Stranger than fiction: Amazon seller support caught quoting FBA Mastery in emails to Amazon sellers.
When you thought Amazon seller support couldn’t get any worse
When I checked my email this morning, I literally thought this was a hoax.
This was the subject line, from an FBA Mastery reader:
The email read:
Attached was a screenshot of a live chat with Amazon Support. Context: The sender was inquiring with Seller Support about the the recent ASIN-restrictions, and asked a question many of us are asking Amazon right now:
Amazon busted for plagiarism
Then Seller Support responded with something that should look very familiar to readers of this site:
Does this look familiar?
It looks familiar to me – I wrote it.
The entire response from Amazon (save the first two sentences) are lifted directly from yesterday’s FBA Mastery article.
Seller calls out Amazon Support for lying
This astute Amazon seller (and FBA Mastery reader) did the coolest thing possible: Called Amazon out for plagiarism.
Busted.
What’s an Amazon Support person to do?
Support person admits lying… sort of
Sometimes when you’re caught, you just have to own it. At least a little.
Amazon Support has abused sellers for years
The rage among the Amazon selling world over the utter incompetence and indifference of Amazon support is reaching a boiling point. Otherwise composed people become totally unhinged when recounting their interactions with Amazon. I’m one of them.
It’s hard to overstate how terrible Amazon support is.
So yes, Amazon Seller Support is already famously terrible and inept. But Googling answers?
Dear Amazon: I’m flattered, really. But get your own material.
-Peter Valley
PS: Here’s the side-by-side comparison.
And the three snippets from the FBA Mastery article they “borrowed” this from:
PPS: Here’s another screenshot worth sharing:
This is awesome. Twenty bucks says the Amazon Seller Support rep is your #1 Fan Bob Willey.
^^^Hahaha! Love this!!
Solid theory, except unlike Bob Wiley, our friend Jodhbir 1) Showed signs of a pulse, 2) Didn’t cough up dust when he talked (as far as we can tell), 3) Actually knows something about selling on Amazon (even if he lifted it from FBA Mastery).
And add #4.) DIdn’t get fired from one of the largest online selling coaching groups for ornery, spiteful behavior
This doesn’t sound like the teddy bear that I know. SHOCKING.
They are definitely dodging the question. As for taking legal action against them for plagiarism, do you really want to take on the big guys? They could use that against you and bring your sales to a crashing halt. It’s hard to let them get by with this, but you have to consider the possible repercussion for calling them out.
The lawyer line was sarcasm.
Sarcasm.
Wow, that sheds some light on Seller Central practices, doesn’t it? Kudos to you, though, for doing such great work.
As bizarre as this is, it provides no insight to the current FBA bookseller’s dilemna. I’ve had a good number of FBA reps provide responses that are clearly untrue. For instance, I’ve had several bad feedbacks removed when the FBA rep said that the buyer clearly was leaving feedback based on the item’s content rather than its condition (when my request and the buyer’s comments were 100% in the opposite direction). I view all of the quotes from FBA reps with suspicion. I doubt any of them have any basis for what they say, but if one or two do how would we know which one?
Regardless, the FBA rep plagiarizing Peter is priceless. Truth is stranger than fiction. My only guess is that someone had written in to FBA with a query on this issue and passed along the link to an FBA rep. In a later conversation, the hapless FBA rep, being told nothing by his superiors spit out the only thing he had that attempted to address the issue.
I do feel a little bad for them. Clearly they have not been given any real information to use to answer the questions they are getting about the ASIN restrictions.
save for a day you “might need it” and my assessment is there is still no clear answer to the original question. He that Amazon employee could not find an answer inside their own material they went outside out of laziness or other. Maybe several others should try this to see if you get quoted again. Still has me wondering what the real truth is.
They have no official statement to draw from, which is pretty crazy considering the volume of inquiries they must be getting from this.
Maybe SIRI has a part time job in Seller Support? ?
I had considered there isn’t even a real person on the end of the line often times. Amazon is smart enough (and most seller inquiries are probably dumb enough) that they could build an AI program that handled the bulk of it.
They are also disallowing lots of other items in addition to books. I hope it does end today.
I love that they left in the part that says “for those of us who do serious business in long tail books…. most of my shipments have an average rank of worse than 1 million.” Oh, you’re selling books, too, Jodhbir????
LOL xD
He’s a real man of the people.
It just goes to show you they are flying completely blind with regards to this issue. Scary. That’s how arbitrary these system wide changes can be at Amazon. Time to diversify.
come on, its funny yet sad..these reps have no guidance from above, left to fend for themselves..serious fault of management..
I don’t know how you implement a change like this without a prepared statement. Totally weird.
A new low for seller support. Not only can you not get an answer most of the time, but when you do, it’s from somebody else!
They should have stolen something that actually addressed the question.
It troubles me that Amazon Support doesn’t have their own policies or program directions to refer to, and that they have to look to outside sources.
Peter, are you secretly Jeff Bezos?
Why else would Seller Support feel so comfortable quoting you?
Busted. My email list is just one big focus group.
Send them a bill for training Seller Support reps. At $1 per rep, it should be a nice fee!
Their blunder brought some serious traffic to FBA Mastery, so we’re even.
At least the response was in coherent English, for a change. 🙂 Most of the responses I get are complete nonsense, and do not address my issue at all.
I got an email one time from Amazon for a listing on balloons, where someone complained I had stolen their intellectual property rights. Amazon blocked my listing. Here is what they told me: “To maintain a trusted marketplace for buyers and sellers, we take immediate action to address rights owner complaints regarding infringements of their intellectual property rights.”
So feel free to use that quote from them to make your case. 🙂
Classic.
They thought your article is in public domain
I do give a certain “pre-1920s” flair to my prose.
Amazon is beginning to lose some of it’s shimmer with me. They have lost so much of my stuff it is shocking. Now this.
Not leaving the Amazon but moving forward with caution. Time to deversify platforms.
I have found that most Amazon reps can only quote from the FBA manual. They really don’t have a clue what is going on.
I do feel bad for them.
Complete with your original typo! (“Amazon wants items that *full* under a certain demand threshold”)
It wouldn’t be an article from me if it didn’t have one glaring typo.
This is scary knowing that seller support is run just like every other chat/call center; out sourced and under managed. I expected more from a billion dollar business dealing with smaller businesses through seller support. So unsetteling. My advice?… have multiple sources of incomes with Amazon being less than 25% of the make-up. Something big and disastrous is happening with them.
They probably just bought your book, Amazon Is On Autopilot.
Ba-dum-bum. Or however you spell that.
Thought this was funny, when the ASIN error message appeared, I wrote to Seller Support, sent them a copy of the error message, explained it was a book that had no FBA listings, etc, etc – very thorough and this is the message I got back. Laughed so hard – computer advice? Needless to say, I wrote back and let them know my “cache” was fine and repeated all my info – they still haven’t gotten back to me.
Greetings from Fulfillment by Amazon,
Hi Smartshopper101, thank you for contacting us and bringing this case to our attention.
This is AJ, the associate who is handling your case. I understand that you are having an error in adding a product for FNSKU X000ZF88WD and I do apologize for the inconvenience that this issue has caused you.
I’m sorry to learn of the trouble you’re experiencing navigating our site. This may be due to your disk cache being full. A cache is a file in your computer where web pages are stored, enabling you to navigate the web more efficiently.
While your cache can speed up your web navigation, you might start to have problems when the cache begins to fill up. It’s a good idea to clear your cache on a regular basis, especially if you are having problems viewing web pages.
The procedure for clearing your disk cache will depend on the web browser you are using.
If you are using Microsoft Internet Explorer, click on “Tools” and then “Internet options” or “Options.” Once you locate the Temporary Internet Files section, click the buttons labeled “Delete Files” and “Clear History.”
If you are using Netscape, click on “Edit,” followed by “Preferences.” Under the Advanced tab at the bottom you’ll see a choice labeled Cache. Click on both “Clear Memory Cache” and “Clear Disk Cache.”
If you are using AOL, go to the Settings menu and click “Preferences.” In the Organization section, click on “Internet Properties (WWW).” Find the Temporary Internet Files section and click “Delete Files,” then click “OK.”
Besides clearing your cache, there are a few other things that may help. First, you should click the “Reload” or “Refresh” button on your browser. This will prompt our system to send you a fresh version of a page, rather than the page saved in your computer’s memory. Secondly, if you are using an older version of your browser, we recommend that you upgrade to the latest version. This will ensure that your browser is optimally compatible with our web site.
In case the error is still showing up, please write us back. We will keep this case open for 48 hours while waiting for your response.
Again, please accept my sincere apologies for the inconvenience that this issue has caused you. It is certainly not our intention to cause anything but a great selling experience on Amazon.
Have a great day.
Thank you for selling with Amazon,
AJ C.
Amazon.com Seller Support
That’s even worse than the FBA Mastery quotes!
Seller support: making it …or is it faking it… up as they go along? Color me shocked.
Such confidence inspiring stuff here. Be afraid. Be veeeerrrrry afraid.
Well, so sue me, I quote you just about everyday! :o)
A few months ago I asked support if I’m allowed to buy via Prime and sell the same item via FBA. On 4 different occasions they said it was perfectly ok. Only when I insisted that this was incorrect is that they escalated it to a US based support and he promptly and in perfect English told me that it’s a violation. So be really careful of what advice you get.
You;re the best, Frank! LoL!