Riverbend Consulting

Having problems with Amazon? Let us solve them.

  • Home
  • Suspensions
    • Account Suspension
    • ASIN Suspension
  • Account Services
    • Account Health Check-Up
    • Seller Account Protection
    • Account Management
    • Reimbursements
    • Amazon Editorial Recommendations
  • Our Blog
  • About
    • About Us
    • Our Team
    • Testimonials
    • Referral Program

(877) 289-1017 Contact Us

+44-161-8508-269

MENU

Suspended

Amazon tweaks Seller Central page to reduce contact with sellers

June 22, 2020 Leave a Comment

Nope, they don’t want to hear from you

By: Lesley Hensell

Have you seen it? Amazon tweaked Seller Central home page. For long-time sellers, the recent redesign to Seller Central seems nonsensical at best. Widgets can’t be moved. A huge amount of whitespace fills the middle. Key metrics like the account’s balance are below the fold and require a scroll. But perhaps most confounding is the absence of two key widgets that have graced the home page for as long as I can remember. The case log has disappeared, as has the store’s feedback rating.

Why, oh why, would Amazon do such a thing? The reason is simple. Seller Support doesn’t want to hear from you. Contacts cost money. Of course, Amazon could analyze contacts from sellers and figure out where they could reduce the numbers by actually solving problems. But that would take work! So instead, they simply hid two of the visual prompts that encourage sellers to reach out.
Seller Central
That’s right, Amazon tweaked Seller Central page to reduce contact with sellers. So, what’s a seller to do? You just have to:
  1. Click deeper
  2. Make sure you still keep cases and feedback top-of-mind, even though you don’t have the visual queue to do so
For your case log, do this:
  1. On the home page, at the top-right, click on “help”
  2. Toward the right-top of the Help page is a small link for “case log”; if you don’t have open cases, this link may not be visible and you must scroll to the bottom of the page to click “case log”
To check your feedback, do this:
  1. Under the “Performance” menu, choose “feedback”
  2. This will give you the Feedback Manager screen, where you can dispute negative and neutral feedback
If having Amazon tweak Seller Central home page has you frustrated, or you need more help navigating the changes Amazon has made? Let Riverbend do the work for you! Let’s talk 877-289-1017 or visit our website.

Lesley HensellLesley is co-founder and co-owner of Riverbend Consulting, where she oversees the firm’s client services team. She leverages two decades as a small business consultant to advise clients on profitability and operational performance. Lesley has been an Amazon seller for almost a decade.

Filed Under: Account Health, Amazon, Amazon seller, Amazon Seller Central, Customer Serivce, Seller Performance, Seller Support, Suspended Tagged With: Account Health Services, Amazon, Amazon seller, Amazon Seller Central, Amazon Seller Performance, Seller Support

Should I hire an ex-Amazon employee to write appeals?

June 18, 2020 Leave a Comment

Amazonians can provide excellent insights – if they are real and relevant

By: Lesley Hensell
Writing Amazon appeals requires a special set of skills. Persuasive, clear prose helps. Responsiveness and attentiveness to the client are a plus. But more important than anything else is a true understanding how Amazon works for and with third-party sellers. Who embodies this last set of skills? The best candidates are ex-Amazon employees and long-term Amazon sellers.

When we launched Riverbend Consulting, our team included two Amazon sellers and one ex-Amazonian. Since that time, we’ve dramatically grown our ex-Amazon staff. Today, we have eleven Amazonians who fill consultant and analyst positions.

Fake Amazonians everywhere

Unfortunately, we’ve noticed an ugly trend in our industry. Many consulting firms are claiming to have ex-Amazon employees on staff – when they have only one or none at all. If you want an edge with your account or ASIN appeal, you’re better off with a firm that has real Amazon knowledge in-house.

Here are some strategies to be sure you’re getting the expertise that you have paid for:

  1. Check the web site. Companies that have real Amazonians on staff advertise it on their team page. Ex-Amazon employees are a valuable asset, so their bios will be included as well.
  2. Ask questions. If a firm claims to have ex-Amazon employees, ask for names and details. Confirm they actually work at the company full-time and aren’t simply a name used to draw in business.
  3. Determine their departments. For straight-up appeal writing, a team that includes Seller Performance and Seller Support experience is your best bet. Those with knowledge in other areas could be helpful for long-term account management and performance.
  4. Find out how long they’ve been gone. Processes and people change continually at Amazon. This makes more recent experience critical. While knowing the “Amazon way” of thinking and working is incredibly valuable, at least a few employees should be more recent Amazon team members to ensure fresh, relevant knowledge.


What can ex-amazon employees do for you?ex-amazon employee

At Riverbend, our ex-Amazonians hail from a wide range of departments: Seller Performance, Seller Support, Account Health Services and AWS.
Should I hire an ex-amazon employee to write appeals? Our Seller Support pros know strategies for ungating issues, catalog folks don’t. Our Seller Performance team members understand nuances of the appeal process unlike anyone else. Likewise, our Account Health Services employees provide great feedback on how sellers can extract information about their accounts.
Amazon can be quite siloed. Employing experts who have worked in many of these silos gives us access to a broader range of information and strategies to help our sellers solve their ongoing challenges with Amazon. Best of all, we are well-equipped to provide prophylactic strategies that head off problems before they occur.
When a client has a question that one of our team members cannot answer, it goes into the company chat. Chances are, one of our ex-Amazonians knows the right information – or how we can get it.
What’s more, not every employee can be an ex-Amazonian. But we have enough Amazon knowledge in-house that our non-Amazon staff receives extensive training and mentoring from those who spent time at Amazon. It makes for a great mix of consulting know-how, people skills and domain expertise. So, should you hire an ex-amazon employee to write appeals? We think so!
Have questions for our team? Let’s talk 877-289-1017 or visit our website.

Lesley HensellLesley is co-founder and co-owner of Riverbend Consulting, where she oversees the firm’s client services team. She leverages two decades as a small business consultant to advise clients on profitability and operational performance. Lesley has been an Amazon seller for almost a decade.

Filed Under: Account Appeal, Account Health, Amazon, Amazon seller, Customer Serivce, General, Seller Performance, Suspended Tagged With: Account Health Services, Amazon, Amazon FBA, Amazon seller, Amazon Seller Performance, Appeal, AWS, Deactivated, Reinstated, Seller Support, Suspended, Suspension

What does the explosion in Amazon related account suspensions mean for you?

June 17, 2020 4 Comments

Some related account suspensions are Amazon errors, some are ancient history

By: Lesley Hensell
A flood of related account Amazon suspensions has sellers wondering what is going on. Unfortunately, the answer isn’t a simple one. Earlier this year, Amazon changed its policy about multiple accounts. Before, if a seller wanted more than one Amazon account, they had to request approval and follow a set of simple rules. The most important of these rules was that the accounts could not sell the same inventory.
With the policy change earlier this year, Amazon said no advance permission was now necessary. However, sellers with more than one account must have a valid business reason for doing so. Plus, Amazon explicitly stated that if one account is suspended for whatever reason, Amazon reserves the right to suspend all of the accounts that seller owns.
linked amazon accounts
Since that time, we have seen a rash of accounts going down for “related” or “linked” accounts. In some cases, these are real linkages. For example, we have sellers who owned a different account a long time ago and it was suspended, or they worked for another Amazon business and that created a linkage.
In other cases, our clients are being caught up in false positives. For whatever reason, Amazon thinks there is a link – but there honestly is not. Finally, in some cases, Amazon makes a tremendous mistake. They suspend a seller for having an account in another marketplace – be it Canada, Japan or elsewhere. These are flat-out technology errors on Amazon’s part. Appeals for related account typically require an escalation for reinstatement. Unfortunately, front-line Seller Performance does not feel empowered to turn these accounts back on.
Your best strategy?
  1. Make sure there are no linkages between your Amazon account and another selling account, such as account owners, tax ID numbers, bank accounts, credit cards, IP addresses, warehouse addresses, etc.
  2. If you have more than one account, ensure you have a valid business reason for doing so. This might be using one account for private-label products and another for goods purchased via wholesale. Or, some sellers are developing multiple brands on separate accounts.
  3. If you have more than one account, never sell the same inventory. Stay away from offering the same items, brands or – if possible – categories.
  4. If your account is suspended for related accounts, be ready to provide a reasonable explanation – even if you’re guessing.
  5. Be ready to offer detailed verification information about your account.
If you’re stuck or have questions, please don’t hesitate to contact Riverbend Consulting. We are happy to discuss your case. Let’s talk 877-289-1017 or visit our website.

Lesley HensellLesley is co-founder and co-owner of Riverbend Consulting, where she oversees the firm’s client services team. She leverages two decades as a small business consultant to advise clients on profitability and operational performance. Lesley has been an Amazon seller for almost a decade.

Filed Under: Account Health, Amazon, Linked Account, Related Account, Suspended Tagged With: 3P seller, Amazon, Amazon FBA, Amazon seller, Amazon Seller Performance, Linked accounts, Marketplace, Related accounts, Suspension

Contact Us

Thrive Internet Marketing
3825 S Bowen Rd Arlington TX 76016
Phone: (817) 642-9686 Fax: (817) 642-9686 Email: info@thrivenetmarketing.com

Categories We Serve

Automotive Parts & Accessories

Appliances

Baby

Beauty & Personal Care

Books

Cell Phones & Accessories

Clothing, Shoes & Jewelry

Computer

Electronics

Garden & Outdoor

Health, Household & Baby Care

Home & Kitchen

Luggage and Travel Gear

Luxury Beauty

Office Products

Pet Supplies

Sports and Outdoors

Tools & Home Improvement

Toys & Games

Video Games

(877) 289-1017

+44-161-8508-269

New Jersey • Texas

© Riverbend Consulting 2021 | Privacy Policy | Site Map |

Digital Marketing by Paid Search Consulting