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5 Key Predictions For the Future of eCommerce

Recently the folks over at Shopify released a report boldly called ‘The Future of eCommerce’, where they plumbed their extensive data to highlights changes in the eCommerce world.

From that they distilled 5 key predictions. Here we are going to look at those predictions, how they came to them and what they mean to you as an Amazon Seller.

1. Young Consumers Will Change the Landscape

Young consumers saw the biggest shift in shopping habits in the pandemic in 2020.

67% shifted more of their spending to online shopping compared
to earlier this year, ahead of older age groups (57%
for consumers 35-54, and 41% for 55+).

Also, young consumers (unsurprisingly) were the most influenced by social media, with 54% discovering brands via social media.

Finally, young consumers were much more likely to prefer to buy from ‘green’ or ‘sustainably minded’ companies – 62% stated it as a factor versus 53% of middle aged consumers and 44% for older consumers.

Action Points

  • Take full advantage of Social Media
  • Highlight your ‘Green’ credentials

2. Physical Retail isn’t going away, but it’s changing

We focus a lot on eCommerce, but the bricks and mortar store isn’t dead yet.

Technology is driving the changes.

Contactless payment is changing the way we interact at the checkout counter.

Shopping Appointments is changing the way we plan our trips to the store.

Alternative Pickup and Delivery options are changing the way we get the goods into our homes.

Key to this is the mixture. Online shoppers are choosing alternative pickup and delivery for their purchases. They are also 23% more likely to spend MORE when they use these delivery options to take advantage of the ‘box bundle’ of shipping, where they can add more items to the shipment at no charge.

Shoppers are also focusing on stores that are local to them and offering local delivery options. 65% of consumers support, or prefer, small businesses.

Action Points

  • Offer ‘bundles’ of goods that are easily shipped
  • Get you products into stores offering ‘local delivery’

3. Expand Your Options

To follow on from the last point – 65% of consumers support small business. 50% of consumers look for locally owned businesses.

Consumers want to support small, local businesses but often price point and product availability is holding them back. Trying to get your products into more outlets (as opposed to relying on the big boys) might have huge benefits when it comes to brand awareness and loyalty.

Despite intentions to support independent businesses, only 29% of consumers have shopped with an independently owned business since the start of the pandemic.

BUT, of these consumers, over a third (37%) are doing so more often now since before the pandemic was declared.

Action Point

  • Start building relationships with small retailers
  • Highlight your connections in your marketing

4. Go Green and Give Generously

The numbers are undeniable. Not only are young consumers (see above) more likely to buy from green companies but across the board 55% of consumers look at environmental impact.

In addition, 49% of consumers react positively to companies that donate to a cause.

People look for the story of the company, and you should be using features like Amazon Posts and A+ content to bring these to the buyer’s attention.

Action Points

  • Find vendors with green credentials – especially for packaging
  • Highlight your charitable causes

5. Go Global

Consumers in Canada, France, Australia, the UK, and India are more likely than US, German, and Japanese consumers to have shopped online for the first time since the pandemic was declared.

Consumers in the UK and Italy are most likely to have shifted more of their spending to online shopping since the pandemic was declared.

Luckily, Zonmaster fully supports all Amazon marketplaces around the world. So getting into international markets has never been easier.

You can read more about Zonmaster’s global marketplace options on our homepage!

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Send To Amazon (STA) – Creating a Shipment

Send To Amazon is a service that saves you time when you replenish your FBA inventory by letting your create reusable packing templates with information on how your SKUs are prepped, labeled and packed.

Once you create a packing template you can reuse it on shipment after shipment without having to re-enter the same details each time!

Send To Amazon Bullet Points

Send To Amazon is currently in beta, and may not yet support every feature that you have inside of shipping inventory to Amazon.

Here’s a few limitations/features to be aware of:

What it supports:
  • One SKU per box (this is vital. If you can’t do this – like your supplier boxes multiple SKUs together – you cannot use STA)
  • Small-parcel and pallet shipments
  • Shipments via both Amazon Partnered and non-partnered carriers
What it doesn’t support:
  • More than one SKU per box

How To Use Send To Amazon

After you’ve logged in to Seller Central go to the ‘Inventory’ menu at the top of the page and select ‘Manage FBA Shipments’

You should then see a ‘Send To Amazon’ link at the top of the page.

You can also get to Send To Amazon directly via this link

On the ‘Send To Amazon’ page you’ll see a list of all your FBA SKUs. If your SKUs are not yet FBA managed you’ll need to update those by going to the ‘Manage FBA Inventory’ area and switching your SKUs from ‘Merchant Fulfilled’ to ‘Fulfilled By Amazon’.

Create a Packing Template

First step is to actually create the packing template for the SKU you want to send to Amazon. Click the ‘Create Packing Template’ link next to the SKU you want to send.

The packing template saves information about how you prep, label and pack the SKU.

The field are:

  • Template Name – give this template a relevant name. You can have up to 3 templates per SKU.
  • Units per box – how many items will be in a box
  • Box dimensions
  • Box weight
  • Prep per unit – many units require prep and labeling to be received correctly at the fulfillment centers. Any required prep and labeling must be applied to each sellable unit.
  • Who labels? – Pay Amazon to do it, or you have done it

Print Labels

After saving your template you will be able to print off the labels by clicking the ‘Print SKU Labels’ link.

Create Additional Templates

Simply click the ‘New Packing Template’ in the Template dropdown.

Create a Shipment

1. Choose the Address

In the top left (called Step 1) choose the address you are shipping FROM. If no address is listed, click ‘Ship from Another Address’ and enter in the details.

2. Make sure you have the right packing template selected

3. Enter the number of boxes

It will automatically show you how many units (number of boxes x units per box) Amazon will expect to receive.

4. Confirm And Continue

Now you are taken to Step 2 – Confirming Shipping

5. Enter Expected Ship date

You can update this later, so give a ‘best guess’.

6. Choose How it is being shipped (Shipping Mode)

Right now STA supports Small Parcel or Less than or Full Truckload

7. Choose Your Carrier

You can use either partnered or non-partnered.

8. Accept and Confirm

9. Print Your Box Labels

Amazon supports some different formats that will print a PDF for the right labels for you.

Note that if you are not using a partnered carrier you will probably need to create labels for the carrier separately. These labels are just the Amazon labels.

For non-partnered carriers you will also need to enter the tracking number for your boxes.

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All You Need To Know About Amazon Buy Shipping

Amazon’s Buy Shipping service enables you to buy shipping labels individually or in bulk from recognized carriers. It also facilitates the shipping and confirm your orders, and the tracking your shipments. You can do all of this through either Seller Central or the Merchant API.

Buy Shipping ensures that your products are delivered to your customers using a trusted network of shipping carriers.

Buy Shipping – The Benefits

Amazon Sellers who use Buy Shipping can:

  • Buy labels in bulk – up to 100 orders at a time!
  • Track delivery status on the Orders page of Seller Central. Amazon claims to ‘instantly’ update tracking information as it comes in.
  • A-to-Z Guarantee Claim ‘insurance’ – if a buyer says the order wasn’t received, Amazon funds the claim, not the seller. Your stats as a seller are not impacted

Seller Fulfilled Prime (SFP)

Amazon Sellers participating in the Seller Fulfilled Prime program must purchase their shipping from Buy Shipping. Even if you are not in SFP, if you use Buy Shipping anyway there is some indication that it eases acceptance into the program, should you wish to do so.

An interesting side-benefit of being in Seller Fulfilled Prime is that it allows the seller to ship even products labelled as containing hazardous materials (anything from batteries to hairspray!) via Prime.

Since participating in SFP means your listings get a ‘Prime eligible’ badge, and data shows that Prime users tend to filter on only Prime eligible products, it could provide a boost in sales.

Impact on Seller Feedback

Amazon allows sellers to remove Seller Feedback related to product shipping if the shipment was done using Buy Shipping – as long as you shipped within the Amazon shipment window.

Seller Feedback is one of Amazon’s key performance metrics when it comes to assessing a merchant. Having a way to remove negative feedback is big plus.

You can keep track of your Seller Feedback inside of Zonmaster, where you can get alerts any time a negative Seller Feedback comes in.

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Fixing Amazon Account Suspension

Amazon is not infallible. Sometimes mistakes, or overzealous bots, incorrectly suspend Amazon seller accounts. Maybe yours is one?

In this article we are going to take a look at why you might be suspended, how you can try to fix it, and what you should be monitoring so that it doesn’t happen again!

It’s important to know what metrics you need to be on top of so you don’t get suspended. Every day you are suspended is a day you are not selling!

Why Am I Suspended?

The most common reason for an Amazon account getting suspended is violation of Amazon’s own Terms of Service (ToS) or Amazon’s Seller Code of Conduct (SCC).

Here’s some common ToS and SCC issues

1. Multiple Related Accounts

If Amazon thinks you are running multiple seller account without their permission (and yes, you can ask for permission first!) they will flag your account with a ‘Related Account Suspension’. You need to contact Seller Support for this, because they won’t tell you what the related account is! Even accounts that are not eligible to sell, but are related to yours, might cause this error.

2. Selling Restrict Products

Amazon has a list of products that cannot be sold on the platform. If any of your items are seen as being in violation of this your account will be frozen and a request for more information will be sent to you. Restricted products can include restricted ingredients! Know exactly what is in your product and on the label (especially important in Health and Beauty).

3. Poor Performance

This one is a bit nebulous, but, if you are not selling anything and not logging in and trying to update listings or sending inventory then your account can be flagged.

4. Consistent Late Shipment

A key performance metric for Amazon is when you ship (assuming you are not FBA, though we have heard of times this affects FBA accounts in error). Amazon promises a delivery window when a customer buys. If you are consistently (> 5% of the time) outside of that, you can get flagged.

5. Inappropriate Customer Communication

ToS clearly states what you can and cannot say and do in an email. This is being updated all the time. Luckily, if you send emails via Zonmaster, we are always updating our Compliance Checker to let you know. You can read more about that here.

6. Copyright Violation

The Amazon bot is constantly scanning listings for images or text that violates copyright. If they believe you are in violation of copyright they will flag your account.

7. Not Selling What You Describe

If you are getting frequent customer complaints or returns that site that the product you have sold is not what you described in the listing you can get flagged. Amazon takes this one very seriously!

How Long Will My Amazon Account Be Suspended?

If you do not appeal, then your Amazon Seller account will be suspended permanently. If you appeal it can take 2 to 5 weeks. Also, Amazon will withhold all future payments and may dispose of FBA inventory if too much time passes. This is why it is important that you appeal as soon as possible!

Can’t I Just Open a New Account?

No. If you have been suspended your request to open a new account will never be authorized. You must appeal and get your original account unlocked. There is also evidence to suggest that Amazon considers you trying to open up a new account while the old one is suspended as a red flag, making your chances of a successful appeal even slimmer.

Also, if you do manage to open up a new account by using different identification or other means and it is discovered by Amazon that account will be immediately suspended and both accounts locked for life, and you with no way to open a new one.

How To Appeal an Amazon Seller Account Suspension

There is an appeals process in place in Amazon for account suspensions. You will need to submit a claim to Amazon’s Internal Review Team, update that claim with any requested evidence they may ask for, and wait for a decision. All this can take 2 – 5 weeks, but staying in touch has been proven to keep you in their sights.

Here’s the process in detail:

1. Put Together Your Appeal Claim

As soon as possible after receiving notice of your suspension get together a detailed email to send to the Review Team. In particular, we here at Zonmaster suggest that you address these 3 key factors:

  1. Why YOU think Amazon suspended you. Amazon will have told you some basic info about your suspension, so if you think they are in error (which presumably you do, otherwise you wouldn’t appeal) give as much detail as possible about how the error could have happened. Be nice about it. It is possible Amazon missed some details.
  2. Your PLAN to prevent this happening in the future. This can be quite varied, anything from asserting credentials on virtual assistants if they are logging in to clarifying sourcing and shipping, clarifying your business name to ensuring that you use a secure wifi connection with Two Factor Authentication (2FA) when anyone logs into your Seller Central
  3. Your EVIDENCE that supports what you are saying. Anything is better than nothing. Emails, order receipts, screenshots highlighting points, screen recordings, etc etc. Better to give too much (as long as it is relevant) than too little!

The issue of course is that Amazon is notorious for not giving a lot of detail. So you are a little in the dark sometimes as to why your account has been suspended. But, this is not a court of law and the responsibility is yours to ‘prove your innocence’.

Put all this info together and email it at Amazon Account Health. Amazon Account Health is the layer of Amazon support BEFORE the Internal Review Team. It is a cryptic nightmare trying to find how to contact Amazon, so here is the link for you:

https://sellercentral.amazon.com/cu/contact-us/cmn/SAFETY

2. Stay in Touch with Amazon Internal Review Team

As we all know, Amazon is not the most pro-active in communicating with you about status updates. This is why it is vital, once you have submitted a claim, you contact Amazon daily (yes, daily) to check on the status of your appeal. Often there will be notes or comments on your case that the customer service rep can tell you about that will let you give them more info.

After several days of that, if you think things have stalled, it is time to try to escalate.

3. Ask to Submit to the Internal Review Team

If you have given enough evidence and been polite in your communications with Account Health, they will most likely be receptive to having your case pushed up to the Internal Review Team. Communicate clearly with your Account Health rep that you think you have the evidence to prove you are legitimate and serious seller. They can then push your claim, with all the notes attached, up to the IRT who will then have the last word.

Please be aware that this process does take time. Be patient, but thorough.

Have a Plan B

All of this back and forth with Account Health may have discouraged you, but, there are things you need to think about.

Your Inventory

If you believe that your claim is going to take more than 45 days and you have inventory in Amazon warehouses, you have to arrange shipment of that inventory out of them. Otherwise Amazon may destroy it.

Your Listings

If (when! Let’s be positive!) your account is reinstated all of your listings will be inactive. Log into Seller Central and go to the Listing Status page. You will need to click each listing and make it active.

We hope this info helps you!

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Amazon Frustration Free Packaging – What you need to know

Shoppers are tired of having to use the strength of ten men to break into their online orders when they arrive. First impressions count, and the first impression of having to cut through wires and plastic to get to your purchase does not lead to a happy customer, or a 5 star review.

Luckily, Amazon has introduced a new service to cut down on this annoyance – Frustration Free Packaging. Let’s take a look at what it is and how you as an Amazon Seller can get in on the action.

FBA Frustration Free Packaging

The reasoning behind the frustration free packaging program is to provide something that protects the product, but is designed to be easy to open. It is designed as an e-commerce shipping solution.

The goal is to get to the point where the customer opens up the Amazon shipping box, perhaps opens an internal box for smaller items, and then can immediately use the product. This increases the customer experience, by decreasing the packaging wrestling.

It also reduces packaging waste.

How does it do that? Amazon’s Frustration Free Packaging (FFP) program uses mostly 100% recyclable materials.

Comparing old Amazon shipping with Frustration Free Packaging (FFP)

Other Packaging Options

You might not qualify for Amazon’s Frustration Free Packaging program. Or you might choose not to participate in the FFP. Either way, as an FBA seller, there are things you can take into account for your packaging.

1. Subscribe and Save

The perfect solution for consumables such as health and beauty items like shampoo and detergent. Also worth nothing that Zonmaster’s email template triggers can specifically target Subscribe and Save customers, so you can send them an email a few weeks after purchase to remind them. Customer’s also save money, and you get recurring income.

2. Small and Light

You can get lower fulfillment costs, and provide free shippin, if you sign up for Amazon’s Small and Light program. Enrollment is fairly simple (about 6 steps), and costs you nothing.

3. FBA Export

Helpful for those Amazon FBA Sellers who are selling internationally. Amazon FBA Export ships your products direct from US-based fulfillment centers to international companies, without you needing to list on all marketplaces.

Key Advantages of Amazon Special Fulfillment Programs

Amazon’s fulfillment programs come with some other benefits:

  • (Potentially) lower costs
  • Free Certification
  • Quick Approval

That being said, Amazon at the moment is retooling it’s Frustration Free Program (which is, ironically, frustrating) so we strongly recommend you look at the other options listed above.

If you customers have a better initial experience then you are going to get more positive reviews (as reviews are most commonly left within the first few days of getting a product. So you should see a bump in your Amazon product reviews and seller feedback.

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5 Tips to Stop Abandoned Carts

Nothing is more frustrating as an Amazon seller than the idea that people are adding your goods to the cart, but then not actually buying. This is called ‘abandoning’ the cart.

But, not all hope is lost! As sellers there are some things that can be done to increase this cart conversion rate!

Some estimates say the average eCommerce store loses 75% of their sales to digital cart abandonment. If you can decrease that number you can increase your profits.

So let’s look at how you can look further in cart metrics and also at some tips on how to increase that conversion rate and turn cart adds into cart sales.

Know Your Numbers

Amazon gives you a good tool for checking your conversion metrics. This is called the ‘Unit Session Percentage’ and you can find it inside of Seller Central. Let’s take a look at how you can get this info.

Unit Session Percentage

The percentage conversion metric indicating how many units were purchased relative to the number of people who viewed the product.

Amazon

After opening Seller Central, click on ‘Business Reports’ (under the ‘Reports’ tab). Go down to the ‘By ASIN’ category and choose the ‘Sales and Traffic’ or ‘Details Page’.

In the report you’ll see a breakdown of the unit session percentage for each of your products.

Once you know how to check that number you can make sure that any efforts you follow are having a positive impact.

1. Optimize Listings

You know your product better than anyone. That isn’t always a good think. ‘The curse of familiarity’ may mean that you aren’t highlighting the right features of your product for someone seeing it the first time. This can be a leading reason for cart abandonment – people are adding your product and then looking at the competition.

Here’s some things to be aware of:

  • Images
    • Are they bright, clear and easy to see?
    • Do you show your product from all angles?
    • Do you have an ‘instruction image’ that shows how to use your product?
    • Do you have a product video?
  • Title
    • Is it descriptive?
    • Does it highlight key elements?
  • Product Description
    • Do you address potential customer questions?
    • Do you highlight key advantages and uses in a conversational way?
  • Bullet points
    • Do you clearly state size/quantity/color etc?
    • Do you highlight distinguishing (from your competition) features?

These are just some of the areas to look into for you Amazon listing optimization!

2. Use Prime Shipping

People like free. And people like fast. Statistics (even independent surveys!) show that Amazon Prime members are much less likely to buy a product unless it has Prime shipping.

The Prime Shipping badge is now available even on Merchant Fufilled orders, so make sure your products are entered into the Prime program.

3. A+ Content and Amazon Stores

Amazon sellers should also take advantage of programs like Amazon’s A+ Content and Amazon Stores Brand Pages. Tools like these allow sellers to rise above other Amazon listings with beautiful, attractive templates that tell your business’s story and the journey of your products.

The more potential buyers know about you, the more likely they are to trust and believe in you. And buy from you.

4. Adjust Pricing

Pricing strategy is a very personal thing, and the studies and data unfortunately isn’t very decisive. Sometimes raising the price can increase conversion because people tend to trust ‘the best of the bunch’ – of which price is a determining factor. But of course people like cheap, so in your niche lowering your price just a little may have a dramatic impact.

Pricing is something you need to test. Luckily, Zonmaster’s Financial Analysis Tools let you enter in all your costs and keep track of profit and loss. Check them out now! They are included with all Zonmaster subscriptions (even the one for $6.99 a month!) and can be used from day one – even in your 15 day free trial.

5. More Product Reviews

It is a proven fact that customer’s feel more confident about a product when it has more positive reviews. Amazon may have a generous return policy that gets over some of the ‘fear of the unknown’, but nothing says ‘buy me’ like lots of positive reviews.

The easiest way to get more positive reviews is also the simplest: use Zonmaster’s Auto Review Request tool. With the flick of a switch Zonmaster will automatically use Amazon’s own review request capacoty to request reviews from your customers. You don’t need to worry about writing email templates either – Amazon will handle all of that, delivering to your customers an Amazon-approved email asking for a review.

New customers can try Zonmaster free for 15 days! Give it a try now by clicking the button below:

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The Metrics You Need To Know (Amazon FBA or MFN)

You can’t manage what you can’t measure.

Peter Drucker

When you sell on Amazon FBA sometimes the amount of data available is overwhelming (and confusing). In this article, we’ll try and give you a head’s up about 5 key metrics that you need to be aware of as you try and manage and build your Amazon Seller business – regardless of whether you sell on Amazon FBA or MFN (Merchant Fulfilled Network – ie you ship).

1. Overall Sales

Seems a bit obvious, but knowing how you are doing month-on-month is an invaluable insight.

Inside of Zonmaster, you can see month by month sales charts on your product page. You can also see returns and refunds!

To know exactly what’s going on with your Amazon seller account you need to check each SKU in detail individually. Look out for products with increasing or decreasing sales. 

Your products may naturally go up 10% or down 10% on any given day on Amazon – but check out the reasons for larger swings over 30 days. Make adjustments to your products based on how they are selling. Usually, a small price drop or even increase can boost the sales of your items. 

2. Number of Products

Once you optimize your listings, the easiest way to make more money on Amazon is simply to add more products.

If you go from 5 to 10 products you may more than double your sales if they are products often bought together. Also, you reduce your reliance on any single product! Continually research new products and develop new items so that when you build up the cash you can quickly get them into the Amazon marketplace.

3. Account Health

Each week, log in to Amazon Seller Central and check all of your key statistics for your account health.

Pay special attention to any yellow or red sections, and be sure to fix these immediately. Continual poor performance could result in your seller account being banned.

4. Seller Feedback Stats

Periodically review your overall seller feedback. Remove any negative reviews that relate to products. Inside Zonmaster you can quickly see your Seller Feedback history.

Seller Feedback chart inside Zonmaster

We recommend you try to remove any 4-star and below reviews to keep your account average high.

Tip: If a review mentions your product – or late delivery by Amazon – usually these can be removed from your account by Amazon. 

5. Review Stats

Just like Seller Feedback, the quantity and trend of customer reviews on your Amazon products will make a huge impact on your sales. Keep on top of this too inside Zonmaster.

Zonmaster’s Customer Review overview

If you think you’re not getting enough Amazon customer reviews with regards to sales, then we’ve found that a powerful way to get reviews is surprisingly easy: ask for them!

Using Zonmaster’s ‘Auto Review Request’ feature you can get us to do all the heavy lifting of asking customers for reviews using Amazon’s approved ‘Review Request’ functionality. The best part is you don’t even need to write an email template (or worry about the language!). Amazon will do it all. You can turn this on inside your ‘Store Settings’ area of Zonmaster.

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What is Amazon Brand Registry – and How to Set It Up

Amazon is the largest online marketplace today. With over 398 million products listed and more than 26 million transactions per day, it’s no wonder more and more business owners are selling their products on Amazon.

However, all is not rosy. Selling on Amazon has become increasingly difficult in recent years, with competition from cheap, low-quality counterfeits and unscrupulous resellers trying to make a profit from the arbitrage made selling your products.

For potential buyers of Fulfilled by Amazon (FBA) businesses, there is a real concern about buying a business that could easily be hijacked and copied, potentially losing the “buy box” and associated revenue. If you want to sell your private label business in the future, this concern can directly impact your ability to sell.

If you are a seller who makes and sells your own private label products on Amazon, you will need to sign up for Amazon’s updated trademark registry.

What does Amazon consider a “brand” and why should you care about Amazon’s brand registry?

To quote Amazon:

“The Amazon Brand Registry is available to sellers who make or sell their own branded products. Manufacturers can add their brand to the Amazon Brand Registry and register themselves as a brand owner. The goal of Amazon Brand Registry is to make it easier for sellers to manage their own brands and list their products on Amazon.”

Registering your brand proves that you own the products you sell; once approved, you get the added protection Amazon gives brands.

If you sell (or ever want to sell) your private label FBA business, registering your brand can help increase its value. When you buy, you’ll have the peace of mind that you’re buying an established and trusted brand that’s protected from hijackers and copycats.

To better understand the changes to Amazon’s brand registry and how it can benefit you as a seller, we need to take a closer look at the first version of the brand registry and some of the challenges sellers faced when using it.

Amazon Brand Registry 1.0 and its problems

Prior to the Amazon Brand Registry updates, a seller could register their private label relatively easily. Sellers simply had to prove ownership of the domain name for the brand and provide images of the product and packaging with the brand name. The idea was that trademark registration would help sellers protect their offerings and prevent copyright infringement by counterfeiters and resellers.

However, the first version of the registry did not provide the protection that sellers expected. The registry offered limited protection, and reporting infringements was a tedious and slow process.

To improve the customer experience and make it easier to find products, Amazon allows the same listing to be used by multiple sellers. Unscrupulous sellers would “hijack” listings and sell similar or counterfeit goods as if they were real by piggybacking on a legitimate product listing. Customers would buy products from an offer thinking it was the original brand and receive a non-genuine product.

In many cases, customers didn’t even realize the product was a fake until they tried to make a warranty claim. When they received poor customer service from the fake seller, they left a bad review for the original offering. Such reviews resulted in damage to the original brand’s reputation and goodwill with customers that the brand owner had invested time and money in building, and also negatively impacted Amazon’s trusted status as a platform that provides a great customer experience.

To make matters worse, the seller bore the burden of proof in reporting the infringement. It was up to the seller to prove that their branding and copyright had been infringed.

Another problem with these hijackers was that even if they got caught, it was too easy for them to open a new account and start over. They sold as many products as they could, and when they got “burned” (flagged and shut down by Amazon), they simply opened a new Amazon account and started over.

As a seller, you are also Amazon’s customer. If you can’t trust Amazon to protect your brand, the company knows you will churn. Fewer sellers hurt Amazon by impacting market share and opening the door for a competitor to throw their hat in the ring.

The updated brand registry system goes a long way toward fixing these issues and aims to improve the customer experience for sellers and consumers alike.

Amazon Brand Registry 2.0 Improvements

The updated brand registry – Amazon Brand Registry 2.0 – is a way for Amazon to show that it is focused on people who are serious about their brands and not selling junk products.

Amazon has made some significant improvements to the brand registry program since May 2017. While there will be ongoing updates, here are the major improvements to Amazon Brand Registry 2.0 so far:

  • The Amazon Brand Registry program now has its own user interface and login, separate from Seller Account Central.
  • The new interface has improved reporting tools to deal with counterfeit products and hijacked listings.
  • Sellers can access powerful new search tools to help them find products that infringe their copyright.
  • Amazon has a dedicated team to deal with reported infringements.

Amazon made these changes to meet its original business goals. As stated by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos:

“We have three big ideas at Amazon that we’ve stuck with for 18 years, and they’re the reason we’re successful: put the customer first. Invent. And be patient.”

Amazon’s primary goal is to put the customer experience first. Counterfeit products, hijacked offers and unauthorized resellers create a negative experience for customers. These negative experiences directly impact Amazon’s bottom line.

Let’s take a look at what these changes mean and how they improve both the customer and seller experience.

Dedicated user interface

The new brand registration has its own user interface and login that is separate from Amazon Seller Central. This new dashboard makes it much easier to track which brands you’ve registered, while also giving you a clean and dedicated interface to manage any copyright or trademark infringements.

Powerful search tools

Until now, you could only detect trademark infringement if someone managed to hijack your listing’s buy box or if you had a bad review from a customer who bought a counterfeit item.

With the new search tool, you can search for trademark infringement:

  • Product name
  • ASIN
  • Brand name
  • Even keywords and images!

With these tools, you can find potential trademark infringement directly from your trademark registration dashboard, reducing potential lost revenue from would-be hijackers.

A+ Content

Formerly known as enhanced branded content, A+ content gives sellers greater control over their storefront. You can create better product descriptions, titles, and product images to set your product detail page apart from the competition.

Improved reporting tools

In the past, you had to report a violation via a form buried deep in the bowels of Amazon Help documentation. Sellers now have the ability to report a violation directly from their brand registration dashboard, making it quick and easy to deal with counterfeit products and listing hijackers.

Dedicated team to handle reported violations.

Before the updates, you had to deal with hijackers and counterfeiters on Amazon Marketplace yourself. You had to send a takedown notification directly to the hijacker/counterfeiter or purchase the counterfeit product to register a complaint. Once you notified Amazon, it usually took a few days for the company to remove the offending listing.

This cumbersome process led to many sellers complaining that Amazon didn’t care about its sellers. Now Amazon is taking a more proactive approach and wants to help sellers deal with counterfeits more efficiently.

Amazon claims that complaints can be handled in as little as four hours by a dedicated team of 300 employees who handle all claims related to violations.

This should speed up and improve the process for reporting counterfeit products and make it harder for counterfeiters to hijack your offering.

What about abuse – what keeps a competitor or counterfeiter from reporting you to negatively impact your ranking? Well, there are a few safeguards that are required of reporters:

  • The complaint must be filed by the person/company filing the complaint and must include the following information: ASIN, email, name, rights asserted, etc.
  • The complainant must provide a statement confirming that he/she is duly authorized to act on behalf of the trademark that has been infringed.

If you are registered as a trademark, all of this information is already on file and it is easy to report infringement through your trademark registration dashboard. If a counterfeiter tries to play games to remove your listing, they should be able to present information they don’t have access to.

This new process is good news for sellers. Previously, complaints could take days or even weeks to process, resulting in lost sales and damage to the legitimate seller’s reputation.

Ongoing improvements and updates

There are many more “rumored” improvements. These include:

  • Unique Amazon URLs for your brand (e.g. amazon.com/my-brand).
  • Customizable product detail pages with more features and a new design
  • Ability to upload custom videos to your product page

All of these changes result in greater control for Amazon sellers over their private label and give them some of the much-needed protections sellers have been asking for, while improving the overall customer experience.

What you need to know to apply for Amazon’s brand registration program

Before you start registering your brand with Amazon, here’s a list of eligibility requirements. These have been taken directly from Amazon’s brand registration page for your convenience:

  • Registered Trademark.
    • This is your brand name that has a registered trademark ®. It can no longer be a pending trademark ™. Also, it must be a word mark and NOT a stylized, illustrated or design mark.
    • For USPTO marks, the drawing type of the mark must be the same as “4 – STANDARD CHARACTER MARK” or “1 – TYPESET WORD(S)/LETTER(S)/NUMBER(S)”.
    • If you would like to know more about the basics of trademark registration, here are a series of videos on the USPTO.GOV website.
  • Your “Government Registered Principal Trademark Registration” or serial number.
  • Images of the trademark’s logo.
  • Images of products and packaging that bear the trademarked brand name. If the product is not trademarked, the packaging must be trademarked.
  • A list of product categories (e.g., apparel, sporting goods, electronics) in which the brand will be listed.
  • A list of countries where the brand’s products are manufactured and distributed.

Once you have all the information in the list above, go to Amazon’s trademark registration page.

While many of the eligibility requirements are unchanged, there is one really important change to the Amazon Trademark Registry that will impact you as a private label seller.

Registered trademark Requirement

The biggest change to the trademark registry requirements is that private label sellers must now have a registered trademark for their brand in order to qualify. Because of this, if you were registered prior to April 30, 2017, you will need to re-enrol in the program, as your previously registered trademarks will not automatically transfer to the new system.

In the past, you could have a pending trademark and still register by using the Pending Trademarks ™ icon on your branding; however, this is no longer allowed. To be eligible for registration in Brand Registry 2.0, you must have an “Active Registered Trademark” ®. This requirement means that your trademark application must have already been approved and is currently listed as “active” before you submit your application to the Amazon Brand Registry.

If you have not filed a trademark application before attempting to register your trademark, there may be a delay of six to ten months before you can properly register your products on Amazon while you wait for your trademark to be approved.

Helpful tips for registering your brand’s trademark

When you submit your trademark registration application to Amazon, the trademark information you provide must exactly match what is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trade Office database, including capitalization. Any discrepancies will result in rejection of your trademark registration application and further delay your access to the protection that trademark registration with Amazon provides.

When applying for your trademark, you will be asked to provide a copy of the product being used in commerce (a picture of your product is fine). If you cannot provide a picture, your application for this class could be denied.

Trademark registration costs money, and the cost varies depending on how you go about it. Trademark application fees can range from $225 to $400, plus additional fees for additional classes you want to protect. If you use a trademark attorney or a service like Trademark Engine, prices may be higher.

If you have multiple trademarks, the trademark registration process can get very expensive very quickly. Depending on your circumstances, registering a single “all-inclusive” trademark may be a better option than registering multiple independent trademarks.

Although Amazon does not charge to register your brand, they do require a trademark; the cost of trademark registration is a barrier to entry for some sellers.

Where you sell your products, either now or in the future, is a consideration when registering your trademark. If you only do business in the U.S., the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) will suffice. However, if you currently sell or intend to sell in Europe or internationally, then registration with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), which uses the “Madrid System,” may be more appropriate.

In either case, it is important to seek legal advice on what is right for you and your business. Enforcing trademark rights internationally is a much more complicated issue and is beyond the scope of what is covered here.

Improve the value of your brand through Amazon’s trademark registry.

Amazon’s brand registry updates are a step in the right direction. They improve the shopping experience for customers by making it harder for counterfeit products to be sold on the Amazon platform, thereby restoring buyer confidence.

Amazon has listened to sellers’ concerns and made changes to improve the overall selling experience. By creating a team to handle complaints and make it easier for sellers to report infringing listings as well as decide who can sell their product, Amazon is giving power back to sellers.

While requiring a registered trademark is a pain and additional cost for many sellers, it should be viewed as a positive. Brand protection is important, and Amazon’s requirement serves to reinforce the need to brand your products. However, if you are testing a product or bootstrapping, it may not make sense to brand individual products due to the cost.

So if you want to protect your private label on Amazon, legitimize it in the eyes of consumers, and give yourself an edge over the competition, Amazon’s updated brand registry is the way to go.

Add to these changes all the exciting new features on the horizon for registered brands, and the future looks bright for sellers on Amazon.

If you’re planning to buy a private label FBA business, then you’ll have the peace of mind that brand registration will protect your new business from counterfeiters and imitators.
If you are an existing seller, brand registration can increase the value of your business if you plan to sell. Build your own online selling empire and protect it with Amazon brand registration.

Brands Inside Zonmaster

With Zonmaster’s powerful autoresponder and auto-review requestor tools, you can target emails and Amazon review requests to specific brands. In the case of emails, you can also include branding images and brand-specific information inside the emails.

Check out Zonmaster today for more details and start your 15-day free trial now.

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Instruction

Selling on Amazon Renewed

How to Sell Certified Refurbished Products on Amazon Renewed

This guide will walk you through what Amazon Renewed is, how to get started, what is required of you as a seller, and how to successfully sell certified refurbished products.

What is Amazon Renewed?

There are three different types of products that you can sell on Amazon Renewed:

Refurbished: Products that are probably used and that the customer has either returned because they were defective or because they no longer wanted.

Preserved: Products that are likely used, but were in better condition than a refurbished product when they were returned.

Open packaging: products whose packaging has been opened but the actual product has not been used.

Qualified Amazon Renewed sellers have these devices professionally inspected, tested, and cleaned to keep them looking and working like new before repackaging and reselling them.

And with the program’s guarantee, buyers can rest assured that products purchased through Amazon Renewed will work like new – as promised.

What Certified Refurbished Products can you sell online through Amazon Renewed?

Amazon Renewed is a program that enables products that cannot be sold as “new” (but are in good enough condition to meet Amazon and consumer standards) to reach the Amazon marketplace.

Sellers can sell reconditioned, used, and open products in these categories:

  • Auto parts
  • Cameras
  • Headphones & audio
  • domestic appliances
  • Tools for household and industry
  • Kitchen appliances
  • Laptops and computers
  • Musical instruments
  • Outdoor & sport
  • Office equipment
  • Smartphones
  • Tablets
  • Televisions
  • Video game consoles
  • Clocks

How to Sell Refurbished Products on Amazon Renewed

1. Register to become an Amazon seller

In order to sell certified refurbished, used and open products on Amazon Renewed, you must first be a registered seller on Amazon.

If this is your first time selling on Amazon, you can sign up as a seller by going to Amazon Seller Central and creating a new account.

2. Find product opportunities

Since you need to prove to Amazon that you have enough inventory before you can sell on Amazon Renewed, it is important that you first find the item that you want to sell.

Of course, you don’t want to just buy anything. Similar to any other method of selling on Amazon, you need to know what is actually in demand and what kind of competition to expect.

Look for products that meet the following criteria:

High demand and little competition. The product should sell hundreds – if not thousands – of units per month without many other sellers in the niche active.

It is not sold by Amazon or a private label seller. Make sure the product you are interested in is not competing directly with Amazon. Also, avoid items that are sold under a third-party private label. You will also not be able to sell through these listings.

Make sure you can make the price of the product competitive. Your price should be within 2% of the current buy box price of the product. Anything on top makes it a lot harder to sell your product.

3. Procure products

Once you know which products are in high demand and have little competition, you need to source those products.

Fortunately, there are a few different ways you can get hold of such products:

Liquidation Companies: Some third-party companies buy excess goods from manufacturers, do the remanufacturing themselves, and then sell those goods to distributors and retailers like you.

Manufacturers: Some manufacturers sell remanufactured goods directly to third-party suppliers and retailers.

Alibaba: If you’re already a fan of the private label process, then you probably won’t be surprised to find that Alibaba certified refurbished merchandise is also available for wholesale.

4. Apply and qualify to sell on Amazon Renewed

Now that you know what you will be selling and where you will be getting these products from, you must apply and qualify to sell on Amazon Renewed.

These are the requirements you must meet in order to sell on Amazon Renewed:

  1. You must be able to provide invoices showing that you have met Amazon’s minimum order quantity: you must either purchase $ 50,000 in qualifying remanufactured products or at least 500 remanufactured units within 90 days of submitting your claim. Additionally, items with a retail price of $ 15 or less will not count towards the 500 remanufactured devices. However, the program allows you to blank out either the required quantity or the required dollar amount on your bills. That means you can include low priced products. However, this only applies if you choose to submit invoices with dollar amounts instead of quantities.
  2. If you are an existing seller on Amazon, you must maintain an order error rate (ODR) of 0.8% or less in the last 90 days.
  3. Your company must provide a minimum 90-day warranty on all of its Certified Refurbished products.
    1. If you want to list remanufactured products with no manufacturer warranty, you will need to obtain approval. To do this, you must submit at least eight images of a sample device so that Amazon can perform a product and packaging review. You need to show them the box the product came in, the inner packaging and padding, a top and bottom view of the product, and pictures of all four sides of the item.
  4. If you’ve decided to sell remanufactured Apple products, you’ll need to get approval first. And to get approval, you’ll need to submit invoices to Amazon for a total of $ 2.5 million for refurbished Apple products dated to the past 90 days.
5. Start selling and grow your business

Once you are through the application process, you can start listing all of your certified reconditioned, used and open products, as well as adding offers to existing pages.

Why should you sell refurbished products on Amazon Renewed?

Selling certified, refurbished products on Amazon Renewed offers a number of benefits.

Take part in an exclusive program and avoid competition

Not everyone can sell certified refurbished products on Amazon. Only sellers who meet Amazon’s criteria and are able to consistently sell as good as new products are allowed to sell on Amazon Renewed. That means that there is a huge chance of success for the few who are accepted.

Sell ​​to millions of loyal Amazon customers

Enjoy a high level of customer trust due to the strict customer satisfaction targets that Amazon has set for measuring seller performance. Not to mention that Amazon’s US marketplace alone has more than 2 billion visitors each month, with conversion rates in the double digits.

Use the proven e-commerce solutions from Amazon

Amazon’s sales tools and fulfilment capabilities enable you to sell as-new products to customers in Amazon’s global marketplaces.

Just grow your business

This sales method complements practices that you may already be using in your company, such as wholesale and private label. By adding Amazon Renewed to your current business model, you can increase both your overall sales and your brand.

Tips for increasing sales with Amazon Renewed

In addition, these tips will help you succeed with the Amazon Renewed program:

  • Price your products at least 20% lower than the “new” price and within 2% of the “used” Buy Box price.
  • Add at least 15 stock keeping units (SKUs) to get started.
  • Offer “Best Deals” for your refurbished, used and open products.
  • Use Amazon’s Sponsored Products advertising program to direct traffic to your newly created certified refurbished ASINs (Amazon Standard Identification Numbers).
  • Amazon recommends that you consider both manual and automatic campaigns. However, for manual campaigns, it is best to use broad keywords to drive initial traffic to an ASIN.

How Zonmaster Can Help

If you do opt to try Amazon Renewed don’t forget that Zonmaster can offer you the same exciting tools – autoresponders, auto review requestors, sales statistics and more – for Amazon Renewed as well as your usual Amazon FBA/FBM sales!

Get started with Amazon Renewed today!

So, if you’re looking to start selling on Amazon or expand your existing Amazon business, Amazon Renewed is a great opportunity.

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Instruction

Amazon Seller Guide: Unraveling the Mystery of ASIN Numbers

Ever wondered what the mysterious numbers in your Amazon product URLs are? Those unique identifiers are ASIN numbers. They’re crucial to successfully selling on Amazon, and with Zonmaster by your side, mastering them is a piece of cake. In this blog, we’ll explore the ins and outs of the Amazon ASIN number, an essential part of your Amazon seller guide to fast shipping.

What is an Amazon ASIN Number?

Amazon Standard Identification Number (ASIN) is a unique 10-character alphanumeric identifier employed by Amazon and its associates to manage their vast product catalog. If you’re a book seller, you’re in luck! ASINs for books are the same as their ISBN numbers. However, be warned – ASINs are unique only within a marketplace. Different ASINs might be used for identical products across national Amazon websites.

The Vital Role of Amazon ASIN Numbers for Sellers

ASIN numbers are a lifeline for both Amazon and its sellers. They’re the backbone of Amazon’s product catalog structure, which is vital for tracking inventory, indexing catalog pages for searching and browsing, and referring to catalog data. It’s through these ASIN numbers that buyers can utilize Amazon’s advanced search options, and land on the exact item they’re seeking.

Thus, the proper use of ASIN identifiers is paramount to sellers. Misusing or neglecting these identifiers can hamper Amazon’s ability to organize and search your products. So, ensure your product’s ASIN number is correct or, if necessary, create a new one when listing a product on Amazon.

How to Track Down Your Amazon ASIN Number

Wondering where to find your product’s ASIN number? You’ve got a few options:

  1. Look at the product’s web address in your browser’s address bar.
  2. Check the product details on Amazon.com.
  3. Utilize ASIN search software tools like Synccentric for bulk uploads.

Do remember, creating a new ASIN for an existing product can land you in trouble with Amazon. Always verify whether your item already exists on Amazon.

Finding you Amazon ASIN number in the address bar

The second place you can find the ASIN is in the product details on Amazon.com, near the bottom of the product page.

Find your product's Amazon ASIN number in the technical details on the product page

Grasping Product Variations and Amazon ASINs

A fascinating part of ASIN numbers involves product variations, or parent-child relationships. These enable buyers to compare and choose products based on different attributes such as color, size, or other features. However, Amazon has specific rules about how these variations should be listed and prohibits certain practices to prevent the misuse of variations.

Establishing Unique Amazon ASINs: Embracing GTINs, UPCs, ISBNs, and EANs

If you’re introducing a new item to Amazon, you’ll have to create a new ASIN. During this process, you will need to know the GTINs (Global Trade Item Numbers) of your products. The most common GTINs are UPCs, ISBNs, and EANs. If you don’t know your GTIN yet, the manufacturer of your product should be able to help.

The ASIN Creation Limit on Amazon

Amazon places a limit on the number of new listings sellers can create based on factors like sales history and listing creation history. However, as you boost your sales, your capacity to create new listings also expands.

The Perks of Creating a New Amazon ASIN

A necessity to create a new Amazon ASIN could indicate low competition for your product. You wouldn’t need to grapple with other direct sellers. This strategy can also aid you in winning the Amazon Buy Box and potentially boost your sales.

Remember you can also use Zonmaster to monitor your ASINs, and see that you still have control of your listing.

Next Steps in Your Amazon Seller Journey

Recognizing your Amazon ASIN number is the first stride towards successfully listing your products on Amazon. The better you understand the ASIN creation and customization process, the more effectively your items will appear in customer searches. So, get on board with Zonmaster today and set sail on a successful Amazon seller journey with a deep understanding of Amazon ASIN numbers!

Remember, if you ever need help in navigating the world of Amazon ASIN numbers, Zonmaster is here to lend a hand. Join us now and excel in your Amazon selling journey!