Daily Anxiety from selling at the moment

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Seller_NYC4NGj02rBuM

Daily Anxiety from selling at the moment

Hello all, seeking a bit of mental help.

I find Amazon quite stressful at the best of times, but since my stores have been shut it has taken a lot of pressure off my business and helped me through this tricky time in terms of sales.

However, my Amazon Anxiety levels are currentlly really high, I feel shortness of breath when opening messages, lack of sleep and other symptons. The simple thought of another unreasonable negative feedback, customer saying they havent had their item when tracking shows as delivered, “can Ihave a refund but i’ve thrown away the box” message and just the rude messages from people who do not believe they are talking to a human with no - hello, can you help me - just abrupt rudeness is becoming far too much to handle.

Just wondering how one detaches from these stresses.

Thanks

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Seller_yz9PZ0VqNasdD

I’ve been there.
I’ve been selling on Amazon for 15 years. At first, I was obsessed with feedback. The first neg I had was like the end of the world had come. Couldn’t sleep. Sick to the stomach etc etc. Then I got targeted by another seller who left 4 more negs.
Then my first A-Z. My first “Used Sold as New” complaint. My first abusive e-mail. My first violation of something or other.
Every message is probably bad news. Someone complaining. Item not received. Item damaged. Wrong item sent.
At first i would bend over backwards. Send replacement. Lose money. Write letter begging for removal of feedback.
It took me about 12 years to get to a point where I can finally not stress about any of these things. I could quote you something glib like “life’s too short” etc etc. But the key thing is to cover as many angles as possible. EG. Don’t send anything untracked. Buy Amazon postage so u can’t get negs for INRS. Buy stock from wholesalers so as to be able to evidence proper invoices. Monitor foreign tracking and proactively inform customers if a delay is looming. I could go on. Basically, cover yourself as much as possible. Once you’ve done that, you’ll sleep easier at night. Good luck

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Seller_C6ohuOGC6d0YY

simple tai chi for half hour every morning and in the late evening if needed to clear my mind .
don’t laugh or dismiss it , I chucked away the zombie pills from the doctor 10 years ago now and have never looked back.
jane xx

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Seller_x1xMSBwZsJrTE

The key to dealing with rude customers is ‘The iron hand in the velvet glove’.

Keep your responses polite and professional, and take control of the situation. Make sure you are running the agenda, not them. Know your rights and obligations but know theirs too. If necessary tell them what those rights and obligations are.

Give them a few limited options and stick to them. Don’t let them run the show.

Don’t be intimidated by threats, stick to your guns.

It works.

Been selling here 10 years with 100% pos lifetime feedback and can count the number of A-Z’s on two hands.

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Seller_sFEUMUfeW5484

I hear you and also feel your pain. For me it’s mainly that we need the sales that Amazon provide but every day is as though Amazon are actually trying to shut you down.

They remove listings in a blanket fashion, due to words like mask etc. Then they restrict 1000’s of listings because your 5p over what they rule as being a fair price, even though there are other sellers with much higher prices.

They offer a system of seller support that is so unfit for purpose that using it actually causes further damage and stress.

The choice seems to be lots of sales with lots of stress or a big drop in sales but little to no stress.

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Seller_P9WE9DmQhKbaT

I don’t claim any originality but…

I have about 100 email drafts for dealing with all customer complaints and queries etc. On the now fairly rare occasions a new issue comes along , but which I think could be repeated I carefully label the reply. Apart from the convenience of having these replies, I find it helpful that whatever comes up I already know how I am going to deal with the issue.

Just a few examples of the titles of drafts I have include

2d tracking INR 1st letter
Claims with 2d tracking 2nd letter
Overseas a bit late 1st letter
Lost book 1st letter (xmas variation)
deckle edge complaint
part refund or return for book with faults
Email/letter regarding INR customer -ignores previous messages
Annotation etc noted in negative feedback comment
Feedback, positive comment, request removal

etc etc

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