Amazon sends ‘policy warning’ to sellers; vendors say marketplace’s monitoring procedure is flawed

Amazon India has over 2 lakh sellers on its platform. And needless to say, the marketplace has to keep a constant check on its seller base to create and maintain a healthy organization.

Warning about removal of Amazon selling privileges

Earlier this week, the US-based ecommerce giant sent a ‘policy warning’ email to select sellers.

“We received buyer complaints about the condition or description of an item they received from you. Your listings are still active. However, we would like you to resolve these concerns in order to avoid additional complaints. Failure to resolve these concerns within 7 calendar days may result in the removal of your Amazon selling privileges,” wrote Amazon in its email.

‘The package is totally different in colour and style’ is one such example of the listings that Amazon received complaints about.

Amazon asked sellers to:

1. Review their listing and make sure the item they are selling exactly matches the product description shown on the detail page and is listed accurately according to Amazon’s Condition Guidelines
2. Prepare a plan of action and email it to pq-sv-review@amazon.in

The etailer has given sellers 7 days to rectify their listings by following the above steps and avoid account suspension. There are third-party service providers too who could help sellers in preparing the Plan of Action and following up with Amazon.

“Please remember that additional complaints about your listings may result in the removal of your Amazon selling privileges”, Amazon added.

Amazon’s Seller Performance and Monitoring Procedure is flawed, sellers say

After issuing a trade advisory notice against Flipkart, the seller lobby group All India Online Vendors Association (AIOVA) has done the same against Amazon.

While the vendors association appreciates Amazon’s efforts in keeping the seller ecosystem clean, they believe that the ecommerce biggie needs to work on its seller monitoring system.

“AIOVA welcomes such a step by Amazon as it helps maintain hygiene in the ecosystem. However, Amazon fails to address flaws in their Seller Performance and Monitoring Procedure which is holding even genuine sellers at risk of shutting down their business. As a result of Amazons action, lot of genuine sellers will also be suspended for the time being due to lapse in Amazons procedures. Amazon also holds the sellers’ payment until a decision is made. This is against guidelines issued by Reserve Bank of India,” states AIOVA in its email to Indian Online Seller.

AIOVA’s appeal

• Cooperate with AIOVA and other seller bodies in order to streamline procedural and policy issues which impact a sellers experience on the platform
• If Amazon can suspend a sellers based on its policies, it should also compensate loss of business to wrongly suspended sellers
• Ecommerce needs to be made into a model of Co-Existence instead of a Diktat based unregulated model
• The sellers’ association has also appealed to government of India and Ecommerce Committee of Niti Aayog to bring Alternate Dispute Redressal systems like tribunals so that sellers can be compensated for mental harassment and loss of sales for unjust suspension, claim unreleased funds, fight unjust policies issued by marketplaces

Sellers, did you receive the ‘policy warning’ email from Amazon? If so, then what was the nature of the complaint that led to this? Do you think it is a fair warning or it has no merit?