This week we have with us Chris McCabe an Amazon alumni merchant consultant who has some great tips about how to keep your Amazon listings safe.
Amazon’s efforts to enforce product safety and compliance took a new turn with reports of blocked listings due to “Safety Incident Complaints.” I have seen several of these of late and the responses by Product Quality teams are much the same for other item quality complaints. They require you to provide a Plan of Action and redirect you back to your inventory inspection processes, much as they would in an account suspension case.
“Thank you for responding to our request for information. However, we still need more information regarding your plan of action for this Safety Incident complaint before we can reinstate your listing on your behalf.”
You want your listing back of course, and maybe it’s one of your best ASINs. The information in your POA needs to be good. You’ve got to do some digging and respond with some real understanding of the causes and your solutions to a product safety problem. Otherwise Amazon believes your items pose a risk to buyers. That, and internally Amazon doesn’t want to deal with more complaints in the future if they can help it. They cannot scale that work very well.
For consumables, you can imagine Amazon’s concern if a buyer reports safety hazards or fears illness as a result of ingesting something they bought on Amazon. That’s bad press and potential liability, two things Amazon fears like the plague. The best buyer experience is the their #1 goal because those buyers return and reinforce the brand. Remember that when you ponder removing an item from sale based on some ugly customer messages or bruising comments about how it made a buyer feel, or fearful.
“We’ll review the information you send and get back to you with an answer as soon as possible. If we can confirm the information you provide and your plan of action sufficiently addresses the complaint, we will reinstate your listing on your behalf immediately.”
These “safety incidents,” so far as I have seen, stem from reports of items with broken seals, broken “safety labels,” and partially opened packets. Ask yourself: Did the manufacturer seal the items poorly? Is there a broken seal problem due to a lack of temperature controlled storage at any point in the order fulfillment process? Have you seen prior reports of product safety concerns on your own, either in feedback, claims or buyer messages?
Messages from FBA teams telling you that they have reviewed samples of your FBA inventory but found nothing wrong are a beginning, and not an end. You still need to take action even without an actual “Plan” of Action by reviewing any complaints you have seen, any text of a complaint provided, or any past alerts of “Negative buyer experiences” to assure yourself, and Amazon, that no problem exists.
If you have the ability to list against the ASIN and simply fear you may lose that in the future, then get your account annotated by emailing policy teams with as much information on each proactive step you’ve taken to resolve future concerns as possible.
Make it good, because you may not get too many cracks at ASIN reinstatement. Be sure that you understand what could possibly have gone wrong, too, if the answer is not immediately clear to you.
If your merchant account is suspended, you’ll waste time and money trying to get back in business. As a former Amazonian, Chris shows sellers how to keep their accounts healthy.Give your account a checkup now.
Disclaimer: The information and views presented in this blog post are the opinions of the guest author, and not necessarily those of 888 Lots.
