Does Amazon’s new communication policy affect sellers?
The updated Amazon communications policy will affect all Amazon sellers after 3 November 2020. Sellers who fail to comply with the updated communication guidelines will receive sanctions.
According to the Amazon policy changes, sellers will only be able to send Permitted Messages and Proactive Permitted Messages to buyers, whilst having to follow specific guidelines.
Permitted Messages are any communications which are necessary in order for an order to be completed, or in order to respond to a customer service inquiry. These messages may only be sent by sellers to buyers who have already purchased a product from the seller’s store, or to customers who have contacted the seller regarding the purchase of a product from the seller’s store.
Proactive Permitted Messages are communications by sellers to buyers which are not in response to queries made by the buyers. These messages are initiated by the seller and may be initiated for a number of valid reasons, such as to resolve order fulfilment issues or to verify a custom design.
Amazon sellers may only send Permitted Messages to buyers using direct email, Seller Central Templates, third-party apps available on the Amazon Marketplace app store, and Application Programmer Interface (API).
According to the Amazon guidelines, all messages must be sent by sellers within 30 days of order completion, must include the 17-digit order ID and must be sent in the buyer’s language of preference in order to be permitted.
Amazon sellers will still be able to request product reviews and seller feedback from buyers, however, these requests will need to be in line with the updated buyer-seller messaging guidelines.
These guidelines provide a number of messages which do not qualify as Permitted Messages and may not be sent by Amazon sellers to buyers. These messages include thank you messages, promotional messages and requests for positive product reviews.
The policy changes also include various features which may not be included in Permitted Messages by sellers, such as unsecured links, tracking pixels and contact information.
The updated guidelines include specific styling features which may not be included in Permitted Messages, such as emojis, GIFS and spelling errors.
The updated communication guidelines provide Amazon sellers with specific instructions regarding problem-with-order messages and return-related messages. Sellers will need to communicate any problems with an order with the customer and allow buyers the opportunity to cancel orders. If an order is cancelled by a buyer, the seller will need to initiate the refund process.
If an Amazon seller fails to comply with the updated communications policy after 3 November 2020, Amazon may apply restrictions on the seller. These restrictions include limiting a seller’s Proactive Permitted Messages to only Amazon templates, suspending the sellers selling privileges and blocking any specific messages at the discretion of Amazon.
