
Amazon walks back vendor purge - petra
https://digiday.com/retail/amazon-vendor-purge-sellers-reduce-dependence-platform/
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_coveredInBees
I honestly think it's high time Amazon did this. I've been a big fan of
purchasing products from them in the past but over the past couple of years,
the entire experience has left me feeling very unsatisfied as it is blatantly
obvious how their market is being gamed by unscrupulous sellers, low quality
products and an epidemic of fake/paid reviews.

Trying to buy quality items in certain popular categories (eg: screw driver
set, chargers, flashlights, etc.) is all but impossible as you have to wade
through pages and pages of low quality Chinese made knockoffs with weird brand
names and of course, 1000+ 5-star reviews.

It's gotten to the point that my wife and I have been purchasing more and more
items through Walmart, Target and Home Depot. They've all upped their game to
compete against Amazon, and I'm happy to wait an extra day or two to receive
an item in lieu of having a product that is likely better quality and the
option for a frictionless return at a local store if needed.

As an ML engineer, it's clear to me that Amazon really hasn't cared about
their reviews being gamed, or that their marketplace is now just a flea market
being drowned in a sea of crap. Hopefully that changes going forward.

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philpem
Sounds a bit like what's happened to ebay.

But hey, when you get paid the per-item fees no matter what happens, why would
you optimise for quality?

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bastawhiz
> why would you optimise for quality?

Because people will start buying their goods elsewhere.

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ascii_only
Where? If Amazon almost monopoly.

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volkl48
No? Most vendors have gotten their online experience in reasonable order at
this point. (In some ways, better than Amazon, because many aren't on the
"marketplace" model and I don't have to sift a sea of crap).

That is: Free or very low cost shipping and a reasonable UI.

And for those with a brick + mortar presence, free in-store pickup with a
pretty quick turnaround time on it.

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anon2200220022
Posting anonymously as an insider from their advertising org: this is probably
a play to fill an enormous data gap they have. Due to historical reasons,
there's actually no mapping between brands and who sells those brands--that
database literally doesn't exist, and without that data, their advertising
offerings suffer. This move will allow them to rectify a data gap, and expand
their digital advertising program by allowing them to more accurately
understand and measure the relationship between advertisers, products, and
brands.

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ssvss
Can you explain more on how having this Data would help with Amazon's
advertising business.

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mey
As a consumer, I only buy from the operator of the site (Amazon, Walmart,
Newegg, etc). The only exception is certain specific vendors on the market
place that are the company of the product itself (Anker). I've found it hard
to get support/help otherwise.

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dboreham
Problem is that on Amazon this approach does not guarantee no fake goods
because Amazon mixes the real product they bought with fake product for 3rd
party sellers in the same bin.

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duxup
A system to avoid fakes and etc seems like something Amazon should be doing.
Not sure if this actually protects everyone or just a few...

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gralx
Brand Registry enrollment will be good for consumers if it works.

I looked into Herman Miller chairs on Amazon.ca last year. The Amazon seller
"Madison Seating" was some group selling refurbished HM chairs out of a
warehouse, offering no warranty but selling at new prices.

Companies like that will find it harder to fool shoppers when they don't have
an "authorized reseller" badge by their names.

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ChuckMcM
_More importantly, it pushed the vendor to sign up for Amazon’s Brand Registry
enrollment, a program that lets brand owners and licensees submit proof that
they are authorized sellers of a brand’s products, which then grants them
protection from unauthorized sellers on Amazon. The vendor who received the
email is not a brand owner._

This seems to support my earlier conjecture[1] that Amazon's efforts are due
to their attempt to mitigate fraud and counterfeits on their site.

[1]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19392734](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19392734)

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throwaway010718
"To enroll, brands need to provide a government-registered trademark number."

I had heard some US sellers get a trademark from a foreign country since the
process is often faster and they can then enroll in Brand Registry sooner. But
does anyone know if you register with a non-US trademark, can you then still
sell that brand in Amazon's US market ? Or is it only the region/country that
issued the trademark ?

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ikeboy
You can sell without brand registry, you just don't get all the features like
special brand content, reporting, etc.

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blairanderson
They have definitely purged vendors. Even very legit ones. but most have
remained for now.

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justtopost
Walked back? They need 20 more purges. Even Ebay and Alibaba are less sketchy
at this point.

