Andrew Hamada covers August 2023 Amazon seller updates: FBA Shiptrack adds carrier options for China shipments starting August 21. Sponsored Product Ads now run on Pinterest and BuzzFeed. Amazon is testing an AI tool that auto-generates product descriptions from titles and reviews. Europe's new reserve policy holds funds seven days after delivery. Review displays changed, hiding some bullet points and showing percent-based ratings instead of counts.
Questions this video answers
Starting August 21, 2023.
August 16, 2023.
Delivery Date based Reserve (DD7): funds are held for seven days after the delivery date of an order.
Chapters
Today we've got changes to sponsored product ads, changes to the search page UI, and much, much more. Welcome back to the Amazon Analytics Insider with Risen Automation. Let's get you up to date. The first update that we have for you all today is in regards to FBA shipment tracking via Shiptrack. Starting August 21st of 2023, Amazon sellers who use a non partner carrier to ship FBA shipments from China to the US can choose one of Amazon's Shiptrack carriers. Using Shiptrack carriers are supposed to provide more reliable track and this helps you predict when shipments will arrive at fulfillment centers. In turn, you're able to estimate more accurate delivery dates for customers. As a seller, this can also help you make more informed replenishment decisions, potentially reducing overstock costs. Information on shipment progress from Shiptrack is automatically provided to Amazon and available on your shipment summary page in seller Central. On August 16, Amazon announced that they were expanding their Sponsored Product Ads program to include other apps and websites such as Pinterest, buzzfeed, and more. After being clicked, these ads link directly to your product listing page. Sponsored product ads will only be shown for items that are in stock and ready to be shipped. And as a seller, you can choose to not have your ads shown on specific apps and websites of your choosing. Amazon is also testing out an AI tool that helps sellers write product descriptions. This tool uses natural language processing to analyze product information such as the title, images and reviews, and then generate a product description. Sellers can then edit and review the AI generated description before publishing it onto the website. The tool is currently being tested with a limited number of sellers, but Amazon plans to make it more available to sellers in the future. This is Amazon's second attempt at a customer facing AI feature. The first one was AI Generated Review Summaries, which we talked about a few months prior. This is the first time that the company has offered an AI feature that can be used by sellers. It'll be interesting to see how the AI generated product descriptions are received by customers and whether or not they actually help sellers increase their sales. Sales On August 3rd, Amazon changed their reserve policy for sellers in Europe. The new policy is called Delivery Date based Reserve or DD7. Under DD7, funds will be held in reserve for seven days after the delivery date of an order, meaning sellers will have to wait longer to receive Amazon's payment. Amazon said that the new policy is necessary to protect customers and to ensure that sellers have enough funds to cover refunds, claims and chargebacks. However, understandably so, sellers are concerned that their new policy will hurt their cash flow. Amazon does offer a lending service to sellers who need the cash, but some sellers say that they cannot access loans quickly enough. Many sellers in the forum are upset after having seen that Amazon made changes to the way that select product reviews are now being displayed. Select product categories such as dog, toys and belts now use a percent system such as 81% of customers rate this as four stars. However, some categories, such as phone cases, still display reviews in the same style that they had previously. Listings on the search page now feature three different assortments of review information, with presents, review count and purchase rates being displayed to customers. Many sellers dislike this new change on the search page because it hides the good review count that many sellers work very hard for. And the meaning behind this scoring system can vary greatly depending on how many reviews an item has. For example, an item with 905 star reviews and 101 star reviews and an item with 95 star reviews and one 1 star review will read the same in the Amazon UI. Amazon now hides the bullet points in the item information in the about this Item section on product pages. Many sellers are upset because this hides crucial information that helps customers make the right decision. The seller in the lower image feels that this is Amazon purposely withholding information from the customer, forcing them to make a quicker but less informed decision as a seller. If you currently have essential information here, it might be a good time to migrate that information elsewhere. Thanks again for joining me for the Amazon Analytics Insider. The link to the full written version is available in the description box below, and while you're there, pay a visit to our Help center to take a closer look at those reports. Thank you.
