Amazon bots gone crazy on product listing violations
I've had several items recently where Amazon have said they will pull the listing as it either requires additional CE documentation or is against some policy.
1. A lampshade which Amazon has decided is a toy so requires CE documentation. Appealed and was sent back a message saying they could not find anything wrong with the listing and it would be re-instated. Several weeks later and it has not been re-instated.
2. A T-Shirt which Amazon has again decided is a toy so requires CE documentation. Appealed this and was told in their opinion it is a toy so cannot progress it further.
3. A lamp that Amazon says does not come with a standard UK 3-pin plug. Description of item clearly states it has a UK plug. Outside packaging also states it comes with a UK plug. Appealed the decision sending photos of the packaging which specifically says 'Mains plug UK included' - but apparently this is not good enough. Amazon are not prepared to accept the manufacturers word or the details on the packaging - I have to take a photo of the item showing an actual plug attached which means I have to unbox one of the items and then try to box it again to re-sell. Really? Does everyone selling electrical items really have to submit a picture to Amazon of the actual item showing that it comes with a plug?
Its getting ridiculous now. I waste so much time with these stupid bot decisions that I have pulled listings as I cannot be bothered to argue anymore. I will sell them on other marketplaces instead.
5 replies
Seller_tRuvBEHDedp4q
Tried to appeal the lamp that Amazon says does not come with a fitted plug.
Sent Amazon pictures of the box which says 'Mains plug UK included' and of the item itself with the plug showing. Below is Amazon response - I am used to badly worded responses from Amazon but this takes the biscuit as it is so confusing.
It tells me a paragraph in the product details page is invalid - but I am unable to access the product detail page to see what it says as they have already removed the listing.
It asks me to 'upload this attached images to the product details page for review' - what attached image? the one I sent them showing the item has a plug? I took it on my desk so it would not confirm to Amazon image guidelines anyway. Do we really have to have an image showing plug for every electrical item listed? But again I am unable to access the product listing anyway so that cant be done!!
Looks like I will be pulling yet another item from sale on Amazon because of the stupid bots.
Hello,
We received your appeal, but we are unable to reactivate your ASINs at this time.
Why did this happen?
The product detail page for the ASINs indicated in the next paragraph is not compliant with our policies.
What actions do I need to take?
To reactivate your ASINs, remove the prohibited content indicated below from your product detail page or provide additional evidence of compliance:
ASIN: B08F8R7NP6
Recommended changes to be done: Kindly upload this attached images to the detail page for further review.
The sale of products that are not fitted with either (i) a UK 3-pin plug, or (ii) a non-UK plug permanently fitted with a UK safety-approved conversion plug are prohibited on Amazon.co.uk. For more information on prohibited and approved plugs, please search for the 'Electrical Goods Requirements: Plugs and Sockets' help page in Seller Central. We leveraged a combination of automated means to identify this issue and to make this decision.
Please note that the changes made to the product detail page can take from 2 to 4 hours to reflect in our systems. If after 4 hours the changes are not reflecting correctly, feel free to reopen this case.
Seller_GFH88sQvPEDFd
This is the problem when you have a marketplace like Amazon with a huge range of products with employees who have no specific qualification or training on the products they are selling.
I had one agent trying to explain to me what the uses and category of a product we sell is despite us being in the industry for over 20 years!
This infallible attitude by Amazon is extremely damaging to marketplace sellers, especially professional ones.
Seller_2Ha5RWfyf5NUS
I feel your pain. The bots seem to like taking our products off for Potentially High price violations. You look at the listing, and AMAZON EU are generally there at a higher price. Sounds to me like price fixing.
They have also taken off a Lego item that said 'slime' in the description. WHEN, in the history of Lego, have they ever supplied anything in liquid form?
I tend to list anything they take down on other platforms. Often there are no other offers on Amazon, and collectors will be looking for a specific set. They will then go to other platforms to find it.
I cannot be bothered to argue with robots, Amazon's loss.
Seller_HOiYSweqKM0GO
Yes, we have been receiving notifications that a children's jumper, leggings and jackets are in need of additional CE documentation too.
We have been challenged this by continuously advising Amazon that they are items of clothings. The funny thing is randomly it's been accepting our appeal. By random I mean one size of the same item get approved, then the other size is getting rejected!
We are still persevering and continuously sending the appeal. Each item adjusting the letter of appeal hoping someone will make sense of it and approve that it isn't a toy
Seller_9EVIA75XXLsLl
It's insane. It wouldn't be as bad if Seller Support were capable of resolving the issues, but they're not. They are utterly, staggeringly incompetent. The worst part, though, is the policy violations.
Amazon KNOW their bots don't work properly because the forums are full of people screaming about them not working properly. Issuing policy violations which trash sellers' acounts based on actions taken by bots that are known not to work properly is just lunacy.
We have 2.5 million listings. It is a constant, endless battle trying to fix what the bots make a mess of.
We have literally hundreds of cases open right now trying to fix what they've ruined, all of which we're just banging our head against the wall on.
We have four account level policy violations for 'miscategorisation' of products. They pick an ASIN at random and flag it as miscategorised. This particular polo shirt is in the wrong category. The other 60,000 polo shirts you have in the same category are fine. This one is wrong. We're not telling you why.
And it's impossible to appeal. You send screenshots, explain the issue and just get the response "We received your submission but do not have enough information to remove the categorization violation warning". They don't state what information they need, they just want a three point plan how we'll stop it happening again. We can't. It's not miscategorised. An eight year old can see it's not miscategorised.
The appeal just gives the same answer each time regardless of what we say. The Managing Director's email address says this isn't the correct place to appeal. Not a single part of this - not the bots, not Seller Support, not the appeals process, not the escalation process - is fit for purpose.
Utterly shambolic.
Thanks for reading my blog.
