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Barcus from Six Leaf talks Ranking and Suspension Policy given a current hot issue flaring in the groups around six suspensions in the supplements space, we talk through what we know, what we don’t know and how to get a handle on it if you’re worried.
- Misuse of Sales Rank, Ratings Feedback Reviews and misuse of Search and Browse as well
- Amazon writes vaguely their ToS sale as do Walmart, Target, etc
- Written that way so they don’t have to re-write it every day
- A few have had this letter but Amazon don’t explain exactly what’s happening
- They could make it a bit easier for Sellers to understand what’s gone wrong
Plan of Action back to Amazon
- The letter says they want to work with you which is good when you get a ranking and suspension related issue
- But they want you to try and ‘fess up’ to something which is what they are after
- Amazon just wants a Plan of Action to re-activate the account and remove the ranking and suspension issue
- They want specific information from you on what you did wrong, what you’re doing to fix it and what you’re doing to make sure it doesn’t happen again
Annual squeeze from Amazon
- This rumbling comes about roughly every year
- Some people running launch services and some not are getting these letters
- There is some commonality around this:
- All are supplements
- All are less that 6 months old from being live on Amazon
- They have less than 10 reviews
- We don’t think it has anything to do with Promotions
What’s the Full Picture?
- Might be that there’s something in the supplements space around FDA and pesticides that impacts in ranking and suspension
- There could be new FDA guidelines that are out
- Facebook groups will not always tell you the whole story of what’s happened
- You don’t get the full picture
- Nine times out of Ten it’s often to do with dodgy practices that the Seller was doing…
- We don’t know exactly what’s caused these suspensions but the groups are flaring around the story
- Important to have the right information at the right time
Terms of Service on Promotions
- Take a look at what Amazon has to say on these things to avoid the biases
- Go to the top of your search bar in your Amazon account and type ‘increase sales’
- They say in there that you too can make a great impression on buyers using promotions and a link to the promotions page
- It states there:
- The customer must know about it
- Time sensitive aligned to FTC to register as a valid sale and not violating advertising standards
- Offers sufficient value to influence the customer’s choice
- Amazon is telling us you need to offer a large enough discount
- Trying to read the ToS can get very confusing
- Reading info from Amazon Seller Central – they allow you to run promotions
- You can run promotions and PPC the wrong way for sure
What do we know?
- Don’t know what’s happened with these six individuals out there that have had these suspensions
- Appears that Amazon might be pushing something in the Supplements space
- Might be the FDA has put out some further guidance that impacts this category
- We’re looking to share and try to get in front of this problem
What is it that Happens?
- They send you a letter
- You complete a POA to explain to Amazon what you did wrong (to confirm you know what you’ve done wrong)
- Good news in that Amazon
- Bot campaigns, Search and Buy and Asking for Reviews – are you doing things correctly
- Giveaways and Reviews need to be separated
Parting Thoughts – Ranking and Suspension Policy
- Do your research
- Check out sources of information
- Be mindful in what you’re doing
- If you are suspended and you have questions, happy to help
- Contact Amazon too, not everyone’s first choice but, there are knowledgeable people there
