Amazon Marketplace cutting off low-volume sellers

Discussion in 'Marketplace Discussions' started by cartologist, May 9, 2017.

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  1. quicksrt

    quicksrt Senior Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    I ignored the emailed threats about selling the wrong Columbia music items. Since I had no idea other than CDs perhaps what the hell they were talking about.

    Today I got the email stating my prohibited items have been removed. But looking at my inventory of three hundred plus items it looks the same to me. I don't have but 12 CDs up, and not much Columbia label product. Maybe a sealed Paul Simon album was removed. I am not sure. Still in business!
     
    jsayers likes this.
  2. jsayers

    jsayers Just Drifting....

    Location:
    Horse Shoe, NC
    I got the same email today and I immediately went to check and the small amount of cd's I have for sale are still up, mostly OOP stuff. Whew!
     
  3. quicksrt

    quicksrt Senior Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    Maybe it really is only the real low priced stuff or / and titles on a Sony list of their pure evergreens that they do not want to see die off.
     
    Matthew Tate likes this.
  4. alankin1

    alankin1 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Philly
    Today Amazon removed about 75 titles out of around 400 listed. No real explanation of what criteria they used to remove titles. Not sure of the pattern, but the items removed were more likely to be from major labels. Items remaining were from smaller labels and were more likely to be out-of-print. Now I have to find out what's missing and move it to eBay or elsewhere. What a pain.
     
  5. jsayers

    jsayers Just Drifting....

    Location:
    Horse Shoe, NC
    Interesting - thanks for posting. So maybe in-print, major label stuff is the target area for them......
     
  6. CraigVC

    CraigVC Senior Member

    Location:
    Portland, OR
    This is frustrating for me to read ... It seems possible that they have refined their strategy from whatever carelessly brute-force method they were using that ensnared my seller's account, and resulted in my seller's account being entirely deleted (even though my listings had been hidden/inactive by me for several years while I pause active selling). I called or chatted with Amazon support and was told that I will never ever be able to re-open a new seller's account on my primary Amazon account, either. They suggested that I create a brand-new Amazon account with a different email address, and then I'd be able to create a seller's account within that new account. Which seems like they're encouraging behavior that will result in more sketchy behavior (i.e., why does this seller have multiple Amazon accounts with different email addresses?).

    My hunch is that they serious f'ed up and now they're trying to be more careful going forward. But for those of us caught in the stupidity of the earlier actions, we're SOL as far as selling with Amazon (without jumping through hoops to create new accounts and further complicate our digital lives...).

    Craig.

    P.S. - Prior to inactivating my listings a few years ago, most of what I sold was a few discs a year, mostly MFSL/DCC/Audio Fidelity discs, older out-of-print or hard to find CDs, earlier pressings, indie rock labels, etc. Rarely if ever "major labels" (and typically "alt rock" artists on those labels, not the mega-superstar artists). So my seller's account should never have been flagged, based on that criteria. And to delete my account without warning, explanation, or notification. Really crummy.
     
    Hotdog and jsayers like this.
  7. Amazon deals directly with the bigger labels these days. It wouldn't surprise me if this pseudo attempt to police third party sales was a condition imposed on them by the labels.

    It's like using a hammer instead of a scalpel to stop counterfeit sales.
     
    jsayers likes this.
  8. jsayers

    jsayers Just Drifting....

    Location:
    Horse Shoe, NC
    From the major label's pov it makes sense, though. They know they lose a lot of sales on new product when there's tons of marketplace sellers listing the same cd's for a tiny fraction of the new list price. I don't think this has a lot to do with counterfeits at all.
    THAT was making it impossible for marketplace sellers to list dvd/Blu-ray boxed sets that retail for over $29.99 that hurt me a while back. :realmad:

    Just sayin'. :shrug:
     
  9. quicksrt

    quicksrt Senior Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    They won't even tell us what items were deleted - which would help us from listing things on their no-no list in the future.

    If they would just be upfront about which items are not wanted on the site it would be fair and easy, but no.
     
    Dave likes this.
  10. Malina

    Malina Forum Resident

    Location:
    NYC
    Nope.
     
  11. Malina

    Malina Forum Resident

    Location:
    NYC
    I checked some bookmarks and tried to list some relatively high dollar oop new cd's with good luck on some and not others. I get a pop up that reads "You need approval to list Popular Music products." When you click on that it asks you to submit invoices from the distributor or manufacturer. I gather they are gauging sales of the item using some kind of metric and that calculus combines new and used item. There is only one seller listing 3 new copies of this, for example, and I can't list one. How many used and new sets can they sell?

    Amazon.com: Buying Choices: Rock Instrumental Classics 1-5
     
    Last edited: Aug 15, 2017
  12. Malina

    Malina Forum Resident

    Location:
    NYC
    This makes no sense. Only three sets of the Rhino Tony Joe White set for sale and this is a "Popular Music product"? How do they make this determination, I wonder. I assume there is a time frame for the measurement so eventually this listing would become not popular.

    Amazon.com: Buying Choices: Swamp Music: The Complete Monument Recording

    One new copy and no used copies and I can't sell one. This is pretty stupid.

    Amazon.com: Buying Choices: Shake a Tail Feather: The Best of James & Bobby Purify by James Purify, Bobby Purify (2002-04-23)
     
    Last edited: Aug 15, 2017
    Matthew Tate likes this.
  13. Malina

    Malina Forum Resident

    Location:
    NYC
    And here is some more good news I discovered yesterday. You cannot add a description of your item if it's new. Nothing. WTF? I was on the phone with various Amazon reps in foreign countries and in the end I was unable to lodge my complaint with anyone who is not getting paid 2 bucks an hour.

    I actually bought a cd a few weeks ago and it had no description and I received a cutout. I complained and the seller told me it was in the description. He didn't know his descriptions were gone so I had to get my shipping cost both ways refunded from Amazon.
     
    Hotdog likes this.
  14. quicksrt

    quicksrt Senior Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    Been this way for months.
     
  15. quicksrt

    quicksrt Senior Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    Tony Joe White certainly is popular genre artist.
     
  16. quicksrt

    quicksrt Senior Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    So you have nothing really to add, except nope?
     
  17. Malina

    Malina Forum Resident

    Location:
    NYC
    It was actually June 23rd, so almost 2 months ago but I only complained to Amazon yesterday. :laugh: I had sort of noticed it, but I thought it was a glitch at first.

    It says, "You need approval to list Popular Music products." What exactly that means is unclear.

    Nope.
     
    Last edited: Aug 15, 2017
  18. Malina

    Malina Forum Resident

    Location:
    NYC
    So I sold the Manhattan Transfer Rhino 2 cd anthology for 40 bucks 2 days ago. Now I went to relist the same item and it won't let me. This sucks, I don't think anyone on Ebay is paying 44 bucks for a Manhattan Transfer anthology. :laugh: I have to figure a workaround.
     
  19. Malina

    Malina Forum Resident

    Location:
    NYC
    I tried to list some TJW titles. On the first page I could list on about half of them, on the second page I could list on almost all of them. I'm guessing that "Popular Music products" has to do with sales.
     
  20. quicksrt

    quicksrt Senior Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    We really need to see some lists of items Amazon Deep-Sixed. Without seeing some lists it is impossible to know what they really are up to.
     
  21. Malina

    Malina Forum Resident

    Location:
    NYC
    I just tried listing on 10 DCC gold cd's and I was able to list on all of them. Then I picked 10 other oop cd's that I figured as rare and I could list 7 or 8 of them. Sales is either significant or dispositive regarding the definition of "Popular Music products".
     
  22. quicksrt

    quicksrt Senior Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    What titles were rejected?
     
  23. Malina

    Malina Forum Resident

    Location:
    NYC
    Sorry, I was just clicking through bookmarks of some oop stuff. Two listing for the same cd - Natalie Cole anthology. Six listings on the first one and I can't sell. No listings on the second one and I can list on there.

    Amazon.com: Buying Choices: Anthology [2 CD]

    Amazon.com: Buying Choices: Anthology by Cole, Natalie Original recording remastered edition (2003) Audio CD

    Only one seller has this Nat King Cole set and I can't sell mine. In six months or a year I'll be able to sell it if it's not selling anymore.

    Amazon.com: Buying Choices: King Cole Trio: Transcriptions
     
  24. Malina

    Malina Forum Resident

    Location:
    NYC
    I think the key here is to find a distributor and buy 12 items. That might not be hard to do. :winkgrin:
     
    Last edited: Aug 16, 2017
  25. alankin1

    alankin1 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Philly
    You can find out which items were deleted indirectly. Go to your inventory listing and click on inactive. Sort by "Date Created / Status Date Changed". Items that were deleted will show up as "inactive" with a date change showing the delete date.
     
    jsayers likes this.
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