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Amazon Feedback Rant


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Maybe this will be better suited in the rant section but Amazon feedback frustrates me.  I am a new seller on Amazon and I'm finding out the hard way that Amazon is so feedback driven that it hurts new sellers. I'm unable to get into the buy box regardless of the price I set compared to other non-FBA because they have a higher feedback rating. It also seems that it is much harder to get feedback from sellers on Amazon then Ebay. I can only assume that is because everyone on Ebay knows how important it is to themselves and others while they just see Amazon as one entity instead of individual sellers.  Just to compare I started selling on Amazon in June and have had 10 sales with 0 feedback. In the same time frame I have had 8 sales on Ebay with 5 feedback. Maybe its just a run of bad luck and there is no reason to complain.  Anyone else run into low feedback issues with amazon or is it just me.

 

Rant Over:

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Maybe this will be better suited in the rant section but Amazon feedback frustrates me.  I am a new seller on Amazon and I'm finding out the hard way that Amazon is so feedback driven that it hurts new sellers. I'm unable to get into the buy box regardless of the price I set compared to other non-FBA because they have a higher feedback rating. It also seems that it is much harder to get feedback from sellers on Amazon then Ebay. I can only assume that is because everyone on Ebay knows how important it is to themselves and others while they just see Amazon as one entity instead of individual sellers.  Just to compare I started selling on Amazon in June and have had 10 sales with 0 feedback. In the same time frame I have had 8 sales on Ebay with 5 feedback. Maybe its just a run of bad luck and there is no reason to complain.  Anyone else run into low feedback issues with amazon or is it just me.

 

I'd say that's about right.

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From a buyer's perspective, I've left feedback on Amazon on very few occasions. There is something about buying over there that just keeps me from doing it as much as I do on eBay. Part of if is the illusion of buying from Amazon. Even though people are buying from 3rd party sellers, most of the times I guess it feels just as if you were buying directly from Amazon.

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Maybe this will be better suited in the rant section but Amazon feedback frustrates me.  I am a new seller on Amazon and I'm finding out the hard way that Amazon is so feedback driven that it hurts new sellers. I'm unable to get into the buy box regardless of the price I set compared to other non-FBA because they have a higher feedback rating. It also seems that it is much harder to get feedback from sellers on Amazon then Ebay. I can only assume that is because everyone on Ebay knows how important it is to themselves and others while they just see Amazon as one entity instead of individual sellers.  Just to compare I started selling on Amazon in June and have had 10 sales with 0 feedback. In the same time frame I have had 8 sales on Ebay with 5 feedback. Maybe its just a run of bad luck and there is no reason to complain.  Anyone else run into low feedback issues with amazon or is it just me.

 

Rant Over:

Welcome to Amazon.  I've done thousands of transactions over the years and have feedback of less than 300.  If you're a new seller, it's going to be much harder to win the buy box for that fact alone.  You're going to have to really undercut the lowest price from the group that used to be called featured merchants in order to win it. 

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Maybe this will be better suited in the rant section but Amazon feedback frustrates me.  I am a new seller on Amazon and I'm finding out the hard way that Amazon is so feedback driven that it hurts new sellers. I'm unable to get into the buy box regardless of the price I set compared to other non-FBA because they have a higher feedback rating. It also seems that it is much harder to get feedback from sellers on Amazon then Ebay. I can only assume that is because everyone on Ebay knows how important it is to themselves and others while they just see Amazon as one entity instead of individual sellers.  Just to compare I started selling on Amazon in June and have had 10 sales with 0 feedback. In the same time frame I have had 8 sales on Ebay with 5 feedback. Maybe its just a run of bad luck and there is no reason to complain.  Anyone else run into low feedback issues with amazon or is it just me.

 

Rant Over:

I leave feedback on very few transactions at Amazon but I would love to leave feedback if I wasn't asked so many questions.  I was irritated the first time I went to leave positive feedback and that has greatly soured my view of leaving feedback there.

I just want to say thanks for shipping the thing that you said you would with a positive and be on my way.

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I leave feedback on very few transactions at Amazon but I would love to leave feedback if I wasn't asked so many questions.  I was irritated the first time I went to leave positive feedback and that has greatly soured my view of leaving feedback there.

I just want to say thanks for shipping the thing that you said you would with a positive and be on my way.

I never thought of that.  You are right.

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Welcome to Amazon.  I've done thousands of transactions over the years and have feedback of less than 300.  If you're a new seller, it's going to be much harder to win the buy box for that fact alone.  You're going to have to really undercut the lowest price from the group that used to be called featured merchants in order to win it. 

If Amazon is not one of the available sellers, the lowest price usually does not win the buy box.  In fact, the sweet spot is about 10% above the lowest price.  I'm convinced that the buy box algorithm takes into account the price elasticity of people one-clicking vs people navigating to the all-sellers page.  This props up Amazon's fees.  if you are the low price (and don't have abysmal percentage feedback), you will win buyers that navigate away from the buy-box page and search for the best price.

Its good to remember this: never use the buy-box from a 3rd party seller without checking for the lowest price!

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Maybe this will be better suited in the rant section but Amazon feedback frustrates me.  I am a new seller on Amazon and I'm finding out the hard way that Amazon is so feedback driven that it hurts new sellers. I'm unable to get into the buy box regardless of the price I set compared to other non-FBA because they have a higher feedback rating. It also seems that it is much harder to get feedback from sellers on Amazon then Ebay. I can only assume that is because everyone on Ebay knows how important it is to themselves and others while they just see Amazon as one entity instead of individual sellers.  Just to compare I started selling on Amazon in June and have had 10 sales with 0 feedback. In the same time frame I have had 8 sales on Ebay with 5 feedback. Maybe its just a run of bad luck and there is no reason to complain.  Anyone else run into low feedback issues with amazon or is it just me.

 

Rant Over:

amazon feedback rate is abysmal and you are complaining after making 10 sales  .... just to be in perspective i got may first feedback after i made 150th sale.

so far the feed back has been about on average 5% i.e. yes 5 +ve feedback on 100 sales. may be the AMZN customer has high expectation .. or may be i am not the great seller i think i am but regardless i am happy with what i am getting ... no pressure at all

and there are few party poppers who want to extort you for feedback .... just watch out for them. do what is best for the business. don't give in to those :P

i would say welcome to the club you have a long way to go to understand amazon customers and their behavior. regardless make sure that you are doing your best and not trying to cheat customer with incorrect listing et al.  that my 0.02

good venutring

 

Edited by newbie77
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My minor AMZ feedback gripe: A guy a few towns over bought a brand-new non-LEGO product from me. He chooses standard shipping, which gives the regular ridiculously distant shipping estimate, yet I ship it out the same day, via Priority Mail and e-mail him the tracking number. A few weeks later, he e-mails me asking where the product is, and I politely tell him the tracking says it was delivered the day after he ordered. Eventually, he replies, saying he found it in a stack of his old mail, but inexplicably gives me 4 stars with "OK". Not sure how I could have earned 5 stars, other than hand-delivering it. Normally, a 4 wouldn't be too bad, but 80% when you have little feedback looks awful.

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may be he is the other seller you are undercutting :) to get the business

one more thing about the buy box,

apparently you can win it even though you have fewer feedback with higher price than your competitor if you have sold higher number of that same item than your competitor... this one is something i learned over time.

my competitors have over 300 feedback over 30days period so imagine the volume they do while i barely have that many over time. but i am able to get the buy-box with about $1 higher than them on items that i have sold over in very very high numbers like 200/wk

all said..  algorithm behind BB is pretty sophisticated :) but ofcourse if you can undercut someone by 20% its all yours to keep :) 

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From a buyer's perspective, I've left feedback on Amazon on very few occasions. There is something about buying over there that just keeps me from doing it as much as I do on eBay. Part of if is the illusion of buying from Amazon. Even though people are buying from 3rd party sellers, most of the times I guess it feels just as if you were buying directly from Amazon.

Yeah, I agree. Maybe the upside to this is that people care less if you have low (or no) feedback on Amazon, compared to ebay.

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My minor AMZ feedback gripe: A guy a few towns over bought a brand-new non-LEGO product from me. He chooses standard shipping, which gives the regular ridiculously distant shipping estimate, yet I ship it out the same day, via Priority Mail and e-mail him the tracking number. A few weeks later, he e-mails me asking where the product is, and I politely tell him the tracking says it was delivered the day after he ordered. Eventually, he replies, saying he found it in a stack of his old mail, but inexplicably gives me 4 stars with "OK". Not sure how I could have earned 5 stars, other than hand-delivering it. Normally, a 4 wouldn't be too bad, but 80% when you have little feedback looks awful.

that's the problem with the star system. When buying people want 5 stars.  But when leaving feedback many will not give 5 stars to an average transaction.  If the sytem really worked most transactions should be 3 stars.  This is something ebay learned a long time ago.

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Also, someone giving you 4 out of 5 would not give you an 80%. The % is of positive ratings and 4 is considered positive. You would have a 100% positive with a 4 star rating. I had a guy leave me a 4 star rating and said item was in good condition, good seller. My rating shows as 100% wuth 4.9 rating (15 5 star and 1 4 star).

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amazon feedback rate is abysmal and you are complaining after making 10 sales  .... just to be in perspective i got may first feedback after i made 150th sale.

so far the feed back has been about on average 5% i.e. yes 5 +ve feedback on 100 sales. may be the AMZN customer has high expectation .. or may be i am not the great seller i think i am but regardless i am happy with what i am getting ... no pressure at all

and there are few party poppers who want to extort you for feedback .... just watch out for them. do what is best for the business. don't give in to those :P

i would say welcome to the club you have a long way to go to understand amazon customers and their behavior. regardless make sure that you are doing your best and not trying to cheat customer with incorrect listing et al.  that my 0.02

good venutring

 

wow. You just made me depressed. Lol I guess I'm going to have to wait patiently 

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