What You Need To Know To Continue To Succeed
Hey there AMZtracker family,
So you may have heard the big news that Amazon has made some changes to their community guidelines and a press release.
The short version of the changes is that Amazon is no longer allowing sellers to request reviews for items given in exchange for a free or a discount. While this is not exactly the best news for sellers that we’ve heard this week, it’s not quite the end of the world either when you look at the specific TOS changes.
So worry not our loving AMZtracker family, the sky is not falling. The dedicated team here is hard at work around the clock (literally) to adapt and evolve along with the decisions of Amazon just like we have for years. We will be rolling out updates over the next 24 hours. AMZtracker always has and will continue to strictly adhere to Amazon’s terms of service.
So let’s take a minute and walk you through what the changes mean, and how we are all moving forward.
What is going to happen to the review club (now the Promotions Tool)?
AMZtracker is still just as essential for sellers as it’s ever been, as we are able to quickly adapt to changes. In order to strictly adhere to the TOS, as of today we will no longer require the shoppers on ART to leave reviews for amztracker product promotions. Amazon clearly states that sellers “may continue to offer discounts and promotions as long as they are not offered in exchange for reviews”. The Promotions Tool will still be your single best weapon to increase organic sales of your products, which will typically result in improved organic keyword rankings.
The new Promotions Tool will work similarly to the old setup with a couple necessary changes.
- We do not require the members of our deal community to leave a review at all.
- We do not confirm, verify, or count the members reviews.
We are doing our best to assure you that the product Promotions Tool is still fully compliant with Amazon. You can still create and send out the vouchers in the same way you did before to the same amazing deal community of now over 250,000 members.
What about the reviews?
Yes you will get less reviews from the Promotions Tool than you did before, this is a fact of the changes Amazon has made.
But there is more than one way to get reviews for your product. We have something special for all our current AMZtracker customers, our team has pulled an all nighter to get this ready to show you and I know you will love it.
Announcing Rocket Reply. Our brand new autoresponder feedback tool that will very soon be included free of charge with all current AMZtracker subscriptions. Rocket Reply will help our sellers get reviews from everyone that purchases their product via Amazon. This tool will become your go to source for quality product reviews. Check out the Rocket Reply page and stay tuned current subscribers for your early access emails.
We didn’t forget about sales volume!
Yes sales volume! As most of you know there are two parts to product rankings or a successful product launch. Reviews AND sales volume.
Our new Promotions Tool is ideal for getting you the sales volume and sales velocity you need to rank high and dominate a product launch. Our deal community has evolved into a sales volume machine with over 250,000 members (the largest in the industry) and this all comes without the requirement for the shoppers to leave a review.
We are focusing more on the sales volume benefits of the Promotions Tool and will have some advanced strategies and tactics coming your way very soon.
What about the current state of my promotions?
We know that many of you are asking this question. And as stated above starting today reviewers will no longer be required to leave reviews on any promotional products from AMZtracker. That means you can leave your current promotions running without worry. And any vouchers you have sent out already fit into those terms as well. They will be just fine, all of our reviewers are being clearly updated that they do not need to leave reviews but if they want to by their own choice they still can.
What’s next for AMZtracker
We’re glad you asked 🙂
The team has been working on yet another top notch tool for our AMZtracker subscribers. We were planning on announcing it very soon but thought while we had the opportunity today why not share it with the world.
We listened to the requests of our customers and with the help and feedback of many of you reading this we built what we think will be the most used tool in the AMZtracker suite.
We would like to officially announce Merchant Metrics. An advanced analytics tool and dashboard built by sellers for sellers. And did I mention it is also included free of charge with all current AMZtracker subscriptions. This is a tool that we know everyone needs, it will impact how you run your businesses day to day. So we wanted to make sure ALL of our customers could use it.
Check out the Merchant Metrics page for more information and sign up to be one of the first AMZtracker members to get access.
We are innovators and creators with a passion for helping our fellow Amazon sellers. We will be constantly adding additional tools and value for the AMZtracker community, so stay tuned and enjoy.
– Erik Emsley, AMZtracker CEO
Please explain the point in giving our product away if we do get a review?
because it’s a boost. as well as potentially getting reviews it will give you a big boost in the rankings which will enable you to get more generic sales.
You really asked that? In a saturated market place, shoppers shuffle like sheep to the product with the most reviews and tend to buy that one (as long as there are no standout super negative reviews in the most helpful section) . It’s that simple.
Nick, do you work for amztracker? Or are you in the first stage – denial?
It’s over. The gravy train is gone. Get a blog, and you can make money doing Amazon reviews.
Increased visibility of your ASIN.
I couldnt figure from the recent announcement, if someone got discounted product via coupon code, will he not be able technically to submit review?
he ca, but he doesn’t have to. if he chooses to be kind and leave a review then so be it. but it’s not an AMZ tracker requirement anymore.
Also, if they leave a review and SAY they got a discounted product, Amazon could shut your account down. How can we rely on customers NOT to do this? They had trouble leaving the required “I received this item in exchange.. etc etc”, previously. REMEMBER, these sites, AMZTracker and loads of others exactly like them, still need you to spend money with them or they’ll be out of business, so of course they are going to spin it to be an ok thing. The bottom line is, a lot of people won’t just leave a review anymore. And your account is very fragile now, one sloppy review by a customer and it could be bye bye account. It’s important that reviews are enforced. If the Rocket Reply thing is just a follow-up email (like feedback genius), I’ve been using them for a while with different methods and they hardly work. The success rate is super poor. Basically, sellers that have been using the review tool for years and have thousands of reviews are light years ahead and it’s now very difficult to catch them, which is really unfair. Unless AMZTracker and the other such sites come up with something GOOD, it’s gonna be a lot more difficult to push a product on Amazon. Amazon Vine may be opened up to 3rd party sellers, but who knows when?? I want to be positive, but this a major spanner in the works for seller.
I usually got the follow up email response from the buyer when there is a problem with the order.
Hi Nick,
I agree with your assessment. Not to be overly critical, but AMZ tracker’s essential value was providing customers who would most likely give us a great review. They skirted the rules – and got away with it – but Amazon has closed that door. Does anyone think they they – AMZ tracker – are going to write to us and say ” well we are screwed – our best value to you just evaporated ” ? They have a business to run and must spin this the best they can – but frankly the spin is weak. The sellers on Amazon with higher ratings are coming out the winners here – as it now becomes much more difficult to gain traction – especially in today’s Amazon – with our suppliers selling against us under different names. One thing i have not hear anyone mention – is the value Amazon receives in immediate income from sponsored ads – however anemic they may be in building sales. I am afraid that Amazon is going to be looking for examples to be made and may not be too picky about the veracity of any claim they make that you are breaking the rules. We have all invested a lot of time and money and effort into building our Amazon business – and the risk of losing that all for an infraction – real or not – is just too high to risk any thing that smells anything like reviews for deals……….
No offense guys but there’s no way in hell I’ll leave my promotions up until this info on reviews/not needing them gets fully disseminated into the AMZreviewtrader community. I don’t want to take the chance of losing my entire Amazon sales channel just because someone in that community doesn’t know about the change.
Until I see that has happened and that there’s 0 possibility of getting anyone with the “received at a discount for an honest unbiased review) boilerplate stuff in a review I will not be using the promotions tool at all.
Smart move. Me too. Amazon have royally f****d us in the a**.
looking forward to the new features
Amazon knows who the reviewers are who have left “honest opinion in exchange for discounted product” reviews. If a bunch of those reviewers get our products through the new “Promotion Tool” and leave voluntary reviews without the disclaimer notice, I’m pretty sure Amazon is going to figure it out.
To me, not worth the risk of suspension, sorry. But your other tools sound like a good step to keep your service viable.
What about Amazon Europe? The tos change hasn’t been brought in over here yet.
They will most likely test the reaction is US then implement it in a few weeks. The review situation in the US is WAY out of control to be fair. Europe is far behind but always gaining ground.
I’ve an account registered as a reviewer here in the UK and just got an email saying I don’t need to leave a review any more?
‘We have some updates to how ART works. Amazon recently changed their review policies, so effective immediately whether or not you leave a review for a product is now entirely up to you. We no longer require it at all.
But there’s no reason to slow your shopping, as things just got a lot easier!’
Not sure why I have this if ToS is not changed in Europe?
Hmmm… seems they’ve used a heavy brush then. Kind of disappointing. They should make changes to the site on a marketplace by marketplace basis, I’m a EU seller who uses the service but there’s no point if they’re gona give reviewers Carte Blanche.
Amazon: “We do not allow any benefit to be offered, requested or provided in exchange for a review.” Getting a discounted product is different, it’s a sale. It also said in the TOS that if a discounted product was offered for review purposes, it had to have full disclosure in the review. So it was 100% allowed. So no one is getting sued, except maybe your mum for giving birth to you. 🙂
Well, I posted this link to Amazon’s FaceBook page and asked them what they think. They typically respond. Let’s just see!
“…Getting a discounted product is different, it’s a sale…” a discount is a benefit, plain and simple. It does not matter whether the review was implicitly or explicitly requested. If the code was created for the sole purpose of providing discounts in an attempt to increase review conversion, that is prohibited and the related account could be at risk.
Amazon has all of our data, they track it using automated algorithms. Many will attempt to hide their true reasoning for offering discounts or free product but ultimately, if one slips up their entire business could be at risk, is it really worth it?
“a discount is a benefit”
What about Prime Day sales? Black Friday? Lightning deals? Buy one get one 10% off coupons? Subscribe and Save?
With your reasoning, it sounds like all items not bought at full retail need the disclaimer, or maybe can’t be reviewed at all.
“…Getting a discounted product is different, it’s a sale…” a discount is a benefit, plain and simple. It does not matter whether the review was implicitly or explicitly requested. If the code was created for the sole purpose of providing discounts in an attempt to increase review conversion, that is prohibited and the related account could be at risk.
Amazon has all of our data, they track it using automated algorithms. Many will attempt to hide their true reasoning for offering discounts or free product but ultimately, if one slips up their entire business could be at risk, is it really worth it?
So what is everyone doing for the orders they are receiving with current vouchers? I don’t want to cancel the orders necessarily, but I also don’t love giving free product to potentially get a bunch of reviews against the new TOS.
But you are “not requiring” reviews but the shopper can “review” wouldn’t that still be breaking Amazon rules. Since they don’t want reviews from discounted or free products. Just because your not making them, and they do leave a review, in the eyes of Amazon wouldn’t this still be considered a violation and could lead to termination of sellers accounts?!
maybe I’m wrong, but I don’t think Amazon cares whether you are monitoring or requiring reviews, if shoppers review with discount codes Are reviewing it is a violation.
agreed