Acne, Eczema, Psoriasis and their psychological effects

It seems like a no-brainer. A buyer searches for a product on Amazon and takes comfort in the fact that whatever the item is — a new watch, a stainless steel shower caddy — has the Best Seller tag emblazoned on its listing. This means, theoretically, that other buyers have purchased this item, were highly satisfied, and then wrote reviews on Amazon.com reflecting their utmost satisfaction. But, because this is the internet, even something as seemingly innocuous as a “Best Seller” tag comes with its share of thorns. The latest scam of note has to do with hackers and unscrupulous sellers overriding Amazon’s popularity ranking system to boost their own products. As it stands, Amazon utilizes an algorithm that measures certain aspects of user activity, apart from actual sales: views, searches, time spent on a product page and items placed on wish lists. Part of the scam involves said hackers and unscrupulous sellers who hire workers to essentially game the algorithm. This, in turn, ...

Eugene Kim |   @eugenekim222 Published 12:32 PM ET Thu, 7 Sept 2017    | Updated 2:39 PM ET Mon, 11 Sept 2017 CNBC.com An Amazon merchant said his hottest product was kicked off Amazon because of a complaint made by a fake law firm. The seller put in an appeal last month but couldn't get it resolved until Tuesday, after losing about $200,000 in sales. Experts say Amazon is notorious for not properly vetting seller complaints. Shortly before   Amazon   Prime Day in July, the owner of the Brushes4Less store on Amazon's marketplace received a suspension notice for his best-selling product, a toothbrush head replacement. The email that landed in his inbox said the product was being delisted from the site because of an intellectual property violation. In order to resolve the matter and get the product reinstated, the owner would have to contact the law firm that filed the complaint. But there was one problem: the firm didn't exist. Brushes4Less was...

There is good news for sellers who hope to increase the number of reviews for their merchandise. Amazon will reach out to reputable reviewers at random — those who have never been flagged for writing dishonest or abusive reviews in the past — and offer them a $1 - $3 gift card to incentivize them to write customer reviews mainly for items with five reviews or less. The program is called the Amazon Early Reviewer Program, and while the reviewers are chosen at random, it is not extended to Amazon employees or friends and family of participating sellers. The Amazon Early Reviewer Program is meant to bolster the number of reviews for new sellers while encouraging customers to get in the habit of writing experiential reviews. In no way is the program designed to flood sellers’ pages with positive feedback; reviewers are encouraged to be honest and forthright with their opinions. It is important to make sure you meet all the criteria before applying for the program: Your brand is ...

  These days owning your own business on Amazon — and proving the business is yours — is not as simple as one might think. In fact, it has become quite common on Amazon for competitors to usurp listings that do not belong to them and repurpose them to list their own counterfeit merchandise. The practice is unfair and filches money away from business owners. And righting this unscrupulous wrong? Well, it is a little more complicated than picking up the phone and shouting righteously at Amazon Support. In the past when dealing with fraudulent sellers, Amazon has required business owners to issue a formal request for removal with its Seller Support team. It is a tiresome and lengthy process, and in some cases it can prove to be surprisingly difficult to prove legal ownership. As 2016 was a year especially rife with bogus listings, Amazon has addressed this issue head on with a brand new registry that allows companies to register their brands. The new version of the brand regist...

Brand owners on Amazon have a significant choice to make when it comes to selling their merchandise to customers. Do they choose to become a first party seller, using the Vendor Central interface, to sell directly to Amazon Retail? Or do they themselves become a third party seller — or hire a third partner seller — to manage their brand? Ultimately the pros and cons list varies, and it’s up to the brand owner to figure out the best strategy for their business. While the benefits of third-party (3P) selling do tend to outweigh first-party (1P) selling, here is how it all breaks down: * * * When it comes to controlling your brand, Pay-Per-Click (PPC) and loss of sales from your own sales domain, there isn’t a discernible difference between 1P and 3P selling.  The same goes for shipping and accounting and reporting and analytics. Brand Control : Either way the seller does possess a considerable amount of control over how their merchandise is sold. The 3P seller might have...

  Part of selling on Amazon is dealing with returns. Typically Amazon will notify the seller by email if a customer elects to return something they’ve bought, and money from that sale is taken from the seller’s account until the item has been mailed back. Forty-five days is the approximate length of time Amazon usually gives customers to return the merchandise. If the customer does not return the item, Amazon is generally consistent with returning any withheld funds back to the seller — however, this isn’t always the case.   It is incumbent on the seller to keep tabs on monitoring refunds vs reimbursements. If you sell less than $10,000 monthly, this is something you can reconcile on your own without taking too much time away from growing your business. Once you start hitting $25,000 month in sales, it’s time to consider purchasing AMZSuite ( amzsuite.com ) which takes out much of the heavy lifting with its automated watchdog functionality.   AMZSuite is an aut...

As of around April 30, 2017, Amazon updated their Brand Registry program. The new version takes aim at protecting intellectual property rights from suspected violators as well as monitoring the pages of authorized resellers for sellers/owners who wish to preserve the integrity of their brand. Brand owners and sellers who enrolled in the Brand Registry program before April 30 will need to re-enroll if they wish to take advantage of the new (and currently free) offerings. The original Seller Central program does still exist; it simply lacks the new tools and features of its more multi-tasking counterpart. To start, visit brandservices.amazon.com . Use existing Seller Central credentials if you have them; anything previously registered in the original system should populate. Amazon will need to verify the trademark before any brands will be officially enrolled in the new Brand Registry system. Sellers will be asked to provide a live or active registered trademark; a Government Regist...