Promoting own company via Amazon sales, OK?

[walkingupwards]

Do you think it would be o.k to promote my own business via Amazon sales? A friend of mine is selling on Amazon (Prime through seller) and he ships around 400 packs a day. I am considering putting brochures inside his packages that promote my own website and my own products.


He is totally o.k with it, but I want to make sure it won't get his ass suspended if things go down and Amazon finds out we're doing this



What do you think? Should I go for it or is it a bad idea?

[munkron]

against their terms, you gotta be slick when you do it.

[walkingupwards]

Originally Posted by munkron

against their terms, you gotta be slick when you do it.

But Amazon doesn't own the package that is being shipped. So how come they have the legal right to prohibit putting a brochure inside that package?


I think I am gonna ask a lawyer in the future about this just to be sure.

[darkstranger707]

YMMV. I used to pack some small items in those clear polybags and inside I'd include a feedback request note, along with our company website, phone number, and email.

These were all FBA items, so I called up and was told that we really shouldn't put anything in there that steers the customer away from purchasing items on Amazon.

Then I've also received praise from Amazon reps when a customer would call in and we'd be on a 3 way call to resolve their issue, the reps say they appreciate our swift responses and willingness to help the customer and ease their mind knowing they can get a hold of us.

I definitely have gotten a lot of traffic to my actual website from Amazon, and vice versa. I'm working a better feedback request note that is more so geared to customer service than promoting our brand. A lot of people search our brand name on Google/Amazon and thats how they find us so we don't need much more brand awareness.

So anyway, you should be good as long as you word things carefully. I've ordered items like iPhone screen protectors from big time volume sellers and they always have a business card feedback note. If Amazon were to be against your note you're more likely to get a warning and not a suspension. You can always play dumb.

[walkingupwards]

Originally Posted by darkstranger707

YMMV. I used to pack some small items in those clear polybags and inside I'd include a feedback request note, along with our company website, phone number, and email.

These were all FBA items, so I called up and was told that we really shouldn't put anything in there that steers the customer away from purchasing items on Amazon.

Then I've also received praise from Amazon reps when a customer would call in and we'd be on a 3 way call to resolve their issue, the reps say they appreciate our swift responses and willingness to help the customer and ease their mind knowing they can get a hold of us.

I definitely have gotten a lot of traffic to my actual website from Amazon, and vice versa. I'm working a better feedback request note that is more so geared to customer service than promoting our brand. A lot of people search our brand name on Google/Amazon and thats how they find us so we don't need much more brand awareness.

So anyway, you should be good as long as you word things carefully. I've ordered items like iPhone screen protectors from big time volume sellers and they always have a business card feedback note. If Amazon were to be against your note you're more likely to get a warning and not a suspension. You can always play dumb.

What I want to do is to put a brochure to promote an independent website selling used electronics. I will leave no contact info on that brochure such as e-mails or telephone numbers, the brochure will be designed to say something among these lines:

"Have you ever heard of xyz.com? We have a huge stock of refurbished electronics ready to ship, our prices are fair...bla bla bla"


So the brochure will be solely promoting a 3rd party website. All packages from Amazon sales will be shipped directly by my friend (Amazon Prime through seller), so Amazon will never have physical access to the packages being shipped to inspect them...etc


I mean, my friend or any other seller for that matter owns the package that is being shipped, don't they have the right to put something in it such as a brochure?!!

[walkingupwards]

Originally Posted by tinsoldier

Its against Amazons T&C's and there's verifiable instances of sellers losing their accounts over it. Don't go there.

I actually have no option but to go for it. Driving traffic to own website is nearly impossible without doing so.


I have access to a few Amazon sellers who have a combined shipping volume of thousands of packs a day, so I could literally reach millions of people a year doing this


I have to find a creative way to do it though. Good thing is that non of the packages being shipped will go through Amazon, everything will be handled by the sellers themselves.


I have just read the Amazon Terms of Service and the following is stated:


You may post reviews, comments, photos, videos, and other content; send e-cards and other communications; and submit suggestions, ideas, comments, questions, or other information, so long as the content is not illegal, obscene, threatening, defamatory, invasive of privacy, infringing of intellectual property rights (including publicity rights), or otherwise injurious to third parties or objectionable, and does not consist of or contain software viruses, political campaigning, commercial solicitation, chain letters, mass mailings, or any form of "spam" or unsolicited commercial electronic messages. You may not use a false e-mail address, impersonate any person or entity, or otherwise mislead as to the origin of a card or other content. Amazon reserves the right (but not the obligation) to remove or edit such content, but does not regularly review posted content.


I am a little bit confused right now, does the above include the packages a seller ships to Amazon's customers?


I think I need to contact a lawyer to get to the bottom of this

[walkingupwards]

UPDATE:


I have been reading a bit about the matter. It is against Amazon terms to include promotional material in shipped packages. However, it seems that certain sellers could be able to strike a deal with Amazon that allows them to include such material in their packages. Seems like platinum sellers could make such deals with Amazon.

I am not sure if such deals allow advertising 3rd party websites though!!

[agent006140]

So the brochure will be solely promoting a 3rd party website. All packages from Amazon sales will be shipped directly by my friend (Amazon Prime through seller), so Amazon will never have physical access to the packages being shipped to inspect them...etc


I mean, my friend or any other seller for that matter owns the package that is being shipped, don't they have the right to put something in it such as a brochure?!!
---------------------
I dont see why AMZN would interfere,your friend do his own shipping ,unless his customer complain to Amzn ,HOW WOULD AMZN know,EVEN IF IT KNOWS,so what?
Ebay sellers,Etsy sellers do this all the time.
Once I bought something on Ebay and a coupon comes with it,15% discount on seafood and I did not order anything to do with the sea.

[walkingupwards]

Originally Posted by agent006140

are your friends using AMZN FBA?

No, they all handle shipping themselves. I decided to abstain from the whole thing, seems too risky


I read somewhere that platinum sellers on Amazon could strike deals with Amazon to include promotional slips...etc in their packages, but I highly doubt such deals would allow the advertisement of 3rd party websites.

[walkingupwards]

Originally Posted by agent006140

So the brochure will be solely promoting a 3rd party website. All packages from Amazon sales will be shipped directly by my friend (Amazon Prime through seller), so Amazon will never have physical access to the packages being shipped to inspect them...etc


I mean, my friend or any other seller for that matter owns the package that is being shipped, don't they have the right to put something in it such as a brochure?!!
---------------------
I dont see why AMZN would interfere,your friend do his own shipping ,unless his customer complain to Amzn ,HOW WOULD AMZN know,EVEN IF IT KNOWS,so what?
Ebay sellers,Etsy sellers do this all the time

It is forbidden for sellers to try and subvert sales from the Amazon platform. Let's suppose I see on Amazon (FBM) and I include brochures in my packages that promote a 3rd party website that sells used electronics, in Amazon's eyes, I am driving sales off the Amazon platform and they don't want that.

I know I could get away with doing this for sometime, but eventually the luck will run out and a competitor/mean customer will report this to Amazon. I don't know if Amazon would do a test order in this case or not, but trying my luck is not really wise.


Man!! This pisses me off as f**k, this advertising opportunity is worth gold in my eyes and it would have costed me literally nothing and the best part about it is that I would be sending advertisement to the type of customers who would be very interested in what I am advertising.



#****Amazon

[ebaystealth1974]

If I was selling 400 items a day, no way in hell I'd let you possibly jeopardize my business with your flyers!

[SaiJin]

Originally Posted by walkingupwards

Do you think it would be o.k to promote my own business via Amazon sales? A friend of mine is selling on Amazon (Prime through seller) and he ships around 400 packs a day. I am considering putting brochures inside his packages that promote my own website and my own products.


He is totally o.k with it, but I want to make sure it won't get his ass suspended if things go down and Amazon finds out we're doing this



What do you think? Should I go for it or is it a bad idea?

I think that's ok. It'll be treated as if it's your friend's stuff regardless.

But how about calling amazon and asking them about this? Call a few times and ask the opinions of more than 1 CS

[walkingupwards]

Originally Posted by SaiJin

I think that's ok. It'll be treated as if it's your friend's stuff regardless.

But how about calling amazon and asking them about this? Call a few times and ask the opinions of more than 1 CS

From my experience CS reps don't know **** and Amazon would never accept talking to CS as an excuse


It's done, no need to talk to anybody because the thing is now clear for me as a glass of water... advertising a 3rd party website via Amazon sales will get the account booted


I am starting to look into advertising on social media as an alternative

[agent006140]

many of us dont read the material included,or eat that piece of candy ?
I dont see how AMZN can stop third party seller to include sales material in the package,it is just a sales venue,and you are not doing it on AMZN site.
it is just too farfetched.

[walkingupwards]

Originally Posted by agent006140

many of us dont read the material included,or eat that piece of candy ?
I dont see how AMZN can stop third party seller to include sales material in the package,it is just a sales venue,and you are not doing it on AMZN site.
it is just too farfetched.

Amazon doesn't have the time to police all what sellers do, but if you're a major seller on Amazon and you get reported by someone for including advertising material in your package, Amazon might take action. So it will be like trying your luck

[agent006140]

We are talking third party AMZN sellers who do their own packing and shipping,not AMZN,NOT AMZN FBA.
This is no different than selling on EBay or Etsy or Bonanza,AMZN is just a venue and it is my merchandise and I SHOULD Be able to insert a flyer?
It is my packaging,my item and I ship via USPS, AMZN has no say if I slip a note inside my package.
isay I rent a storefront in your mall,you are the mall operator and I pay you rental,now when a customer comes to my store and buy from me and my cousin who is an expert in iphone repair wants me to give my customer his business card,would you have the rights to object?
Now if I am using AMZN FBA and I asked AMZN worker to insert my cousin flyer,AMZN can refuse,but most FBA would not mind as long as I compensate them for their efforts.

[darkstranger707]

Yeah if you are including a link away from Amazon that's not allowed. But for instance my packaging of my product had printed material with my site on it and they didn't care. Along with our phone number. Email address, ect. Hell even our physical address. See third pic.

https://www.amazon.com/Buttons-Thumb...0148564&sr=8-2


But in that day when we were selling that item we were big. Learned a ton during that period. Was an interesting time...

[walkingupwards]

Originally Posted by darkstranger707

Yeah if you are including a link away from Amazon that's not allowed. But for instance my packaging of my product had printed material with my site on it and they didn't care. Along with our phone number. Email address, ect. Hell even our physical address. See third pic.

https://www.amazon.com/Buttons-Thumb...0148564&sr=8-2


But in that day when we were selling that item we were big. Learned a ton during that period. Was an interesting time...

What I want to do is different, I don't want to tell the customer about the same products I am selling on Amazon and give them a link to a website where they can purchase the same products for a lower price.

I want to tell the customers about a totally different business I am going to run which specializes in used/refurbished electronics like iPhones....etc


So let's say you bought a screen protector from me on Amazon and I shipped your order myself (not FBA), now you get your order and inside the package you find a brochure telling you about a business I am running outside Amazon.


So in a way I will not be diverting sales from Amazon because the products I will be selling through that business are not made available on Amazon by me in the first place.


This is just an advertising idea in my head right now and I will for sure dig deeper into it and see it can work at all. I have some connections with some big sellers on Amazon and many of them would actually help me out if it doesn't hurt them.


In my eyes, this opportunity is worth gold because it would cost me next to nothing. Advertising agencies, Facebook or YouTube will cost millions if I want to reach millions of customers through them, but through doing the above would cost few thousands dollars in printing costs.

[darkstranger707]

Originally Posted by walkingupwards

What I want to do is different, I don't want to tell the customer about the same products I am selling on Amazon and give them a link to a website where they can purchase the same products for a lower price.

I want to tell the customers about a totally different business I am going to run which specializes in used/refurbished electronics like iPhones....etc


So let's say you bought a screen protector from me on Amazon and I shipped your order myself (not FBA), now you get your order and inside the package you find a brochure telling you about a business I am running outside Amazon.


So in a way I will not be diverting sales from Amazon because the products I will be selling through that business are not made available on Amazon by me in the first place.


This is just an advertising idea in my head right now and I will for sure dig deeper into it and see it can work at all. I have some connections with some big sellers on Amazon and many of them would actually help me out if it doesn't hurt them.


In my eyes, this opportunity is worth gold because it would cost me next to nothing. Advertising agencies, Facebook or YouTube will cost millions if I want to reach millions of customers through them, but through doing the above would cost few thousands dollars in printing costs.

I see, but you're still diverting sales which is essentially against TOS. Its a slippery slope and really a matter of your risk tolerance. If its all FBM items the chances of getting into trouble is slim. But its there, and at the end of the day its a measure of risk you want to take. The product I had a billboard on the back of offered all sorts of similar complimentary products, but Amazon didn't care. In fact, Amazon was more concerned with trying to get involved in the action because of the velocity at which these sold at. And at the time we had multiple reps we could call up if anything happened. Just a matter of risk tolerance I'd say. Totally up to you. I can't make that decision for you, I can only speak of my own personal experiences. Based on my own experiences I don't see much of a risk but it is a violation of TOS and one hit to that could cost you your account.

[walkingupwards]

Originally Posted by darkstranger707

I see, but you're still diverting sales which is essentially against TOS. Its a slippery slope and really a matter of your risk tolerance. If its all FBM items the chances of getting into trouble is slim. But its there, and at the end of the day its a measure of risk you want to take. The product I had a billboard on the back of offered all sorts of similar complimentary products, but Amazon didn't care. In fact, Amazon was more concerned with trying to get involved in the action because of the velocity at which these sold at. And at the time we had multiple reps we could call up if anything happened. Just a matter of risk tolerance I'd say. Totally up to you. I can't make that decision for you, I can only speak of my own personal experiences. Based on my own experiences I don't see much of a risk but it is a violation of TOS and one hit to that could cost you your account.

I agree with you. I read that platinum sellers on Amazon could make deals with Amazon to include promotional material in their packages, so I will definitely look into that and see if I could make a contract with Amazon in that regard (if such contract is possible to begin with).

The only risk I run from doing this without Amazon's knowledge is when a competitor buys something from me and then reports my ass to AMZ, the chance of that happening is slim, but I don't want to fall victim to bad luck.

[darkstranger707]

Originally Posted by walkingupwards

I agree with you. I read that platinum sellers on Amazon could make deals with Amazon to include promotional material in their packages, so I will definitely look into that and see if I could make a contract with Amazon in that regard (if such contract is possible to begin with).

The only risk I run from doing this without Amazon's knowledge is when a competitor buys something from me and then reports my ass to AMZ, the chance of that happening is slim, but I don't want to fall victim to bad luck.

Depends on what your sales volume is like. Reach out to Vendor Central if you think you've got what it takes

[glacier922]

how about, using a Amazon Stealth account, maybe a secondary stealth account to sell that same popular brand. And then put those brochures there. So if they suspend your account, they will suspend your secondary stealth account? Just a thought