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Global pandemic and online marketplaces

Kika Angelic

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[whohit]Global pandemic and online marketplaces[/whohit]If you are an Amazon seller thinking about making quick and easy money on global pandemy which is now spreading across the world, read this article based on New York Times report. They interviewed multiple merchants who are now struggling to sell their merchandise which was acquired with the sole purpose of turning it into a high profit due to increased public demand and low supply.

On March 1, the day after the first coronavirus related death in the United States was announced, brothers Matt and Noah Colvin set out in a S.U.V. to pick up some hand sanitizer. Driving around Chattanooga, Tenn., they hit a Dollar Tree, then a Walmart, a Staples and a Home Depot. At each store, they cleaned out the shelves.

Over the next three days, Noah Colvin took a 1,300-mile road trip across Tennessee and into Kentucky, filling a U-Haul truck with thousands of bottles of hand sanitizer and thousands of packs of antibacterial wipes, mostly from “little hole-in-the-wall dollar stores in the backwoods,” his brother said. “The major metro areas were cleaned out.”

Matt Colvin stayed home near Chattanooga, preparing for pallets of even more wipes and sanitizer he had ordered, and starting to list them on Amazon. Mr. Colvin said he had posted 300 bottles of hand sanitizer and immediately sold them all for between $8 and $70 each, multiples higher than what he had bought them for. To him, “it was crazy money.” To many others, it was profiteering from a pandemic.

The next day, Amazon pulled his items and thousands of other listings for sanitizer, wipes and face masks. The company suspended some of the sellers behind the listings and warned many others that if they kept running up prices, they’d lose their accounts. EBay soon followed with even stricter measures, prohibiting any U.S. sales of masks or sanitizer.

Now, while millions of people across the country search in vain for hand sanitizer to protect themselves from the spread of the coronavirus, Mr. Colvin is sitting on 17,700 bottles of the stuff with little idea where to sell them.

“It’s been a huge amount of whiplash,” he said. “From being in a situation where what I’ve got coming and going could potentially put my family in a really good place financially to ‘What the heck am I going to do with all of this?’”

Mr. Colvin is one of probably thousands of sellers who have amassed stockpiles of hand sanitizer and crucial respirator masks that many hospitals are now rationing, according to interviews with eight Amazon sellers and posts in private Facebook and Telegram groups from dozens more. Amazon said it had recently removed hundreds of thousands of listings and suspended thousands of sellers’ accounts for price gouging related to the coronavirus.

Amazon, eBay, Walmart and other online-commerce platforms are trying to stop their sellers from making excessive profits from a public health crisis. While the companies aimed to discourage people from hoarding such products and jacking up their prices, many sellers had already cleared out their local stores and started selling the goods online.

Now both the physical and digital shelves are nearly empty.

Mikeala Kozlowski, a nurse in Dudley, Mass., has been searching for hand sanitizer since before she gave birth to her first child, Nora, on March 5. When she searched stores, which were sold out, she skipped getting gas to avoid handling the pump. And when she checked Amazon, she couldn’t find it for less than $50.

“You’re being selfish, hoarding resources for your own personal gain,” she said of the sellers.

Sites like Amazon and eBay have given rise to a growing industry of independent sellers who snatch up discounted or hard-to-find items in stores to post online and sell around the world.

These sellers call it retail arbitrage, a 21st-century career that has adults buying up everything from limited-run cereals to Fingerling Monkeys, a once hot toy. The bargain hunters look for anything they can sell at a sharp markup. In recent weeks, they found perhaps their biggest opportunity: a pandemic.

As they watched the list of Amazon’s most popular searches crowd with terms like “Purell,” “N95 mask” and “Clorox wipes,” sellers said, they did what they had learned to do: Suck up supply and sell it for what the market would bear.

Initially, the strategy worked. For several weeks, prices soared for some of the top results to searches for sanitizer, masks and wipes on Amazon, according to a New York Times analysis of historical prices from Jungle Scout, which tracks data for Amazon sellers. The data shows that both Amazon and third-party sellers like Mr. Colvin increased their prices, which then mostly dropped when Amazon took action against price gouging this month.

At the high prices, people still bought the products en masse, and Amazon took a cut of roughly 15 percent and eBay roughly 10 percent, depending on the price and the seller.

Then the companies, pressured by growing criticism from regulators and customers, cracked down. After the measures last week, Amazon went further on Wednesday, restricting sales of any coronavirus-related products from certain sellers.

“Price gouging is a clear violation of our policies, unethical, and in some areas, illegal,” Amazon said in a statement. “In addition to terminating these third party accounts, we welcome the opportunity to work directly with states attorneys general to prosecute bad actors.”

Mr. Colvin, 36, a former Air Force technical sergeant, said he started selling on Amazon in 2015, developing it into a six-figure career by selling Nike shoes and pet toys, and by following trends.

In early February, as headlines announced the coronavirus’s spread in China, Mr. Colvin spotted a chance to capitalize. A nearby liquidation firm was selling 2,000 “pandemic packs,” leftovers from a defunct company. Each came with 50 face masks, four small bottles of hand sanitizer and a thermometer. The price was $5 a pack. Mr. Colvin haggled it to $3.50 and bought them all.

Hand sanitizer that Mr. Colvin is keeping in a storage locker.

He quickly sold all 2,000 of the 50-packs of masks on eBay, pricing them from $40 to $50 each, and sometimes higher. He declined to disclose his profit on the record but said it was substantial.

The success stoked his appetite. When he saw the panicked public starting to pounce on sanitizer and wipes, he and his brother set out to stock up.

Elsewhere in the country, other Amazon sellers were doing the same.

Chris Anderson, an Amazon seller in central Pennsylvania, said he and a friend had driven around Ohio, buying about 10,000 masks from stores. He used coupons to buy packs of 10 for around $15 each and resold them for $40 to $50. After Amazon’s cut and other costs, he estimates, he made a $25,000 profit.

Mr. Anderson is now holding 500 packs of antibacterial wipes after Amazon blocked him from selling them for $19 each, up from $16 weeks earlier. He bought the packs for $3 each.

Eric, a truck driver from Ohio who spoke on the condition that his surname not be published because he feared Amazon would retaliate, said he had also collected about 10,000 masks at stores. He bought each 10-pack for about $20 and sold most for roughly $80 each, though some he priced at $125.

“Even at $125 a box, they were selling almost instantly,” he said. “It was mind-blowing as far as what you could charge.” He estimates he made $35,000 to $40,000 in profit.

Now he has 1,000 more masks on order, but he’s not sure what to do with them. He said Amazon had been vague about what constituted price gouging, scaring away sellers who don’t want to risk losing their ability to sell on its site.

To regulators and many others, the sellers are sitting on a stockpile of medical supplies during a pandemic. The attorney general’s offices in California, Washington and New York are all investigating price gouging related to the coronavirus. California’s price-gouging law bars sellers from increasing prices by more than 10 percent after officials declare an emergency. New York’s law prohibits sellers from charging an “unconscionably excessive price” during emergencies.

An official at the Washington attorney general’s office said the agency believed it could apply the state’s consumer-protection law to sue platforms or sellers, even if they aren’t in Washington, as long as they were trying to sell to Washington residents.

Noah Colvin, Mr. Colvin’s brother, moving boxes of hand sanitizer from his brother’s storage locker on Thursday.

Mr. Colvin does not believe he was price gouging. While he charged $20 on Amazon for two bottles of Purell that retail for $1 each, he said people forget that his price includes his labor, Amazon’s fees and about $10 in shipping. (Alcohol-based sanitizer is pricey to ship because officials consider it a hazardous material.)

Current price-gouging laws “are not built for today’s day and age,” Mr. Colvin said. “They’re built for Billy Bob’s gas station doubling the amount he charges for gas during a hurricane.”

He added, “Just because it cost me $2 in the store doesn’t mean it’s not going to cost me $16 to get it to your door.”

But what about the morality of hoarding products that can prevent the spread of the virus, just to turn a profit?

Mr. Colvin said he was simply fixing “inefficiencies in the marketplace.” Some areas of the country need these products more than others, and he’s helping send the supply toward the demand.

“There’s a crushing overwhelming demand in certain cities right now,” he said. “The Dollar General in the middle of nowhere outside of Lexington, Ky., doesn’t have that.”

He thought about it more. “I honestly feel like it’s a public service,” he added. “I’m being paid for my public service.”

As for his stockpile, Mr. Colvin said he would now probably try to sell it locally. “If I can make a slight profit, that’s fine,” he said. “But I’m not looking to be in a situation where I make the front page of the news for being that guy who hoarded 20,000 bottles of sanitizer that I’m selling for 20 times what they cost me.”

After The Times published this article on Saturday morning, Mr. Colvin said he was exploring ways to donate all the supplies.

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Amazon is now giving sellers the exact reason for Restricted Products Removal

Kika Angelic

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If you are a third party seller doing business on Amazon’s platform, you might be already aware that they are rarely providing any clear reason at all for their enforcements. Amazon can remove your listings anytime and if you wish to have them reactivated, you will have to invest a significant amount of time and resources into appealing.

Recently, Amazon started briefly clarifying reasons for listing blocks in relevant notices, which includes those subject to Restricted Products Removal. If you carefully review the wording of e-mail received from Amazon, you will be able to detect, why they were removed.

By the way of example, a recent Restricted Products Removal notice states:

“Jewellery products cannot be described as “8 carat gold”, “10 carat gold” or similar as these are not recognised finesses of gold in the UK. For more info, please see the following; https://sellercentral.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/external/help.html?itemID=201744030&language=en_GB&ref=efph_201744030_relt_201744010”

The text of your notice should address your listing’s specific reasons.

Here you can view an example full e-mail from Amazon regarding Restricted Products Removal:

Notification of Restricted Products Removal

Hello from Amazon,
We are writing to let you know that the following detail pages have been removed from our catalog:

ASIN: XXX, SKU: XXX, Title: XXX

Jewellery products cannot be described as “8 carat gold”, “10 carat gold” or similar as these are not recognised finesses of gold in the UK. For more info, please see the following; https://sellercentral.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/external/help.html?itemID=201744030&language=en_GB&ref=efph_201744030_relt_201744010
Why is this happening?

We took this action because this product is not permitted for sale on Amazon.co.uk. It is your obligation to make sure the products you offer comply with all applicable laws, regulations, and Amazon’s policies.

What actions do I need to take?

– If any of the above ASINs are Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) offers, please initiate a removal request for the ASIN(s) referenced above to have your inventory sent to a location of your choosing. If you fail to initiate a removal request within 30 days of this notification, we may dispose of it in accordance with the Amazon Services Europe Business Solutions Agreement and FBA policies. For more information on our FBA policies, please review https://sellercentral.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/201030350 and https://sellercentral.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/200140860.

– Within 48 hours of this warning, please review your listings and close, delete, or archive any listings that do not comply with all applicable laws, regulations, and Amazon’s policies, including the product(s) listed above.

Please note that moving a restricted product listing to Inactive (Out of Stock) does not make the listing compliant. If you think your product was incorrectly identified as a restricted product on Amazon, close the listing immediately to ensure compliance while you appeal the restriction with Seller Support.

What happens if I fail to follow the above instructions?

Failure to properly close or delete all restricted product listings from your inventory may result in the deactivation of your selling account, and funds may be permanently held.
We’re here to help:

If you have questions about our restricted products policy, please review:
https://sellercentral.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/201743940

Have you received this notification in error?

– If you believe the product(s) listed above are permitted for sale on Amazon, please include evidence or documentation demonstrating that your account has not violated our restricted products policy and contact Seller Support: https://sellercentral-europe.amazon.com/cu/contact-us. We will investigate your concern.
– If you are unsure, please review: https://sellercentral.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/201743940 before appealing the restriction with Seller Support.
You can view your account performance at https://sellercentral-europe.amazon.com/performance/dashboard?reftag=ah_em_rp or select Account Health on the home screen of the Amazon Seller app on your iOS or Android device. The Account Health dashboard shows how well your account is performing in light of the metrics and policy compliance standards required to sell on Amazon.
– Download iOS App at https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/amazon-seller/id794141485?mt=8
– Download Android App at https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.amazon.sellermobile.android&hl=en_GB
We appreciate your cooperation and thank you for selling on Amazon.co.uk.
Amazon Services Europe

Please note: This e-mail was sent from a notification-only address that cannot accept incoming e-mail. Please do not reply to this message.

Once you receive a warning like this, and you believe it to be justified, definitely review your listings within 48 hours of the warning and close, delete, or archive any listings that do not comply with all applicable laws, regulations, and Amazon’s policies, including the product(s) listed above.

I hope you found this article helpful. If you are experiencing issues with your Amazon Seller Account and your Seller Account already received a warning or is under a review, I can assist you and help you resolve the matter.

In order to receive a professional advice and get help with your Amazon issue, feel free to subscribe and reach out through my dedicated assistance help page at www.onlyfans.com/kikaangelic, where I provide help with Amazon related matters in exchange for a small $24.99 fee.

If you have an Amazon-related issue, feel free to join and post into my large Amazon Seller Performance – Friendly Advice – Worldwide Facebook group, where you will be very welcome.

Many Amazon sellers recently started trading stocks and crypto currencies, hoping to diversify their income, which is a very good idea with all the uncertainty which comes with the platform. For this reason, we launched a new Facebook group, Crypto Arbitrage Income (Bitcoin, Crypto, Altcoins, Blockchain, Trading) – feel free to join us and forget about the troubles of selling on Amazon for a moment!

Additionally, here you can watch my YouTube video, where I am presenting you several secret tips about appealing Amazon Seller Account suspensions (don’t be confused by the opening of the video, where I am enjoying a vacation – it’s a part of the story):

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How to recover your Amazon Seller Account when Two Step Verification Fails

Kika Angelic

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As you know, Amazon now requires all third party sellers to implement two step verification in order to access their Seller Accounts. Many sellers are reaching out to me and seeking help with regaining access to their accounts when they are unable to perform two step verification.

This may happen when a seller loses their phone, for example. In such case, they will be unable to receive the OTP text code. If Two-Step Verification fails and you can’t access your account, you can try to recover it using alternative means.

To regain access to your account, you’ll need to verify your identity by providing a scan or photo of a government-issued identity document to Amazon. To protect your account, Amazon won’t be able to make changes to your Two-Step Verification settings until your identity is successfully verified. If you are able to sign in to your account, you’ll have access to make changes to your account.

Before you begin account recovery, try to sign in with a registered backup method or from a trusted device.

If you still can’t sign in, to recover your account:

  1. Go here
  2. Follow the on-screen instructions to upload your identity document. Make sure that your name and address, and the issuing authority (e.g., state or country) are visible. Cover, conceal, or remove sensitive information such as account numbers or identification numbers. 

The verification process can take 1-2 days to complete. Amazon will e-mail you to confirm once Two-Step Verification has been disabled. You’ll then be able to access your account with only your password.

I hope you found this article helpful. If you are experiencing issues with your Amazon Seller Account and your Seller Account already received a warning or is under a review, I can assist you and help you resolve the matter.

In order to receive a professional advice and get help with your Amazon issue, feel free to subscribe and reach out through my dedicated assistance help page at www.onlyfans.com/kikaangelic, where I provide help with Amazon related matters in exchange for a small $24.99 fee.

If you have an Amazon-related issue, feel free to join and post into my large Amazon Seller Performance – Friendly Advice – Worldwide Facebook group, where you will be very welcome.

Many Amazon sellers recently started trading stocks and crypto currencies, hoping to diversify their income, which is a very good idea with all the uncertainty which comes with the platform. For this reason, we launched a new Facebook group, Crypto Arbitrage Income (Bitcoin, Crypto, Altcoins, Blockchain, Trading) – feel free to join us and forget about the troubles of selling on Amazon for a moment!

In case you are an Amazon Seller who needs help with Seller Identity Verification on Amazon, please feel free to watch my most detailed video on the subject, addressing all common questions:

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New requirement for list prices on Amazon starts June 30

Kika Angelic

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If you are an Amazon Seller doing business on their US platform, you must have received Amazon’s warning e-mail entitled New requirement for list prices starts June 30 in your inbox. Starting that date, Amazon will require any newly created listings to contain the List Price.

If you are wondering why is setting a List Price so important for Amazon, in this article I will be addressing your concerns. Whilst it will only take you a few seconds to update any listing with a List Price, you may not be aware of its pros and cons.

Once you upload the List Price, Amazon will save this figure as the product’s RRP. When you try to decrease or increase the product price later, your listing will get automatically deactivated over a Potential high / low pricing error or you will lose the BuyBox.

This is why you should carefully rethink whether you will provide this attribute on your existing listings and what figure will be entered as the List Price. 

On the other hand, List Price can be a good idea when you have an otherwise expensive product, which you intend to sell at a significant discount. It is then shown as a strike-through Recommended Retail Price making the savings visible on the product detail page. Displaying the RRP when you are offering a price that is below it, will help customers understand the value of your offer, which may help to increase conversion. 

If you do not have a ready-to-provide list price, Amazon suggests that a possible value could be the first price at which you have offered or will be offering the product. You can also provide a value of 0 to indicate that you do not have a list price.

Here you can view a copy of the wording of Amazon’s e-mail regarding the matter:

New requirement for list prices starts June 30

Hello,

You are receiving this email because you have previously added offers for certain product types that commonly include list prices.

Beginning June 30, 2023, we will require the “List price” (also referred to as a Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price) attribute to be completed for these product types. 

Your existing offers will not be affected by this change. Rather, when you create a new item listing, or when you edit an existing listing, you will see a prompt to fill out the “List price” attribute. 

If you do not have a ready-to-provide list price, a possible value could be the first price at which you have offered or will be offering the product. You can also provide a value of 0 to indicate that you do not have a list price.

For more information, go to “Product type and attributes”:
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/help/GYV2F6WS9N9FDYD9

You can download the full list of impacted product types from the following link:
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/G/01/Product_Types_Requiring_List_Price/Product_Types_Required_List_Price.xlsx

For more information on how Amazon uses list prices, go to “Show a reference price on your products by providing a List Price”:
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/help/G27XM55CQM3SBMD2

The Amazon Services team

I hope you found this article helpful. If you are experiencing issues with your Amazon Seller Account and your Seller Account already received a warning or is under a review, I can assist you and help you resolve the matter.

In order to receive a professional advice and get help with your Amazon issue, feel free to subscribe and reach out through my dedicated assistance help page at www.onlyfans.com/kikaangelic, where I provide help with Amazon related matters in exchange for a small $24.99 fee.

If you have an Amazon-related issue, feel free to join and post into my large Amazon Seller Performance – Friendly Advice – Worldwide Facebook group, where you will be very welcome.

Many Amazon sellers recently started trading stocks and crypto currencies, hoping to diversify their income, which is a very good idea with all the uncertainty which comes with the platform. For this reason, we launched a new Facebook group, Crypto Arbitrage Income (Bitcoin, Crypto, Altcoins, Blockchain, Trading) – feel free to join us and forget about the troubles of selling on Amazon for a moment!

In case you are an Amazon Seller who needs help with Seller Identity Verification on Amazon, please feel free to watch my most detailed video on the subject, addressing all common questions:

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