Is Amazon FBA good for your feedback?
Jul 13th, 2008 | By Max Leisten | Category: Amazon Fulfillment, Seller InsightAlong with Randy over at MyBlogUtopia.com I am a big fan of the Fulfillment By Amazon (FBA) program. There are significant benefits for both increased revenue (increased buyer trust and search relevance with FBA tag) and reduced costs (low fulfillment costs and “shipping bonus”). However, there is concern among sellers about Amazon’s ability to provide a superior level of customer service. From the Amazon seller forum comes this thread:
In the past two months, I’ve seen my feedback rating go from 99% to 90% due to negative feedback related to ONLY FBA sales. They all relate to Amazon’s lack of proper packaging or other Amazon-service-related matters.
Amazon should categorize the feedback for FBA sales into a) product and b) service. If the customer has a problem with the product itself then the seller should receive the feedback; however, if the feedback relates to the service (good or bad) then that should not reflect on the seller.
Our main concern is during Christmas season when Amazon limits FBA sellers that receive more than 5% negative feedback. Why should our name and ability to sell additional items be tied so closely with Amazon’s shipping/packing and customer service problems?
Nothing is of course 100% all the time (unless it’s German, of course) so it’s no surprise that there are some issues. But this board game seller indicates that his feedback for FBA orders is consistently below orders that he fulfills himself.
While one could argue that this is a business decision (the vendor you’ve hired for fulfilling your products simply doesn’t meet your expectations), unlike this seller I would argue this is a little different.
The negative feedback should reflect on you, because you chose to use FBA. The customer is not going to look kindly on you as a business if you try to place the blame elsewhere. It is within your control to change your feedback by taking back your shipping function.
Here’s one recommendation that I think Amazon should consider to elevate service to an even higher level (at the seller’s expense!):
The only problem with FBA is working with those customers to resolve their issues since everything is suppose to go through Amazon for all customer issues.
Given the fact that we are held to such a high standard to remain competitive I was really disappointed when Amazon recently removed the ability for sellers to refund FBA customers. Often times a partial refund is all the customer is looking for and the last thing they want (upset and the feedback has been left) is for me to reach out to them and tell them they need to contact Amazon and fill out an A-Z claim.
FBA sellers should have the option of providing customer service when warrented and have the ability to refund out of their own pockets when needed
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Max,
My Feedback % is lower than I would like (97%)and most of the negatives are related to not receiving the item.
If the customer would just contact Amazon customer service they would take care of the problem.
Amazon will eventually fine tune the service but its just a product management issue.
hi just noticed this posting and while i did post the below with randy i think its very relevant. we’ve been able to keep fb at 98% but its hard with 50-75% of our neg fb relating to amazon customer service, shipping or other totally unrelated to us problems (not the post office either)
here are a few from last month:
Amazon has given me nothing but grief as I have STILL not received my books and was credited the wrong amount so Amazon is also stealing my money. I have never had such bad service
I did not have a problem with the book Three Cups.., but big problem with another order sold by Amazon.com. Another package containing the book A Course in Miracles and a yoga DVD by Shiva Rea never arrives at my address. There is no way for me to track this with UPS, and Amazon.com has not given me any feedback why they took the money from me and never send me the goods. Bad service of Amazon
I never received my book, but I was charged for it. I contacted Amazon Customer Service and they were very nice, but they said I would need to contact the third party seller about shipping information. I contacted the seller and he said there was nothing he could do and that Amazon was in charge of shipping. I was very disappointed with this seller and I will be disputing the charge on my card.
My book was not packaged properly to insure being manhandled by the postoffice. Lower corners of both front and back and the spine were crushed in. No time to search out another copy; since it didn’t come from Amazon they were unwilling to replace it. I gave the gift anyway, but with a large degree of discomfort and disappointment.
Best price for new item. But poor packing of a heavy book. Therefore, the book arrived damaged. Could have been avoided if seller would have taken more care when preparing the item for shipment.
($50 book returned for refund, now damaged)
and amazon so far wont remove the fb
My company has used FBA for nearly a year now. We are phasing it out. Our profits dropped big time when we started using the service. In a nutshell here are the problems:
1. Very poor customer service provided by Amazon to our FBA customers (they get the run around and are told to contact us, then we have to tell them to contact Amazon).
2. Inventory damaged, or returned damaged by customers is not paid for and we have to eat it.
3. Other sellers and Amazon retail change the ASIN, making lots of inventory just sit at the FC center racking up storage charges, and with no ASIN the product does not show up at Amazon.com
4. Amazon retail watches what is selling, then they stock the same items and undercut you. Then you are stuck with sitting inventory racking up storage fees.
I think what they are doing should be illegal. They are taking advantage of small business owners and ripping them off big time.
“If the customer would just contact Amazon customer service they would take care of the problem.”
..How absurd! OF COURSE customers aren’t always going to do what you want. If businesses could expect perfect communication and behavior from their customers, there would be little or no negative feedback ever.
But if they don’t know who to contact, or how to contact them, or if they are confused about whether to contact FBA or the seller, then we get frustrated!
I find that a huge insult, Mr. Smythe, to blame the breakdown on me as a customer and not the FBA system (seems like this is coming from an apologist for the FBA). Just think about this logically - a certain percent of all customers are airheads or hotheads. If the business in question was able to maintain 99% before FBA and 90% after, it’s highly unlikely it’s because they have more airheads or hotheads now. Its because the chain of communication I mentioned earlier (who/how to contact with problems) is breaking down. That’s clearly FBA’s fault - no excuses, no denying responsibility!
From my perspective (as a buyer): I ordered 6 books from an FBA seller. The books were thrown into a large box with one of those plastic bubble things. No additional packing, no peanuts - the books jut rattled around loose in this big box, and got dinged up and bent.
I logged on to see who/how to contact, and I couldn’t tell. The link to contact the seller was gone, and besides, what has he got to do with it? It wasn’t his mistake. So I tried to compare the condition of the books (as ordered vs. as they arrived) but on the order page I couldn’t find the original product descriptions. So I tried to email Amazon, but I got confused about whether to contact Amazon itself, or the FBA warehouse. So I figured it wasn’t MY responsibility to invest more than 20 minutes into helping THEM fix THEIR problems. I just left the seller a *2* feedback, and explained the problem. I know it probably wasn’t his fault, but I figured he would be motivated to pass along the message/feedback to whoever is in charge.