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Happy Hour, July 17, 2024: Prime Day Aftermath, Bundling Policy, Seller Issues and Rising Fees
Join us for another enlightening episode of Ask Us Anything with Lesley Hensell and Kelly Johnston!
Gain valuable insights directly from our experts and discover the challenges and strategies faced by Amazon sellers today.
Don't miss out on this opportunity to network and learn!
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Lesley Hensell [00:00:25] Hello and welcome to Amazon Sellers to Amazon seller happy hour. You were here with me, Leslie Hensel. And Kelly Johnston. Hey, Kelly. Hey, hey. Hang on. I have to call. Oh, sorry. That was really bad timing. Yo!
Kelly Johnston [00:00:45] Hey, there's a mute button. Exist for a reason.
Lesley Hensell [00:00:48] I've been running around like crazy to try and get on here fast enough. And it's just one of those things that happens. But we are so happy to be here with you. As Prime Day winds down, and, if if the plethora of Amazon trucks in my neighborhood is any indication, I would say Amazon Prime Day was a big success because. Wow. The trucks are everywhere.
Kelly Johnston [00:01:16] Yeah, and our neighborhood is. Well. You know what else I noticed? Interestingly. And tell me if you saw this too, because I'm curious. It felt like there was a lot more, competition from other retail places trying to kind of ride the coattails of the Prime Day stuff. Did you notice that?
Lesley Hensell [00:01:37] I did, and I actually saw some hilarious sales, like the way they were positioning it, you could tell they were trying to say, we're Prime Day without saying we're Prime Day, because if they're not so.
Kelly Johnston [00:01:51] Funny, they that I noticed that too, like, hey, we're over here to look how cool we are on this thing. That's not really a thing, but is a thing. Yeah.
Lesley Hensell [00:01:59] Yes. I actually had an email marketing person asking me today, for her clients that send out email for their DTC brands, what can they say? Like, can they say it's Prime Day? And I said, well, you know, if you sell on Amazon and you're like, here's our deal on Amazon, click here and you send them to Amazon. Amazon's like cool. And they're never going to say don't use the Prime Day logo. They want you to send in sales. Woo. But if you send them to your website. No that's bad. Now if you don't sell on Amazon they have no leverage over you, so who cares. But if you sell on Amazon and then you say Prime Day deals and send them to your own site. No, you're just asking for it.
Kelly Johnston [00:02:42] Yeah. Well, knowing, you know, knowledge is power, right? It's good that they ask and and I don't I don't think it's a bad idea to double check that whenever possible.
Lesley Hensell [00:02:52] So before we get started today with some of the lovely questions you all sent to us, good ones. Thank you, thank you. We love when you send us questions. We have a topic that we wanted to spend just a couple of minutes on because there is some new weirdness on Amazon that, frankly, we really dislike a whole lot. But you know what else is new? I know y'all hear that from us all the time. Oh, look, Ryan says, hello, ladies. Hi, Ryan. So, so, feel free to put questions and comments in the comments wherever you're watching. And, yeah. So anyway, this weirdo thing that we have been seeing that we don't like involves bundles. So first we have to start by saying bundle policy is garbage and always has been. But it's been getting worse and more confusing. And Amazon has been blowing people up and suspending them even for violating bundle policy. When are they. Because, like one version of bundle policy, they're fine and the other they're not. And then just recently, in the last few days, they've started this new ugly thing where they're saying, you have to give them an LLC for every brand in your bundle. Kelly, I know you have thoughts.
Kelly Johnston [00:04:05] It's just so many thoughts. You know, from working with me for several years now that I have a, bone to pick. Still, after all these years with whoever it was that launched the original bundle policy, because it was launched with no communication, with solid performance, which I was a lead on at the time, we had no way to enforce it, and it's sort of just gone downhill ever since. I mean, I don't think there's been a reasonable policy, adjustment to the bundling policy since it launched. I don't think there's been consistent enforcement of it or communication by seller support since it launched. And so this new development, which I don't even know if I would like to tarnish the reputation of the word development by saying that is just the worst bundles add selection. They add a lot of value to buyers, and it drives a lot of sales and fees for Amazon. I understand why brands don't necessarily love it. It can have all sorts of weird implications for how they are perceived by customers and, how their brand is looked at, especially if they don't traditionally do bundles. I see both sides, but to ask for an Loi for every single thing is madness. It's absolute madness.
Lesley Hensell [00:05:33] You know, also like. I mean, why? Why?
Kelly Johnston [00:05:39] What does it accomplish? What does what problem does it actually solve?
Lesley Hensell [00:05:43] Because my. Are you saying that everyone who sells bundles is selling fake stuff or what? What are you saying? I don't think they are. Because I've bought bundles on Amazon and they were all fine.
Kelly Johnston [00:05:56] No, I know, I bought, you know, where I used to buy a lot of bundles stuff is back when I was doing, before cell phones and I was doing a lot of camera work, especially underwater, when I would go snorkeling, with my canon, I would get canon, bundles a lot, especially on Amazon, because I could get all kinds of filters, little accessory things that I needed for my, my thing. And in that example, most of the bundle was canon, but not all. There were other brands, but wow, it was cost effective. Helpful. Couldn't get it from the manufacturer. Bundles are a huge driver of sales for Amazon and a huge buyer satisfaction point. So whose problem are we trying to solve? I think that this is some kind of weird appeasement of maybe 1 or 2 squeaky wheel brands who feel like their IP is not being represented fairly.
Lesley Hensell [00:06:53] And so I had another thought, Kelly. Okay, so I'm a mommy. Now I'm mostly just a mom. Like.
Kelly Johnston [00:07:03] I'm like that change in tone.
Lesley Hensell [00:07:07] With the I role, but, as as a mommy, I have bought a lot of bundles for things such as birthday parties. I mean, there is nothing cooler than being able to go pick out a lightning McQueen birthday party pack for eight. That's got the plates and the napkins and the cups and the tablecloth and the little things to stick in the cake. And someone did all the work for you. And instead they want me to go through all those. Search for each item individually on Amazon. I mean, that's insane. That's going to reduce. Why? I'll just go to Party City then or whatever. Because that's just a huge hassle and I have to look at everything and figure it out. But but I did have a thought. You know, Amazon started its very own virtual bundling about, what, six months ago? A year ago.
Kelly Johnston [00:07:57] About a year ago. Yeah.
Lesley Hensell [00:07:59] So this is has a real chicken and egg going in my head. Like, did they plan this all along? And so they're like, we're going to put together these virtual bundles and we're going to get everyone to do virtual bundles. And then they won't create their own bundles anymore. And we'll control all the things. And now they're discontinuing non-virtual bundles or. Right. Are they unrelated? I don't know, but the virtual bundles are garbage and everyone knows it, right?
Kelly Johnston [00:08:24] But it's funny, you actually kind of read my mind because right before and I totally, admittedly forgot about virtual bundles. They have no place in my brain.
Lesley Hensell [00:08:33] Because the garbage.
Kelly Johnston [00:08:35] Right? Well, also because, you know, I have too much 80s trivia taking up that space.
Lesley Hensell [00:08:39] Effective.
Kelly Johnston [00:08:41] But it occurred to me after we talked about this earlier, what if this is just sort of like phase one and something else is coming to replace it? And I like I said, I forgot about the virtual bundles, but maybe, maybe this is a first pass at some other kind of change. Because the thing that makes me wonder about that, whether the answer is virtual bundles or something else or combination, is that what have we seen a ton of this year that I think we probably have seen more of this year than any other? Is category and catalog level enforcement stuff, tons and tons of item catalog things that we don't normally see because, you know, variations we see all the time. That we've been seeing so much more misbranded, complaints about changing data on ACS inappropriately. All this stuff that's kind of related. And it often involves bundles. Not all the time, but often. So I'm wondering if you're right that this is a precursor for something else.
Lesley Hensell [00:09:48] I don't know. I just hate them. I. Yeah, I know.
Kelly Johnston [00:09:53] I know. But I guess our message if I had to have one for our audience is that if you were a bundle seller, get on this and figure out what's happening and figure out what this means for your business and take the appropriate action, whatever you think that might be to protect yourself. Because we can't predict at the moment where this might land in terms of enforcement for you, if you're considering bundles, you might want to wait just a little bit until this starts to shake out a little bit. Because if you don't have Lowe's, you might run afoul. Third thing, if you do have businesses that you have laws with or relationships with, where it meaning a letter of authorization, could be part of your conversation. Or maybe you've got a really old one. Time to dust those off. Update, make sure they're current with what you're selling and what you're doing with that brand, and use it as an opportunity to further strengthen your relationship with that brand, because that could come in real handy down the line if this enforcement gets as dumb as I think it might.
Lesley Hensell [00:10:55] Yes. And also don't despair too much. This could be like almost everything else that Kelly and I have seen over the many years we've been working with sellers, which is they over do something and then they back off of it and I'll tell you exactly what will happen. They are going to have a massive decrease in selection on the platform, not just in bundles, but then they're going to have people who are bundle sellers who go to ask authorization from brands who then get mad at them and threaten them and say, don't ever sell our stuff again. So then they're going to have even less selection, even for individual items such as bundles on the platform and then Amazon. And you know what baffles me, Kelly? I know we got to get two questions, but if you all want to see like what's really going on at Amazon right now, this is what's really going on for sellers right now. There's a whole lot of, enforcement right now where Amazon is not giving second chances. They're not wanting to accept appeals. You have to escalate everything to an executive. And then there also have this. Oh, I'm sorry, Kelly. My brain spewed only the the inventory, the not it, not inappropriate inventory, unsuitable goods. Thank you. The unsuitable goods where they're jumping to conclusions about people, they're assuming that these goods are stolen or bad or evil, and they're taking some really shocking and aggressive enforcement action that I would be curious to know how many SKUs have been stripped away from the platform in the last six months, because this really started in January, right after peak, because they hold off of all new enforcement and new programs like in October, November, December, they do code freeze, and they're they don't work on anything new. They just enforce existing and like really bad, bad. Buy your experience stuff in fourth quarter. They that's why they do all the cleanup in third quarter. And then they just did force against like really bad experience the fourth quarter. So, you know, then they, they, they're all sitting around with nothing to do except dream up these ridiculous programs and launch them in January. And I would love to know, as a percentage of the catalog, how much selection they have lost from over enforcement and new enforcement actions in the first two quarters. Just the thought. Yeah.
Kelly Johnston [00:13:20] Well, and you know, when you when you say that loss of selection, I can tell you exactly where that's going to hurt internally at Amazon. And that's going to be the people that work in the category, especially those that represent the third party side. They're going to see that their sales reports are going to be down. All kinds of metrics that they're measured on and or care about will be impacted. So yeah, I, I feel anecdotally and I may be wrong, I've not done the full analysis yet, but I feel anecdotally that as the year has progressed, we have seen a smaller drop in those unsuitable goods, things in particular, but we've seen an increase in what we're calling inventory verification appeals. So someone's getting in trouble for their inventory, but they're not coming out and saying this is unsuitable inventory. And citing that specific policy. But they're still asking for a quasi mix of identity and inventory verification documentation, which almost feels like a tacit acknowledgment that the unsuitable goods policy is garbage, like the inventory they're trying to protect. Against what?
Lesley Hensell [00:14:41] Well, and and killing laughing. You know how you have that thing at the back of your head and you're like, why can't I churn it out? So the other thing I was thinking of that is reducing selection on the platform is all of the category and brand gating we're seeing. So y'all, we are seeing people who have sold a certain brand. And I mean, this is lots of brands across many categories. It's not it's not like unique. But there are some we've seen hit over and over again. Odd.
Kelly Johnston [00:15:10] But sorry.
Lesley Hensell [00:15:13] I was thinking of men's underwear and various brands. Women's underwear and undershirts and socks. So people, are getting gated out of category or of brands that they have literally sold those brands for a decade, since beauty. We had a beauty seller who'd sold some brands for 12 years. So we're not talking about I'm a new seller and I sold the wrong thing. I mean, they've been forever. And some of them, yes, they had some assets that were suspended that they didn't appeal and they should have. But others, this was like Bizarro World. It really made no sense. They have the thousand score in, you know, their seller performance, their little score that. Tells you how great you are or how horrible you are. They had a thousand. They had a few aches and suspensions, but nothing crazy or dangerous. And they just get jaded out of these brands or categories. That is going to reduce selection and it's also going to create monopolistic pricing. So I'm I'm baffled by it. And you know, that's a statistic they're never going to publish in their Year in review. How much did we decrease selection on the platform for all of you. Because we're just like a crazy people, you know, with some giant flamethrower to sellers knocking them off of their assets and suspending their accounts.
Kelly Johnston [00:16:31] But, you know, the sad thing is, is, as you were saying that and I'm like, totally going, yes, I'm vibing with all that because that's absolutely correct. And what we have seen this year, 2024, is the year that inventory has been under the microscope in literally almost every capacity that you can think of, whether it comes the gating amount, the amount of gating that we've seen, both category and brand level, the, inventory verification, the unsellable goods, the increase in transparency related stuff that we've seen to, there's just so much focus and emphasis. So clearly, you know, if, if, if inventory was a zodiac sign and it be an empty box upside down, this is what it would look like right now, and it would be at the very bottom of the chart getting stomped on by the Tigers and the Dragons. I don't know where that came from. Sorry, but you know what I mean. It's like the the.
Lesley Hensell [00:17:27] Whole.
Kelly Johnston [00:17:28] Inventory focus this year has been massive, more than any other year that we have existed as a firm. I cannot remember another time where we saw this many concurrent actions happening all at once that were driven towards this focus. And, and, you know, part of me goes, okay, good, Amazon that you're taking some of this stuff seriously, but holy moly who calibrated this stuff. Because so many of these clients that we're seeing are just being stomped and they don't have the systemic problems that you're talking about. And I feel like we do see it a lot with our gating folks. So I know we've really, really tangent off, but this is bugged me with the but with all of these things that we've seen this year. But the the bundling thing seems like a step too far. Really too far.
Lesley Hensell [00:18:16] Yellow just listening to therapy for me and Kelly and also okay, warning.
Kelly Johnston [00:18:21] Feel about it.
Lesley Hensell [00:18:22] Anecdotal, totally anecdotal thing I'm about to say, not based on data at all. Personal experience. So I buy a lot of stuff on Amazon, like way more than average because I hate to shop. And so the only thing I don't buy on Amazon pretty much is like groceries and very specific hiking gear that I buy it. RTI and I mean, I'm being literal. Everything else is Amazon except like large appliances. Yeah. So this year we did an update of our house, and I bought like all of the hinges we needed for doors and, you know, doorknobs and paints and thinners and like, we buy everything frickin on Amazon. So I'm trying I'm thinking back through all the things I've ever ordered on Amazon, and I've never gotten anything that I thought was fake, ever. Ever.
Kelly Johnston [00:19:20] Well, that's you know, I haven't thought about that in a while.
Lesley Hensell [00:19:22] And, I mean, my family has placed probably thousands of orders on Amazon over the years. I buy the kids school supplies, a lot of clothes, everything. So, I mean, I buy like, lots of stuff. So I just I'm only saying that just so y'all know I don't. I'm not someone who orders one thing off of Amazon a day like the Amazon drivers all know who we are, especially this year since we've been redoing our house. So, I, I am I need to know what has happened that that justifies the breadth of this enforcement. Now, I do know there are a couple of things. One is government pressure. Oh, two is there was a huge stolen goods ring last year. That was a year ago, but that was limited to some very specific brands on the East Coast. It wasn't like it was like everything on Amazon. And then number three, I do know that there are those warehouses in L.A. where people in specifically in California are going into drug stores. And I know this all sounds very specific. It's because this is literally what's happening there, going into CVS, Rite Aid and Walt Walgreens, and they are stealing right under the limit that you get actually, you know, arrested for in California. And then they take all their goods to these, warehouses and then they sell them all on Amazon. So that is a thing that has happened. But I still just think it's interesting. It's got to be such a tiny fraction of the actual, you know, stuff. So I don't know. Yeah, maybe I'm being naive. I could be totally naive. I mean.
Kelly Johnston [00:20:56] I don't think it's knight naivete this driving that at all. I think it's we are only capable, as smart adults out the world of seeing a small portion of any one picture. Right. And I think that there's probably more that we don't see and data that we're not privy to. That would explain some of this. Because remember, Amazon doesn't make decisions just off of nothing. They're going off data. Now, that data might absolutely be cooked and bent and twisted and manipulated the way somebody wants it to for their little pet project, but there's usually some good premise. What do I know? Right. What a concept. There's usually a good premise, though. There is a clear and present danger that they're able to identify. But how they choose to do that, response to what they've identified is where I think things get really twisted. And, if I had to summarize the one thing about Amazon that has changed so much. And one thing that has not in the 11 years since I have been there. It's how much growth in his head. Exceeding even my wildest expectations. And how little has actually changed inside. Because look at how businesses have changed.
Lesley Hensell [00:22:20] Including seller central armor.
Kelly Johnston [00:22:24] Look at how much has changed for businesses. Look at how different the landscape is for small businesses. I feel like that has evolved tons in the last 25 years, but even more probably in the last 15. And Amazon still doesn't recognize the way that business is run in the real world. And I don't think any e-com platform does. But as one of the biggest and most well known and most well seen. I'm surprised that they haven't adapted to that more. And that's the thing I think that shocks me the most is like, okay, you've grown this much, but you're still insisting on acting like it's 1999 and people don't know what a browser is.
Lesley Hensell [00:23:09] Tonight I'm gonna pay 2000 zero zero and. Yes. And, yeah. And like you said, they don't, no, a business works because they said, just go get in L.A. way. How hard could it be?
Kelly Johnston [00:23:23] Clearly, because, you know, if you buy this brand.
Lesley Hensell [00:23:26] Yeah. Why buy from this brand? This just could just get a letter of authorization. If you're not beings, if you're not being shady to them, they'll just give it to you. I just like, oh.
Kelly Johnston [00:23:36] Like, think about this. The the time it can take to establish a relationship. And you're selling whatever bundle you're selling. Now go get 16 of these for your.
Lesley Hensell [00:23:49] Just your one.
Kelly Johnston [00:23:50] I just I don't get it. I, I get brands concerns. Okay. I totally get those. And I understand why. There can be reticence to allowing these things to just proliferate and do whatever they do. But good gravy. I mean, for as bad as some of the reasons I stumble across on Amazon are in terms of like quality and, you know, good pictures and all that. This just seems like the wrong hill to die on for all the reasons that we discussed. And. I know we're still talking about this, but you guys, if you're bundling it all, this has the potential to affect you, and now is the time to be paying attention to those things that could potentially kick you in the butt in fourth quarter. So not to be alarmist and not to like, overly beat a very dead horse that has clearly died at the edge of the pool. But it's a problem, and I'm really concerned about how it's going to affect some clients who, you know, make a really good living doing quality bundles because they're out there.
Lesley Hensell [00:25:00] Okay, let's jump to questions.
Kelly Johnston [00:25:03] I'm ready.
Lesley Hensell [00:25:04] Okay. First I'm to hit a really quick one because it's the best it says from Elizabeth. No question. Just tell Jonathan thank you. Ten minutes and she has $2 signs, and I'm all set. You've made a fan. Now, how nice is that? We asked for questions and someone sent a yay! So awesome. Jonathan is one of our customer relationship managers.
Kelly Johnston [00:25:27] More of that, please. And thank you, Elizabeth.
Lesley Hensell [00:25:29] Yes. Awesome. Okay, so now to the fun. In Amazon, Amjad says, is holding my inventory for more than a year. Tried help and FBA inventory. So I guess he got through to the inventory team somehow. No, success doesn't give any more details than that. So first, Kelly, maybe we should explain why Amazon might hold inventory.
Kelly Johnston [00:25:55] Yeah, there can be so many reasons. Wow. If your account had gone down. Particularly for something like a compliance or safety related issue. They have a tendency to hold your inventory and set it aside, but when you get reinstated, that should, in theory, resolve. That can actually be true for a variety of violations, but sometimes it doesn't. And we've seen clients with this kind of conundrum at the asset level before. And since you didn't specify, it's hard for us to guess, but it can happen for either. But, we see this a lot with restricted products.
Lesley Hensell [00:26:36] Yes, that is absolutely true. So restricted products to being a product that Amazon doesn't want you to sell because of their own internal rules. They think it's risky and it might potentially hurt a buyer. Also anything that is illegal to sell and there are things that are illegal to sell that you'll just don't realize it until you try and sell it. And also things on Amazon has someird special rules around like things they call professional medical that most people wouldn't even consider professional in some cases. So like needles or in professional medical obviously, but then also CPAp masks, which most people are like what? But yes, they are in there. So that's that is a good point. They can also permanently hold inventory. If they think it is stolen and they can seize it if they think it is counterfeit. Which to me is fascinating. It should be turned over to a governmental agency, but they don't do that. Also, if you violated transparency. So transparency is where you have to have a 2D barcode associated with that brand. That was issued to the brand. And if your inventory doesn't have that barcode, they will seize your inventory rather than send it back to you because they assume again it was stolen, or otherwise evil. So, yeah. So depending on the reason, you say that you used help and you say that you tried FBA. So my question would be, has there been some actual enforcement because it sounds like there should be some kind of a notification for you in performance notifications, or a suspended assign or suspended account saying you did the bad thing. And here's what we think you did. And you would have to file an appeal. If not. Then you you need to get them to tell you the. Why. There are weird cases where Amazon just is. Stuff is stuck in, like, a weird purgatory. It's like in FC transfer, and they lost it, and they don't want to tell you. They're doing an internal FBI investigation, and for some reason, they don't tell you. And FBI investigations are weird. It's stuff that they're worried about at the warehouse. So, for example, we had one where it was these pillows that you like. They're like neck pillows. You heat up in the microwave and they head out about that. There's barley in them. And apparently the there was bugs in the Bali. And so they were investigating all of the lots of it so that they could probably, you know, set fire to the one that bugs in them and get them freak out of the warehouse away from all the other inventory. So, you know, there's all kinds of weird stuff. So, and this is a case where the first thing I would do, I think, is check your performance notifications to make absolutely sure they're not giving you some reason, as to why. And then I think the next thing I would do is I would go to good old ESR, which is Jeff at Amazon.com, send an email there and say, Dear Executive Seller Relations. And explain just say Amazon is holding my inventory. No one has explained why it has been in purgatory for a year. Please help me. Also refer to any case ideas that you've previously open cases and gotten nonsense or no answer, and make sure you send that from the email address. That is the same login email you use to log in to the account. If you are still stuck. This is the kind of stuff we specialize in. So if you send that you don't hear from them in a week, or they send another stupid nonsense response, please give us a call or fill out a form on our site so you can talk to one of our people and we can provide some more direction or help you out. Yep.
Kelly Johnston [00:30:41] Yep. Because it can be complicated to solve. But all that. But she said.
Lesley Hensell [00:30:45] So many reasons it could. So. Okay, so so you know I'm sitting here like going through questions and stuff and I get a slack message from Roy. Roy is our our marketing manager and he says pitch seller survey results okay. So we did this cool seller survey. We sent it out to our big old database of thousands and thousands of Amazon sellers and asked questions about like, hey, what do you love Amazon for you? What do you hate Amazon for? And the results were super interesting. And so I'm throwing a comment in, that you can see in any of these places. That's a link. So if you go to that link, you will see a blog that explains all the results so that you don't feel crazy and you know that, the same thing is happening to other people. It's happening to you. So I'm gonna give you a couple quick examples. What do you foresee as your top three challenges during the next 12 months? 81% rising Amazon fees. See how smart our clients and friends are? 46% managing IP issues. Next up, at 42%. Optimal pricing strategies and the list goes on. This next one. Oh, here's a fascinating stat, Kelly. So what ecommerce e-commerce platforms do you sell on? As you would expect, the number one answer from our base was Amazon. Number two was eBay at 52%.
Kelly Johnston [00:32:15] Interesting.
Lesley Hensell [00:32:16] Yes.
Kelly Johnston [00:32:17] Actually really surprises me in some ways. But I think a lot has to do with the way that I use eBay.
Lesley Hensell [00:32:23] So yeah, Walmart is in the 40s. Facebook Marketplace is almost 30%.
Kelly Johnston [00:32:30] Now, that actually really surprises me because all I ever hear horror stories about Facebook Marketplace. But that's cool. That's really cool.
Lesley Hensell [00:32:38] Etsy was 23% TikTok shops. Okay, this blew me away. 20%. Yeah. Just getting after it.
Kelly Johnston [00:32:47] It doesn't shock me. They did a huge outreach to people with business accounts and did the whole verification, yada yada to get people into their beta program and all of that. And it was really interesting to watch it kind of unfold. And I have been getting emails for months and months and months trying to get me to join. And I'm like, yeah, I don't know about this. And I'm hearing a lot of complaints from creators who sell physical objects about. The control that TikTok has over determining ship times and all this other stuff. So that's a that's one to watch right there. It's going to be because it has such massive potential market share. But I don't know that they know what they want to do with their e-commerce platform.
Lesley Hensell [00:33:39] So lots of good points there. Okay. And then this last one actually makes me feel really happy. Y'all know 2023 was not the best year for a lot of sellers. It was tough for lots of reasons. And so this question was, what are your sales expectations for 2024? And honestly, I expected this to be the opposite of what it was. So we had 32% who said 25% or more growth over 2023. But then we had 28% who said no growth. People are very split here, and then 25% said 10 to 25% growth. And then we go back the other way again, 0 to 10% was 15%. So it's all over the place, but actually better than I expected. Yeah. So, you know.
Kelly Johnston [00:34:28] That's I, I found those numbers really fascinating for the same reason. And I also really found myself wondering what was the demographic both in age and type of seller. So when I say age, I don't mean the age of the actual physical age of the person, but like, how long have they been selling and what category is the primary area of sales? Because I feel like those growth numbers, the positive ones, are a no brainer in certain areas. But I also feel like there might be some surprise surprise areas in there as well. So we'll see. I'm curious.
Lesley Hensell [00:35:08] Yes, yes. Okay. So also as long as we're like off on another tangent and you're welcome. Roy. No, but seriously, go and, check out the link that I just posted. And. Please, click on it. Look at the blog. It has all the information. You might find it interesting like we did. But another thing I think we should talk about is the rumored. But I don't think it's rumored it was in for CNBC. Andy wrote about it in CNBC, and she's very Annie Palmer, and she is super dependable reporter. She says Amazon is launching a marketplace. That will be separate from Amazon, but also on Amazon. So I'm not really understanding that part but okay. And you know how y'all all of you sellers out there. You know how you're not allowed to sell generic products. You know how you've been told for several years that everything has to be branded. You know how they recently even up to the standards and talk to you about how it can't just be the brand on the packaging, it can't just be a sticker on a white box. It's got to actually be a printed box with your branding printed, labeled, got to be on the product, etched on the product, whatever. You know how they've been like making it harder and harder for you for if you're a private label seller. Well, you know, what's real cool, is that they are inviting. So not just allowing, they are inviting Chinese sellers only, not us, just Chinese to, launch with them on a new China only generic product platform that is part of Amazon for super cheap crap. I'm sorry, super cheap items that will compete with, Temu and Shein, which I have now dubbed Shemu. Actually, I was on a podcast with someone who accidentally called them Shemu, and then he was like, I mean, I mean, and I said, no, we should call no now. From now on, it's Shemu. And so for something I wrote this week, I called it Amashemu. That's this new marketplace is going to be Amashemu because it's just a bunch of crap that no one needs that is made with, you know, slave labor, possibly. And, has is it's also subsidized by the Chinese government because every company in China is partially owned by the Chinese government. If you all didn't know that, it's so you know how none of us like tariffs. Because I hate tariffs, but there's kind of sometimes this thing called unfair competition. And so then I start getting kind of wobbly on maybe tariffs aren't horrible. And I really have a hard time because I'm very free market. So I have this big push pull in myself on tariffs. And it's because we do not have fair competition with China at all as Amazon sellers. And it is because our government doesn't subsidize us or own part of our companies and give us capital. That's not how it works. And if they do, it's an SBA loan. You got to freakin pay back in interest. And so now Amazon is going to partner up with the same companies that like, knock your shit off. I'm sorry. That's where I am. That's where I am on this issue. Bad language. Fabulously. But that being.
Kelly Johnston [00:38:33] Is like the best I've ever heard about life. That was.
Lesley Hensell [00:38:36] Perfect. But they're knocking your stuff off, and they're going to put it on Amashemu, and they're gonna sell it as generic. And the price point is going to be half of what your stuff is. And I'm not getting it, Kelly. And I'm not saying Amazon has to be rah rah USA. And I get that they're trying to compete with shampoo. But wow. Is there no line? Is there no line? Because, you know, Laura Barbera, she works at our company and she's awesome and smart, and she worked at Amazon for a long time. And she immediately brought up, so, like, what about things that, you know, can kill you and stuff, like, are you going to have testing on these things? Or is there going to be any enforcement? Are they going to have the same level of enforcement that as poor American soldiers have? Because, there's already inside Amazon, people who want to give favorable treatment to Chinese sellers over U.S. sellers on enforcement. That is a program. It's a thing. We've been told about it by people who've been in the meetings. So, I'm I, I'm not happy with this.
Kelly Johnston [00:39:46] It's it's such a, ugh.
Lesley Hensell [00:39:49] I'm not some nationals freak. I swear to y'all, I'm not. It's the unfair competition. This is the problem
Kelly Johnston [00:39:56] Well, it's an echo of what they've already done. You know, because they, they had their whole amazon.com platform that they ended. And this is like 2.0. And my guess is it'll look kind of something like warehouse will un it'll be like a drop down kind of thing. but yeah I mean explain to me how. This doesn't potentially cause. So many issues for US based sellers who have spent the better part of ten years or more building brands, because that's what Amazon told them that they needed to do. How does this not hurt sellers that they're currently enforcing against for retail arbitrage stuff? How does this not hurt sellers who are abiding by the rules and doing the right things and, you know, doing all the stuff they're supposed to do by allowing these Chinese sellers to come in and undercut with probably substandard products in most cases. I just I find it insanely baffling that they're going back to this well, after it ran dry on them the first time. And the only real difference, though, is that they're controlling the playing field. There's no Amazon.com in this is all.com, presumably only.com. I'm wondering where else this will show up. I suppose it depends on success, but all those problems. Lauren Lauren made a great call out with the security and safety thing. Cheese. It just strikes me as a big, big middle digit. To the entire North American selling contingent.
Lesley Hensell [00:41:45] So Kelly and I were also chatting about, Shein and Temu. Man, why can't they be anyway spelled differently than I want to say and how the state of Arkansas filed a lawsuit against one of them. I apologize, I can't remember which time it was, and it was based on the privacy stuff. That is the same thing with TikTok. So in other words, they are collecting all of your data and they're collecting click data. Like when I say click data, I mean like what you're touching on your screen and other app data and stuff that you are not supposed to do. And there's even this crazy idea which it could be real for all I know. I mean, why wouldn't it be that like, they make it past the App Store and then once it's on your phone, it magically does something that it like makes, enables all these features where it's collecting all your data. And, you know, we all need to remember that this is again, partly owned by China. And they have, Kelly said. The other day we were chatting about this and she said, you've got to remember that China, they have like a really long look forward. They aren't doing stuff for today or next week or next month. And in the US we're so like in the moment. And and if we're doing planning, it's yearly planning if we're lucky and China you know, the government, they're looking out like decades or more and and so what are they doing with this data. And, and so they don't care about the quality of the products. They're not trying to get repeat sales. They want your data. All they want is your data. When you buy cheap crap on Shein and Temu. Right. And so Amazon's trying to compete with that. Well they can't because when customers buy on Shemu. Yeah. Then you know what you're getting. You know you're getting cheap crap. And so you're not going to return it because you're almost like, it's my own fault for buying it. And then you find the label inside that says, help me, help me. I'm trapped in a factory and they won't let me leave. But you, you know what you're buying? Well, when you buy it on Amazon, no one is going to say, oh, well, my fault for buying cheap crap. You're going to say I bought it on Amazon. Damn it, this is supposed to be good quality. I want to return it. So who's going to eat the returns? Is it going to be the Chinese sellers or Amazon? What's the return rate going to be? It's going to be ludicrously high. Yeah, this is a horrible idea. And I have to say okay, Jack. Jack is our sales guy extraordinaire. And he says, how would they enforce the quality of the products? The reviews wouldn't be like for like they're generic. Doesn't make sense.
Kelly Johnston [00:44:32] Yeah. No, he's totally right. I'm wondering I'm wondering if they're going to set up some kind of not visible to the public underpinnings for how those things are rated that are going to look. It's going to look the same functionally, but it will be different in the back end. I don't know. I got questions, man. I got so many questions. And back to Temu for a second. I hate that platform with a fiery passion because as an artist, they steal artist designs all the time. Every day I run across somebody that I know or is someone who I know, who knows them, who has had a design stolen and put on. And you just like, wish they're all all those platforms are really, really bad for a lot of reasons. But the fact that the Chinese government is invested how much? Nobody really knows. And they have access to all that information. Should terrify you because not only are they looking ahead like we discussed, who else are they sharing that data with? So my collaborates with a lot of countries that we don't necessarily love. So.
Lesley Hensell [00:45:41] Oh, and they hate us. So my, my kid and I, both want to experiment with, TikTok for various things. And so we actually bought, like a burner. We bought like a we won't put it on our phones. And I would just encourage sellers who are interested in TikTok shops, just be really careful, like have it on some different device because things, things are getting ugly. So anyway, that's my rant. We've had two rants today. Kelly. That's just too many rants.
Kelly Johnston [00:46:09] Well, maybe because it's been a minute since we've had a chance to to do one of these. But you know, a lot's happened. This has been a really nutty summer the last couple months with some of the developments we've seen. So anyway, but back to our loyal contingent who's been asking us questions. What else we got?
Lesley Hensell [00:46:28] Okay. Yeah. You know, it's just like. So. Kelly. Kelly. What Kelly saying to you is Amazon news is mirroring our national news and political news. Usually it's supposed to be slow in the summer. That is not happening. Correct. Okay. We have Muhammad. My Amazon seller account is locked due to my Amazon buyer account. Oh, no. Can you help me with this issue?
Kelly Johnston [00:46:51] Yes. As long as you don't try to ask anybody to delete your bank account, please don't do that. Yeah. These are situations that we see a ton. I have a special interest in them for some reason. I guess because they're complicated and there's a lot of variety in how this thing can happen. And so, and I what I'm about to say is not a reflection on you, sir. And does not mean that you did any of these things. It's possible. But for those wondering, well, how the heck can your buying account cause this? Let me explain. When you sign up to buy on Amazon, you're entering an email and a password, right? And then eventually, once you get in there and you're getting ready to do transactions, you're putting in all of your information. You ain't got to have a credit card, got to have a bank account or whatever. You gotta have your name, address, all that fun stuff. Well, now you're in the system, right? Well, Amazon will typically often invite you to sell while you're in that buying account you've created. And you can go through the pipeline. You go through the registration. Oh look, now you are a buyer and a seller. But what you don't see is that that's one customer ID in Amazon system. And if you do something even inadvertently that causes a problem on say that buying side, it will lock up everything attached to that. So you might sign up for Kindle or Associates, all kinds of things on that one login. And now all of it becomes inaccessible to you. So things that can happen is that you're using your buying side to dropship for your selling side. Don't do that. Do not recommend zero stars. Lots of other things that can happen. Any kind of violation that can get your buying account locked and inaccessible to you, whether they message you or not. If you have a selling account on that same customer ID, you will not be able to access anything, but it is fixable. It's not a death sentence. Don't let anybody tell you that it is. It is definitely, definitely something that we see all the time and can fix. In fact, I just looked at somebody today who had a similar issue. And, his his particular issue is going to be a little tough, a little unusual, but it is definitely something that we can tackle and help you with. But it really does require somebody who has an understanding of how these things occur, and then being able to explain it to Amazon in a way that helps them to, realize that you're not just some kind of, you know, fly by night person that's doing bad things because mistakes happen all the time, especially on the buyer side.
Lesley Hensell [00:49:20] So. Okay. Excellent answer. And we've got another really good question. And Kelly, you'll be happy to know that I actually did some research on this one before we started.
Kelly Johnston [00:49:30] Oh, good. So I don't have to think any more.
Lesley Hensell [00:49:32] I'm just kidding because it's a new thing. So.
Kelly Johnston [00:49:34] Okay. I'm ready. Hit me.
Lesley Hensell [00:49:36] Can you please explain Amazon's returns processing fees? We're seeing a lot of inconsistency with these same category, but one will not get charged and another will. We're trying to get a better understanding of how these fees work. Okay, so, two things to think about if you're seeing differences in the same category. Thing number one is if Amazon believes that it's their fault that there was a return, they're not charging you the fee right now. We all know this is going to be completely unreliable and even bizarre. There going to be time so they don't charge you the fee, that it isn't their fault. And there will be times that they don't, you know, take the hit when they should. Because it's all subjective. I'm sure they're trying to use different kinds of machine learning and eventually AI and figure out the right thing to do on these, and they're probably going to try and apply it correctly. But when you think about the sheer volume, it's, you know, it's not going to be done correctly. It's impossible. So, you know, they'll probably have a decent rate, but some of it will be wrong. But that could be why? Because they are taking responsibility. So a lot of times if something arrives crushed, you know, or broken, they will take responsibility. Especially if it's if it's in an envelope, you know, in a product that that broken, it's been shipped in, in your.
Kelly Johnston [00:50:56] Sunglass bottle, in the biggest envelope you've ever seen with no dunnage. Yeah. That may or may not have happened at our house recently.
Lesley Hensell [00:51:04] Yeah. My favorite is the, candles that a client of ours was selling, that there were these gigantic and very expensive poured candles into a beautiful glass like mercury glass appearing container. And they were being shipped in padded envelopes. So Amazon will eat it on those. So, that is one reason. The other is remember the exception for long tail stuff. So if the total number of returns, it has to exceed a threshold for that category. So the first few you're going to be cool. It just depends on the category. Also, if you ship less than 25 units a month, there will not be a fee for that product. So if it's something that's long tail, it doesn't sell that many units and you have a couple of returns. They just aren't going to charge you for those returns. It's higher volume stuff. So any of those could possibly first of all any of those could change I'm sure. But and that one, the the second one, that long tail one was smart for them to do because again, limiting selection, because people can't tolerate that if they're selling, you know, these long tail items that people want on Amazon. But that could explain some of the bizarreness that you are seeing. And now, Kelly, one of your favorite questions ever. And that was Jessica, who's in this that question. Thank you for the question, Jessica. Now we are on to Amar, who says the UPC on the ace and is wrong. Amazon deactivated the listing. I provided them documentation showing the correct UPC and asking to update the listings, but they're not accepting that. What else can I do if I tear all of my own hair out and go, great, I'm sorry I added that part. I was going to say happening to you.
Kelly Johnston [00:52:50] You totally ate a truck. You editorialized, and I was going to say, beat your head against the desk and knock yourself unconscious to remove the pain. Oh, man. So. This isn't going to make you feel better, necessarily, but you're not alone. This is so common. I would have to do some some digging, but I would like to get a percentage around this. But I would say that we probably conservatively have seen maybe a 30% increase in these types of inquiries of work for us within just our firm. It is such a common occurrence now, even when somebody didn't create the original ason. But they have proof. Hey, this literally is a candlestick, and you're advertising it as an empty glass of bourbon. That's a problem. Should not be happening. But it's so, so difficult to fix because for whatever reason. And I'm not sure if this is due to staffing, training, a combination of both. The frontline teams seemed completely and totally unable or unwilling to fix very obvious problems like this. And I have seen examples where it's something that's, you know, just so completely different that there should be no question. And yet, so the the conservative answer is, it sounds like you've taken a really good first stab at it, but you probably need somebody to help organize your thoughts and get you escalating to the right people, because there's kind of a an art and a science to approaching these issues because for whatever reason, again, the reticence of that front line really, really inhibits sellers fixing these problems on their own. So do you not feel that you were in some way deficient, do not feel that you have somehow failed yourself because you haven't. I guarantee what you've written is probably been pretty darn good, and you just are hitting that wall that exists, so don't feel bad. We can help you with this.
Lesley Hensell [00:54:46] Such a frustrating thing.
Kelly Johnston [00:54:48] So very. And I don't blame my clients for being like, why is it like this? And you know, all I can say is.
Lesley Hensell [00:54:54] That.
Kelly Johnston [00:54:55] It is, but it is not just you. This is a huge problem. We got some. Come on, get me going.
Lesley Hensell [00:55:05] Sorry, sorry. I was trying to decide which actor question to.
Kelly Johnston [00:55:09] Which question to be torture. Cannabis.
Lesley Hensell [00:55:10] Next. Oh, wow. Oh, no.
Kelly Johnston [00:55:15] I like the sound of that. This is going to hurt me. I can already feel it.
Lesley Hensell [00:55:19] How do I get my account back after a system error created two accounts with the same password and same email?
Kelly Johnston [00:55:26] Whoa, a silly.
Lesley Hensell [00:55:27] Account. I changed the display name on my store. Okay, now it logs into one account in the seller app. Under the old name on a browser. Same email and same password. Thank you in advance. Okay, so. This makes my head hurt. I need another drink before answering it. All I had was a very small glass of wine. You didn't give me enough. Wow. Sorry. It's Rosa in hell. Sorry, Rosa. So, this sounds like an engineering problem. Yes. And so. And so, engineering is Amazon's way of saying it. Support everyone else in the world says IT. Support Amazon says engineering because they're special. So, a lot. Here's what people don't know about opening a case with Amazon. It's not enough to say I have this question. Can you please help me? You have to tell them what they have to do, because frontline support usually doesn't know how to fix things. Right? So, I would open a case and I would say I have this problem. For some reason, there was a clone of my selling account. So you need to say there's a clone special. Were there a clone of my selling account? It is displaying one way on the app and another way on a browser screen, I believe. What?
Kelly Johnston [00:57:00] Screenshots?
Lesley Hensell [00:57:02] Oh, yes. Since screenshots. Absolutely. That show there's two different storefront names, but this is the same login. Yeah. I need this escalated to engineering. That is the key. I need this escalated to engineering. You have to tell them that is where it needs to go. Then they're going to email you back some nonsense where they say blah, blah blah blah. You're insane. This can't happen. We can't help you or or they.
Kelly Johnston [00:57:30] They were transferring your work.
Lesley Hensell [00:57:32] Transferring it to the concerned team. And then you need to reiterate. Yep. This cannot be solved by me or you I need this escalated to engineering. So even if they give you that nonsense that they're transferring. Say it again. Yep. So that someone will transfer it to engineering. That is really. Help me one Obi-Wan Kenobi. You're my only hope. That is you. That's where you got to go.
Kelly Johnston [00:57:54] Yeah, that's a mess. I mean, I don't think I ever saw that exact use case at Amazon, but I definitely saw. Some scenarios where. Like the system hiccups. Almost like somebody went through the registration pipeline to set up a new selling account, and it decided halfway through to have a seizure. And created something similar, but not fully exact. But yet they're connected. So yeah, there there are definitely scenarios where this can occur and nothing you do on your end is going to fix it. But what Leslie said is exactly the right advice. So go for that. Try that. And the key to the success of this, besides being clear and providing good screenshots and data, is persistence, because they're going to want to be like, yeah, nah, nah, you got to poke that bear and go, look, this is not right. Your system should not have two things recorded for me. Help me fix this, but it'll take some time.
Lesley Hensell [00:58:59] Yeah, that's that's a wild one. But like you said, it's system seizure. Yeah. Okay. Very last one. Okay. From Charles, this is a challenge question. Okay. How can I get out of Amazon community jail? I have asked nicely, but they keep denying me. I feel I'm being unjustly targeted and not allowed to ask questions about products I'm interested in purchasing.
Kelly Johnston [00:59:29] I'm confused. Which jail? This is where we're talking about not being able to leave prosecutors.
Lesley Hensell [00:59:34] Product reviews, reviews and the Q&A thing too. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Well.
Kelly Johnston [00:59:41] That's a good question. It is a challenging question as well. It is possible. I'm not going to say it's not. I will say that community as a as a whole has changed a lot in the last few years, and they seem a little less responsive than they were, which was never very responsive to begin with. However, however, this comes down to being able to do a couple things. I have no idea what landed you in jail. Was it a misunderstanding? Was it something that you did? Whether it was intentional or not? Doesn't matter, I don't know. I don't have enough information to be like, this is the thing that you do, but something got you there. It's like gross point blank. If you if I show up at your doorstep. There was something you did to bring me here is what John Cusack said. It's kind of like that.
Lesley Hensell [01:00:30] But what did you do? I don't know.
Kelly Johnston [01:00:32] So the ways to approach that varies a little bit, but it does involve doing some escalating and owning any failures and mistakes and being really clear and transparent about that while asking for forgiveness and, you know, saying, hey, here's how I won't do this again. It doesn't always work. Sometimes it takes a while as well, because this is another team that isn't always prepared for this front line inquiries where you're like, please help me. I have this issue. So it's again, kind of that marathon, not a sprint type of thing, but it really comes down to explaining the issue clearly, taking ownership where necessary, and asking for what it is that you're looking for in a very specific and clear way. I see that happen a lot where people are like, help me do what? Stand on your head. Put air in your tire. What? What was it you need? You've got to be really clear and directive about what you're trying to accomplish. That will go a long way.
Lesley Hensell [01:01:31] Excellent answer to like I won't use challenge question.
Kelly Johnston [01:01:35] You did not lie. But see, this is the joy of doing these with you. Because I never know. I asked not to be briefed. I do not want to know. I want to be surprised. And and I like thinking on my feet because it really does give, I think, better answers for you, because that's what we're here for, right, is to give you the benefit of our experience and our time and our energy. And I can do that a lot better when I don't know what's coming at me, I promise. I know that seems counterintuitive, but trust me, it works. Work for years.
Lesley Hensell [01:02:02] Happy hours. Like the box chocolates. Kelly never knows what she's gonna get.
Kelly Johnston [01:02:08] Except bourbon, I know that.
Lesley Hensell [01:02:12] Well, thank you everyone, and thank you, Kelly, for joining us on this Amazon Seller happy Hour. I hope we provided some insight, some answers to questions, some thoughtful commentary, and only minor cursing, related to bundle policy and to this new Amashemu market. And I think we all need to start saying Amashemu, because that's my word that I've mentioned my passion. And it also makes me think of like instead of the there should be the Amazon smile going one way and like a whale, a killer whale going the other way. Because it reminds me of the whale, you know.
Kelly Johnston [01:02:48] And when you click on it, you get the sad trombone sound.
Lesley Hensell [01:02:51] Oh, I know, so thank you everyone. We really appreciate you joining us. Remember, if you have any problems or challenges go to Riverbend consulting.com. There's a phone number. We answer the phone during business hours. There's forms you can fill out asking for help. We'd love to chat with you about your challenges. Hit up that blog that Roy said you got to read, for all kinds of other information about other sellers so you can know that you're not alone. And as always, on this very special Prime Day, happy selling.