Incorrect Variation - Policy Violation Warning

#1

We’ve received a violation report stating that a violation among our variation has been detected.

For context, our products are divided into variations that are categorized according to either their size or color.

The first violation sent prompted us to check our variations and there was a SKU which isn’t in it’s proper group.

After talks with Amazon Support, it was found that a department called Amazon Retail was a contributing factor to the transfer of a SKU to another variation which lead to improper variations.

We fixed everything and had everything in the proper variations. However when we appealed discussed that we were not the ones who moved stuff around but we fixed things to Amazons standards, Amazon kept on declining our appeal and still keeps it as a violation.

How can we fix this?

#2

Hello @Atherton_Home_Drinkw ,

This is Abella and would help with your questions.

From the post above, I understand that you have concerns on your listings as your ASIN got removed due to listing violations - Incorrect variations.

Variations are sets of products that are related to one another. Good variation relationship listings allow buyers to compare and choose products based on different attributes such as size, colour or other characteristics from the available options on a single product detail page. For more information, refer to Variation Relationships Overview.

Also you can’t add a brand name under the generic item.

Please click here to learn more on ASIN creation policy

To reactivate your listing, kindly submit more detailed Plan of action.

  • Acknowledgement of violations
  • Root cause analysis/identification
  • Corrective actions taken immediately to resolve the issue
  • Proactive steps that will be taken to maintain compliance

You can use the following guidelines to create your plan of action:

**Be clear and concise. ** Your plan of action should be factual and direct. Focus on the facts and events that led to the issue.

If you have further questions, please keep us posted. The forums community and I, are here to assist you with your concerns.

Regards,
Abella.

#3

Personally, I would just ignore it - we also have them from time to time and it’s always an issue with Amazon, not ourselves. We have tried to provide the information that they ask for, but within a few minutes you receive the automated reply that the appeal has been rejected.

In our case, we own the products and the variations we create are legitimate and within TOS.

Until Amazon start to monitor these violations with humans and actually listen to what is being told to them, you will just go round and round in circles and waste your time.

#4

This is interesting. I have the same problem. Amazon says that we have inconsistent child variations and they removed 2 child listings. I checked the Parent Product and it has different colours and sizes of the parent product and I cannot find any trace of the child variations they removed in my account. Perhaps they don’t belong us.

I appealed and asked for clarification but 2 seconds later it was rejected. i don’t think they read my email. They sent an automated response.

#5

They reply with the same automated email to my second email as well.

How can I resolve this issue ? Do I need to phone somebody? But will they be able to help ?
It is so frustrating and time consuming.

#6

I have checked the SKUS Amazon stated that they removed due to inconsistent child variations issue further and they don’t belong to our catalogue and we didn’t list them. We own the parent ASIN with many variations but the removed SKUS don’t belong to us.
I am going around the circles with Amazon. I emailed 4 times and each time I am receiving an automated response in 2 minutes stating that appeal is rejected.
I don’t know what else to do.
You said that they could be ignored but what happens at the end of the 6 month if they are not resolved. This is giving me additional stress now. So frustrating.

@Atherton_Home_Drinkw how did you resolve this at the end? I am in the same situation and it is very frustrating. I don’t even own the removed child skus. They must have been listed by somebody else but I Own the parent sku. I cannot have plan of action since they are not my products but my appeal gets rejected in 2 minutes each time. i cannot explain.

#7

We still have the same issue. We have a parent product that we manufacture of a 6-set pack. We want to add a 4-pack set and a replacement parts for the 6 and 4 packs. We did this and received the violation, twice. Every appeal comes back as an automated response and is in no way helpful.

I have since learned that customers would need to buy our product (original 6 pack) and then when they need a replacement part, instead of going back to the original listing and adding it on, they would have to search and find the listings for it.

Go Amazon! Makes complete sense to me.

#8

You can add the 4 pack as a variation on the 6 pack but not replacement parts as they are not true variations

#9

But it no different to say buying a washing machine you wouldn’t expect all the replacement parts to be part of the washing machine listing you would expect them to be individual listings for each spare part.

Same would go for a printer, you wouldn’t expect the ink to be variations of the printer listing. It would again be separate listings.

I think on this one Amazon is right they are not true variations.

What is probably annoying is that you have no way of linking the replacement parts to the actual listing. Which I agree makes little sense and is of no help to the customer.

#10

Probably the closest to this would be setting up a PPC campaign for the replacement parts to target the ASIN for the main item, which seems really unwieldy, inefficient, and potentially expensive for little benefit.

#11

I still think it’s utterly ridiculous and counter-intuitive to be honest.

The 6 pack contains A, B, C, D, E and F
The 4 pack contains A. B, C, and D
The 4 pack replacement contains D, D, D and D

It is the most logical set up for this type of product and we are the manufacture. I cannot understand why we would even want to sell the replacement packs in another listing because they are essentially the same as the original packs and you wouldn’t likely purchase them by having to search.

It would also likely evoke customer negative feedback “I bought this 6 pack and wanted to buy the replacement packs too, but they don’t sell them” etc etc.

The only logical way I can get around it is to create an infographic pointing the customer to a separate listing. Madness if you ask me, especially considering on our own website we regularly sell the 6 pack, with a few extra replacement packs as the upsell in the same product page.