HOW are handmade artisans supposed to recover from this migration project?
Can someone from the Amazon handmade team please enlighten us handmade sellers how our items are supposed to be discoverable now that you removed ANY AND ALL WAYS TO FIND OUR ITEMS except through search? Why in the world would your team remove categories and subcategories out of handmade? WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT IN Q4? WHY? You all have single handedly destroyed so many small businesses that COUNT on holiday sales. I cannot fathom what head engineer thought- yes- PERFECT TIMING! Lets do it at Christmas. I have worked my butt off for years- YEARS here at Amazon Handmade and I have promoted Amazon, and defended it every step of the way when people laughed and scoffed at "handmade" at Amazon. Driving your own traffic is important- I do that, Running ads is important- I do that, having multiple selling platforms is important- I do that- BUT HAVING AND BUILDING ORGANIC RANKING IS IMPORTANT - and it is LITERALLY the HARDEST part to do- You say you are not removing handmade -if that is the case THEN WHY REMOVE CATEGORIES AND SUB? All handmade items were already discoverable on the 'regular" amazon.....so I don't really understand what this migration project is all about. Can you please respond with a CLEAR path that helps us to get back to some normalcy.
HOW are handmade artisans supposed to recover from this migration project?
Can someone from the Amazon handmade team please enlighten us handmade sellers how our items are supposed to be discoverable now that you removed ANY AND ALL WAYS TO FIND OUR ITEMS except through search? Why in the world would your team remove categories and subcategories out of handmade? WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT IN Q4? WHY? You all have single handedly destroyed so many small businesses that COUNT on holiday sales. I cannot fathom what head engineer thought- yes- PERFECT TIMING! Lets do it at Christmas. I have worked my butt off for years- YEARS here at Amazon Handmade and I have promoted Amazon, and defended it every step of the way when people laughed and scoffed at "handmade" at Amazon. Driving your own traffic is important- I do that, Running ads is important- I do that, having multiple selling platforms is important- I do that- BUT HAVING AND BUILDING ORGANIC RANKING IS IMPORTANT - and it is LITERALLY the HARDEST part to do- You say you are not removing handmade -if that is the case THEN WHY REMOVE CATEGORIES AND SUB? All handmade items were already discoverable on the 'regular" amazon.....so I don't really understand what this migration project is all about. Can you please respond with a CLEAR path that helps us to get back to some normalcy.
30 replies
Seller_gwzuNYC3ogYNo
HOW are handmade artisans supposed to recover from this migration project?
Amazon does what is good for Amazon and I guess they don't want our 15% and is just fine with less revenue from Handmade sales.
We won't survive here. We can't just suddenly pivot your Etsy/Michaels/Shopify/GoImagine store pick up the slack after spending 9 years putting all your energy into Amazon and ignoring the rest.
If only we could apply for unemployment for this Amazon Handmade layoff.
Seller_Gd8HNmQJSr4l8
The writing has been on the wall for several years. This is a dying platform and has been for the last 18 months. It is CLEAR they do not care about handmade. They have neglected all the social media channels. I've posted numerous posts and comments on the forum for several years about the decline that has all fell on deaf ears.
I quit sending in FBA inventory and wish I had a cost effective way to get my inventory out of FBA. I have 200 light switch covers that I dropped to $5 just to get them sold and out of FBA. I either have to pay $200+ to get them all out, or I spend $20 a month on long term storage fees. For the first time this month, I might not even make enough on Amazon to cover the long term storage fees of that inventory.
These are all light switch covers that years ago I was selling for $16 and I would sell between 2-5 items a day..now I am lucky if I sell 2 items a week at $5. I'm still selling well on Etsy so it's not my price, it's not my product...it's straight up Amazon just being a trash marketplace for handmade sellers.
I've been putting all my effort into Michaels Makerplace and Etsy because Amazon is dead.
Amazon needs to really just grow some balls and either fix the platform or just tell us it's dead and give us free FBA returns as some sort of concession.
priscilla_amazon
Hi @Seller_CVXS7OOEFPqdB, we hear you and empathize with your frustrations. Our team is working on a solve for this and we hope to have more information for you as soon as possible.
Seller_qoLNhxlLgNIu6
@priscilla_amazonif the products have not lost categories / subcategories, it should be possible in the handmade section of Amazon to put the categories and subcategories back as before on the left hand side to help with search abilities for the customer. Please see if this can be done as soon as possible as it is q4 and has messed up sales for quite a few of us. I think this is what most of us mean - it’s not our products - Amazon took away the categories and subcategories under the handmade portion of Amazon which affected viability, advertising and also the vine program. Please put them back.
Seller_qoLNhxlLgNIu6
sorry visibility not viability (spellcheck error :-))
Seller_M94fHI9Bg7LMX
Then can we have the subcategories back until the reclassification effort begins? As well as the other documented problems, taking away categories has also had follow-on effects like all category based advertising to come to a complete halt as the subcategories previously used for advertising no longer exist.
Seller_2azHBWt7FzGTG
This is the absolute truth!
Seller_M94fHI9Bg7LMX
@priscilla_amazonThis is just not true - Handmade has lost all of it's subcategories. Not only are they not showing up as BSR in listings, or as filter points on the left side nav bar, you cannot even run ads targeting Handmade , let alone Handmade subcategories anymore, as the entire category is missing from advertising.
We have posted numerous screenshots over many forum posts showing that this statement is not true, yet the mods keep insisting that they are still there. Which makes me curious - why do you think that sub-categories still exist for Handmade products?
Seller_2azHBWt7FzGTG
@Seller_M94fHI9Bg7LMXYour post reinforces what handmade forum posters have been saying for months "Handmade is dead and discarded".
Mods saying that handmade is just fine and copy/pasting a reclassification project post over and over like some magic mantra, will not in any reality make it fine or make it more believable. It is broken. We know it and they know that we know it.
Handmade sellers have lost visibility and sales. This is an absolute fact proven by the many posts from sellers who have provided reports and stats. The front page of handmade is all factory made, mass-produced junk made overseas. Also proven by forum posts with screenshots.
This is a multi-year project. And they say reclassification hasn't started yet. Let's all think on that for a moment.
Seller_bKbl3m40jbryt
If you could point me to where the photographs subcategory is in Handmade on Amazon.com where all of my listings once resided that would be very helpful.
I'm unable to locate it after viewing it hundreds of times over the last 9 years, because it's simply not there anymore.
Seller_ERE3hTXMWyLhd
I am wondering how many of us who have had serious sales declines re the category reclassification are Branded on Amazon.
I remember somehow getting branded and not really understanding how I did it - like I got a waiver?
I wonder if we are stuck in some sort of glitch?
Seller_2azHBWt7FzGTG
@Seller_M94fHI9Bg7LMXJust tried to make a sponsored ad for handmade. Nope. Handmade does not exist as a category or subcategory.
Seller_CVXS7OOEFPqdB
With all due respect- I am so sick and tired of hearing different stories from amazon team members. I have been told and read at least hundreds of times this reclassification project has been very much underway. That reclassification has already started- they are doing sellers by groups- whatever.....- Im over it.
Seller_gwzuNYC3ogYNo
Sure, it will only cost you about $4000 to get it all back. I too stocked up for 2023 holiday season with items that never sold. Over $200 a month long term storage for me, or about $2k to recall it.
Seller_bKbl3m40jbryt
I never really truly understood where my traffic and sales came from over the years here, but I have a much better understanding now that my sales have slowed to hardly a drip since the categories got deleted. Kind of don't miss sweating about keeping the un-necessarily difficult stats in good standing that I have no control over though.
Seller_gwzuNYC3ogYNo
While I do not doubt your sincerity, replies from The Team do not seem to acknowledge the evidence presented by seller after seller regarding sales and traffic loss of 50% since the announcement of this multi year project.
Sellers have been begging for help since August 2023, but all our reports are viewed as "anecdotal" evidence. A $200k seller recently reported in another thread about losing $100k in sales.
We keep telling you the house is on fire, and the response is that while a seller may believe it is on fire, Amazon will be building some fire trucks in the future to address this perceived need.
Seller_gwzuNYC3ogYNo
The email I received today. Irony in the midst of this season of NO SALES.
