How to Find a Specific Seller on Amazon? – Best Ways (Complete Guide)
Being an Amazon seller is not just about keeping a check on your listings, but also on your competitors’ listings as well. Sometimes it’s aimed at learning a new strategy,...
Being an Amazon seller is not just about keeping a check on your listings, but also on your competitors’ listings as well. Sometimes it’s aimed at learning a new strategy, taking inspiration and sometimes it’s just out of curiosity. So, how can you find a particular Amazons seller? Does Amazon even let you search for a specific seller? Let me answer both of these questions by telling you not one, but 2 simple methods using which you can easily find any Amazon seller you want. Method 1 – Search on Amazon Amazon search engine does not give you any option like “search by seller” using which you can simply type in a seller’s name and then browse through the search results consisting of just Amazon sellers, not products. Why? Because there’s simply no need for this specific filter. If you search by a seller’s name, Amazon will place that seller’s products at the top of the search results for you. Moreover, almost every seller adds their seller name to their product’s name so searching with a seller’s name on Amazon always brings that particular seller’s products at the top of the search results. From here, you can simply click on any of the seller’s listings and find the seller name right with the product name. Clicking on this name will take you directly to that seller’s storefront where you can view all products being sold by them along with other information. Let’s go through the process step by step. First of all, go to Amazon and enter the name of the seller you’re looking for (in this case, “Afco”): Here are the search results: The first product is almost always by the seller you’re searching for. To confirm that this really is the case, go to the fist listing: If you see a different seller here, just go back to the search results and try another product. When you find it, finally click on the seller’s name to go to their storefront: It’s really this simple. This is how you can search for a particular seller on Amazon with their name and go to their storefront. Let’s discuss the second method now: Method 2 – Search on SellerRatings.com SellerRatings is an awesome site that has a complete list of all Amazon sellers along with the details of their storefronts. You can search by any seller’s name on this site: For example, if we search again for “afco” here on SellerRatings, these are the search results: In addition to the seller we were looking for, there is another seller in the search results too that that matched our keyword. Now, if we click on the first one, it takes us to Afco’s Amazon storefront: In addition to the seller’s products, you can also see the number of reviews a seller has received in the upper right corner. In other words, SellerRatings is simply something Amazon would’ve achieved if they had added the “search by seller” option to their search engine. A Quick Recap We discussed the two easiest ways to find a particular seller on Amazon: Search the seller name on Amazon, find his listings in the search results, and then open the seller’s storefront from one of his listings Search with the seller name on SellerRatings, and find the seller from search results You can easily find any Amazon seller with these two methods, view all of their products and even check their reviews and ratings!
How to Refine Your Amazon Traffic through Multiple Channels
You need to refine your Amazon traffic before you drive it to your Amazon listings. Traffic that comes from outside sources is less likely to convert than traffic that comes...
You need to refine your Amazon traffic before you drive it to your Amazon listings. Traffic that comes from outside sources is less likely to convert than traffic that comes from within the marketplace. This is because most Amazon users start product searches on Amazon itself. If you send non-converting traffic to your Amazon listings, your performance score will take a dive. You may get an initial ranking spike from all the traffic, but the drop in your conversion rate will have a more powerful negative effect. Driving external traffic to Amazon is a powerful tool for sellers to attract new customers and gain a competitive advantage. But you have to first refine your Amazon traffic to keep these advantages plus improve keyword rankings, get Best Seller Ranking, drive sales, and keep customers happy over the long run. So here’s how you can gain a significant edge over what Amazon already offers your business. Multi-Channel Opportunities to Refine Your Amazon Traffic Amazon is the primary sales channel for most Amazon sellers. Amazon is the biggest eCommerce site with an enormous base of loyal shoppers. To build a thriving business on Amazon and make the most of external traffic, however, you must start by ensuring that you have excellent product listings. Optimize Amazon product pages with quality images, relevant keywords, and engaging copy. Use Enhanced Brand Content and Amazon Advertising tools as well if you can. Once you are confident in your listing quality, you can start taking advantage of external channels to build a wider audience, refine that traffic, and send it to Amazon to purchase. Now, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution to refine your Amazon traffic. The channels and techniques you use will always depend on your business goals, the resources you have, your ideal customer, and the products you sell. Always choose strategies that align with your specific business. Here are five powerhouse opportunities to refine your Amazon traffic: Affiliate Marketing This method is especially great if you are just starting out and want to build brand recognition. It’s a very effective way to drive purchase-ready shoppers to your Amazon traffic. An influencer on social media, for instance, will refine your Amazon traffic for you as they promote it. Then you can filter them in just one more step if you want to make absolutely sure they are ready to buy before giving them the link to your product listing. Most of the time, however, if you choose the right influencers, they will have the power to immediately push the sale. The right influencers will have loyal followings that match up with your target customer. Their audiences already trust their opinions, so there is usually no need to do further research. Online shoppers also trust Amazon and feel safe shopping there because of their A-to-Z Guarantee. The Amazon Affiliate Program is another way to do this. Instead of creating affiliate links through a landing page, you can generate them through the program. You’ll also get a small commission on each sale this way – even if the shopper didn’t buy from you. Be wary of inviting others to join, however, unless you can guarantee that they are also taking steps to refine your Amazon traffic before sharing links to your product pages. Social Media (Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest) Many businesses are taking advantage of social media channels for marketing. These platforms continue to grow in popularity, and are great places on which to promote your brand story and engage with potential customers. These channels allow you to filter your audience based on demographics so you can target people who are most likely to buy your product. All you need to do is research the right groups and start posting. You can easily refine your Amazon traffic with a good engagement strategy for leads and by closely monitoring your social accounts. Then, if you use FBA, you can create social media promotion codes to send purchase-ready traffic straight to your listings. If you’re using multi-channel fulfillment on a Shopify store, you can also tag your products on Instagram to turn it into a sales channel. Traffic will then be refined through your Shopify site, and Amazon will take care of fulfillment. Off-Amazon Ads An additional way to boost traffic and sales outside of Amazon is to use social media and Google ads. You can lower your advertising expenses this way because there is less competition to deal with versus Amazon. Just make sure to refine your Amazon traffic by sending people to a landing page first, where you can drive them down the sales funnel before you give them promo codes and links. Social media channels have huge user bases that can potentially double your customer base in a short time. You have to work on them first, though, because you need an established following that trusts you before you can effectively launch products and market to them. Just throwing ads at them can be a huge turn-off, and therefore a huge waste of spend. Google has a much larger user base than any social channel. It does not have a space, however, where you can research and engage with an audience. This is where a good landing page system comes into play. Traffic from Google is in its most unrefined form, so you need a few steps to draw out people who are going to buy from you. You also want to have at least one landing page no matter your strategy because this is how you can track ad performance. You want to know exactly what ad is bringing in what number of people and how they are converting so you can improve your ad strategy to allocate your budgets more efficiently. You also want to capture their contact information. Use Video This actually applies to all channels, including Amazon, if you’re brand registered. Product videos are the next best thing to holding a product in your hands. Online shoppers usually have to base their decisions on static images that don’t really show them what it will be like to own a product. Create professional product videos that show an item’s features as it is being used. You can start with an unboxing video that brings the customer into that experience. Then you can do multiple other videos for different uses in different situations (but make sure you do your research so you know the most popular ones for your product.) This will appeal to customers much more than flat graphics. They will feel more confident in making a purchase because they’ve seen the item in action, doing what they want it to do for them. You can then use your videos on multiple channels, such as Facebook and YouTube. YouTube is one of the most popular video streaming platforms. You can turn it into a great marketing channel for your brand, as long as you respect their terms and the user culture. It’s also a great place to connect with influencers who can do a range of videos using your product. Build Contact Lists With your landing pages, you have a great opportunity to build lead lists. You can gather email addresses, Messenger IDs, and the like. This is an important avenue for engaging, providing value, and growing a loyal customer base. It’s important to always keep in close contact with shoppers. This is how you learn what they want so you can sell it to them. This is also how you learn what they value so you can build trust with them and turn them into loyal customers. Then they will end up purchasing the product to give to other people and marketing for you within their spheres of influence. This is how you really grow sales. Final Thoughts Whatever methods you decide to try out, remember to never send raw traffic to your product pages. You must use these outside channels to refine your Amazon traffic. They will help you get a traffic and sales boost, but only if you send purchase-ready visitors. Then your Amazon conversion rate will improve, which will also improve your organic rankings. Also remember that external traffic is a great opportunity to learn about and build long-term relationships with the people who are interested in your products. Sending them directly to Amazon makes them Amazon customers – you won’t have access to their information and you won’t be able to learn from them or freely market to them any longer.
What is Frustration Free Packaging – Complete Amazon Guide, Benefits, Requirements, Feedback & More!
Let’s go through a step-by-step, complete guide about the Frustration Free Packaging program.
Amazon’s Frustration Free Packaging program has been around since 2008, but sellers still don’t realize just how beneficial it can be to their business. If you don’t know much about this program, you’ve landed on the right post! Signing up for this program is very simple and the benefits that come with it are not to be missed out on. Let’s go through a step-by-step, complete guide about the Frustration Free Packaging program to learn how and why you should sign up for it: What is Frustration Free Packaging? Frustration-free packaging basically means “easy-to-open packaging”. Unlike traditional packaging, it does not include layers and layers of wrapping plastic, bubble wrap, dozens of metal twist ties or packages within packages, while still keeping the actual product safe and sound. A product with frustration-free packaging is likely to have only a single box for the product itself, and maybe another smaller box for additional tools and that’s it. Another great thing about this kind of packaging is that all materials used in it are 100% recyclable so it uses less waste. This means that there are no styrofoam and no clear-plastic inlays, making packages smaller and easier to unpack. However, the usage of lesser packing materials does not mean in any way that your product would not be safe. Frustration-free packaging uses just the right amount of packaging to keep your goods from getting damaged, while also not making it a nightmare for consumers to unpack! Why did Amazon introduce this program? Amazon introduced their 100% recyclable frustration-free packaging back in 2008 with the intention to delight consumers with easy-to-open packaging and also to help the environment by minimizing waste. In a recent statement, Amazon said that Frustration-Free Packaging is to “reduce waste, lower cost and delight customers with easy-to-open, 100% recyclable packaging.” Amazon has partnered with thousands of manufacturers to offer lab-tested, risk-free packaging designs to sellers in order to improve their packaging functionality and reduce waste throughout the supply chain. Since 2008, Amazon has come up with several innovative packaging ideas like replacing shipping boxes with flexible mailers for small items, introducing 100% recyclable mailers and optimizing box sizes according to the product size and weight. According to Amazon, these efforts have successfully eliminated over 244,000 tons of packaging materials. They saved almost 305 million shipping boxes in 2017 alone! Why should an Amazon seller use it? – Benefits of Frustration Free Packaging By now, you must be thinking that alright, but what is in it for me as an Amazon seller? Why should you get frustration-free packaging for your products? Well, frustration-free packaging may not benefit sellers directly, but it has been known to boost sales simply by offering a hassle-free unpacking experience to consumers. In fact, this program was mainly designed to improve customer experience, and in a competitive space like Amazon, sellers who offer frustration-free packaging definitely get an edge over those who don’t. Let’s take a look in detail how this program benefits both the seller and the buyer communities: Benefits to Customers Like most of the other Amazon initiatives, this program is also designed keeping the consumer in mind. Frustration-free packaging wants online buyers to have a better buying experience when their product arrives at their doorstep. First of all, they wouldn’t need a knife or box cutter to cut down layers of packing materials or to open multiple boxes. This would eliminate the “wrap rage” that often comes with unpacking items purchased online. Moreover, while many consumers love the convenience of having their favorite items delivered to their doorstep, none of them like the garbage that comes with it in the form of excessive plastic and cardboard. Frustration-free packaging eliminates these materials by promoting the usage of items’ original packaging. It also uses new, highly sustainable packaging materials that don’t need additional layers of wraps to keep the enclosed items safe. Most importantly, any kind of wrapping materials or boxes used in frustration-free packaging are completely recyclable so the program actually promotes 100% waste-free packaging. This ensures that when an Amazon buyer receives his goods, he doesn’t receive a pile of undesired garbage with it too. Lastly, the chances of damage to the product during transit are also largely minimized by frustration-free packaging. According to Amazon, this packaging uses industry standard 1STA-3A for single parcel deliveries. This test stimulates the shipping and delivery procedures in order to test items for a series of drops and vibrations. Benefits to Sellers Amazon discusses at length about how Frustration-free Packaging program is great for consumers as well as for the environment, but they don’t mention is how it actually is great for your sales as an Amazon seller. In my selling experience on Amazon, I’ve learned that possibly the most important sellable factor on their platform is product reviews. They build customer trust, make you stand out among competitors, boost your sales, improve the perception of your product, and improve your ranking on Amazon! Luckily, frustration-free packaging can help you get more of these valuable product reviews. If you offer frustration free packaging to your buyers, they’ll know that you care for your customers and after a delightful unpacking experience, they would be very likely to leave positive reviews for your item. Moreover, lesser packaging materials don’t just improve the consumer’s buying experience, they also save you from having to spend more money on lots and lots of wrapping materials. Cheaper packaging materials reduce costs of transportation and labor, and minimize waste in your supply chain. In addition to better ratings, there are other perks that come with this program. For instance, sellers who use frustration free packaging enjoy additional Amazon merchandising and promotion as well as placement opportunities. Products with frustration free packaging also have lower return rates due to the high-quality, lab-tested packaging materials used. How to Get Started? – Enroll your products in Frustration Free Packaging Program Getting frustration free packaging for your items is a pretty simple procedure. In order to get started, you have to first get your products approved by Amazon. The great thing about this program is that it is completely free. All you need to do is to just submit samples of the products you want to be reviewed After that, Amazon will check these items for the certification evaluation. You will receive the initial evaluation results within a few days. The entire process usually takes less than 2 weeks. After that, sellers are required to complete a simple workflow for the products they want to get certified and that’s it! You can click here to learn more about the workflow and requirements of the Frustration Free Packaging Program. Final Thoughts In a nutshell, frustration-free packaging is beneficial to everyone: the seller, the consumer, and the environment as well. It is a win-win situation that improves consumers’ buying experience on Amazon and in turn earns the sellers some valuable product reviews and seller feedbacks. Frustration free packaging has become quite popular on Amazon since its launch in 2008. Some of the buyers even prefer products that come with frustration free packaging over those that don’t. Keeping this in mind, you can say that this program has somewhat become a sellable factor! Nonetheless, it is a great idea to get your items certified for this program to do the environment a favour and cut down costs of excessive packaging materials.
Buy Cheap UPC Codes for Amazon – The Basics, Buyers’ Guide, How it Works & More!
Everything you need to know on UPC codes!
If you want to sell on Amazon, each one of your products needs to have a UPC code. But what is a UPC barcode, and what does it represent? Why is it so important? Most importantly, how can you buy your UPC codes? Let’s answer all these questions one by one: What are UPC Codes? UPC codes are product barcodes that represent a product’s unique identification number. This identification number is actually the GTIN, a number that identifies individual products. Each variation of a product is assigned a globally unique GTIN. A GTIN is made up of a Company Prefix (issued by the world’s only legitimate UPC producer Global Standard 1), followed by a unique product code assigned by the seller and lastly, a check digit that ensures that the GTIN is correct. Basically, GS1 issues unique prefixes to brand owners, which they use to create GTINs for each of their individual product units. These GTINs are then encoded into barcodes called UPC codes. Amazon ensures the authenticity of sellers on their marketplace by matching the UPC codes assigned to various ASINs against the GS1 database. So, if a seller uses a fake GTIN or UPC code for his product, he immediately puts himself at the risk of getting suspended. GTINs and UPC barcodes can be used anywhere around the world. Another variation of barcodes is the EAN. It also represents a product’s GTIN. UPC barcodes are most commonly used within the USA and Canada, and while other countries can also scan and read UPC codes, most of them use EANs. What’s Wrong with Replicated UPC Codes? – Buy your own UPC Code To be able to sell on Amazon, you must have a GTIN and a UPC code for each of your product listings. When it comes to getting a UPC code for your product, there are two ways you can go about it: you can either register a legitimized UPC code directly with GS1, or you can buy a UPC code from a reseller. There are many third party websites where resellers sell replicated UPC codes to new sellers for cheaper prices. This option may cost a bit less than investing in a legit UPC code, but it is not the right option for your brand. Here’s why: A UPC code always represents the company it was first issued to, regardless of who it is resold to or how many times it is resold. So, if you use a resold UPC code even for your brand new product, it would still represent its actual company of registration. This may not be an issue in the initial stages of your Amazon business, but it can cause a lot of harm in the long run. Imagine having a successfully booming business, but under the name of another company. Trust me, no one wants that. Moreover, Amazon has also hinted at enforcing a policy in the near future that will remove listings with replicated UPC codes (another reason to not go to resellers!). To help you with the registration of your own UPC code, we’ve put together a step-by-step guide: How to Buy a UPC Code for your Amazon product? The entire process of buying a UPC code takes only 5 simple steps. Let’s go through each step one by one: 1. Apply for a GS1 Company Prefix Like we discussed earlier, the first thing a GTIN has to have is a company prefix. This 6-9 digit unique number represents the product’s manufacturer. All of your products from this manufacturer will have this same company prefix, followed by different product codes for each product. Take a look at this example to get a clearer understanding: Let’s talk about buying a company prefix for your business. Sellers often forge their company prefix or even fall for a fraudulent company claiming to sell unique UPC codes. Remember, there is NO other legitimate company that sells UPC codes other than GS1. Buying your UPC code from elsewhere can not only impact the legitimacy of your business, but can also raise several legal issues as well. First of all, you have to pay an initial setup fee that ranges between $250 to $10,000 depending upon the number of products you intend on selling. After that, you have to pay an annual renewal fee to maintain your prefix, ranging from $50 to $3000. When I first looked at these numbers, I was also tempted to go to a third party barcode seller or some other cheaper website to buy my UPC code instead of going directly to GS1. However, this changed immediately once I realized that I could potentially lose much more by buying illegitimate UPC codes! Take a look at this pretty straightforward outline about how to get your company prefix on GS1 website. 2. Assign a Unique Product Number Once you have your company prefix from GS1, it’s time to assign unique product code to each one of your codes. Every seller is given a set of numbers by GS1. Using these numbers, sellers can come up with their own product codes. They can use any numbering system or combination strategy as long as they don’t use any number other than the ones in their assigned set. This set of numbers depends upon the number of products you intend to sell. One thing to keep in mind is that you don’t just have to create product codes for each one of your listings. In fact, if a product has multiple variations, each of it would require its own product code. For example, if you sell a t-shirt on Amazon that comes in 3 colors, you would have to assign three different product codes to each color. Yes, they would all have the same SKU on Amazon but they would still be considered different products and would need their own unique product code. Once you have your company prefix and your product codes, the only thing you’ll need to complete your UPC code would be one final “check digit”. This is the last and 12th digit of your barcode which is determined by the GS1 on the basis of the previous 11 digits. 3. Select a Barcode Display for your Product Once your barcodes are complete, it’s time to include them in your products’ packagings. If you have already packaged and labeled your products, you can simply order adhesive barcode labels and paste them onto your packaging or directly on your product. On the other hand, if you haven’t yet labeled your products, you can get digital barcode files from GS1 and include the barcodes in your labels. This saves you from having to stick barcodes on each one of your products. Whichever method you opt for, just make sure that your barcodes are accurate and clearly visible. 4. Order your Barcodes This is the step where you finally get your barcodes. You can use various websites for this purpose that specialize in printing barcode labels. In fact, you can even use Solution Partner, a program by GS1 US, to find a reliable barcoding company to order your barcodes: These certified companies are very well familiar with GS1 standards, so it’s always safe to order your barcodes from them. 5. Place Barcodes The last step is to finally place your barcodes on your products. Remember, these barcodes must be placed where they remain easily visible and thus scannable at all times. Amazon has very specific guidelines about UPC barcodes placement. The reason behind this is that they don’t manually check your barcodes, they use robots instead. Your task is to make the job as easy as you can for the machines so that they can approve your products as soon as possible and you can get to selling them right away! A Quick Recap In a nutshell, a UPC barcode represents a product’s unique identification number (GTIN). This number is assigned by GS1, a non-profit organization and the only legitimate issuer of UPC codes. A product’s UPC code can track back to its seller so it’s very important to invest in legitimized UPC codes instead of going for cheaper, but far riskier options. Once you’ve got your UPC codes, you’re all set to start your Amazon business!
Retarget your Amazon Customers on Facebook the White-hat way
Do you want to retarget your Amazon buyers and build an audience group on Facebook?
Do you want to retarget your Amazon buyers and build an audience group on Facebook? Trust me, it is not that difficult and yes, I’ll tell you exactly how you can do it. In fact, I’ll share two methods with which an Amazon seller can create Facebook retargeting ads! First, let’s start by explaining what retargeting actually is, and how Facebook retargeting can actually take your Amazon Business to the next level: What is Retargeting? – Facebook Retargeting Retargeting means to market your brand to people who have already visited your site, or have bought from you in the past. Unlike targeting new audiences, retargeting means to reach out to warmer audiences that are already familiar with your brand. Facebook advertising is a powerful way to generate traffic to your Amazon product listings. Facebook is home to over 2 billion monthly active users, which provides sellers with a massive user base to advertise to. Facebook retargeting ads are one of the most effective advertising techniques for Amazon. They allow you to reach out to people who have already interacted with your products or brand in the past. These people are far more likely to be interested in your ad than people who have never even heard of your brand before! But how can Amazon sellers build a Facebook audience for their products, and how does it even help their Amazon business? Let’s discuss this in detail to find out. How can an Amazon Seller Retarget Customers? – Benefits of having a Facebook Audience When you sell on your own website, you have complete freedom to market and sell your products however you want. On the other hand, Amazon sellers have to struggle a lot to build an external audience while still keeping in with the platform’s Terms & Conditions. For instance, Amazon doesn’t even disclose customers’ email addresses to sellers! With such restrictions, it may seem impossible to retarget your Amazon buyers on Facebook, but it’s actually not that difficult. Without further ado, let’s look into the two most effective ways you can retarget Amazon buyers via Facebook ads: 1. Retargeting existing Amazon buyers on Facebook With this option, you can reach out to people who have already bought from you on Amazon. You can retarget them on Facebook with different kinds of ad campaigns. If someone has already bought a product from you, you can target them with cross-selling campaigns for similar products or also with promotion ads if you launch another item in the niche they’re interested in. 2. Retargeting Landing Page Visitors: This is a great way to build new audiences for your product and spread brand awareness. Drive external traffic to your Amazon page by using a retargeting pixel. You can simply install this pixel on a landing page, generate enough traffic on this page, and then retarget all these people with Facebook ads about your Amazon product. Option 1: Retargeting existing Amazon Buyers on Facebook People who have bought from you in the past have already shown willingness to spend money on the products you’re offering. These are probably the easiest audiences to target and sell to. The way you can retarget them on Facebook is by creating a Custom Audience by using your Amazon customer list. This list contains demographic details (name, zip code, city, and state) of each one of your Amazon buyers. When you upload this list on Facebook to create a Custom Audience, Facebook matches this data with their user base and creates an audience based on the resultant matches. You can then set up a Facebook ad and target this specific audience with it. Let me take you through this process step-by-step: Step 1: Download your Amazon Buyer List First of all, log into your Amazon account and select “Fulfilment” under the Reports tab: From here, select “Amazon Fulfilled Shipments” under the Sales tab: Follow the procedure to schedule a report. I recommend going back at least a month to collect buyers data, the more the better of course. This is because Facebook’s match rate is only about 40%, so you should give them large amounts of data in order to come up with maximum matches (10,000+ people ideally). Download the finished report. Step 2: Format your Sheet Depending upon your preferences and the type of computer you use, you’ll have to open the downloaded report in either one of the following spreadsheet editing tools: Excel Google Sheets Apple Numbers There are two changes you need to make in this sheet before you hand it over to Facebook. First, split the name column into two columns: first name and last name. Secondly, if you sell multiple products from completely unrelated niches, you should probably split the sheet according to the products purchased. Simply sort or filter your spreadsheet by Product and copy the data into another sheet. In this way, you can create individual spreadsheets for each product type. Step 3: Turn your Amazon Buyers into Custom Audience on Facebook Log into your Facebook ad account and select “Audiences” under the Assets tab: Now, go to “Create Audience” and select “Custom Audience”: Select “Customer File” from the given options: Go to “Add customers from your own file or copy and paste data” and upload your spreadsheet. Make sure to match the following fields: First name Last name Zip City State Country This is it! This is how simple it is to turn your Amazon buyers into a Facebook audience. However, Facebook takes a few hours (depending upon your audience size) to fully process your file, so be patient. Now when you create a Facebook ad, instead of targeting people based on their interests, you can simply target this custom audience you just created. This is how you can retarget Amazon buyers on Facebook! How is this Compliant with Amazon’s Terms of Services? Sellers often ask me this question, and I always show them this statement from Amazon’s communication guidelines: “In general, you may contact buyers (Amazon.com customers) only to complete orders or to respond to customer service inquiries. You may not contact buyers for marketing or promotional purposes (including via email, physical mail, telephone, or otherwise).” Amazon clearly prohibits sellers from emailing, mailing or calling buyers for marketing purposes but it doesn’t really say anything about Facebook ads. It’s safe to say that they are a gray so it’s best to proceed with caution. The reason why I still recommend this is simply because of Amazon’s highly competitive marketplace. Sellers do all they can to get ahead of each other so stepping into a gray zone may actually be worth it. However, if you really want to go about the whitehat way to retarget Amazon sellers, it’s better to create a “Lookalike Audience” instead of a Custom Audience from your Amazon customer list. This type of audience is not based on exact matches of your Amazon buyers, but consists of people closely similar to your Amazon buyers instead. In this way, you can still target people who are interested in your niche by keeping in with Amazon’s terms of service. Option 2: Retargeting Landing Page Visitors The second way to retarget buyers on Facebook is by sending traffic to a landing page, tracking that traffic, and then retargeting it with a Facebook ad. All this is made possible by one thing: Facebook Pixel. Before I tell you how to set up the Facebook Pixel, let’s first learn what it is and how it works. A pixel is a code snippet that is added to a web page in order to track all the traffic going to that page. If you add the Facebook Pixel to a landing page, it can return all sorts of information to you, such as people who made purchases, people who only visited the site etc. However, Amazons sellers have to go through an additional step to use the Facebook Pixel. SInce they can’t install a pixel directly on their Amazon page, they need to have another landing page to initially send the traffic to. This page will have the Facebook Pixel to record everyone who visits. Once this page receives at least 100 people, Facebook will then let you retarget these people with ads that direct them to your Amazon product listing. This method is called sending external traffic to your Amazon page, and if you’re not already doing it, you need to start now. Step 1: Set up Facebook Pixel First, you need to go to the Pixels tab in “Events Manager” of your Facebook ad account. Select “Create a Pixel”: Go ahead and create the pixel by clicking “Create” on the box that appears: Once you’re done, you now need to install this pixel on your landing page. The exact installation procedure may vary depending upon the landing page tool you use, but generally, you have to copy and paste some JavaScript code after editing it. Step 2: Wait Once you’re done with installing the Facebook pixel on your landing page, it’s now time to start sending traffic to this page and let the pixel do its job. Facebook will automatically create a list of people who visit your page via this pixel. Remember, your list needs to have at least 100 people before you proceed to the next step. (Facebook does this to make sure that advertisers can’t target individual people.) Step 3: Create your Facebook Retargeting Audience This is the time to convert your landing page visitors’ list into a Facebook Custom Audience. Go to “Audiences” tab under Assets: Now, go to “Create Audience” and select “Custom Audience”: Select “Website Traffic” from the given options: From here, you have the option to either target “All website visitors” (everyone who visited your site), or only target people who performed a specific action on your page. For example, you can create a custom audience only for visitors who triggered the “Lead” event: Simply click “Create Audience” in the bottom right corner and you’re done! You can now target this custom audience just as you target any other of your audiences. Simply select this audience when you set up your Facebook ad campaign and Facebook will optimise your ad to target all these people. Making Progress with Facebook Retargeting as an Amazon Seller Custom Audiences on Facebook are highly valuable assets for an Amazon seller. In a competitive space like Amazon’s, Facebook retargeting is a strategy that must be made use of. These audiences can even be segmented into various groups (depending upon niches or frequency of purchases etc) so that each group is targeted with an especially tailored ad. In fact, don’t be scared of experimenting with this audience. Target them with different ads and creatives to find out what works the best. Be innovative, the possibilities from here are endless!
Want a Facebook Ad for your Amazon Product that Actually Works?
Facebook ads can improve your sales on Amazon.
Facebook ads can improve your sales on Amazon in surprisingly short amounts of time, but only if you really know what you’re doing. Believe it or not, Facebook ads are actually fairly simple to set up and run. It’s all about presenting the right product, to the right audiences, at the right time, with the right message. Sounds complicated? It’s really not. Let’s take a thorough look at all you need to know to create a game-changing Facebook ad for your Amazon business: How to Create an Enticing Facebook Ad? – Grasp your Audience’s Attention Right away The first thing to understand about Facebook ads in order to create an attention-grabbing ad is that they are meant to be interruption ads. What this means is that you have to create such content that appears on your audience’s feed to make them stop whatever they are doing, and engages them right away. The trick to do this is a bit more complicated than just using “interesting” content. There are several factors to consider. Let’s start by first explaining the basics: Use Engaging Images Images are always more appealing than text, but the right images will really take your ad clicks to the next level. For instance, consider this image: If you saw this image come up in your Facebook feed, you would want to at least look at it for a moment. This is the very first step towards grasping an audience’s attention, and this is exactly why images play such a powerful role in creating enticing Facebook ads! Basically, there are three types of images you can use: 1.Images that include offers too good to let go. For example, any ad with a significant discount offer (like “70% OFF!”) or a big “FREE!” written on it is highly unlikely to go unnoticed. For example: 2.Images that reach out to the audience and gain their trust. These include brands endorsed by celebrities or well-known influencers or even by another popular brand. 3.Images reflecting your brand or product’s hook. (We’ll come back to this later in detail) What your ad image should not be focusing on is explaining your product’s packaging. It shouldn’t just be to show how your product looks from the front and back (or the sides either!). A good ad image is more than just an image of your product. It tells a brand story and displays your product’s benefits. It should demonstrate how the product is to be used (to show how easy it is to use). Write an Attractive Ad Description Text is generally less appealing than images, but there still are ways to make it interesting. There are three types of audiences to consider while writing your ad description: Cold audience: people who have never heard of your brand before and did not find your ad by searching for the product. You are simply interrupting them with your ad General audience: people that you have targeted with your ad, who are already interested in your product Warm audience: people who have bought from you before or are familiar with your brand Advertising to colder audiences is obviously a bit more difficult than advertising to warmer audiences because with them, you don’t just have to showcase your product, you also have to introduce your brand. Since ad descriptions are best kept as short as possible, the task of both advertising and introducing a brand within a limited word count can get a little tricky. Audiences (especially cold ones) are almost never willing to go through lengthy ad descriptions. So, how to attract them towards your product and explain all its key features and benefits while still maintaining a short, catchy ad description? Let me share a simple way to do so. Have you ever seen those Facebook ads with the buttons like “Learn more” or “Buy”? That’s your trick. Consider this example: Notice the ad description? It’s mainly focusing on grabbing the audience’s attention, not on explaining the product’s detailed features (this makes audiences curious and they end up wanting to learn more). Once you have the audience’s attention, they will excitedly hit that “Buy” button and this is where you should add all those detailed features: If you just add all this text to your initial ad description, your ad would most likely have been considered too long to even read. The audience first needs to be given a chance to get interested before you hit them with a lengthy ad description. How to invoke Positive Emotional Responses to make More Sales? When you create an Amazon Facebook ad to sell your product during your promotion, there are two ways your ad can appeal to the audience: It can either sound like, “hey, here’s my product and here’s a discount I’m offering. Now please do me a favour and buy this product for me on Amazon.” This is where people get bored. On the other hand, it can also sound something like, “here’s our awe,some product that you absolutely need to buy right now. Good for you, we’re also offering a discount on it! Don’t miss out on this opportunity and buy this product for your ease right now!” The difference lies in however you present your product to the audience. Take a look at these two ads for the same product: Notice the difference? The first ad is merely listing down the product’s features while the second one is addressing the buyer’s pain point by telling him that hey, we totally understand your problem and that’s why we’re offering an amazing solution to it (now at 50% off). This is what an ad hook is. We already discussed the dos and don’ts of product images and descriptions. Now, let’s look in detail at another game changing factor: positive emotional responses. Take a look at this ad: The ad description clearly acknowledges the audience’s pain points and then offers a solution. It sounds less like an advertisement and more like a life-saving offer. This is exactly what ad should sound like! The goal here is to simply make people realize that the reason they should buy your product is because they need it, and the trick all lies in making an emotional connection. When writing your ad, put yourself in the buyer’s perspective. Ask yourself, why would someone want to buy your product? When you have the answer to that, dig deeper When you create an thisplaceswer? Keep digging for a couple of levels more and you’ll find an emotional connection between your product and the buyer’s needs. This takes us to Facebook ad hooks. What are they and how do they invoke positive emotional responses? Let’s discuss this in detail: What’s a Facebook Ad Hook? A hook represents the reason behind why someone would want to buy your product. It communicates the benefits of your product, not its features. These benefits are especially catered to the needs and emotions of your audience so that they feel that your product has the potential to make their lives easier, healthier, richer and just generally better. For example, let’s suppose you’re selling a garlic press. A garlic press is a pretty unemotional and unexciting item, right? Let me tell you why you may be wrong here. To find the hook here that reaches out to your audience’s emotions, start by first listing down the benefits of your product. In this case, a garlic press Is faster, More efficient Keeps your hands from stinking Now, ask yourself, “why would I want to buy a garlic press?”. “To save time!” Dig deeper: “Why would I want to save time?” “To prepare quicker meals so that I can spend more time with my family over dinner/make quicker meals to not be late for work or classes” etc. This is actually where you keep your audience and their lives in mind to truly hit their pain points. Dig further. “Why do I want to spend more time with my family?/Why do I not want to be late for work?” “My kids complain that I don’t spend enough time with them.” or, “I already have too many tardies”. Be creative. Place yourself in the audience’s position and think earnestly. Now, let’s combine all the answers to write our ad description: “Do you want to spend more time with your family over dinner? Do your kids complain about the hours you spend in the kitchen? Don’t worry! Use our garlic press (now at 80% off!!) to peel and mince easier and quicker. Save time in the kitchen and spend it with your loved ones instead!” The possibilities are endless! All it takes is a bit of perspective and some creativity to create an irresistible ad hook that connects to your audience on an emotional level. Targeting the Right Audience – Know your Customer Avatar We talked about hitting your audience’s pain points to make emotional connections, but that is impossible without first knowing who your audience is. Let’s go back to the garlic press example. You know one thing for sure for its audience: they all cook. But this could include several different kinds of people. For instance, a professional chef, parents who want their children to eat healthy, a hobbyist who loves to cook, and many others. All these kinds of people have different pain points, which makes it impossible to target them all together with a single ad creative. All of them are interested in your garlic press but you have to tailor your message to each one of them differently. However, all of these people have some things in common, such as following cooking pages on Facebook, liking cooking channels, viewing recipes online and in magazines etc. These are the common features of your different audience groups that you can use to easily build a custom audience on Facebook. To do so, you will have to provide your customer avatar’s demographics in the Facebook Ad Set level. Here’s how it looks: You can later create multiple ad creatives to reach out to each individual audience group that specifically targets their pain points. It’s super important to know who you’re talking to so that you can tailor your messaging accordingly. For example, if you want to reach out to home cooks who like making healthy meals for their families, your creative should look something like this: Similarly, if you want to target professional cooks, you can change your messaging accordingly and hit their pain points to make an emotional connection. But again, in order to be able to do any of this, you first need to identify your audiences and their demographics. There are multiple ways to do this. Google is a good option to use to research your customer avatar. My favorite ways to learn about my audiences are to use the Facebook pixel, customer lists, product inserts to build up email or messenger lists and last but not the least: surveys. Using Surveys to Find out More about your Buyers Surveys are a great way to learn more about your buyers. But how to get your buyers to fill out surveys? There are a number of ways you can do this, but I like to use product inserts. I usually include URLs that lead to product warranty registrations, and also ask a few questions like: “Why did you buy from us?” “How do you intend to use this product?” “What are you looking for in this product?” Answers to questions like these give you an understanding about why people want to buy your product. You can use this information to identify the interests and demographics of your audience, and then target people on Facebook using this data. You can also use this information to write effective ad creatives that invoke positive emotional responses. How to Market a Brand New Product Idea? – Selling Unique Products that No One knows about Hitting an audience’s pain points is only possible when they already have a problem that needs to be addressed. In our previous example, the audience were people who had a problem with spending too much time on peeling and mincing garlic. However, what if the audience doesn’t even have a problem? (Or maybe they do, but they don’t know about it). Does this mean that you don’t have a pain point to target? This is the question sellers often ask themselves when they try to market a brand new product. Yes, selling a unique product to a cold audience is more difficult than selling a product that the audience is already familiar with, but it’s not impossible. Let me explain why. The main problem with selling a unique product is that the audience doesn’t easily understand how your product is going to benefit them. Moreover, they have no brand awareness at all. Both of these factors make it a little difficult to gain customer trust. So, the first step towards making a sale is to make the audience understand why they need your product. The way I do this is by setting up a blog on my website about the problem I want to address. For example, if I was the first person ever to invent and sell a garlic press, I would put up blog articles about how people get stinky hands from peeling and mincing garlic, and how it is such a time taking process. After introducing the problem, I would relate it to my product and offer it as a solution. This is just step one of introducing the product idea. I am not marketing my product yet, I’m only telling the audience that hey, here’s a problem you often face and look, there’s a solution for it too. The trick is to install a retargeting pixel on this blog page and track all the traffic you get via this pixel. Once I have a list of all the people who read by blog, I will retarget them later with a Facebook ad for my Amazon product. At this point, I am no longer targeting a cold audience. Instead, I’m retargeting people who already know that they have a problem that can be fixed with my product, and this is exactly what makes all the difference! What is the Facebook Ad Relevance Score? Facebook Ad relevance score is a measure of how well your ad is received by your target audience. It directly quantifies the engagement level of your ad on a scale of 1 to 10. Ads with low relevance scores rarely work great while ads with high relevance scores are usually more successful. For a seller, this score is more than just a way of knowing how well your ad is doing. It also tells you how much you would have to pay per click. The higher the score, the less you have to pay! This means that if your ad score is too low (less than 5), it can actually cost you more. So, if your score is higher than 6, you’re already good to go. However, if it is 5 or less, you should consider tweaking it a bit to improve your relevance score. One important thing is to let your ad run for some time before re-optimising it. Usually ads start a little slow but then improve significantly after gaining some audience interaction. Another thing you should know is that your relevance score does not show up immediately after you launch an ad. Facebook takes some time to collect data before it determines the score for your ad. Keep in mind, ads with low relevance scores can be quite worrisome because first, they cost you more and secondly, they still don’t do as well as ads with higher scores. If you see your scores being consistently low, it would be a good idea to try a different path to reach out to the audience. Know your Campaign Goals The first thing you have to choose while setting up your Facebook ad is your Campaign Objective. The reason why I’m talking about this last is because there are a lot of other things to make your mind up about before you actually go on Facebook and create an ad. You should always keep the end in mind. In order to set up an ad correctly, you first need to set goals and strategies. So, now that you’re done with all that, it’s time to set your ad up. When you go on Facebook to create an ad, here’s the first thing you see: Your selected campaign objective tells Facebook about the goal you want to achieve through your ad. Facebook uses this information to optimise your ad accordingly. You can even say that your ad’s success relies majorly on your campaign objective. Facebook divides its users into 4 categories: Commentators, etc. Buyers Likers Clickers You get to choose which one of these categories you want your ad to reach out to. Most sellers want people who click on their ad to go to another page (your Amazon product listing in this case) and make a purchase. “Traffic” or “Conversion” objectives are usually the right choice to achieve this. Let’s talk about these two most frequently used (and also most effective!) campaign objectives in detail: Traffic Objective This objective tells Facebook that you want to generate more and more traffic to a particular page. You don’t have to specify what exactly you want people to do after going to your page, which is why this objective can be used for a wide range of purposes. You can use it to run promotions, build brand awareness and even to improve your keyword ranking on Amazon. Remember what we discussed about building warmer audiences prior to launching your ad for unique products? This is the way to do that. You can easily get more and more people to visit your blog article and get familiar with your product idea! Conversion Objective Unlike the Traffic objective, the Conversion objective specifically tells Facebook that you want more sales, you want people to go to your site and make a purchase. Facebook then optimises your ad accordingly and reaches out to audiences that are most likely to enter their email addresses in order to claim discount coupons, warranties or to make purchases. Conversion objective is thus a more focused approach that can only be used for specific goals. It works great, but it is a bit more complicated to set up than traffic objective. First, you have to create a Facebook pixel. It should be installed on your website and particularly on the page with the buying option (because this is where conversions actually happen). This means that you also need to have your own website and landing pages, because you can’t just install a pixel on your Amazon page: You don’t need to do any of this with the Traffic objective. You can just send traffic directly to your Amazon listing instead. However, if you’re willing to do all the work, the best way to create an ad would be to first start with the conversion objective. If that doesn’t generate substantial sales, switch to Traffic in order to increase engagement and let Facebook know which people it should display your ad to. A Quick Recap Let’s take a quick look back on what we learnt in this post. Images can do wonders for engagement so using the right ones are crucial to your ad’s success. Use Facebook ad hooks to hit audiences’ pain points and invoke positive emotional responses in your ad’s description Learn as much as you can about your audience. Always know who you’re talking to and tailor your messaging accordingly. If you’re selling a new product idea, build up warmer audiences first and then retarget them later with your ad Keep an eye on your ad’s relevance score Choose the right objective for your Facebook ad campaign to make the most out of it This is it! This is all you need to know to create a Facebook ad for your Amazon products that actually works. If you don’t lose sight of your goals and keep moving persistently, you’ll double your conversions via Facebook ads in no time.
How to close an Amazon seller account the right away?
Amazon is a great platform to build an ecommerce business. With over a million new sellers joining Amazon every year, it has become the go-to place for online retailers. However, for a number of reasons, it is not uncommon for sellers to want to close their accounts. Many sellers make the mistake of just leaving their seller accounts unattended and assume that that is the same as having properly closed their accounts. That, however, is not the case. So, how to close an Amazon seller account the right away? Let me tell you everything you need to know about this process. Things to Consider Before Closing Your Amazon Account Shutting down your Amazon account is undoubtedly a big step. So, before you proceed, there are some things you need to keep in mind as a business owner. First of all, realize that there is no going back once you have completely closed your seller account. Amazon will not let you reactivate or reinstate a closed account. The only way for you to be able to sell on Amazon again would be to sign up all over again. Secondly, keep in mind that you would no longer have access to the benefits you had as an Amazon seller. These include: Access to account history. This means orders history, credit cards information, etc. You would no longer be able to communicate with your buyers in any way once your account is closed. This means no processing returns, issuing refunds or responding to an Amazon A-to-z guarantee claim. All websites (such as Audible and Amazon accounts in other markets) once accessed via your Amazon account log-in would become inaccessible after you’ve closed your seller account. You would lose your customer profile completely. This means that all reviews, images or discussion posts from your customers will be removed. Digital content related to Amazon Drive, Amazon music and Prime Photos would all become inaccessible. You would no longer have access to any funds or balance in your seller account (for instance, remaining Amazon gift card or promotional credit balance) Last but not least, if you’re a big seller having multiple seller accounts on various Amazon marketplaces, keep in mind that closing your North American Unified Account will also result in the shutdown of your other eligible accounts as well. Keeping in mind all these factors, I recommend creating a backup of any data or sales history that you want to preserve before closing your account. You should also take care of any refunds, returns or guarantee claims beforehand as well. Moreover, make sure that there is no balance left in your seller account before you close it, otherwise you’ll end up losing those funds for good. Alternate Options Like I said earlier, closing your Amazon seller account is a big step. This is why I always recommend sellers to reconsider their decision before actually going through with it. There are a couple of ways to pause your Amazon business temporarily. Unless you plan on never returning back to Amazon, I suggest you take a look at these alternatives: Downgrading Account A professional seller account on Amazon costs $39.99 every month. On the other hand, an individual seller account does not have a monthly fee. As an individual Amazon seller, you just have to pay $0.99 for every item sold. If you downgrade your professional account to an individual account, you would not have to pay any fee unless you make a sale. This is a good option for sellers who are not able to make substantial progress on Amazon and find the monthly $39.99 an unnecessary burden on their pockets. With an individual account, you can continue selling on Amazon as a small-scale business until you’ve progressed enough to become a professional-level seller. Here’s a step-by-step guide to downgrade your Amazon seller account: After logging into your Amazon Seller Central Account, select “Account Info” from the “Settings” drop-down menu in the upper right-hand corner: Now, click on the “Manage” button in the “Your Services” section of the page: Click on “Downgrade”: Amazon will ask you to confirm your decision. Select “proceed” to downgrade your account: Activating Vacation Mode If you want to take a break from selling on Amazon, you can do so simply by activating the Vacation Mode. This will make all of your product listings inactive and customers would no longer be able to make purchases. This does not shut down your seller account and you have to the option to reactivate your listings whenever you want. To turn on vacation mode, go to “Account Info” in the “Settings” tab: Click on the “Going on a vacation?” option: Now, select the Amazon marketplace you wish to set inactive and hit “Save”: The deactivation takes effect within 24 hours. The reactivation process is also pretty simple and takes effect right away (after only 15 minutes). You can relist any inactive item whenever you want. Keep in mind, making your listings inactive through this way will only work for listings fulfilled by you, not Amazon. Your FBA listings would continue to remain active unless you make them inactive explicitly from your inventory. Delete Your Listings In addition to making your listings inactive, you can also choose to delete them completely. This option is suitable for dead products. If you don’t have hope for a particular product to be able to make substantial sales, it is best to delete its listing. Again, this will not delete your seller account. It will just delete your product listings. This is also a permanent step because the listings you delete would be removed forever, i.e. you would no longer be able to make them active again. To delete a listing, go to “Manage Inventory” under the “inventory” tab: There will be a “Edit” drop-down menu for each one of your listings. Find the listing you want to get rid of and in its menu, select “Delete product and listing”: Selecting this option means that the deleted SKU and its sales history along with product information are all permanently removed from your seller account. Don’t forget to update the inventory quantity of the product to 0 before deleting it. Product deletion and inventory quantity deletion are two separate things so just taking care of the former won’t let you delete a listing successfully, and the offer will still remain live on the offer listing page. Prerequisite to Deleting an Amazon Seller Account? I’ve already discussed a few recommended steps before deleting your seller account. Basically, there are 5 things you need to take care of prerequisite to closing an Amazon seller account: Make sure you ship out all your remaining orders. In fact, it is impossible to close an Amazon account without first completing all pending orders as it is a part of the eligibility criteria that sellers have to meet in order to delete their accounts. Take care of all outstanding issues with your buyers. This includes product returns and refunds etc. You have to make sure that none of your buyers have claims to A-to-z guarantee. This can be ensured by waiting for a period of at least 90 days from the date of your last sale. Empty out your Amazon account balance before deleting it. Otherwise, you would no longer be able to claim any funds that you may have lost. Double-check your bank account details on file. This ensures that you receive your final payment timely. How to Close your Amazon Account Permanently Without further ado, let’s go through a step-by-step guide on how to permanently close your Amazon seller account. First of all, go to “Account Info” under the “Settings” drop-down menu: Now, click on “Close account” in the right-most section of the page: Fill the required fields and hit “Send” to request Amazon to delete your seller account: Now, you’ll see this message: Amazon will process your request and will either send you a confirmation email stating that your account has been successfully shutdown, or – if you don’t meet their criteria – they will notify you of all details regarding why your account cannot be closed. Moreover, they will also recommend you some actions to take in order to meet their eligibility criteria. If your first attempt to close your account is not successful, implement these recommended steps and request Amazon again to close your account. Another Option: Sell Your Amazon Account to other Amazon Sellers Before I wrap up this post, let me share a last, very appealing alternative to deleting your Amazon seller account: sell it. That’s right, you can sell your Amazon account to other sellers and make a significant amount of money out of the deal (in a completely ToS-compliant manner). Email anthony@sellertradecraft.com if you are interested to sell your Amazon Account. Starting an Amazon business from scratch can be difficult which is why entrepreneurs are always looking for shortcuts. Buying a ready-made Amazon seller account instead of creating a new one is perhaps the most popular shortcut. All you need to calculate your business’s worth is a simple formula: Let me break this down a bit: Monthly Net Profit – an average of monthly net profits over a 12-months period (or of 3-6 months for businesses in their high-growth phase) Multiple – usually ranging from 20x – 40x. This number is larger for bigger, more trust-worthy business that have been around for longer periods of time. It’s smaller for relatively newer businesses. Inventory At Cost – landed cost of your inventory. This includes packaging, shipping, and everything else in between. So, how long will it take your business to be sold? It depends. Some businesses are likely to be sold faster than others. It all depends upon your account type and your niche. For example, buyers are reluctant to buy into competitive niches. Similarly, long-term selling accounts are likely to be more in-demand than short-term ones. Final Thoughts If you went through the full post, you now know of all possible ways to close your Amazon account (both temporarily and permanently). Unless you’re absolutely sure about completely shutting down your seller account, it’s best to opt for the safer, temporary options. However, if you really do want to delete your account, I suggest try selling it first. You should be able to get at least $500 from the deal. So, got questions? Comment down below and I’ll answer them right away!
“Blocked Unless FBA” – Meaning, Complete Explanation & What to do?
Getting the “blocked unless FBA” message on your Amazon listings? You’re not the only one.
Are you also getting the “blocked unless FBA” message on your Amazon listings? Don’t worry, you’re not the only one. Amazon is the go-to platform for both online sellers as well as buyers. However, like any other ecommerce site, Amazon is also customers-oriented. This is the reason why sometimes they can seem a bit strict with sellers. Fortunately, there is a way around (almost) every suspension and restriction. In this case, let’s discuss the “blocked unless FBA” message in detail in order to understand what it is, why you are the victim, and how you can resolve the issue. What Does “Blocked Unless FBA” Message Mean? First things first, what does “blocked unless FBA” even mean? It means that you can no longer sell a particular item in your inventory because Amazon does not think you’re up to the fulfillment. So, they tell you that unless you switch from FBM (fulfilled by merchant) to FBA (fulfilled by Amazon), you would not be able to reactivate your listing. Why are My Listings “Blocked Unless FBA”? This can happen for a number of reasons. Despite what some sellers like to believe, Amazon has a reason behind every restriction and suspension. In this case, if they no longer consider you to be able to fulfill your orders for a particular item, you need to check where you went wrong with your previous shippings. There are some exceptional cases as well where sellers are not really at fault, they just happen to be selling in a category more likely to be the victim of this issue. For instance, Toys & Games category on Amazon is notorious for this issue. Around the holiday season, Amazon temporarily bans a number of new FBA sellers in this category. Take a look at this: In this case, the reason may not be the seller’s inability to ship efficiently, but because many fraudulent sellers join this space around the holiday season. These sellers disappear as soon as they receive a significant number of orders (without actually fulfilling any of the orders). In order to prevent scams like this, Amazon mostly only allows those sellers to continue selling in the Toys & Games category who use FBA, not FBM. Other than this, the most common reasons for sellers’ listings to get “blocked unless FBA” is because either They suddenly abandoned their Amazon business for a long period of time, or They failed to meet Amazon’s set criteria or metrics for sellers But what are these metrics? Which ones matter the most? Let’s find out. Amazon Seller Metrics that Matter the Most In order to evaluate the sellers making use of their marketplaces, Amazon has their own metrics system that measures sellers’ performance. There’s a minimum (or maximum) standard for each metric that sellers have to maintain in order to avoid getting under Amazon’s scrutiny (or to not get suspended if worst comes to worst). The most important ones to keep track of are: Fulfillment Performance Order Defect Rate Pre-fulfillment Cancel Rate Late Shipping Rate Fulfillment Performance actually comprises of the remaining three metrics, and is thus the main performance measure of Amazon sellers. Amazon states that all sellers should aim at “achieving and maintaining a level of customer service” that meets their criteria for fulfillment performance (keep reading to find out the exact numbers to be maintained). How to Resolve the Issue? Now that we’ve discussed what “blocked unless FBA” is, and why you may be getting this message against your blocked listings, let’s get into how you can resolve it to be able to start selling again. First of all, let’s take a look at those metrics again. Here are the standards you need to maintain for each of those metrics: Order Defect Rate – should be less than 1% Pre-fulfillment Cancel Rate – should be less than 2.5% Late Shipping Rate – should be less than 4% If any of your listings gets blocked unless FBA, these metrics are the first things you need to check. If you’re below the mark, you need to start working to improve the numbers right away. After making necessary efforts to improve the numbers, your next step should be to notify Amazon about these efforts and request them to allow you to fulfill your orders again. Tell them about your plan of action to gain their trust. For example, take a look at this letter to Amazon: There’s another case when sellers went away on vacation and returned to find their listings being blocked due to the same reason. Although this is not always the case, it’s not uncommon nonetheless. The solution, again, is to reach out to Amazon, state your circumstances, and request their approval again. Once you’ve sent your appeal, wait for some days to get a response from seller support. Chances are that your listings would be reactivated once Amazon checks out your account. Make sure not to make any false claims regarding your plan of action. If Amazon finds out that you’re not doing anything to improve your fulfillment performance and are lying to them on top of that, you may even get suspended. However, if your listings do not get reactivated and there’s not any promising response from the Amazon team, it is best to just give up on that particular listing and create a new one. Still, I strongly recommend making necessary amendments and appealing Amazon to reinstate your listing before you give up entirely. A Quick Recap Let’s recap everything we just discussed about “blocked unless FBA”: When Amazon finds you unfit to fulfill orders responsibly, they ban you from selling a product unless you handover its fulfillment to Amazon themselves i.e. FBA. To keep selling as FBM, you have to first identify what went wrong with your fulfillment performance, make necessary efforts to remove the problem, and then appeal Amazon – tell them about your plan of action – to allow you to sell again. That’s pretty much it! Got questions? Let me know in the comments below!
How to Unlock Amazon Account from Suspension? – Step by Step Guide (FAQs)
Here’s everything you need to know about unlocking your suspended account on Amazon.
Has Amazon also locked you in suspension from your account? If so, then this is a question you would be dying to ask: “How do I unlock my Amazon Account from Suspension?” And guess what? Amazon is a profitable channel for both online and offline retailers and customers, recognizing a paradigm for Amazon sellers and buyers, and one that requires them to follow the very specific guidelines of Amazon. To be very honest, Amazon does not compromise in providing the best for its customers. If you don’t follow the Amazon regulations, your account WILL be suspended. But don’t worry, here’s everything you need to know about unlocking your suspended account on Amazon. So without further ado, let’s get started. Why Would Amazon Lock My Account? Okay, you must be wondering: How can I unlock my Amazon account from suspension? Now, I am going to stop you right here because if you want your Amazon account unlocked from suspension, you first need to understand why you got locked out in the first place. Keep reading and you’ll find out. Believe it or not, hundreds of Amazon users tweet their Amazon accounts that have been suspended. In fact, representatives of Amazon are openly claiming that Amazon has automatic triggers that can suspend accounts. Here are a few reasons on your Amazon account that can trigger an automatic suspension. 1. Suspicious Activity Do you know what defines Amazon from other online stores? Amazon believes in a safe environment for both, sellers and customers, and invests in the security of its retail platform. With that being said, account hacking is a major concern for Amazon when it comes to the seller’s legitimacy. Fact: Around 100 vendor accounts were hacked in 2018! What I am trying to say is, Amazon’s anti-fraudulent crackdown has become a necessity to protect the platform’s reputation. So, if Amazon detected any sort of suspicious activity on your account, it’s a good enough reason for the platform to disable your account. And for what it’s worth, Amazon is doing to protect you. 2.Violation of Terms and Policies Let’s get one thing straight – suspensions definitely happen if you’re caught trying to game Amazon. Perhaps unsurprisingly, one of the most common reasons for Amazon account suspension is a violation of its terms and policies. Yes, it’s true! But how? Rather than one set of product rules and regulations, Amazon has category-specific terms for specific products which include intellectual property infringement. Intellectual property law covers patent enforcement, trademarks, and copyright enforcement. Usually, when a rights owner makes an infringement claim against an Amazon Seller, Amazon first notifies the complaint’s seller. Usually, Amazon will terminate the listing for that item and advise the dealer to negotiate with the rights owner to withdraw the dispute. Needless to say, failure to negotiate successfully with the owner will cause your Amazon account to be suspended. 3. Abuse of Federal Regulations If you take a look at the Restricted Products section Amazon Central Policies, the regulations vividly mention: “The sale of illegal, unsafe, or other restricted products listed on these pages, including products available only by prescription, is strictly prohibited.” Amazon strictly adheres to product sales in accordance with the target country’s federal laws and resists any sort of federal abuse on its platform “If you supply a product in violation of the law or any of Amazon’s policies, including those listed on the Restricted Products pages, we will take corrective actions, as appropriate, including but not limited to immediately suspending or terminating selling privileges, destroying inventory in our fulfillment centers without reimbursement, returning inventory, terminating the business relationship, and permanent withholding of payments. The sale of illegal or unsafe products can also lead to legal action, including civil and criminal penalties.” 4. Exploiting Customer Reviews Did you know that around 95% of shoppers read customer reviews before purchasing anything on Amazon? The reason: Amazon does not compromise on false customer reviews. Let me take a wild guess. You’re probably wondering… “Wait! I never tried to manipulate customers for positive reviews!” Now, I’m going to stop you right here and tell you that It’s alright to ask the customer to leave the review. But many of us get creative on how we do it. For example, if you write something like “Please leave a review if you are satisfied with our services” counts as manipulation. Boom! It hits you like a ton of bricks! 5. Deceitful IP Addresses As much convenient Amazon is to its customers, Amazon strongly promotes fairness among its sellers as well. Good News: Amazon is interested in preventing unfair competitive advantage across all categories. Sharing inventory, suppliers, and locations or sign-ins won’t be a good idea if you have two accounts doing more or less the same work. As a matter of fact, Amazon has a strict policy for its clients regarding multiple accounts. Amazon monitors for impermissibly linked accounts and often identifies Amazon sellers violating this policy by associating accounts using the same IP address or associating accounts based on a Seller’s use of the same bank info, email, Tax ID, or physical address. “Operating and maintaining multiple Seller Central accounts is prohibited. If you have a legitimate business need for a second account, you can apply for an exception to this policy.” 6. A Large Number of Product Returns Amazon’s performance metrics for its sellers are pretty tight. Amazon is likely to suspend your seller account if you score low for customer feedback, cancel too many orders, or don’t have timely shipping. Amazon’s shipping costs in 2017 alone checked in at about $21.7 billion. And if your sales or purchases are losing money over shipment, Amazon will most likely suspend your account. For sellers, here are some of Amazon’s minimum metrics for your performance: Order defect Rate – <1% Pre-Fulfillment Cancel Rate – <2.5% Late Shipment Rate – <4% Should I Panic? Okay, by now you’ll probably be wondering, should I start panicking or not. Look, here’s the thing: there are three possible scenarios. Suspended: Amazon will most likely listen to your appeals and may restore your account. Denied: Amazon has already rejected your request but you can still submit a revised appeal. Banned: Amazon has completely closed your account and you cannot use its services anymore. Your appeals will not be entertained anymore. So, unless you are banned from Amazon, you can still restore your Amazon account and continue using its services. What Are the Possible Ways to Unlock My Amazon Account? By now you’ve established what you could have possibly done to prompt Amazon into suspending your Amazon account. But hang on a minute?! How do I unlock my account? The ugly truth is, it’s going to be a little challenging. You are going to need persistence and most importantly, patience. But the good news is, we are going to take you through the whole process. What Does Amazon Need to Verify To Unlock My Account? But before we go ahead, Amazon will ask you a few things when they respond to your request for your Amazon account to be unlocked. Credit Card Statements that you used in Amazon transactions with your billing address on it. A copy of your ID, bill or credit card details. If the information you originally entered on your Amazon account is correct, by giving these details there should be nothing to worry about and it will solve your Amazon problems quickly. But be aware that there is little chance that your account will be unlocked if you have entered false information. How Can I Unlock My Amazon Account? Amazon provides sellers with 17 days to lodge an appeal that can be sent through the link provided in the email notice of suspension. But hang on a minute! Sending an appeal does not guarantee that the privileges of your seller will be restored, although Amazon promises to carefully review each appeal. And here’s the interesting part: Your Amazon account can NOT be unlocked by regular customer service representatives. You’ll need to formally request accounts specialist. Like we mentioned earlier, you need to be patient and cooperate with Amazon management to get your account reinstated. Here are a few ways you can contact Amazon to get your account unlocked. Submitting Documents Online to Your Account This is a relatively straightforward yet genius trick without actually having a conversation with the management. Unfortunately, this method is not for Amazon Seller accounts. Nevertheless, here are a few steps that you can follow to submit your documents online to your Amazon account. Find the confirmation email of your last order dispatch and click the link to access your account. Most of your accounts should be viewable (except for your orders). Go to a product and try to buy anything The following message should show that your account is locked and your orders are on hold, but you can upload a copy of your latest statement directly. Contacting Amazon Via Voice Call Amazon highly invests in its customers and exercises strong will to satisfy the parties involved in the business. With that being said, contacting an Amazon Supervisor or an Accounts Specialist on a voice call is the best option to get your account unlocked. Note: If you’re a US customer, you’ll most likely be called by account specialists, but it’s rare if you have an international account. (US accounts) Call Amazon on + 1 (206)-266-2992. When you get to the answering machine: Ask for a supervisor and provide verification details when asked Explain that your account was blocked by error after you purchased products and that you need an account specialist to review your details and restore your account. Connecting to Accounts Specialists Via Chats Another possible way to contact an Amazon Supervisor or Accounts Specialist is by contacting them on Amazon Contact Us forums. Log in to an active Amazon account and go to Contact Us forum. Ask for a supervisor and provide verification details when asked. Explain that your account was blocked by mistake after you purchased products and you need an account specialist to review your details and restore your account. Contacting Amazon via Email If you have an Amazon Sellers account, Amazon might have asked you to appeal to an email with a “Plan of Action” detailing how the issues that led to their suspension are expected to improve. It is very important for sellers to put in their original request a lot of time and energy because there is no guarantee that Amazon will grant you the opportunity to submit a second updated proposal. First, you need to investigate why Amazon has suspended your Seller account and what you need to do in the future to prevent such actions. Next, identify in your appeal the reason(s) for suspension. Take responsibility and recognize the customer’s harm. Do tell Amazon that you are committed to delivering amazing customer service and you realize that selling on their site is a privilege. Don’t criticize the quality process of Amazon’s product. Your plan of action should be thorough in order to increase your chances of a successful appeal. The more you convince Amazon, the better your chances are to get your Amazon account unlocked. How to Prevent Locking Your Amazon Account in the Future? If your appeal is influential and the privileges of your Amazon sellers are revived, you will want to do everything you can to avoid future suspension. Here are some practices that will help you track whether you meet Amazon’s seller standards or need to improve your practices. Password Protection Account phishing is a major issue for Amazon regarding the credibility of the seller. Here’s a clue: Amazon wants to protect your money and business. A strong password will not only help you keep your Amazon account safe but also help Amazon make its platform much more reliable Take the usual precautions to avoid this as well: regularly change your password and set up two-step verification on your Amazon account to make them more difficult to crack. Improve Your Performance on Amazon The best way to avoid any sort of suspension from Amazon is to improve your performance on Amazon. For starters, check your reports from Amazon on a regular basis. The data in your reports on Return, Imperfect Orders, and Feedback will give a clear sense of whether you consistently meet the performance goals of Amazon. In addition to that, keep an eye on the delivery of your order. Unless you’re an FBA seller and Amazon handles your shipping and delivery, you’ll want to make sure customers report on-time shipments and properly packaged goods to avoid negative feedback or a high rate of late shipment. Finally.. Anti-fraud measures taken by Amazon have good reason to be in place, although they may be disturbing to honest, legitimate sellers. Following the above guidelines, however, can help you restore your Amazon account and avoid future suspension. Here’s the big idea: As long as you comply with Amazon’s rules and regulations and focus on your platform performance on a consistent basis, Amazon will work closely with you to restore your account. If you still have any more questions or need help to get your Amazon account restored feel free to contact us in the comments section.