It is no secret that people are willing to buy anything if it’s available. In the era of online shopping, a lot of businesses have set up shops on sites like Amazon.com or eBay, trying to entice potential buyers with their products and services. But as much as these sites are democratizing commerce and helping little business owners sell their products against big companies, there are also instances where big brands and little businesses clash.
When you list your product on Amazon, you give the company the right to sell your item indefinitely, as long as it stays listed on the site. Likewise, when an item is removed from the marketplace by a seller who has listing restrictions in place, it means that they don’t want their items to be sold against them again in the future either. For this purpose, you can take help from an amazon listing expert who also offers amazon ppc services
This article covers how listing your business on Amazon can backfire quickly and negatively on you if you aren’t careful.
Bad move #1: List an Unsafe Product
In addition to the fact that every product will have a different appeal to different buyers, you also run the risk of losing sales if you put up unsafe items. If a bad actor manages to take a good picture of your product and upload it to Amazon, they will be able to list it as their own, without any consequences. Bad actors use Photoshop to remove the logo from a product, or they will add a fake logo of their own to the picture so that even if you go on to report it, the seller will just pretend they are someone else.
So be cautious when listing your products and avoid adding any of the following as safe content:
- Fake logos
- Missing product details like ingredients, warnings, and expiration dates
- Missing any licensing or copyright information
- Products with missing or inaccurate information about the seller
Bad move #2: Put up Too Much Information on Your listing
While this is the best way to ensure that your listing will be seen by as many potential buyers as possible, amazon listing expert also runs the danger of making your listing too long. Amazon will cut off the information you have provided for each item if your product description is longer than 918 characters. You can find the length limit for each item in the product details section of the site.
If you go on to exceed the length of your product description, your listing will be removed from the site. Amazon will retain the information and the listing of your product. However, you will have to start all over again. This is a bad move because it costs you sales, but it’s important to keep in mind that you have to be careful with the information you are putting in your listing.
Bad Move #3: Be Careless with Your Brand and Keywords, or Omit Key Terms
Amazon uses keywords, which are the words and phrases that shoppers type when searching for products. If your product’s title lacks keywords that are relevant to the item you might lose out on sales. If a shopper sees your item but is unable to find the information they need to buy your product, they will walk away and look for the item elsewhere. It’s a good idea to use one to two relevant keywords for each product you list on Amazon.
Unfortunately, this isn’t enough, because Amazon also uses these keywords as an input for their own algorithms when recommending other products for shoppers to buy. You can find out what keywords are used in the algorithms by entering your email address and password in the “settings” section of your account.
Bad Move #4: Don’t Use Inflexible Images and Videos
Amazon lets you upload your own images and videos for your listing, as long as they are of good quality and are 320 pixels wide or less. You can also upload any images and videos that you have stored in your Amazon account. However, you can’t upload the same item more than once, and you also can’t upload images and videos that violate Amazon’s content policies. Violations include showing sexual content, duplicate images of the item’s listing, offensive images, and images that contain copyrighted material or images that reduce the product to an improper size.
Bad Move #5: List Too Many Items at Once
Amazon will not let you list more than 20 items at once in one account. If your listing is removed for exceeding this limit, you will lose the sales for the first 20 items you listed. So don’t go on to list another 20 items if your first batch is removed from the site.
Bottom line
In the end, listing your products on Amazon is a great way to sell your products online, and it is also a great way to increase your online revenue. However, you need to be careful to avoid bad moves that can negatively impact your brand and sales. These include listing an unsafe product, putting up too much information on your listing, and listing too many items at once. A bad move on your end can be bad news for your brand, and you may lose out on sales because of bad decision-making. Luckily, these mistakes are easily avoidable, and you can always improve through careful monitoring.
Just keep in mind that it’s still ultimately Amazon’s call whether they grant your request to sell on their platform or not. If they have reason to believe that you’re a bad actor, they can and probably will block your listing. On the flip side, if you don’t get blocked and continue selling some inventory on their platform, you might see this request turned down—but don’t let that discourage you. Some sellers have been able to sell on Amazon despite having made this same mistake in the past. Follow these tips, and you’ll give yourself the best chance at staying compliant with Amazon, and getting your presence on their site off on the right foot.
