Platforms and suppliers should work together to achieve a win-win situation for social and economic value.
Editor’s note: This article comes from the WeChat public account “Yibang Power” (ID: iebrun)
Author 丨 Ren Qianwen
Edit 丨 He Yang
At the moment, how can Amazon properly assume the important task of exporting masks and other anti-epidemic materials globally?
New progress has been made in the “Amazon Seller Rights Protection” incident, which has become a hot topic in cross-border e-commerce.
On May 9, Amazon made an official statement regarding the ban on illegal seller accounts, emphasizing that all third-party sellers must comply with relevant laws, regulations and Amazon mall rules. Once the seller violates the rules, Amazon will quickly take measures to deal with the violations , Including removing related products, canceling sales authority, withholding funds or resorting to law.
It is understood that the fuse for Amazon ’s response was that a group of sellers recently gathered at the location of Amazon ’s Shenzhen office, pulled out a banner, and carried out “demonstration” rights protection for Amazon. According to activist sellers, the reason for this action was that after the sale of epidemic prevention materials was blocked by Amazon or the funds were frozen, the complaint on the platform was unsuccessful and “had to choose to come to the court to discuss justice.”
01 Where does the dispute start?
Previously, many sellers broke the news to Yibang Power. A large number of Chinese sellers at Amazon Japan and the US were closed or frozen funds, and these sellers mostly sold masks and other anti-epidemic supplies, involving amounts of up to ten million US dollars.
It is reported that after the outbreak of the overseas epidemic, there is a global shortage of anti-epidemic materials represented by masks, but at the same time, on major e-commerce platforms, some anti-epidemic materials with false information have also begun to spread, and the qualification of anti-epidemic materials Unevenness, soaring prices, and scalping of masks and other products are frequent, and countries have issued relevant laws and regulations that restrict the export or sale of anti-epidemic materials and the qualification of imported masks. To this end, various cross-border e-commerce platforms and social media platforms have successively issued restrictive policies prohibiting sellers from selling masks and other products.
For example, Google has blocked hundreds of thousands of coronavirus-related products or services from misleading advertisements since January, and temporarily banned all medicalAdvertising with masks; eBay prohibits sellers from selling n95 / n100 masks, hand sanitizer / gels, and disinfectant wipes on the platform; Amazon has also issued restrictions on the sale of masks and other anti-epidemic materials on various sites.
A seller pointed out to Yibang Power that Amazon, as the platform, must have no problem in rectifying the trading activities of the platform according to the relevant laws and regulations of the country of sale and platform rules. There are more reasons for home rights protection, such as whether the platform has issued relevant rules, whether there are “mistakes” or “one size fits all” issues, etc.
“What makes us uncomfortable is Amazon’s attitude and approach to this incident.” A seller who was punished this time pointed out that first of all, some sellers have been unable to receive Amazon email notifications. Log in to the account, and although some other sellers receive emails, the content of the emails only shows that the illegal sales masks will be punished by account closure or permanent freezing of funds, but it does not specify how to handle appeals.
Some sellers also said: “After learning that we have been closed and frozen funds, we have repeatedly complained to no avail.” According to its feedback, in fact, as early as April, a group of sellers went to the Amazon Shenzhen office for help At that time, Amazon handed a form for the seller to fill in the basic information, and the subsequent seller did not get a clear response and response method.
In addition, some sellers pointed out that Amazon US used to use “approved” sales of anti-epidemic materials such as masks. They did not directly restrict the shelves, but some of the sellers who passed the application for anti-epidemic materials were also Closed the shop.
Some sellers even said: “Our store sells ordinary cotton masks that are only used for normal protection, rather than those used to protect the epidemic. They are also implicated.”
What also makes some sellers feel “grieved” is that in March, the Amazon Japan website issued a notice on the sales restrictions on masks, and there were no details about how to punish illegal sales of anti-epidemic materials. “If the platform could explain that as long as the masks are sold, the stores will be closed and funds will be frozen, then I think that after the Japanese station restrictions, there will not be so many people at other sites continue to do so.” Said a Amazon seller .
02 The proper rectification of the platform and the difficulty of sellers
Yibang Power found that the official statement issued by Amazon today gave a clear answer to the “injustice” feedback from sellers. Amazon said that it has conducted information collection and account investigation on the sellers who have come to appeal, and the results show that these sellers have indeed violated relevant laws and regulations and Amazon ’s relevant rules, and have also continued to take various methods to cover up the violations. These sellers have issued warnings, but they still chose to continue violating the rules.
At the same time, in order to avoid being implicated by some “innocent” sellers, Amazon also pointed out in this statement that sellers who think that the judgment is wrong will be given a complaint channel, and sellers can appeal according to the email guidelines. At the same time, Amazon will Quickly deal with the current situation.
In addition, Amazon also made it clear that if the seller ’s account is confirmed to have been fraudulent, fraudulent or illegal, the account ’s money will be withheld to pay for the resulting consumer return and refund requests. After processing the corresponding consumer order, according to the severity of the violation, the seller can get back part of the funds through the appeal channel, and it will continue to monitor the product content and update to identify possible violations of the product.
“From the seller ’s point of view, penalties for violations are blameless and should be recognized. But the current situation is that the sales of anti-epidemic materials involve various factors such as national standards, temporary policies, platform business adjustments, and related policies. And the compliance requirements are constantly changing, and sellers and platforms are difficult to handle. “A senior cross-border person pointed out that there are a myriad of issues to consider.
“Under the influence of the global epidemic, many sellers are facing the risk of bankruptcy, and even many businesses have fallen. Reselling epidemic prevention materials is a way of survival in a short period of time. Illegal seeking benefits must be combated, but legitimate survival should also be Be understood. Therefore, it is very important for the platform and sellers to fully communicate and follow up on changes in policies and standards in a timely manner. “The above-mentioned people said that many sellers were very sad after being severely punished by the title and frozen funds.
An Amazon self-delivery seller said that he has been exporting anti-epidemic materials, including masks, dust masks, and glasses, from the end of February to the end of March. At the end of March (after receiving the platform notification), all sales of anti-epidemic materials were stopped, and some non-essential necessities continued to be sold, but so far, its Japanese station has only received 2/3 of the repayment, and the European station has received 1/3 Refunds, the North American market did not receive any payment.
“At present, due to the surge in general goods orders, sales audits are required, and FBA inventory goods need to be transferred. The cash flow is really difficult to support.” The seller pointed out his own difficulties.
03 Where to go after the storm?
“Perhaps the seller behind the extreme means of making troubles at home, the real demand is to get more understanding and listening on the platform.” A cross-border service provider talked to Yibang Power.
Another personage in the industry also pointed out that the way of thinking of using Amazon as the representative of this international enterprise and Chinese merchants is very different, which may also be the essential reason why friction between platforms and sellers has occurred over the years.
“There is nothing wrong with platform penalties for violations and rectification of industry chaos, but for so many years, Amazon ’s major pain point in the process of cooperation with Chinese sellers is the lack of understanding and tolerance of Chinese sellers, leading to the release of some policies. It ’s not flexible enough and lacks communication with sellers, so it does n’t rule out ‘misinjury’ to sellers and cause sellers to be dissatisfied. ”The industry source said.
There are also some rational sellers who believe that many sellers of anti-epidemic materials are supposed to be speculative and doomed not to go far. “I personally think that small and medium-sized sellers should not have been engaged in epidemic prevention materials. They can’t afford to play without certain strength. After a few storms, they completely overturned. And at this time point, the export of epidemic prevention materials is not worth doing. It should be considered. Long-term development. “One of the buyers said.
Due to the surge in demand for anti-epidemic materials such as masks caused by the outbreak of the global epidemic, China, as a major producer of anti-epidemic materials, is also the region with the best epidemic control and the most timely recovery of factories. The role. However, while a large number of factories temporarily producing masks have “raised up”, there are also some speculators lacking relevant qualifications, which has caused some criticisms of masks exported by China.
Regarding the storm, Amazon said in a statement: “We are disappointed that some sellers attempt to deceive consumers and take advantage of global public health emergencies to illegally obtain illegal business benefits. We hope to work with governments at all levels and industry partners To combat undesirable sales of products containing misleading information and maintain a healthy and safe market environment. “
In the eyes of some industry professionals, as a largest global e-commerce company, perhaps Amazon ’s next challenge is how to effectively combine the supply chain and channels to undertake reasonable sales of epidemic prevention in the global market. The important task of materials and solving the global supply shortage of masks.
“Platforms and suppliers should work together to achieve a win-win situation for social and economic value,” an industry observer said.