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Policy Warning question
 

Recently I've been hit with a few 'new' policy warnings
I haven't seen before. Anyone get one of these before??:

"We are writing because it has come to our attention that you have violated our policies by offering a refund, free gift, or discount to a buyer in exchange for positive feedback or the removal of negative feedback."

I've been doing this for years but only recently started getting these warnings. I always offer a full refund if the buyer removes negative feedback. How is that a bad thing and how can I make Amazon unable to detect it??

Sneaky method :clap:

I don't think you can avoid them detecting you as long as your using their msg system to contact buyers.

I'm guessing if you carry on doing this, they'll take you done for sure!

You say you've been doing it for years, i say consider yourself lucky they only gave you a warning and nothing more.

If i was you i'd run a mile away from using this method now.

How about you find out whats the cause of your negatives and go from there.

Pretty lucky to still be in operation I might add.

They will be word scanning the messages and not reading them, they will be looking for key words such as feedback, negative, free and removal.

Either use words that do not directly mean what you say such as 'your unkind remarks' instead of negative feedback or probaly double space them as capital letters such as 'N E G A T I V E F E E D B A C K' that way the programe sees them as just individual letters.

Of course you may also get reported by a buyer which nobody can guard against.

They will be word scanning the messages and not reading them, they will be looking for key words such as feedback, negative, free and removal.

Bingo. Better yet, include a printout with the order. Amazon can't read that!

I got several of these the same week I got featured. I still do it weekly but this is how I do it now. Same email as before but instead of FEEDBACK I put REMOVE REVIEW. Same sh!t to the buyer but doesnt trigger anything with amazon..

Hope that helps you out. that should work for you it has been working for me for 8 months now.

Thanks for the tips.

I just had to offer a refund and no mailing back of the product to a customer today, what the heck she is crazy and to cap it all she call me dishonest in the feedback and I have done nothing wrong.

If Amazon takes me down because of it I am not really bothered, I do not mind negative feedback when its deserved but this crazy is spouting all kinds of nonsense and to think you base your livelyhood on any mental patient who wants to say bad things about you and there is no recourse.

So far, I have been successful in avoiding a policy warning over my offers to buyers to "buy off their feedback". I use all synonyms. And it has worked in that most people respond and remove, or they will leave a positive actually.

What I think is odd are the buyers who never respond to the offer!? I guess the self-validating satisfaction of saying a nasty thing about another person on the internet is worth more than a free item with free shipping.

@kris3841 Dude there's got to be something wrong with the way you word you messages. Everyone is doing it! Amazon even has tips on how to do it (I remember getting an email about it long ago). So the only thing that i can think of is that you offer something shady in those emails and thats why amazon dings you for.

I got a policy warning recently for responding too slow to messages...

Really? lmao

Yep, now been using the "mark as answered" all the time. What hassle it is ....

Me too, im like WTF. My stats are above 95% for under 24 hours and the messages I dont respond are stupid buyers saying thanks when I do reply.

By Law, Amazon cannot read your Private Standard messages to buyers,,That does not mean that they do not,,,,

HOWEVER,,the moment a Buyer sends you a Message through an A-Z Claim or a REFUND Request, Now they CAN Legally monitor the Messages, because the buyer is not only letting you know that there is a problem, but also Amazon,,that is why AMAZON sends you the Message NOT the buyer Directly

So if you get a Complaint that comes your way from an A-Z Claim, or a Refund Request or ANY Other Channel other than a DIRECT buyer to Seller Channel, Amazon Knows and can Act on that information as they see fit.

Mine was like 75%. Just have to use "mark as read" for the creeps and their creepy questions.

I sold over 60k in 6 months on Amazon before getting suspended. It was my own fault -- I was getting too many orders and started shipping 2-3 days late instead of same day. This led to a few an account review and when they started to manually check into it, I was gone

Amazon is infinitely more anal than eBay about performance ratings. I've sinced made a few stealth accounts and got back on Amazon selling very quickly. A few tips I have that make all the difference:

1. Unlike eBay, the Amazon seller performance team are staffed by real people that actually read your e-mails. They also respond very quickly to inquiries (24 hrs is not rare for me). You MUST, MUST, MUST be cordial, polite and over the top professional AT ALL TIMES. Amazon staff often post on their boards and they say they are much more likely to reinstate an account if the e-mails they receive (to appeal a decision or ask for more information) is well written, polite, cordial, and demonstrates true intentions to better yourself. They ARE NOT like eBay where no matter what you do, you get the shaft.

Whenever you exchange mails with buyers or Amazon, ALWAYS be super polite. If your English sucks, get Google Translator. If there is even a hint that you are a bad communicator on top of whatever the problem is, you WILL be suspended and lose the account.

2. Amazon never reveals the buyer's e-mail. Everything goes through them. It's horse****, too. I've had buyers leave neg or neutral claiming they never heard from me. In all these cases, I overnighted them a snail mail letter that explained how it happened and how they could retrieve the messages in the Amazon Messaging Center. All of these buyers retracted the feedback after getting the letter.

3. Amazon likes to support small mom and pop stores more than big evil corporations or one man shows that might appear suspicious. Communicate with your buyer for EVERY sale (especially the first two months) to let them know tracking, etc. Be cordial, and sign it with something like "The Cobe Family" Buyers eat that **** up right away, and it also enhances the chance to get feedback.

4.With EVERY sale I include a printout that thanks them for their order. I add a small handwritten note like "Dear [Buyer First Name], I hope you enjoy this!" and sometimes, I'll add a picture of a family. This has gotten me over 50% FB rate, which is HUGE for Amazon. In desperate times, I promise a refund of 5$-10$ depending on item value to get a quick boost, and then make a partial refund with "general adjustment for shipping" for the reason. Amazon will never know this refund was in exchange for a feedback.

To succeed with Amazon, you must be cunning and manipulative, but still remain as truthful as possible for it to be believable. In exchange, you get twice the traffic eBay gets.

It can be tiring, but if it wasn't worth it, we wouldn't be doing it, would we?

Nice write-up Halada - you're at it pretty hard core - you have a broad range of products? or specific category.

Only thing is:

Amazon likes to support small mom and pop stores more than big evil corporations

This statement I would not 100% agree with.

This statement I would not 100% agree with.

I think he meant small businesses that are BIGGER than one man operations, based on the other stuff he wrote there. Just my guess. I would agree with it, if that's what he meant. A pro merchant with a couple employees and a real storefront can get away with a LOT more than a one man show.

True ovidiu - true.

I did mean it as such.

Whenever I write to buyers, I keep inferring I have employees, multiple warehouses, etc. I always setup the illusion that I am either a family or running a large business with employees. This gives the illusion of legitimacy.

Buyers prefer the family over the company.

But Amazon will like both.

What they DON'T LIKE are one man operations shipping a lot of packages and running a lot of money through accounts.

I read these posts several times but I'm still not clear on this. If you "mark as read", does that count as a response in Amazon's scoring system?