the seller uses self-delivery or FBA, there are no restrictions, and the new return period will be automatically displayed on the detail page of each product.

To ensure a smooth transition for customers, Amazon will continue to implement its original policy from March 25, 2024 to April 25, 2024 , and the return period will remain at 30 days . As in the past, sellers need to process buyers according to Amazon's return and refund policy. Starting April 25, 2024, consumers can only return products within 14 days of delivery .

Amazon's shortened return time is relatively good for sellers, and this policy will be extended to all European sites. However, the policy does not specifically state defective FBA products. In addition, sellers also hope that Amazon can curb the unreasonable negative review rate to a certain extent.

Negative reviews and returns are crucial to sellers. However, most sellers still think that Amazon’s three new features are not user-friendly enough. The platform only focuses on improving customer experience and ignores sellers.

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