Jennifer is a long time ecommerce seller and entrepreneur, the owner of UngateIt, and author of “Amazon Account Suspensions: Minimize Your Risk and Save Your Account.” UngateIt has helped over 250+ Amazon sellers get reinstated even after being denied or banned by Amazon. In this guest post, she shares information about three new performance metrics Amazon recently introduced, other changes Amazon has recently implemented or will implement, and some general tips for minimizing your suspension risk.
Amazon’s three new performance metrics
Amazon has established several performance metrics in order to ensure that buyers receive the same level of exemplary service and satisfaction when they order from third party sellers as they do when they purchase from Amazon directly. It is vital for sellers to learn about and monitor their performance metrics closely. Failure to meet the seller performance targets set by Amazon may result in account suspension, especially if a seller’s performance metrics drop to “fair” or “poor” and do not improve within 30-60 days.
There are now 7 performance metrics Amazon sellers need to closely monitor in order to keep their Amazon account in good standing. These metrics are:
- Cancellation Rate (performance target: <2.5%)
- Contact Response Time (performance target: 24 hours or less in quarters 1-3; 12 hours or less in quarter 4)
- Customer Service Dissatisfaction Rate (performance target: <25%) (Beta)
- Late Shipment Rate (performance target: <4%)
- Order Defect Rate (performance target: <1%)
- Return Dissatisfaction Rate (performance target: <10%) (Beta)
- Valid Tracking Rate (performance target: >95%)
To learn more specifics about each of these metrics, click here: https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/help/help-popup.html/ref=ag_200205250_cont_srcusmet?ie=UTF8&itemID=200205250&language=en_US# (NOTE: You must log into Seller Central and then click this link or copy/paste it into your browser for it to work)
Of these 7 performance metrics, 3 were newly introduced in 2015. Valid Tracking Rate was introduced in July 2015 and has been in effect in the Office Products and Shoes categories since August 2015. For all other categories, Amazon will implement the valid tracking rate performance metric in February 2016. Amazon sellers must now provide valid tracking numbers for 95% of all merchant fulfilled orders. This is the total number of merchant fulfilled orders shipped with valid tracking divided by the total number of packages you ship confirm. In order to qualify as valid tracking, there must be at least one carrier scan recorded. Amazon requires that >97% of merchant fulfilled orders be delivered by the estimated delivery date. Sellers who fail to meet this performance target risk losing their ability to merchant-fulfill items within that category.
In addition to implementing the valid tracking rate performance metric, Amazon introduced two other metrics in November 2015. The Return Dissatisfaction Rate are currently in “beta” which means that as of December 15, 2015, there is no penalty for not meeting the performance targets for these metrics. If this changes, Amazon will give sellers advanced notice if the performance target becomes a requirement. Sellers should closely monitor this metric and immediately resolve any issues as Amazon will likely eventually institute and enforce a performance target for this metric just as it has done for the other metrics.
The Customer Service Dissatisfaction Rate measures customer satisfaction with your responses to buyer messages. When sellers respond to buyer messages, Amazon asks the buyer whether the seller’s response solved their problem. The customer dissatisfaction rate is the percentage of “no” answers divided by the total number of responses. The target customer service dissatisfaction rate is <25%. Your customer dissatisfaction rate measures customer satisfaction with your responses to buyer messages. When sellers respond to buyer messages, Amazon asks the buyer whether the seller’s response solved their problem. The customer dissatisfaction rate is the percentage of “no” answers divided by the total number of responses. To learn more about this performance metric, click here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?ie=UTF8&nodeId=201962610.
The Return Dissatisfaction Rate is the percentage of valid return requests that were not answered within 48 hours, were incorrectly rejected, or received negative feedback. The target return dissatisfaction rate is <10%. Your return dissatisfaction rate is the percentage of valid return requests that were not answered within 48 hours, were incorrectly rejected, or received negative feedback. To learn more about this performance metric, click here: https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/help/help-popup.html/ref=sm_201887610_cont_srcusmet?ie=UTF8&itemID=201887610&language=en_US# (NOTE: You must log into Seller Central and then click this link or copy/paste it into your browser for it to work)
Other changes Amazon has recently implemented or will implement
Amazon has recently made some changes designed to improve listing consistency and quality, reduce counterfeit items, and decrease seller-related performance issues. First, Amazon is making changes designed to improve listing quality and to eliminate duplicate listings. This may result in sellers receiving more “Notification of ASIN Changes” and/or “Notification of ASIN Merges,” so it is critical that sellers read and review such notices immediately to confirm that the ASIN change and/or ASIN merge is accurate.
Second, Amazon has developed a new set of algorithms/predictive models designed to flag materially different product risks before buyers complain and return an item. This change is expected to be implemented in December 2015, and it is presently uncertain whether ASINs flagged by the new algorithms/predictive models will trigger a performance notification or suspension.
Third, Amazon is making it easier for companies to report suspected counterfeit or materially different products directly to Amazon’s investigation unit. If you private label and have not already done so, now is the time to trademark your products and register with Amazon’s brand registry program. Please note that enrolling your brand in Amazon’s brand registry and registering as the brand owner does not prevent other sellers from selling your branded products. More information about Amazon’s brand registry program can be found here: https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/help/200955930.
Fourth, in 2016, Amazon will allow sellers to have enrolled ASINs that are deemed unsellable by Amazon upon return by the customer automatically removed from FBA and returned to the sellers for inspection. It is not presently clear what the qualifications are for sellers to be able to enroll an ASIN in this new automatic returns program.
Fifth, Amazon will be introducing a new metric for sellers to determine exactly where specific complaints and concerns are coming from regarding a given ASIN. Sixth, Amazon is now beginning to contact some sellers by telephone to identify and resolve complaints and issues before suspending their account.
Lastly, Amazon is testing a subscription-based dedicated account service for sellers. The exact details and scope of this new service are currently largely unknown, but there has been some discussion about helping sellers expand internationally among other things. It is not clear whether sellers who use this service will be able to have their suspension appeal reviews expedited. Additionally, it is not clear whether sellers who use this service will be able to receive help with their suspension appeals from Seller Performance or other Amazon employees. Currently, this subscription-based dedicated service is in the beta, by invitation only, pilot stages. If successful, it is likely that this program will be made available to more sellers in 2016.
General tips for minimizing your suspension risk
There are several things Amazon sellers can do to minimize their suspension risk. First, monitor your performance metrics closely. If your metrics drop to “fair” or “poor,” Amazon will generally allow you 1-2 months to bring your performance metrics up to par. Failure to do so within this timeframe may result in your Amazon account being suspended or banned. Next, if you receive a performance notification and/or policy warning from Amazon, you need to send a written response to Seller Performance as soon as possible. Failure to timely respond to performance notifications and/or policy warnings is one of the most common patterns in suspension cases.
Third, be careful how you use certain words in your product descriptions and titles, especially for clothes and shoes. While some words are commonly used to refer to a style of an item (for example, “onesie” or “muk luks”), if there is a chance of buyer confusion and/or there have been buyer complaints on that ASIN, Amazon recommends that sellers eliminate those words from their product descriptions and titles. It is important to note that some of these commonly used terms, like “onesie” for example, are trademarked and companies have filed complaints with Amazon against sellers for using these terms in their product descriptions and listings. Thus, if you are using a given term simply because it is commonly used to refer to a style yet it is not the same thing as the actual product (for example, unbranded “onesie” versus a Gerber “onesie”), you should remove such terms from your listings immediately.
Lastly, if you receive an email from a company alleging that you are selling counterfeit items or otherwise infringing on their intellectual property rights, it is essential that you respond to the company in writing as well as Seller Performance. Many Facebook groups and so-called “experts” advise sellers not to answer such notifications, but failing to do so may result in your Amazon account being suspended.
Jennifer can be reached by email at ungateit@gmail.com and through her website http://www.ungateit.com. UngateIt offers reinstatement services, suspension prevention assessments, performance notification an policy warning response services, category ungating services, and ecommerce consulting for Amazon sellers.
Disclaimer: The information and views presented in this blog post are the opinions of the guest author, and not necessarily those of 888 Lots.
