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_gwzuNYC3ogYNo
Is SEVERAL years the answer? I'm not trying to be snarky, but the only response we ever receive is that it will be YEARS.
Seller_t0KQydMn7B5XI
Yes, I agree. Amazon handmade is not dying platform, it is dead platform for handmade. From a thousands, to hundreds, to 20. now to 0 a day. Now they started to charge my credit card for the storage fees, because there is no sales, or even 0 sales to cover any fees. i stopped sending to FBA a half year ago, and trying all my items back. It is very expensive, but it is much chipper then to pay $500 monthly for storage fees without any sales. I dropped prices in half just to sell it, but it didn't change anything. I, for example do not see any of my items on standard page. Why? If I add in search ''small earrings" there is only 7 pages, others are invisible, there is no NEXT> How the people can buy it ? There is no 8 page. DONE on page 7th. Amazon is showing only 7 pages. Our items maybe in a page 20, or 30, but no one can see it.
Seller_PWrGVlnNsgjV6
@priscilla_amazonIt's completely different from what you've told us. You have previously guaranteed that there are no changes to our original products, the migration is just to make our products better to discovered.
Now our products has lost categories and lost a lot of opportunities.
Delete the entire Handmade category, is this a mistake, or is it a plan?
Seller_Ie5DmoHAEV4kW
@priscilla_amazon
Is the reclassification process still going on? Is there a timeframe? Noticing strange sharp slow sales trends, weird Featured Offer % and we keep getting automated responses from Seller support, not understanding that we are a Handmade Seller. Have handmade listings lost their sales rank and visiblity due to the migration? Lowest traffic in 7 years very abruptly, it's like listings lost all ranking and have started over as a new seller in Hnadmade.
Case ID #16624029081
priscilla_amazon
Hey @Seller_t0KQydMn7B5XI, @Seller_Gd8HNmQJSr4l8,@Seller_gwzuNYC3ogYNo, @Seller_PWrGVlnNsgjV6, @Seller_Ie5DmoHAEV4kW, @Seller_bKbl3m40jbryt.
Thank you all for sharing your feedback and concerns.
Handmade is not dying and is not dead. Our team is working hard to align Handmade with the rest of Amazon so Handmade selling partners can receive the same benefits that Amazon selling partners have which includes but is not limited: to detail page enhancements, increased searchability and discoverability and more inclusion across standard categories.
Handmade now has the Handmade Classification Attribute that should be added to all Handmade ASINs when you list your product which differentiates Handmade ASINs from the rest of Amazon and allows you to receive Handmade specific benefits such as: waived monthly selling fee, access to the Handmade Hub and community group, dedicated account management for specific sales tier selling partners and more.
Handmade has not yet begun the migration process but we have started the first step which is enabling the new listing experience for all Handmade selling partners.
At this time, you may still see the old experience live as we did not want to remove prior to peak holiday season.
The next step will be to re-classify existing ASINs to standard product categories. Handmade is working on a way to continue to have Handmade specific categories and subcategories appear in navigation but this will take time.
Our team cares about your success and your small business and we will continue to work hard to deliver results for you.
Thank you,
The Handmade team
Seller_Ie5DmoHAEV4kW
@priscilla_amazon
Thank you for the response. We do see a new inventory page, which I assume is the new listing experience. We could opt out before, but now the page is permanent for us. Did that cause/start the change in categories or searchablitly for Handmade Sellers? If the migration process has not yet started that is a big concern since the sales drop was immediate recently along with the listings /edit pages changes. In another thread a different mod answered:
Joey_Amazon
In reply to:
Sophia888's post
2 weeks ago
Hello @Sophia888,
Thank you for reaching out to us on the forums. We appreciate you bringing this matter to our attention.
My name is Joey, and I'm a Community Manager at Amazon. As my colleague @priscilla_amazon mentioned, Handmade is undergoing a reclassification process. I understand that this timing may not be ideal, and I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you.
We believe that once this process is complete, Handmade listings will benefit from increased exposure and traffic.
Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
Joey"
priscilla_amazon
Products have not lost categories and the Handmade category has not been deleted. Handmade has not yet begun to re-classify and when we do Handmade categories will move to standard categories, however all Handmade ASINs will still include the Handmade classification attribute which will enable ASINs to live in the Handmade category and in the Handmade store.
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.
