10 Amazon Mistakes You’re Probably Making & How to Fix Them! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

How to Fix Common CONTENTS

Amazon Bloopers ONLY COVERING CUSTOMER SERVICE

EMAILS ON WEEKDAYS: PAGE 3

ASSUMING SELLER FEEDBACK IS SET IN

STONE: PAGE 4
We’ve heard it said since childhood: “Everybody makes mistakes.” It’s only
human. But when it comes to Amazon, missteps are costly, and we’d just as KEEPING A TIGHT FIST AROUND PRODUCT
DATA: PAGE 5
soon you not slip up in the first place. Whether you’re a veteran Amazon seller
or looking to expand to the marketplace, this eBook will help you double-check NOT PAYING ATTENTION TO LEAD-TIME-TO-
SHIP: PAGE 6
processes and prevent you from falling victim to some of the most common
Amazon mistakes. ADJUSTING PRICES MANUALLY: PAGE 7

ASSUMING POLICY VIOLATIONS ARE

Don’t worry! If you’re guilty of any of them, we’ve provided fixes to make your INCONSEQUENTIAL: PAGE 8

processes spick and span once again. NEVER GETTING IN THE CUSTOMERS’
SHOES: PAGE 9

NOT KEEPING UP WITH AMAZON

CATEGORY AND TEMPLATE UPDATES:

“Amazon is growing at 25%, compared

PAGE 10

MAKING PEACE WITH THE CUSTOMER BUT

with 15% for e-commerce as a whole.” LEAVING FEEDBACK MUDDIED: PAGE 11

NOT CONSIDERING FULFILLMENT BY

– Scot Wingo, CEO of ChannelAdvisor AMAZON: PAGE 12
Source: Forrester and ComScore Reports, 2012/2013
10 Amazon Mistakes You’re Probably Making & How to Fix Them! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

WHY IT HURTS:

Mistake 1:
Active communication five days out of seven doesn’t seem
so bad, but weekends account for close to 30% of the year.
Amazon’s Contact Response Time measures the percentage

Only Covering of customer messages responded to within 24 hours, and

many sellers aren’t aware that auto-responses don’t count.

Customer
Falling silent on the weekends results in poor performance in
this metric, puts you at risk for negative feedback and we can
confidently predict that your chance of winning the Buy Box will

Service Emails be impacted.

on Weekdays
THE FIX:
Staff for weekend coverage and
effectively manage customer
communication on the weekends.
What’s the Mistake: It shouldn’t require a major time
When the clock strikes five on Friday, you investment: pepper Saturday and
fall silent to Amazon customers completely Sunday with check-ins, and assign
or automate customer communications team members days or half days to
throughout the weekend. Inquiries aren’t ensure full coverage.
dealt with actively again until Monday
morning. Keep in mind that inquiries that do not require a response may
be flagged for removal from response-time calculations by
checking “No Response Needed” within the Reply area.
10 Amazon Mistakes You’re Probably Making & How to Fix Them! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Mistake 2: WHY IT HURTS:

Product-focused negative feedback, though misplaced, still

Assuming All affects your rating, creating chords of distrust and scaring away
potential buyers.

Seller Feedback THE FIX:

Amazon will remove feedback upon request

is Set in Stone in specific cases, which are outlined here.

Common scenarios in which feedback is
eligible for removal include:
What’s the Mistake:
• Obscene, profane or commonly
Products fall short of expectations. The product
misunderstood language is included.
is not as sturdy as you’d hoped, the picture
• The entire comment is a product review.
frame isn’t quite the right match for your existing
Comments that are partly product-
living room décor or the shoe size you selected
focused but also contain appropriate
is barely too large.
feedback about the service will most
likely not be removed.
Unfortunately, Amazon merchants take
• The entire comment reviews fulfillment or customer service
misdirected blows in the form of product-
for an item fulfilled by Amazon FBA.
focused Seller Reviews. Shoppers post negative
To submit feedback for removal, submit a TAM support ticket
product reviews within Seller Feedback, an area
identifying the offending feedback, clearly stating that you
intended for customers to review their purchase
accurately conveyed product information and that the customer
experience with the merchant - not the product.
has introduced bias. It may be beneficial to directly reference
You let these product-focused reviews remain in
Amazon’s guidelines in these submissions.
your seller feedback area.
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Mistake 3: WHY IT HURTS:

Being tight-fisted with your data has minimal effects on your

Keeping a Tight competition but is detrimental to you. Data for the shared listing
will be provided, regardless of your decision. Withholding affects
only your likelihood of garnering shopper attention through

Fist Around search results.

Product Data THE FIX:

Acknowledge the reality and
remember the bigger picture.
What’s the Mistake: You’re in a common listing and
Amazon’s Shared Listing Pages gather the best competition is inevitable. Set
data from multiple sellers to create the ideal listing
out to win the customer within
to be shared by all merchants selling an item. For
example, three merchants sell an identical brand- search by providing data as
name watch. One supplies an excellent title, the if you were the only merchant
second a superior description and the third poor selling your product. The query
data altogether. Amazon sources the best data to “watch” returns nearly 750K
create the listing, meaning that the third merchant
results. Do you provide keywords
reaps the benefits of work they have not sown.
and attributes to guide the buyer
Frustrated that costly content will be shared, as they refine results?
you refuse to release data to Amazon for these
listings, send malnourished data and keep the Give shoppers what they need to find your product and convert,
“good stuff” for other channels, withhold attribute
and let your seller rating, reviews and more distinguish you.
values or don’t bother creating quality data to
begin with.
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Mistake 4: WHY IT HURTS:

By understating how long it takes you to ship, you disqualify

Not Paying yourself from gaining a competitive edge. By overstating, you’re

at risk for reoccurrences of late shipments.

Attention to Lead- THE FIX:

Set correct expectations for each SKU. Accuracy trumps low

Time-to-Ship value, but if you’re confident you can ship within narrower
timeframes, indicate this. Always ship based on the lead-time-to-
ship you have configured.
What’s the Mistake:
Lead-time-to-ship, or handling time, is the time
it takes to receive an order, process and pack it,
and get it to the shipping carrier. The default value
is two days. We see two common blunders:

1. You state a time that is more than actual:

All products are set to the default of two days.
When asked if you ship faster, you respond
‘yes, with the exception of select items.’

2. You state a time that is less than actual:

You oversell yourself, sending a value of one
or two days and, when asked if you are always
able to deliver on this lead time, you admit that
you aren’t.

In both scenarios, time indicated is not completely

accurate.
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Mistake 5: WHY IT HURTS:

Add up your time spent tinkering with prices; the total might
alarm you. Time is of the essence in e-commerce; more needs

Adjusting to be devoted to business growth strategy and less to laborious

tasks. Consider the shelf life of any single price-adjustment you

Prices make and you’ll be motivated to take this task to the next level.

THE FIX:
Manually Automate! Technologies that automate repricing based on rules
you set and the competitive landscape are becoming the norm.
ChannelAdvisor’s Repricer automatically adjusts listing prices
based on your rules and goals, meaning the tedious work is off
What’s the Mistake:
your chest but you’ll stay neck-and-neck with the competition at
Pricing in the sweet spot where items attract
all times.
buyers and garner profits is a challenge, and
proactively adjusting prices on Amazon as
the competition dictates is crucial to winning
sales. You brush up on product pricing each
day, week or month, but you adjust prices
manually.
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WHY IT HURTS:
Policy violations have repercussions, though sometimes not
immediate. We’re not dealing with grade-school detention, here.
Sellers who choose not to take early issues seriously have later

Mistake 6: faced account suspension for repeat violations, without much

warning.

Assuming Policy THE FIX:

Respect, protect and remain proactive in your

Violations Are relationship with Amazon. Treat interactions with

customers as interactions with the marketplace.

Inconsequential When a violation occurs, initiate this 3-step

process:
1. Investigate. What changed in your business, processes or
circumstances to cause this infraction?
What’s the Mistake: 2. Reflect. Is this a one-time event? Could it happen again?
Policy violations happen; no merchant is perfect. What effect did this have on my relationship with Amazon and
But when Amazon slaps your wrist, you take it as with my customer(s)?
a warning with no significant consequences and 3. Correct. What will I put in place or change to prevent this
continue with life and listing as usual. from occurring in the future?
Nurture your Amazon relationship. ChannelAdvisor has seen
quality retailers make accidental stumbles with major effects on
Amazon customers, but because these retailers had invested in
caring for their Amazon relationship from the get-go, Amazon did
not suspend or close their accounts.
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WHY IT HURTS:
Item misrepresentations, unclear imagery or description typos
can easily slip through the cracks. These mistakes affect your
visibility in searches, and misrepresented products can backfire

Mistake 7: down the road, negatively impacting your seller metrics.

THE FIX:
Never Getting in Get in the customers’ shoes. Click through your
products to see how they’re matched to an ASIN,

the Customers’ priced, positioned, categorized and searched.

Develop a process sheet or check list for periodic
QA testing. The list of details to QA can get long,

Shoes but these should get you started:

What’s the Mistake:

Successful brands never lose sight of the
customer. They remember that, at the end of the
day, they’re in the business of providing a need
for a real person. The evaluation of whether or not
that need is met on Amazon involves thorough
quality assurance (QA) testing of your listings.
But you forego the process altogether, execute it
hastily or only QA best-sellers.
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Mistake 8: WHY IT HURTS:

Staying in the dark is like voluntarily succumbing to an unfair
Not Keeping Up disadvantage in a race. Other sellers out there will be taking
advantage of the enhanced visibility and selling opportunities

with Amazon offered through updated attributes and categories, leaving you
in the dust.

Category and THE FIX:

Stay up to speed; pull new Inventory File

Template Updates Templates for each of your categories on

a regular basis. Make it a habit to evaluate
what’s new and to assess which data
points you should add. If you use
What’s the Mistake:
ChannelAdvisor or a third-party listing
You pay close attention to listings and
platform, review what attributes and
inventory, but you haven’t taken note of
categories are available in
Amazon’s Category or Listing Template
your Amazon Listing Template.
updates in months. Amazon frequently
ChannelAdvisor adds new categories
makes changes to categories and updates
and rolls out enhanced functionality in
listing templates with new attribute fields and
tandem with Amazon’s updates.
data options, but you find out about these
behind the curve.
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Mistake 9: WHY IT HURTS:

The negative comment remains in your seller feedback area
even after the issue has been resolved, and becomes a stain

Making Peace with on your reputation. Buyers trust buyers; they review ratings
to determine whether to purchase from you. These negative
ratings, in high volume, deter potential customers.
the Customer, but
THE FIX:
Leaving Feedback Take the extra step to request
that the end buyer withdraw the
negative feedback; the buyer has
Unresolved 60 days to remove it from the time
of posting. This is a fine line, so
task your best customer service
What’s the Mistake: employees with such requests and
A customer leaves legitimate negative consider incentivising employees
feedback about you in the seller feedback for successfully reversing negative
area (see Mistake No.2 for examples of feedback.
inappropriate feedback). You resolve the issue
with the end buyer, wipe your hands clean of As best practice, be sure to review Amazon’s full details about
the matter and return to business as usual. using the Feedback Manager.
10 Amazon Mistakes You’re Probably Making & How to Fix Them! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12

Mistake 10: WHY IT HURTS:

While a reevaluation of your current fulfillment model a pressing

Not Considering need to keep your business afloat, you could be missing out
on the opportunity to save time and grow profits if you haven’t
considered Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA). FBA touts a strong

Fulfillment by list of benefits to third-party sellers, including spikes in sales

velocity, enhanced product visibility in search, access to

Amazon Amazon Prime members and discounts, complete customer

service coverage, nearly turnkey access to international
audiences and streamlined fulfillment to other sales channels.

What’s the Mistake: THE FIX:

You’ve got this e-commerce fulfillment thing Consider whether FBA is a strategic initiative for
down to a tee; warehouses are in place, stocked your business. If you’re hesitant, pick several items
with inventory, and you’ve got your delivery from your inventory for which you know there is
process perfected. You’re comfortable with your market potential but have not been converting as
traditional warehouse model and expected. Test them in FBA, and see whether the
you haven’t thought about a new approach added appeal to the Amazon Prime audience,
to fulfillment. promotions and Amazon-branded fulfillment
positively impacts your sales.
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Onto the Fixing

Whether you’re making 1, 5 or all of these Amazon mistakes, it never hurts
to conduct a regular audit of your Amazon processes and performance to
identify weaknesses, celebrate successes and identify opportunities for
improvement.

Work through the Amazon stumbling blocks you may be tripping over, and use this eBook periodically as a checklist to make
sure you stay on top of best practices. Before you know it, these mistakes won’t be getting the best of you, and you’ll have
far fewer Amazon anxieties. ChannelAdvisor’s marketplaces solution includes an Amazon 360 Dashboard, providing you with
a comprehensive view into your Amazon status, including details about seller reputation, top-selling products, outstanding
customer service needs, and everything necessary to maintain the health of your Amazon relationship. Sellers use this
dashboard to tidy up the above mistakes with insight and simplicity, so they can focus on the high-level direction of their
e-commerce business.

To learn more about ChannelAdvisor’s robust e-commerce platform for Amazon, eBay, emerging Marketplaces, Google
Shopping, Paid Search, Comparison Shopping Engines and Social, contact ukteam@channeladvisor.com.

Trust us. Be Seen. Call UK 0203 014 2700 • US 866.264.8594 • AU 1300 887 239 | Visit www.channeladvisor.co.uk | Email ukteam@channeladvisor.com

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