Amazon’s Unsuitable Inventory Investigation Policy May Dispose or Withhold Seller Inventory
Today I’m going to read to you a new policy change by Amazon, and you need to know about this change. (it’s not particularly good for you)…
Amazon (of course) has worded the change in a way that gives it incredible unfair discretion. Amazon is adding to its policy the following for unsuitable inventory investigations. I’ll tell you what I hate about it. It says under this policy:
“If there is a suspicion that you may have been / are engaged in the sale of counterfeit products or other illegal goods at Amazon, we may require additional information regarding the affected FBA inventory.”
Now, the fact that it’s only FBA is a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel because if you’re merchant fulfilled, this policy won’t affect you.
The next sentence:
“If the requested information is not provided, or we find after investigations that the inventory constitutes unsuitable units, we may dispose of it.”
Now, the problem I see here is that Amazon is saying “if the requested information is not provided,” when we all know that the notices from Amazon rarely, if ever, tell you exactly what Amazon is looking for.
So if Amazon should tell you, we’re looking for an invoice, piece of cake. You know what to send. If Amazon should say, we want a certification, piece of cake. You get your certification, you send it in. But more likely than not, they’re not going to tell you what you need to submit.
What I want every seller to do is to make sure you’re keeping all of your documentation.
Everything is scanned in your invoices. If you can link your sources back to the brands, have that stuff at the ready so that if you do have a problem, you can send it out to Amazon really quickly. If you can’t, we can help you obtain the information and the right documentation. We also of course write the world’s greatest plans of action regardless of the issue.
Since Amazon deciding to withhold seller inventory is a new issue, just be prepared to deal with another bump in the road. Amazon presents fantastic opportunities to sellers all over the world, but as we all know, there are certain problems that arise just like in every other business.