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Small Businesses/ New Sellers Run!
IF you're a small business/ new seller please read all the horror stories written by many before you. Heed the warnings and Run! Amazon will ruin you. There are no protections for you against fraud here. None. How can you owe $12,000 in ad clicks and impressions with no sale? Fraud! and they let their people get away with it too. Ask questions and you get your account closed...while still owing $12,000 worth of unaccounted clicks with no sales!!! There is no hope for you here. I should have listened to those before, and I didn't. SMH. AMAZON IS THE ENDOF SMALL BUSINESS
32 replies
Seller_OvL8C4BJWiuS9
It's all relative as to how much research, time and effort you put into your endeavor.
Yes, Amazon is one of the most difficult platforms to sell on (legitimately) and yes, they do not hold your hand and yes, Amazon has groomed their buyers to be fraudulent, lie, cheat and steal. It is your responsibility to continually adjust and change your business model to combat these issues.
Seller_YHJfIiFVgZLru
No one investing their time, money and energy is expecting for their hands to be held on amazon. Also, I've been here long enough to know the usual forum post "influencer" responses. Those who know, KNOW. No need to earn commission here. No amount of seller university courses and videos are going to prevent click fraud with amazon gaslighting you into believing it's all imaginary. Who clicks on an ad for flip flop slippers 1000 times in winter????? How many ppl are searching for flip flop view it over and over again over a million times in WINTER?????? Get outta here.
Seller_dkvNFPkFjSVLg
As a multiple small business owner who has been on Amazon for 18+ years, I totally 100% DISAGREE with you.
If you have $12K in PPC - then you did not set budgets correctly.
If you fail or succeed - its on each business owner.
Those that blame Amazon dont understand the way things work here. Amazon is a tool to use, not everyone knows how to use some tools!
Amazon is the single largest pool of customers. 30-50% of ALL online sales in nearly every category happen on Amazon. Even Hyundai is selling cars here now.
Its true that Amazon is moving from hobbyist sellers to brand owners - but there is room to succeed for nearly any business. You just have to realize that you are playing by Amazon's rules - not yours!
Seller_tiQ1M3C7NtbDp
Maybe you should have kept a better eye on your campaigns....
Seller_DBzTQPDCouH9d
This is absolutely correct, too.
Seller_EIvjZFMoS70AU
What I have learned when using ads is to TOTALLY IGNORE Amazon's suggestions because those suggestions ONLY benefit Amazon. Their suggestions HAVE NEVER led to my increasing profit. Take small steps, use lower budgets and minimal keyword prices to see what words are helpful or wasteful. Ignore their keyword price suggestions by half or more. Adjust weekly as you see the ROAS for that campaign. Bear in mind that the ROAS is only a reference since it does not take into mind your actual costs to create, ship, and manage the product. I always try to keep my ROAS over 5, or I am just paying Amazon to sell my products at cost.
However, I will allow a lower ROAS when launching a new product since it is a necessary step to receive product exposure and eventually get the reviews you need.
I understand your frustration about the $12,000. I did something similar on Google ads many years back, and it was a hard lesson to learn that any company that provides you with the capacity to place ads DOESN'T CARE if you make a dollar. They are only there to absorb whatever you are willing to bleed.
As others have already noted, Amazon does not hold your hand and seems to create unnecessary hurdles for what should be simple things. However, the overall bottom line is that Amazon's revenue capacity far outweighs what you can often experience elsewhere. There is no magic wand with placing a ton of ads. Work on getting reviews and improving product quality, images, and text; and then the product will eventually sell itself.
Seller_YHJfIiFVgZLru
TO THE FORUM INLUNCERS HARD AT WORK: Thanks for your "input." Could you please advise on how many seller university courses I'll need to complete in order to protect myself against dishonest, cutthroat, decency-deficient competitors that artificially hyperinflate click-costs then repeatedly click on your ads to drain your advertising funds? And please don't quote the standard amazon has click detection algorithm, blah blah story cause we know that ain't doing nuttin.' It's amazing how this platform actually has sellers gaslighting themselves and others. Folks protecting and identifying with the abuser. The only people that don't want this aired out are the "sellers" benefiting from it or doing the clicking. They have been doing so for years.
Seller_Ha6JyVvDK6Ybs
Yup we have never been stupid enough to do ads if it don't sell natural we sell it somewhere else everyone has to draw a line somewhere and what we have seen over the years with listings sabotaged by amazon search terms and titles deleted you can not trust anything!
Seller_BeWo5Xt3t43rn
Advertising on AMAZON is a quick way to lose money with poorly placed ads with no connection to the catalog pages they appear on. Sponsored listings in search are rarely useful partly due to AMAZON SUCKY SEARCH! but if you get products listed that have already a national recognition you do not have to advertise and you can make money here.
Danny_Amazon
Hello @Seller_YHJfIiFVgZLru- and thank you for starting this discussion.
I appreciate the guidance offered to newer sellers on the importance of analyzing the processes and policies inherent to selling on Amazon.
We are all influencers at heart, and we appreciate users on the forums looking to help each other, though I apologize if you did not find that guidance helpful in this case. In accordance with our Community Guidelines, please do refrain from any "Commentary that could be considered disrespectful, including: insults, personal attacks, spiteful remarks, obscenities, profanity, harassment, bullying, defamatory or inflammatory statements."
As I understand you have concerns with the traffic from your campaigns, I wanted to make sure you had some details on Amazon Ads traffic validation systems, and had the pathway to create a case directly with our advertising team for any troubleshooting needs.
Thank you,
Danny
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