Challenges for the Amazon Sellers
Amazon continues to rule the internet shopping scenario and has without a doubt done some real hard work for this accolade. This is the one site that is famed for its customer obsession. Yes, some even say that Amazon is driving product prices lower and lower every day and offering the widest range of products to their customers at the cost of the seller. They are delivering them faster to its customers than other sites are able to and that is a concern, how? Well, it might not be a sore point for the buyer at all, but it is for the seller in almost every situation.
Since its launch, Amazon started adding millions of customers to its bucket and quickly became the number one choice by being the most customer-centric site on the planet. It is the biggest threat to local and global rivals like eBay, Best Buy, Flipkart etc. In this process, we can’t help but notice that the world’s largest online retailer company antagonized many third party sellers across the nation and this is where the challenges for the sellers lie.
- A very hard hitting point here is that Amazon is making its sellers stick to very stringent guidelines and policies. Product return policy of Amazon, for instance, is one of those things that have impressed the buyers but have not gone down well with many sellers. The problem is that Amazon has control over everything. The seller has to commit a predetermined quantity of product that is dictated by the retail giant. It even controls when they have to send it to the customers and obviously when they get paid and how much of that payment Amazon will reserve and a few other things. There have been many instances when money is deducted from the seller’s account without any permission or consent even though when the product in question wasn’t faulty. This complete customer-sightedness is what disturbs the sellers and today many are contemplating leaving the platform.
- Moreover, if as a seller you constantly fear your account being closed down seller account and your payments being withheld for weeks, you are better off without such ties. These issues are causing conflict between the sellers and Amazon. If the online retail leader is not able to strike a balance between making both buyers and sellers happy over time, it will soon be dethroned by the one who can.
- In order to serve the best customer experience, all the sellers at Amazon are given a fair chance to fix all the problems with their products. But when underperformance is detected on Amazon’s part, the seller is paid in full and at the market price and the product is returned without any questions asked. However, there is a flip side to it which says that if it happens on the part of the seller (and often) then it becomes an issue. So in the interest of protecting customer experience, seller accounts have to take the brunt.
It is safe to say that Amazon is being buyer friendly all the way and it is only a matter of time that it will be known for being the most seller friendly site too. If it wants to remain the number one choice, this is something that just can’t be avoided.
