Recent Amazon Seller Policies And Code Of Conduct Announcements: What You Need To Know
All sellers on Amazon know very well that following the Amazon Selling Policies and Seller Code of Conduct is a must. Their seller account could be suspended or terminated as a result of any prohibited activity.
Here is a reminder of some basics of this policy.
As a seller, the information you provide to Amazon and the customers must be accurate, especially information about the business, products, and the correct category for products.
Sellers must avoid unfair activity as stated by Amazon, such as providing incorrect information, sales rank manipulations, price increase attempts after the order is confirmed, an artificial increase of the traffic, or activities harmful to other sellers.
Manipulating reviews is also a violation; that includes giving coupons or free products for reviews, asking for only positive reviews, or giving unfair reviews to the competition.
In one of our blog articles, we mentioned that the Buyer-Seller Messaging Service is the only legitimate way to communicate with your Amazon customers. This communication must be order-related, and any other form or topic of communication can be considered a violation.
Customer information such as address or phone number must be used only for order fulfilment and deleted after this process is complete.
Attempts to lead Amazon customers to any other website are highly prohibited.
Amazon sellers are allowed to have only one account for each region, “unless you have a legitimate business need to open a second account,” according to Amazon. In the case of sellers with multiple accounts, any one of the accounts being in bad health can suspend them all.
Recent updates related to Rebates, Coupons, and other Marketing Incentives
Last month (November 2, 2021), Amazon made a surprising post on their Seller Forum as ‘Clarification of Amazon’s Policy on Rebates, Coupons, and other Marketing Incentives’.
Even if described only as ‘clarification’, the announcement’s meaning has opened many discussions. According to Amazon’s statement, sellers can use a discount, coupons, and other promotions or tools for price decreasing, but only as long as those offers are happening on Amazon. Any rebates outside of Amazon are now against Amazon’s Terms of Service.
As stated by Amazon, they “consider it a violation of the Amazon Seller Code of Conduct if off-Amazon rebates, discounts, and other schemes are designed to drive customers to products listed and sold without those incentives on Amazon.”
Furthermore, Amazon declared manipulation of search rank to artificially increase product rank as a violation of the Amazon Seller Code of Conduct.
According to Amazon, using the following ways to increase product rank artificially is a violation:
- 2-Step URLs
- Super URLs
- Funnels
- Treasure Hunts
- Search-Find-Buy
Opinions about this announcement are mixed, especially between customers and sellers, but Amazon experts also have differing opinions.
Customers affected by scam messages have reacted positively to this clarification (as they did to Facebook’s earlier and similar clarification).
On the other hand, sellers who have used tools for such rebates are affected and their activities are now considered a violation.
And as for Amazon rebate websites and companies such as RebateKey, Rebaid, Vipon, Rebate Jet, Jump Send, Amazon has made these websites redundant with this announcement because any rebates outside Amazon are now prohibited.
However, these websites are still actively processing Amazon rebates, which means some sellers are still using these services.
Official or not?
So if some sellers are continuing to act in violation of the statement’s rules, we must ask ourselves: Is this change official or not?
There are many articles that state this is an official change because it was posted on the Amazon Seller Forum, and surmise that the rebate websites mentioned above are now useless. You can find forum questions and discussions about sellers who have tried these activities in the past wondering if they are now going to face suspension or even account termination?
It is important to note that Amazon Terms of Service have not yet changed. There is a possibility that they will change in the future, but so far these recent updates are not included. Until it becomes official, we consider this as one of the possible updates to Amazon ToS, but even if it is added there is always a possibility that it will be removed or mitigated.
For example; Amazon previously restricted sellers from contacting customers who provided negative reviews. In a short amount of time, they mitigated this and offered options for sellers to contact customers (though only with pre-determined templates).
As Amazon experts, we are watching carefully to see if and when Amazon ToS are updated.
Key Takeaways:
- Sellers need to follow Amazon Selling Policies and Seller Code of Conduct.
- Providing accurate information, acting fairly, avoiding review and sales rank manipulation is a must.
- On November 2, Amazon made a Clarification of Amazon’s Policy on Rebates, Coupons, and other Marketing Incentives on Amazon Seller Forum.
- There are differing opinions between experts about whether this is an official change.
What can we do for you?
While the goal is to run a successful Amazon business, the larger your inventory gets, the harder it becomes to monitor and deal with issues that may arise with keeping your account healthy and growing. At BellaVix, we are dedicated to helping you monitor your account, solving any possible problems regarding your account on your behalf, and ensuring your business grows in sales and ranking with our services. We have the experience and knowledge to take your account to the next level.
If you have additional questions or want us to help you on your Amazon journey, don’t hesitate to contact the BellaVix Team.
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