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Chris McCabe is back to talk about inauthentic claims.
Inauthentic does not mean Counterfeit
- The term inauthentic is a poor choice for a number of claims with Amazon
- Change your mind around to how Amazon identifies authenticity
- Inauthentic does not mean ‘counterfeit’
- Might be that the packaging has changed since last time
- This isn’t worth what I paid for it is the basic view of the buyer
- Condition and quality complaints cover these inauthentic claims
Not as it was Described on the listing?
- Some of these are picked up by algorithms, maybe returns are too high – soft blocks and you get a notification from Amazon
- Buyers contact customer service and report to Amazon that your product did not match the detail page
- Amazon wants you to do the work and tell them why Amazon is getting complaint from buyers about the authenticity of your stock
Brands
- Brands are more likely to use the inauthentic item claim than before
- They know this works with Amazon investigators to get you challenged to prove supply chain documentation for your products
- Also sometimes asked for authenticity letter for your product as part of the investigation
- Do you know where your products come from, how do you inspect them and what documentation can you show from your supplier
- The email from Amazon asks for ‘Supplier Information’ – and Amazon rejects Factory invoices as you are the Supplier and the Seller, a problem if you are a Private Label Seller
- Information that can’t be verified on-line about the manufacturer, then Amazon says they want more information to be able to verify the Supplier (on Google or on-line)
- Amazon just says they want Supplier information, but are not clear on exactly what information they are digging for so you can get into email ping-pong which is frustrating
- They will not accept a ‘pro-forma’ invoice but don’t make up the invoices as these won’t be authentic
- Amazon needs quality and complete documentation to meet their SOP
Escalation and Queues
- Escalate within the team that suspended the listing first – don’t write straight to Jeff and send a Jeff-bomb
- No point writing to Jeff or anyone else if your ‘plan of action’ is not complete and ready
- Amazon don’t care about the small stuff anymore
- If they ask you for a ‘plan of action’ they want to know what you’re doing to improve things
- You need to show how you are managing a quality business and constantly improving quality in your business
- Well written communication is so important – you can ‘lose’ Amazon early if you don’t get a clear communication
Long term storage fees
- Suspension – pulling out all of the stock and the work involved and costs
- Keeping the stock outside of Amazon and shipping in on velocity
- You don’t need to wait until your stock is out to do your plan of action – just quote the removal order ID and give your plan of action to speed up getting your listing re-activated
- It means a lot to Amazon that you’re pulling the inventory in an appeal
- Still try to get your ASIN re-instated even if you don’t care about the ASIN and you’re happy to drop it. Get the mark against your account resolved otherwise it might stick as a maker later – keep your account safe
Plan of Action Content
- Short introduction 2-3 sentences
- Explaining that you’ve received and understand their inauthentic complaint
- How you have accounted for it and you’re going to tell them how you’re fixing it
- How you’re fixing it
- What the root causes of the inauthentic complaint were
- Don’t tell them what they already know
- Tell them WHY you got those causes (prove that you understand the underlying reasons)
- And tell them the HOW about how you got the complaints (what happened – demonstrate understanding)
- Fixing (bullets with real info)
- All the proactive solutions that you’re applying
- Give detail and don’t be short on details
- Give real information
Contact
- Resolving issues – ecommercechris.com
- Teaching to resolve your own account issues – ecommercechris.com/membership
