I believe that many sellers had a bad Sunday, either because their stores received violation notices or were directly banned from selling. Seven recorded a video solution on Douyin early on Monday morning. Many friends asked after watching it that they had not received performance yet, but they were very worried and did not know where Amazon’s red line was, so this article came out. Everyone knows that Seven never writes articles in a sloppy way. He will not just make a few random summaries from the Internet or write a watered-down article with some official information to catch the hot spots. The article is full of practical information, but this time the time is tight and the task is heavy, and there is no time to find pictures. The text-only version is recommended for both new and old sellers to read patiently, which will definitely help you avoid pitfalls.
Amazon variant determination method
You all say that Seven’s articles are only suitable for experienced sellers and are difficult for novices to understand. In this article, I will start from the most basic.
What are Amazon variations?
Amazon is divided into parent variations and child variations.
A parent variant is a link used to display a child. It can include the characteristics and attributes of its child and can share some content, such as comments (this is also the main reason for everyone's manipulation).
A sub-variant is the actual product after the attributes are crossed, which expresses the actual product features and the Asin link that can be purchased. Each sub-body has its own unique style, color, model, size and other attributes to distinguish different sub-bodies.
There are three common ways to create variants:
1. Direct Release
2. Use form upload
3. Use the Variant Wizard
2. What is variant non-compliance?
The official standard answer is:
1. Basically different products. For example, a dog kennel and a dog leash are under the same parent entity.
2. The name of the variant theme is quite different from the parent theme. For example, the parent theme is a sports mountaineering water cup, but one variant is a children's water cup.
3. Merge long-term unsold products into the parent body. This is mainly to deal with seed links and avoid manipulating comments.
4. The sub-body images are quite different. For example, yesterday a customer ordered a square table and a round table under the same parent body, and the prices were different. This is a typical case of large image differences.
5. Changing the image information, resulting in a significant difference from the original product release. For example: the old link is out of stock, but there are a lot of reviews, so change the image and send the new model directly.
The above answers are official content. Many self-media articles have posted the above five points, but you have read Seven's articles. The above answers alone are definitely not enough. The following are a few points that Seven has encountered or actually confirmed that sellers have encountered and been judged to be in violation.
6. Repeatedly create sub-bodies. Create multiple sub-variants with the same attribute parameters under the same parent body.
7. Merge the old and new links. This is similar to the third point, but it mainly targets seed links (seed links will not work in the short term).
8. There are multiple different manufacturers under the parent body. The main reason for this is still mostly due to the merging of reviews (in the store) or carelessness when posting.
9. Separate the variants with poor reviews. Many sellers may do this or have already done it. Indeed, some sellers have recently received violation warnings for this reason. In essence, Amazon believes that you have influenced the reviews.
10. Comments that are not from your brand/store appear under the parent body (merge zombies). Needless to say, the last one is a standard black operation and is strictly prohibited.
At this point, you may have discovered that the essential purpose of Amazon’s making such violation determinations is still that it does not want sellers to use any means to influence your link reviews!
Five solutions to violations
1. I have committed minor violations, such as merging new and old links, but Amazon did not give me any warnings.
Seven’s personal suggestion is that if the store has not received such violation warnings, you can choose not to split it up first, because splitting it up will inevitably affect your sales. Member’s Day is coming soon, and everyone has a lot of stock. In addition, inventory fees are quite expensive now, and sales permissions will not usually be closed for the first minor violation.
2. I have committed serious violations, such as merging zombies, or most of the links in the store are made up of seed links.
(Amazon calculates violations by item, not by times. A single violation will record the number of items you merged. Please pay attention to this concept.) If you have received performance notifications before, but did not receive an email this time, then it is recommended that you take the initiative to split these illegally merged links. (Seven cannot 100% guarantee that you will not be affected by performance after splitting. I can only say that some of the links of some customers I have contacted who have done similar operations have not been judged as violations this time.)
3. I have a minor violation and Amazon has split my variants or has split my variants before.
I have seen this kind of situation many times in the wig category. Sellers usually try to merge them back together by using a form or finding a service provider.
But this time, I suggest you never do this again. If you have been split before, and you take the initiative to merge again, you may lose your sales rights next time instead of admitting your mistake, because every merger you make after Amazon splits you may be judged as a second violation.
If you find that your variant has been split, just leave it alone and sell the link separately. Don’t merge it again. (PS: Please note that not all categories cannot be merged again after being split. Amazon also allows the correct variants to be merged after being split. It’s just that I think most sellers cannot judge which split variants can be merged correctly under the existing rules. If you know clearly who has the problem, you can merge it yourself, but if you can’t tell the difference or there are multiple cases, it is recommended not to merge)
4. Those who have already received performance benefits for minor violations (as shown below)
Image source: Amazon Performance Email
Although it is very serious, at least there is still a chance to admit the mistake. This situation usually occurs when it is a minor violation or the first time it is discovered and merged. The solution is relatively simple, admit the mistake and give correction suggestions. But before you take action, Seven still recommends that you ask your account/payment manager to help you check the store status, or how many violation records there are (actually visible). If there are few, then submit directly. If there are many, or there are some problematic Asins that have been discovered and have not been listed for you, take the initiative to remove them yourself, and don't wait for Amazon to do it for you.
Referring to what was said in the previous article, you will be judged each time based on the number of items. Who knows which straw will break the camel's back and cause you to lose your sales privileges? Don't count on luck.
In fact, there have been cases where performance notifications were removed after submission (as shown below).
Image source: Amazon removal performance case
5. Directly lose sales privileges (as shown below)
Image source: Amazon ban case
This is the most troublesome, and I have not heard of anyone being able to pass it so far. It must be done by submitting a POA.
Before writing a POA, it is still recommended that you contact your account or payment manager to check the number of violations and the specific reasons for the violations (this action is very necessary because the emails are often not marked very specifically). If there are fewer records, or it is caused by the merging of violations within the store, then follow the standard process:
1. Apologize, admit mistakes and show sincerity
2. Analyze and arrange the problems one by one and explain the reasons
3. Propose improvement methods according to the order of problems
4. Emphasize the determination to improve
5. Express the hope for Amazon’s understanding and forgiveness, and express the determination not to make the same mistake again next time.
If you have merged a large number of zombies and found hundreds of related violation records, it would be difficult to write a POA. You should try to get the money and goods out, or wait and see. Some sellers have recovered two or three months after the last brand removal. (Rumor has it that XXXX promotion can remove your goods. Rumor has it. I have never operated it. Don't ask me for the channel.)
How can I avoid the above problems? Important knowledge points in this article! Please read the following suggestions carefully
1. You will definitely not be able to merge other people's zombies anymore. Currently, the penalty for this is the most severe. Others who dismantle their own, create duplicates, make their own small seeds, and can appeal if they are discovered, but those who merge other people's will basically have their sales rights suspended this time.
2. Amazon's essential logic is to determine whether the child variant already exists when you create it under the parent variant. For example, if you use the child to send Vine, the child variants that were created together before, separated, and then merged back together are considered to have a blood relationship. So far, no violation has been seen. However, if the child variants are created independently, receive comments, and then merged back together, I have heard that they can get performance benefits. This is similar to non-blood-related adoption. Well, you see, my use of the word blood relationship is very appropriate.
3. Amazon provides many variation options, but you cannot use all of them for all products. For example, for clothing, if you combine colors and sizes, there will be no problem, because clothing itself has such variation attributes. But if you sell a mobile phone case, you must add model, size, and style variations. It would be strange if it is not removed. Just like the example I mentioned above, I saw the toys they sold in a review for a customer yesterday. Although they belong to the same sub-node and have the same keywords, the length, shape, and color are completely different. For this kind of link, my advice is to remove it yourself.
4. Some operations we used to do in the past, such as removing ASINs with bad reviews and creating new ones, or creating seed links between cross-category products, are no longer necessary. However, for iterative products, if you change one or two pictures with minor changes, I have tested it myself and have not encountered any problems. Therefore, I suggest that you can preset two sub-variants when releasing new products in the future (those who understand will understand, so I won’t elaborate)
After reading the article, you can check your own store based on the situations listed by Seven to see if there are any violations of Amazon. If they are minor, you can temporarily stop. I think it is impossible for Amazon to trace back all the links from 2016 to now. In addition, if there are indeed a large number of mergers or illegal operations, you can take the initiative to remove them after checking them yourself, just in case.
This article comes from online submissions and does not represent the analysis of kookeey. If you have any questions, please contact us
