Odd things I have been noticing with Amazon seller central.
This entire year selling on Amazon has been so stressful. I have been selling now for almost 4 years and prior to this year I had never experienced these issues. First starting with losing buy box ELIGIBILITY every couple of weeks to every other month. However, that is not why I am posting this right now. Lately, I have noticed, when I am changing the price in any direction for any of my listings, it becomes inactive. The only option I seem to have is to re add the listing and delete the old one. I have to do that every time, and I always choose the same price as what I changed the original listing that became inactive to and have no problems with the new listing, and then of course I have to delete the old one. I have called Amazon while I had this situation and before I deleted the old listing and according to them they said it was too high a price but then when they saw that the price was what Amazon suggested in the emails they send and then they saw that the new listing was the same price, they had no clue what was going on.
Another odd thing going on right now and has been for a while, is that I have noticed, if I have any inactive listings that are not inactive due to having none in stock, I have noticed that I get no sales during this time. As soon as I fix that one or how ever many inactive listings and they are no longer inactive, then I start getting sales. This is so weird to me because some times a listing randomly becomes inactive for no reason even when I dont change the price and my only solution is re add and delete the old one. I am not sure why that seems to freeze any and all sales on my account until it is deleted and re added. Why would it affect my other listings? It makes no sense to me.
My parents also sell on Amazon and they have also experienced all of these issues. This entire year has been really frustrating selling on Amazon. And I know I am not the only one going through these issues. Every time I have lost buybox ELIGIBILITY and have came on these forums to get help or post about it, I have seen hundreds of other sellers going through the same thing. And I am just trying to figure out why it is taking so long for Amazon to pinpoint these issues and fix them?
Lastly, I wanted to say my sales have been so unpredictable lately. It seems like I can have 5 thousand listings or 100 thousand listings and my sales stay within a certain amount. Almost as if Amazon has a limit for me of how much I can sell or make before they close the gates on my store. I know this has to be true. The first year I started selling, I had 1/3rd of the inventory I do now. All for different items since I sell books. About six months after I had started selling, I had just one day my phone was pinging every single second. As if, some one forgot to as I say "close the gates" to my account and it was left wide open. That entire day was amazing and crazy, I sold something every 10 mins. Since then, it has never happened again like that. I now have more than triple the inventory I did back then and yet to have a day even close to that. And no matter how many more products I add, it does not seem to affect how much I sell.
I have seen many comments of how Amazon manipulate sales, and I am starting to believe that. I just wish it was not so obvious. It does not seem or feel like the harder I work, the more money I invest, the more products I list will help me grow. Because it does not seem to.
I would like to report some of these issues, like the first 2 things I talked about to the mods and maybe get some opinions from others..
I am beyond frustrated and feel defeated.
It should be equal opportunity, if you have good metrics and your account is in good health then you should be able to sell however much people are buying.
Odd things I have been noticing with Amazon seller central.
This entire year selling on Amazon has been so stressful. I have been selling now for almost 4 years and prior to this year I had never experienced these issues. First starting with losing buy box ELIGIBILITY every couple of weeks to every other month. However, that is not why I am posting this right now. Lately, I have noticed, when I am changing the price in any direction for any of my listings, it becomes inactive. The only option I seem to have is to re add the listing and delete the old one. I have to do that every time, and I always choose the same price as what I changed the original listing that became inactive to and have no problems with the new listing, and then of course I have to delete the old one. I have called Amazon while I had this situation and before I deleted the old listing and according to them they said it was too high a price but then when they saw that the price was what Amazon suggested in the emails they send and then they saw that the new listing was the same price, they had no clue what was going on.
Another odd thing going on right now and has been for a while, is that I have noticed, if I have any inactive listings that are not inactive due to having none in stock, I have noticed that I get no sales during this time. As soon as I fix that one or how ever many inactive listings and they are no longer inactive, then I start getting sales. This is so weird to me because some times a listing randomly becomes inactive for no reason even when I dont change the price and my only solution is re add and delete the old one. I am not sure why that seems to freeze any and all sales on my account until it is deleted and re added. Why would it affect my other listings? It makes no sense to me.
My parents also sell on Amazon and they have also experienced all of these issues. This entire year has been really frustrating selling on Amazon. And I know I am not the only one going through these issues. Every time I have lost buybox ELIGIBILITY and have came on these forums to get help or post about it, I have seen hundreds of other sellers going through the same thing. And I am just trying to figure out why it is taking so long for Amazon to pinpoint these issues and fix them?
Lastly, I wanted to say my sales have been so unpredictable lately. It seems like I can have 5 thousand listings or 100 thousand listings and my sales stay within a certain amount. Almost as if Amazon has a limit for me of how much I can sell or make before they close the gates on my store. I know this has to be true. The first year I started selling, I had 1/3rd of the inventory I do now. All for different items since I sell books. About six months after I had started selling, I had just one day my phone was pinging every single second. As if, some one forgot to as I say "close the gates" to my account and it was left wide open. That entire day was amazing and crazy, I sold something every 10 mins. Since then, it has never happened again like that. I now have more than triple the inventory I did back then and yet to have a day even close to that. And no matter how many more products I add, it does not seem to affect how much I sell.
I have seen many comments of how Amazon manipulate sales, and I am starting to believe that. I just wish it was not so obvious. It does not seem or feel like the harder I work, the more money I invest, the more products I list will help me grow. Because it does not seem to.
I would like to report some of these issues, like the first 2 things I talked about to the mods and maybe get some opinions from others..
I am beyond frustrated and feel defeated.
It should be equal opportunity, if you have good metrics and your account is in good health then you should be able to sell however much people are buying.
28 replies
Seller_CW0P5hgbsiqWX
"First starting with losing buy box ELIGIBILITY every couple of weeks to every other month."
It is like the old Clairol TV add used to say, "Only your hairdresser knows for sure". Now just replace the hairdresser with Amazon.
The Buy Box is not a right or a given. It is run by an Algorithm Bot that giveth and taketh away. Sellers seem to enjoy it when they have it, and then complain when they do not. But when a seller is disappointed with the loss of the Box, they seem to forget, another seller is happy with that loss, because it is their gain.
"....if I have any inactive listings that are not inactive due to having none in stock, I have noticed that I get no sales during this time."
That is a good thing, because you don't want to over sell a product that you don't have. The problem we have when waiting for replacement products to arrive, is having the item ghost on by Amazon. This causes us to either buy from another trusted seller, of take a hit by canceling the sale.
"The first year I started selling, I had 1/3rd of the inventory I do now."
That is a good thing, as it shows the growth of your business efforts.
It seems like I can have 5 thousand listings or 100 thousand listings and my sales stay within a certain amount."
We sell closer to the 100,000 listing mark. All the products don't sell everyday, but enough do sell to support our business operations, payroll and overhead.
"...I sell books."
hopefully, you actively work in the book trade with publishers. As you know, books are quirky. Their life span starts off at a fixed price and goes down from there. that is why publishers will take the unsold books back for credit after 6 months. they tend to have their own built in downward spiral.
"And no matter how many more products I add, it does not seem to affect how much I sell."
The three most important things in retail sales in product, Product, and PRODUCT. No matter how many different titles you have in your book inventory, a book is still a book and follows the downward spiral in sales.
Account health has nothing to do with What you sell. Most sellers sell products that they seem to find a "Good Buy" on, only to find out that they cannot make a profit. the key to successful selling is to offer buyers products tht they wnt and need. They are the product that will sell themselves.
Seller_ywqibkaw2reFL
I've sold on here for 15 years, and we moved 2 million units at our peak. I used to spend my time creating new products, improving our marketing (photo, video, etc.) and growing selection. I now spend 50% of my day trying to trouble-shoot Amazon-imposed listing errors, pricing errors, etc. You're not wrong, it has gotten progressively worse. This is also the first year where I am losing the Buy Box because another seller OFF Amazon is selling a product similar to mine. I.e. it's not me, it's not my product - just someone selling something similar on a website with lower fees. It's madness resulting in higher prices and no upside for me or Amazon - and all while Temu and Shein are positively exploding and gobbling up marketshare. I don't know what Amazon's plan is here, it's become pretty depressing.
Seller_yw1TrnslTX8Tp
My sales are exactly like that. I increase my listings and still sell the same amount just about every month. In 2020, I did 4 to 5 times a month more than I do now. I spend money on ads but it hasn't changed. It does feel like there's a limit on how much you can sell these days.
Seller_M4NWRaRnU1uDM
@Seller_flXNiJRw0gh3z
Amazon is having a massive issue regarding eligbility in the media category and it has been going on a year. My books in FBA were becoming ineligible-despite policy stating they are automatically entitled to eligibility. I think Amazon systems are melting down internally. Relying on black box algos that have massive glitches and they just don't know how to stop it (or care to).
I recently had a manual override for books; this is the 4th time in less than a year. I came to realize this site is now broken..it's time to start looking for other platforms or building your own. What will happen is Amazon will alienate a lot of sellers and people will leave much like Ebay. It's only a matter of time. If you cannot trust selling on here it will make sellers be reluctant to really invest in this platform. It's becoming really really bad within a year with the amount of issues and lack of help.
Amazon is a short term thing; not a long term. One thing I've realized is every system that Amazon operates will eventually fail-somehow or someway. Getting help to fix that is the issue and it may not happen. This is why this site is not wise to seriously invest in without certain safeguards in place.
Seller_fBZFdwrGdO0Cb
Yea , I have noticed very odd things ,one is that I just sold a book on FBA, the price was twenty something and I only got $9.69 in my account . How can Amazon take half of the price of each item I sale ? This is unbelievable !!
Seller_AJJyx3XNWPkTA
I do believe Amazon is manipulating which sellers you can buy from. When, I try to buy first time items from a certain seller because I like their lower price, Amazon won't allow it. I get a message like this "you cannot purchase this item from this account" and to try other sellers not because the item was unavailable but it really wants me to try other sellers that offer a higher price (Amazon own products). One time, I called Amazon about it, and the rep said, well "you probably purchased too many items from one specific seller". What!! Not true, I was a first time potential buyer" I have never given a bad review to other sellers nor have a bad relationship either, so you can't say that a seller has blocked me as a customer.
Seller_JUzllISOgHLP6
Related to this part: "Lately, I have noticed, when I am changing the price in any direction for any of my listings, it becomes inactive." If you didn't know this (I did not until someone told me), you need to have a minimum and max price set up. If your new price is above or below, the listing will be inactive. The columns for min & max price were hidden in my view of "manage inventory," so I had to unhide them.
Seller_1oT4ZOwrSByEE
Your seller performance is too low and your losing it to people who have better success rates and ship faster.
Seller_2FYZcRJdjnk7U
"Almost as if Amazon has a limit for me of how much I can sell or make before they close the gates on my store. I know this has to be true."
This is so true. I have had multiple days where my sales stopped after a certain dollar amount. The number of times where my sales stopped right at this number is seriously uncanny.
I would like to see if any other sellers have had this issue.
Seller_BIlB3bZIOioFZ
yes. the entire year we have had issues we never had before. The weird thing is Amazon makes a lot of money off of its sellers when we sell and advertise...yet we get the worst customer support. This year has been terrible on Amazon, we have many of your same issues....of course we the sellers are the only ones that lose.
