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Web Based Seller Support System: Amazon Overview

Conference Paper · November 2020

DOI: 10.1109/IC3e50159.2020.9288418

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 2020 IEEE Conference on e-Learning, e-Management and e-Services (IC3e)

Web Based Seller Support System: Amazon

Overview
Md Imtiaz Ahmed
Lecturer, Computer Science and Engineering

Daffodil Institute of IT

64/4 Lake circus, Kalabagan,

Dolphin Goli, Dhaka-1205

imtiaz@diit.edu.bd

Abstract—Web based Support System is the crucial factor to
run an e-commerce business or service oriented businesses. Most
of the business needs customer support managers or specialists.
Due to technological innovation, customers choose the Web based
Support System the most. As web based support system has the
opportunity to provide their customers supports through email
or over the phone. Amazon is the largest e-commerce platform in
the world and it has the most efficient web support system. Due
to the huge number of questionnaires, Amazon sometimes gives
support to its users in a lengthy process. Amazon seller support
system and customer support system are totally different. The
seller of Amazon faces issues nowadays with the UPC
requirements especially when the manufacturer bound them to
use the manufacturer provided UPC for the products. In many
cases, products listed under wrong category or with wrong name,
product description, images etc. In this paper, a new category of
Amazon seller support system is proposed in accordance to
providing the best support to the seller when the manufacturer
UPC bound issue will arise due to the first products Lister
wrongly provided information.
Keywords—Web seller support system, Amazon seller support
system, UPC, GS1, Products listings issues, Support specialists
products using the same platform. The number of customers
that uses Amazon platform is huge in number. Amazon
operates the biggest web support system in the world as they
have to provide supports for their customers and retailers or
manufacturers. A big amount of retailers sell their products in
the Amazon platform and they have to contact Amazon in
some cases regarding the products pages issues, UPC issues,
customer feedback issues, selling application issues, stranded
inventory issues, products images issues, Amazon fulfillment
services issues etc.
Amazon provides support by the cases (formally it is the
email support), over the phone, frequently asked questions and
seller forum. All of them are very effective and customers or
sellers can easily get the solution of their problems. Customers
get web support instantly in many cases like the products
returns, the refund of the products purchases, fixing the
delivery etc. Sellers of Amazon get the virtual support related
to listings issues, product pages issues, Amazon order issues,
FBA issues, order refund issues, feedback issues etc
simultaneously. Overall the system is excellent and effective.

I. INTRODUCTION
Web Support System is one of the key factors to become
successful in e-commerce business. Web support system
implies the virtual support system that supports the customers
or the sellers of an e-commerce platform. To become
successful in e-commerce business platform owner must need
to think about the best support system and it must be provided
to the customers and the sellers of the platform. In our
surroundings a lot of virtual support systems are available.
Some provide supports over the phone or email and some use
virtual web platforms to support over the internet. The email
support system is one of the most used web support
system used by the twentieth-first century.
Amazon is the number one e-commerce platform that
operates its business worldwide. Amazon sells products
themselves and retailer or manufacturers can sell their
In some seller support cases, the Amazon support system for
the sellers has some limitation. Especially when contacting the
support for the UPC problem, it rarely solves the issues. In
this paper, the problem and possible solution will be sorted
out and there will be an open challenge as well for future
research in this topic.
II. BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE
E-commerce platform uses the Web Based Support System
rapidly in accordance with the other platform. Amazon has its
own Support System that provides support for both customer
and seller of its platform. Amazon has its own rules for
creating products on its platform. UPC is mandatory to list
products in Amazon most of the categories. If the
manufacturers restrict seller or retailer of that product need to
use the manufacturer UPC then seller or retailer must need to
use it. Amazon creates its own ASIN by using the specific

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 2020 IEEE Conference on e-Learning, e-Management and e-Services (IC3e)
UPC for a single product. Amazon has its own guideline as
well.
A. Web Support System
Web based Support Systems is the platform by which
human can get support virtually in the domain of the desired
services that are very relevant to customer services physically.
Web based support system is the key factor for running an e-
commerce platform, online service platform, online portal that
relates to the tourism, travel guideline, social media etc. Most
of the online platform nowadays needed the web support
system in accordance with the services to their valuable users.
Web based support systems are generally provided by the
email, over the phone, chat supports and many new ways that
are using nowadays to improve the support system online. The
best effective practices still the email support system and the
chat support system.
In the web based support system, users of a web platform
can enquiry their problems or the services the platform
provides. User questions may vary in accordance with their
issues or interests. Web support system uses a number of
teams to supports customer enquiry. Supporting users of a
web platform can use multiple ways in the email. Chat support
system has the variety as well. One can get the chat support
expert according to their issues or interests.
B. Amazon Seller Support System
Amazon seller support system is one of the biggest support
systems that enroll in our current technology era. It has the
most categorized support issues in accordance with the
relevant seller's questions. Seller of the Amazon platform can
easily get solution of the desired issues as Amazon practices
their 21 years experience to build the support system. Amazon
learned and built the systems as they are supporting their
sellers a long time and many questions are asked by the seller
frequently as they have the big queries by the seller. In 25th
January 2006, a report published by the JULIA LAYTON
with the title "How Amazon works" have the basic scenario of
Amazon business to customer, customer to customer, business
to business processes of Amazon and their rules [1].
Amazon web support system has two basic parts. One
platform is used for the customer of Amazon and the other is
used for the seller of Amazon. Customer supports page has
multiple choices as normally the basic needs on their query as
like "Your orders", "Returns and Refunds", "Manage prime",
"Payment settings" etc [2]. Seller support systems have
different categories of support such as "Customer or Non-FBA
orders", "Products, Listings and Inventory", "Seller fulfilled
Prime", "Marketplace Web Service", "Your account",
"Fulfillment by Amazon" etc [3]. Each of the categories has
multiple subcategories as well. The seller can choose their
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desired services by choosing the categories and subcategories,
they will get the support by either the email means case or
over the phone call. Amazon seller support system is a very
efficient and emerging platform for getting the best-
categorized supports.
C. UPC
UPC stands for the Universal Product Code that used widely
in many countries to track trade items in the stores. UPC
(refers to UPC-A) contains 12 numerical digits assigned
uniquely to each trade item. It is very much similar to EAN
barcodes but UPC barcodes are generally used for the
scanning of trade items at the point of sale (POS) [4].
D. Amazon UPC requirements
Amazon requirements for using UPC to create new products
in Amazon first implied at 2007 [4]. But till 2014 Amazon
UPC requirements and GS1 connection was not established
[5]. In 2014, the greatest new innovation occurred as Amazon
began cracking down to non GS1 registered UPC codes. From
2014 to till now still, Amazon asks for UPC codes to list
products in their platform but some of the categories don't
need to requirement e.g. Sports Collectibles [6].
The seller can use the UPC, ISBN, EAN, JAN for a product
to create the GTIN in Amazon catalogue [7]. The seller can
check whether their UPC, ISBN, EAN, JAN is already register
or not and they can register their UPC, ISBN, EAN, JAN to
Amazon by following the Amazon rules. Amazon always
checks the UPC codes whether it is registered with the GS1
database. If it is registered with the GS1 database then it
allows using the UPC or ISBN or EAN or JAN to list products
in their database.
E. Amazon ASIN creation
Amazon ASIN creation Policy is one of the best technique
that pursued by the UPC of a product. The seller cannot use
the same UPC for multiple products. ASIN always created
first with the new UPC. If the seller uses the new UPC firstly
at Amazon for a product, It creates an ASIN according to the
UPC and Amazon kept it in the database. If the seller uses the
same UPC for the 2nd product it will be listed but will show
the images and products information as it uses in the first case.
Amazon ASIN creation policies described the above system
[8].
III. ERROR ANALYSIS OF AMAZON SELLER SUPPORT
SYSTEM
Due to the large volume of customers and sellers in
Amazon, Support Specialists cannot give all the support in a
row or Sometimes Support strategy takes time to solve. UPC
of the manufacturers can be used by a number of seller in
 2020 IEEE Conference on e-Learning, e-Management and e-Services (IC3e)

Amazon and error often arise when the same UPC of Fig. 2. Seller who listed later with the right information
the manufacturer used by a number of sellers.

A. UPC issues for product creation

UPC is the vital and important element of product creation

in Amazon. Without the UPC Amazon won't let anyone list to
their catalogue. Vendors or retailers can buy fresh new UPC
from the GS1 or other sites. Many brands don't have the
limitation for using their UPC. In that case, the vendor can use
their own purchased UPC to list a product under the Amazon
catalogue. But some brands heavily restrict the UPC for the
creation of their products in Amazon. In that case, many
vendors face issues for creating the product under the UPC
vendor provided. The issue arises mainly when the vendor is
trying to list the item that already listed by someone or other
vendors and if the first listing vendors provided the wrong Fig. 3. Amazon product pages images of that product
information.

When doing researches on these factors, one can find out a

lot of issues as that figured out in this paper with the Dakine
product style no-10002565. Dakine is one of the most popular
brands in the USA right now for its well-known accessories
items. The product name with of the UPC error is " Dakine
Tofino 20" Hybrid Short" and Amazon product links will
show the name "DAKINE Kodiak Gore-Tex Glove" [9] where
searching on the vendor one will find out the name as "Dakine
Tofino 20" Hybrid Short" [10]. The sellers who first listed the
products with the wrong name and provided the wrong images
are guilty of this situation. The next seller who listed the
products with the correct information cannot fix it and
Amazon kept showing the old databases of the products
Fig. 4. Manufacturer product pages images of product
information. Many issues have like this in Amazon till now as
shown in this paper. Screenshot of the issues that described
earlier is given below.

Fig. 1. Amazon sellercentral images of that product

Fig. 5. Manufacturer provided UPC for that product

B. Error Fixing issues

For fixing the issues with this kind of problem, Retailer

seller of Amazon normally contact Amazon seller support.
But when seller of Amazon contacts Amazon seller support

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 2020 IEEE Conference on e-Learning, e-Management and e-Services (IC3e)
seller found that there is not proper solution as the Amazon
seller support Specialists don’t have access or right to solve
this kind of problem. As in figure 2, it shows that the seller
used the correct information as the vendor provided. But
Amazon already gets data from another seller who listed it
first and cannot fix the issues and if more sellers will list the
same item will show the wrong again. So Amazon seller
support must need to take initiative to fix this kind of issues.
C. Amazon Seller Support Specialist issues
The seller with the correct information contacts Amazon
seller support to solve the issue. Amazon seller support
specialists responded to the seller that only the manufacturer
can fix these issues by requesting to Amazon or providing the
letter according to the products detail pages. But a question
arise that Amazon support specialists must have to access a
sort of database regarding this. Because many issues arises
nowadays in Amazon as described in this paper. The seller
who faces the issues provided the information as described in
this paper. Support specialists must then see that the seller
with all this information is accurate and in this case, they can
change the products information as per the correct information
provider seller. As the support specialist can merge the
products of the seller and can change other obstacles that
seller faces to list.
IV. BUILDING AN EFFICIENT SELLER SUPPORT SYSTEM
Amazon Seller Support System is definitely the best support
system that exists in the world and a new strategy is
approached the support system to support the seller of
Amazon who faces problem in the case of UPC of
manufacturer items. The proposed system will minimize the
problems or issues of sellers. More new approaches can be
used and the proposed system can have errors as well.
A. New strategies in Seller Support System
Amazon seller support is very efficient and it has already
much trained support specialists to solve the issues of the
seller. Amazon has its own FAQ and supports build-up
questionnaires to solve the issues of the seller by just normally
visiting their support directories. The problem or issues
described in this paper also has direction for the specialists to
support their seller. But the existing direction has already
some lacking according to the efficiency of the correction
system. To remission of the current lacking of the support
system, the following strategies can be followed to bring up
the best and efficient solution for the seller.
All the existing system of the Amazon seller support system
will be the same as it already owns. Amazon can add the
following new category to remission the problem as shown in
figure 6.
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A number of specialists should be trained with the strategies
to fix the issues instantly. Firstly, Amazon will need to create
a category that can be named as "Fix Product pages or
information regarding the existing UPC or ASIN in Amazon
catalogue". Seller of Amazon will then use that category to
contact Amazon seller support if they find any issues
that relate to this paper. Seller will then submit a case or email
with the relevant proof of the product information as shown in
this paper and seller can also take a photo of the labels of the
products if the manufacturer products labels contain the UPC
of the products as well. Once the seller will submit these data
or if the seller forgets to provide the information then Support
Specialist will ask the seller to provide these data. After
getting all these data, the specialist will look for the GS1
database first whether the UPC is owned by the company. If it
is owned by the company the specialist will look for the
vendor website for the information and the specialist can
directly call the manufacturer for the proof of whether they
own and what will be the images or data for the product. If the
specialist will get a positive reply then the specialist will go
the Amazon database and will look for that product by
searching with the UPC and the specialist will fix the products
pages with the correct seller given information or images or
videos. The best practices and way to solve the manufacturer
provided UPC issues where it doesn’t exist in the current
system. It is a proposed system for solving the issues and the
workflow diagram are given in figure 6.
B. Assigning trained support specialist with the new strategies
knowledge
Before implementing a new system to a platform it needs
definitely specialized persons to handle or run smoothly.
Amazon support specialists must need to be well trained
because there can be a lot of doubt and problems with the
current issues. Many sellers can bogusly submit many issues
that not relevant to the case described in this paper. Specialists
with the overall knowledge of the system will definitely figure
out these bogus claims.
C. Fixing the issues with the proper Authorization
Authorization is an important factor as well. Amazon is the
largest and the topmost running e-commerce platform in the
world. If Amazon asks for authorization to the manufacturer
they are bound to provide them as Amazon will ask for the
loyal issues and it won't affect the privacy or security of the
manufacturer data. Amazon seller support specialists will need
to get the authorization means the approval of them that the
UPC owns them and also the product information and images
are accurate that the claimed seller asked.
 2020 IEEE Conference on e-Learning, e-Management and e-Services (IC3e)

Fig. 6. Workflow diagram of the proposed new category in Amazon seller support

V. ERROR ANALYSIS OF THE PROPOSED SYSTEM
The proposed new category of the Amazon Seller
Support System has some minor error due to the new steps
and it can be solved in accordance with the patience of
seller and support specialist.
A. Authorization Delay
The authorization will be getting from the manufacturer
as the support specialist will in need of approval whether
the claimed UPC for the product belongs to them and the
information of the products are the exact as the seller
claims. Actually this step can take some time and it can
take 1-7 days and it depends on the manufacturer
responses. Normally first the specialist can email the
manufacturer and need to wait for their reply. But if the
specialist will call them instantly it will be solved faster.
But the phone call can be delayed as well if they don't
responses. Usually, the renown manufacturer is always
giving responses instantly but specialists can take time on
to their account because of the communication latency
issues.
B. Sellers bogus information
The seller can provide bogus information about the UPC
or the products. The seller sometimes mistakenly provide
information that is not relevant and As per Amazon policy
seller can list products with the own purchased UPC for the

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 2020 IEEE Conference on e-Learning, e-Management and e-Services (IC3e)

brands that don't have any restriction according to the [1] Julia Layton, "How Amazon works" published in 25th January
2006 [Online] Available:
Amazon guideline. Some brands have restriction in
https://money.howstuffworks.com/amazon2.htm
Amazon that seller or retailers cannot list those items to [2] Amazon, "Help & Customer Service" [Online] Available:
Amazon without their own UPC. The issue described in https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?node
this paper is related to this point for manufacturer Id=GSD587LKW72HKU2V
[3] Amazon Seller Support Central, "Help and Support" need
restrictions in Amazon listings. Amazon seller support
seller login to access [Online] Available:
specialist must be aware of it and they must take the https://sellercentral.amazon.com/help/hub/support/SOA
necessary steps to solve the issues. [4] GS1US, "GS1 BARCODE CHART" [Online] Available:
https://www.gs1us.org/DesktopModules/Bring2mind/DMX/Do
C. Time consuming and complex steps wnload.aspx?Command=Core_Download&EntryId=160&lang
uage=en-US&PortalId=0&TabId=134
Amazon seller specialist must spend a good amount of [5] Instant upc codes, "Amazon UPC Codes - Everything You
time to solve this issue and there are a lot of complex steps Need To Know" [Online] Available:
https://www.instantupccodes.com/amazon-upc-codes.php
that need to be done in accordance to solve the issue. As [6] Amazon, "Product ID (GTIN) requirements by category" need
specialists can have to wait for the authorization so that it is seller login to access [Online] Available:
time-consuming and as per the flowchart of the new https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/help/help.html?itemID=20
category have some complex steps. 0317520
[7] Amazon, "Listing requirements: Product IDs (GTINs)" need
VI. OPEN CHALLENGES seller login to access [Online] Available:
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/help/help.html?itemID=20
In this paper, the steps drawn to support the seller of 0317470&language=en-
US&ref=mpbc_200202190_cont_200317470
Amazon for the manufacturer UPC restriction listing issues [8] Amazon, "ASIN creation policy" need seller login to access
if one the first listed seller list the item with wrong [Online] Available:
information or wrong images. The steps that are described https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/help/help.html?itemID=20
1844590
in this paper are the possible solution that can be taken by
[9] Amazon, "DAKINE Kodiak Gore-Tex Glove" [Online]
Amazon to provide the best support for the correct seller to Available:
list the item with proper information. The measures that https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0002KN38Y?ref=myi_title_dp
take into account cannot be sufficient or can be &th=1
[10] Dakine, "MEN'S 20" TRAVEL SHORT - 10002565 TOFINO
implemented in other ways. One can propose a BOT
20" HYBRID SHORT" [Online] Available:
system support system for this issue. Amazon is the large https://www.dakine.com/products/tofino-20-hybrid-
e-commerce site and many issues can be found like this so short?variant=31575218159696
that a vast research area is still an open challenge to
everyone.

VII. CONCLUSION

Designing and Implementing new strategies for an

existing system takes time and how efficient the new
strategies will be always taken into account because of the
proper solvency of the issues. Amazon seller support
system is one of the best support systems in this era
without any doubt. Complexity may arise to support
properly the platform users in accordance with the
technological and behaviour changes. The proposed new
category for supporting the Amazon seller will be a
potential change because many sellers facing the issue day
by day and it will be the best way to remission of the time
and complexity of the seller as per the current system. The
proposed new category for the Amazon seller support
system will be the strategically changes in the motivation
of the retailers or vendors as many retailers have existed
already in the Amazon platform.

References

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