平時有空時，我會去瀏覽一下美國的媒體和論壇，看一看美國賣家所談及的亞馬遜運營，換一個視角也許就是一番不一樣的收穫。下面這篇就是美國CNBC上發的一篇關於美國賣家控訴亞馬遜凍結賬號的新聞稿，而正好的，這篇稿子裡有蠻多問題都可以在我們中國賣家運營中找到影子，所以，我想以中英文對照的方式，將文章分享給大家，中間加上我個人的一些看法，希望能夠給各位正在運營亞馬遜店鋪的賣家朋友們提個醒。
On July 9, Amazon put out a press release saying that Prime Day, the giant upcoming shopping extravaganza, "has proven to be a huge growth opportunity for many small and medium-sized businesses."
7月9日亞馬遜的Prime Day盛況空前，“算得上是為很多中小賣家提供了巨大的發展機會”。
That same day, an online seller named Diana Schappert got an email from an Amazon employee who goes by Paul. It came with a very different message.
但就在同一天，也有許多賣家收到了亞馬遜的賬號凍結郵件，就像Diana Schappert這一家。他們在Prime Day啟動當日，收到了一封來自亞馬遜員工Pual的通知，而這封通知的內容也非常與眾不同。
"Jeff Bezos received your email and I am responding on his behalf," wrote Paul, who didn't include a last name but said that he's part of the Seller Performance team. "I have thoroughly reviewed your account and the information you have provided and determined that you may not sell on Amazon.com."
老魏備註：我想很多發郵件到[email protected]郵箱進行控訴的賣家相信都收到過類似的郵件吧！我想說的是，無論你收到的回覆如何，至少可以印證一件事--這個以Jeff冠名的郵箱真實存在而且如果你的問題反饋得恰到好處，確實可以得到亞馬遜的回應。
那麼，我們可以在什麼情況下去聯繫這個郵箱呢？第一、當你覺得受到無端的誤判而導致了自己賬號受限或者利益受損嚴重時；第二、當你看到平臺上有違規行為時，比如超低價大批量跟賣，比如VC賬號的頻繁作惡行為等，即便這些事情並沒有和你直接相關，也可以大膽向Jeff的郵箱投訴。
為什麼要如此多管閒事呢？這裡分享一段話：
當他們來抓猶太人時，我保持沉默，因為我不是猶太人；當他們來抓貿易工會主義者時，我保持沉默，因為我不是貿易工會主義者；當他們來抓天主教徒時，我保持沉默，因為我是新教徒；當他們來抓我時，已無人替我說話了。
For Schappert, who is one of millions of third-party sellers on Amazon, the email is potentially a fatal blow in a costly saga that's lasted the better part of the year. It has left her family business — Cheapskates Liquidators — in tatters.
作為無數亞馬遜上第三方賣家群體中的一員，這封郵件對於Schappert一家來說，算得上是致命打擊了。這封郵件幾乎毫無餘地的給他們經營的店鋪Cheapskates Liquidators宣判了死刑。
Since mid-March, Cheapskates has been suspended from Amazon for a few vague complaints related to the sale of inauthentic items, all of which Schappert and her husband, George, say can be easily explained. Amazon has refused to readmit them, despite multiple appeals. The July 9 email came after the couple escalated their complaints all the way to the CEO. CNBC has viewed extensive documentation, which seems to back up the Schapperts' tale.
從3月中旬開始，Cheapskates就因為一些與產品真偽相關的含糊投訴而被亞馬遜凍結了賬號。而根據Schappert先生的說法，導致投訴的原因都是可以解釋的。但是亞馬遜卻一而再再而三的拒絕了他們的申訴。在他們不斷升級自己的申訴對象，最終選擇向CEO尋求幫助，終於收到了7月9日的這封郵件。
老魏備註：Cheapskates的遭遇其實很多中國賣家都經歷過，焦慮、彷徨、憤怒等情緒會疊加而出，但凡事有果必有因，而在後面的內容裡，我們也許就可以找到這個“因”。
During the 36 hours of Prime Day, stretching across Monday and Tuesday, Coresight Research expects Amazon to reel in $3.4 billion, as consumers flock to deals on electronics, clothes, furniture and snacks (though that estimate was made prior to a glitch at the start of Prime Day on Monday). Third-party sellers account for more than half of all items sold on the site, and many of them are small family businesses like Cheapskates. Amazon said last week that on Prime Day 2017, thousands of smaller businesses generated more than $50,000 in sales, allowing them to "grow their businesses, create new jobs, and invest in their communities."
在Prime Day進行的36個小時中，亞馬遜上的銷售額可能達到了34億美元，消費者的主要購買目標多為電子產品，服裝，傢俱和零食。而第三方賣家們為這個銷售額貢獻了超過一半的銷售量。亞馬遜聲稱在2018年的Prime Day期間，銷售額超過五萬美金的第三方賣家比比皆是，這也為他們提供了“拓展業務，創造就業，投資新社群”的機會。
But for some small sellers, working with Amazon has become a complicated mess of infringement claims, confusing suspensions, fees and one-way correspondence.
但對於一些中小賣家來說，與亞馬遜的合作被侵權投訴，各種令人費解的凍結，還有諸多費用和單邊負責一樣的方式搞得烏七八糟。
A number of Facebook groups for Amazon sellers are loaded with complaints from people who were suspended for reasons that aren't entirely clear and have struggled to get anyone at Amazon to help. Merchants have filled up Amazon seller forums looking for advice about getting reinstated when they think they've been unfairly suspended or have had their products blocked.
在Facebook上有許多亞馬遜賣家的討論組中都充斥著人們對於原因不明的賬號凍結的抱怨，以及對得到幫助的渴望。賣家論壇也擠滿了賬號出現問題的賣家，他們上傳自己的申訴信，希望得到同行們的幫助。
老魏備註：當你的賬號受限時，那並不是個例。很多賣家使用Facebook只是為了找所謂的測評資源，其實，除了測評群組之外，更多的賣家交流群組也是我們應該關注的對象。你總覺得自己一個人做亞馬遜很孤獨，沒有信息來源，如果真的是這種感覺，不妨多關注關注以Amazon Seller為關鍵詞的Facebook Group。
In a statement to CNBC, Amazon said the Schapperts were suspended for selling counterfeits, among other infractions:
亞馬遜在對CNBC的詢問進行回覆時，聲稱Schappert是因為銷售偽造品以及違背了其他政策而受到了凍結。
"The seller in question was found violating multiple Amazon policies, including our anti-counterfeiting policy. They were given multiple opportunities to address the situation but showed a repeated pattern of behavior that was not in our customers’ best interest, so we took actions to protect our customers and stop their illegal activity."
“我們發現該賣家同時違背了多項亞馬遜政策，包括我們的反假貨政策。亞馬遜多次給予他們改正的機會，然而他們的賬號屢次出現同樣的問題。這對於我們維護消費者權益十分不利。因此我們選擇為維護消費者而永久關閉他們的賬號以強制他們停止這樣的非法行為。”
But the Schapperts say Amazon never gave them this explanation, and the couple's recent correspondence with Amazon, which they shared with CNBC, offers little detail.
但是Schappert一家則表示亞馬遜從來沒有給過他們這樣的解釋，他們與亞馬遜最近的交互信件中也沒有相關的信息。
老魏備註：雖然亞馬遜的理念是成為“世界上最以用戶為中心的企業”，但必須說，這句話只是針對於消費者的，對於供應商和合作夥伴，貝索斯是惡魔，毫不誇張。所以，在遭遇申訴的情況時，不妨多聯繫幾次，提高得到亞馬遜客服回覆的幾率。
但是，任何情況下的申訴，都建議不要依賴於模板，任何模板都是愚蠢的，每次申訴要確保語言真誠，邏輯清晰，有理有據，如果話都說不清，申訴不出來也是必然。
Now, they're faced with two bad choices. The first option is to keep their $200,000 of inventory in Amazon's fulfillment centers and continue to try and get reinstated while racking up fees from Amazon for storage, which amounted to $367.37 in June, when they couldn't even sell anything.
現在擺在他們面前的有兩個選擇，儘管沒有一個選擇是他們所期望的。第一個選擇是讓他們20萬美元的庫存繼續放在亞馬遜的配送中心裡，繼續嘗試申訴，與此同時在毫無銷量的情況下支付各種倉儲費用。
Or, the Schapperts can pay 50 cents an item — several thousand dollars in total — to have it all shipped back so they can try to sell it elsewhere. If they don't decide soon, Amazon could destroy their inventory, according to emails they've received from the company.
或者，他們得按50美分一件的價格將他們的庫存運送到別的地方，然後嘗試通過其他渠道銷售掉。而如果他們不能儘快決定，亞馬遜會銷燬他們的全部庫存。
"We thought this was what we were going to be doing for the rest of our lives," said George Schappert, 41, in an interview. "It was a real wake-up call to be kicked off like this."
現年41歲的George Schappert
The problems stem from Amazon's efforts to address a counterfeit crisis, which has plagued the site since the company opened the doors a few years ago to manufacturers and sellers from all over the world. Infringement complaints are now a common occurrence, and can be triggered by as little as a single review from a buyer, or even false reports from competitors.
這一系列對賣家不友好的行為都源自亞馬遜對於整頓假冒偽劣產品的努力。自從亞馬遜正式面向全世界的賣家開放後，侵權投訴，偽造品投訴等等都變得越來越常見，同時也越來越容易被觸發。不僅是消費者的投訴，競爭對手的偽報也會導致被投訴賣家的賬號出現問題。
Amazon told CNBC: "Amazon has large teams dedicated to helping sellers—many of them small businesses—be successful reaching and delighting customers. We expect all sellers to comply with the law and our policies, and we take steps to protect customers if they do not. We are committed to providing a great shopping experience and work closely with customers and sellers to resolve any concerns they may have."
亞馬遜對CNBC的解釋如下“為了幫助賣家更好的銷售，更好的服務消費者，亞馬遜是準備著龐大的賣家服務團隊的。我們希望所有的賣家都能遵守法律和我們平臺規則的約束，如果賣家不能達到這些要求，那麼我們也會採取對應措施來保護消費者的權益。我們一直都是致力於提供最好的購物體驗。同時我們與消費者和賣家密切合作以解決他們遇到的問題。”
The company also explained a little about its methods, which rely heavily on automation: "When a business registers to sell products through Amazon’s Marketplace, Amazon’s systems scan information for signals that the business might be a bad actor, and Amazon blocks identified bad actors before they can offer any products for sale. Amazon’s systems also automatically and continuously scan numerous data points related to sellers, products, brands, and offers to detect activity that indicates products offered might be counterfeit."
而對於亞馬遜所採用的具體操作方法，他們也有所解釋，這一套方法在很大程度上是依賴於亞馬遜的自動化識別能力的：“當一個店鋪在亞馬遜上註冊，我們的系統會自動掃描他們提交的信息，確認他們的信息中是否有可能意味著他們無法遵守亞馬遜政策的信號。亞馬遜會在有這樣潛在傾向的賣家進入平臺之前就將他們拒之門外。亞馬遜的系統還會自動並持續的掃描關於賣家，產品，品牌和訂單的多種信息以及時發現有銷售偽造品風險的經營活動。”
老魏備註：上面一段話，值得每個賣家認真琢磨：為什麼你的賬號剛註冊下來就被移除了銷售權限？填寫的資料，發佈的產品等等，都可能導致被亞馬遜判定為高風險賬號而遭關閉。無論是註冊第一個賬號也好，還是要註冊多個賬號來進行多賬號運營也罷，都一定要防備上述要素被系統判定為高風險賬號。
In its zeal to control counterfeiting, Amazon has taken a heavy hand in removing sellers and forced them to respond with a detailed plan of action, or POA, accepting responsibility for what went wrong and promising to fix it. Dealing with these disruptions is just a cost of doing business on Amazon, even for legitimate sellers.
為了更好的處理假貨問題，亞馬遜對賣家們採取了從重的方式。一旦出現問題，就會被凍結賬號，並要求被凍結賬號的賣家提交一篇POA以承認對產生的錯誤負責並且保證改正。處理這樣的突發事件是每個亞馬遜賣家都必須經歷的，即使是一向行動規範的賣家也是如此。
In the Schapperts' case, the ordeal has been much more dramatic.
The couple are longtime online sellers on eBay, but stepped up their Amazon business in 2015, after George became sick and was unable to continue his electrical work. Cheapskates built its online business by sourcing goods from local businesses, like a friend who makes yard signs, buying from distributors and snapping up clearance products at RadioShack and other retailers.
Like many Amazon sellers, Cheapskates has faced some infringement complaints in the past, according to documents the Schapperts shared with CNBC. Two of them included allegations they were selling counterfeits. One was from a rights owner in February 2017, claiming that Cheapskates was listing a counterfeit light bulb, which they deny. The other was a notification saying they were selling a counterfeit Bluetooth speaker; in fact, the Schapperts say, the product was authentic but they later learned that it wasn't authorized for sale online. Neither notification resulted in suspension, and they stopped selling both products.
The Schapperts were also briefly suspended in July 2017 for "poor seller performance," partly because of a buyer complaint that a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle camera was inauthentic. They were reinstated within two days after telling Amazon they had the receipts to prove the authenticity of the items.
Then things improved. For a while, the business was so good that Amazon almost doubled Cheapskates' storage capacity, allowed the storefront into the global sellers program and offered loans to the Schapperts with rates that kept getting lower.
"They make you feel like you're being rewarded," said George Schappert.
The business peaked at $60,000 in December after a solid holiday season. Soon thereafter, the Schapperts leased a 6,000-square-foot warehouse that costs them about $2,300 a month as they prepared to grow their operation, which George Schappert said was on pace to at least double its revenue this year.
Then, on March 15, Amazon sent the Schapperts an email saying that some of their listings had been removed because of "buyer complaints about the items ordered from you." Amazon provided six product codes and said four of them had complaints for "used sold as new," two were "not as advertised" and one was "damaged/defective."
The next day, March 16, the Schapperts got another note from Amazon saying they could no longer sell on the site because of complaints about "the authenticity of items listed at the end of this email." The three codes were entirely different from the six in the prior day's email and provided no explanation about what was wrong with the products — two types of cigarette rolling paper and some children's bedding. The Schapperts said that after scanning all of the user reviews about those three products, the only complaint related to authenticity came from a single buyer of rolling papers.
而在Schappert家的情況中，這種處理來的更劇烈。Schappert夫妻一直以來都在Ebay上從事網店運營，在2015年才進入亞馬遜。他們的店鋪Cheapskates主要通過從當地的一些作坊，批發商和零售超市進貨，然後在亞馬遜上銷售的方式獲得盈利。這樣的經營方式自然也有過這樣那樣的問題。他們的店鋪曾被投訴過賣假貨，被投訴過侵權，也因為賬號績效不佳被警告過，但是最終他們都還能正常銷售。而且在恢復銷售後還越經營越順利，他們的業務規模甚至得到了翻倍增長，甚至還拿到了利率更低的貸款。“這給我們的感覺就像是我們得到了亞馬遜的認可和鼓勵”。然而突然到了三月，亞馬遜就給Schappert發來了賬號凍結的郵件。
老魏備註：上面幾段內容比較多，簡單翻譯了大概的意思，會英語的朋友可以仔細讀一下。
我在這裡想簡單談一談我的看法，事件中的主人公剛開始的運營是Ok的，但後來，他們改換了運營策略，採用了鋪貨模式，上了很多產品，各個品牌的產品，（是否有假貨我們不得而知），然後就遭遇了被品牌方投訴、業績不佳等不良表現。在我看來，這才是導致賬號受限的根本原因，你自己亂賣貨，還裝無辜，最後受限也是必然的。不信你去看看，在亞馬遜上，上很多品牌的雜貨店，存活的概率有多高。事件中的主人公還是美國人，也因為被投訴侵權和賣假貨而導致賬號掛掉了，作為中國賣家，就更不要抱著僥倖的心理去嘗試了。
Amazon did not explain to the Schapperts or to CNBC why the March 15 and March 16 emails differed in terms of the products listed, nor did they say why Cheapskates was suspended without warning.
To try and get reinstated, Cheapskates explained to Amazon that it cancelled its relationships with distributors tied to inauthentic item claims and provided a full list of suppliers for all the products in the suspension.
It wasn't enough. On April 3, Amazon said that the information was insufficient and that the Schapperts "could no longer sell on Amazon.com." There was no further explanation, just the boilerplate language that, "for privacy reasons, we do not provide details about our investigation methods."
Now the Schapperts are potentially on the verge of having thousands of dollars worth of products destroyed. Twice this month, Amazon has told Cheapskates that it's "submitted a disposal order" for its inventory because the company missed the deadline for removing it.
為了恢復賬號，Cheapskates向亞馬遜保證停止了和當前供應商的關係，並且提供了所有受限產品的信息。但這對亞馬遜來說還不夠，並且“由於保密性原則，我們不能知會更詳細的調查內容”。因此現在的Schappert一家就面臨著可能會有上千美元的貨物被銷燬。亞馬遜也曾發通知要求他們提交移除訂單。
老魏備註：上述內容，相信遭遇過的賣家都覺得熟悉吧？“由於保密性原則，我們不能知會更詳細的調查內容”。
In April, Cheapskates hired Chris McCabe, a former Amazon employee who specializes in working with third-party merchants, to help get them reinstated. McCabe said he's dealt with hundreds of sellers who have run into similar problems, but he's almost always able to get them back up quickly as long as there's no serious infraction, like sourcing counterfeits, using someone else's trademark or having really bad performance metrics.
But McCabe said that sometimes reinstatement efforts get pushed to the wrong group at Amazon. At that point, there's often no telling who inside the company is calling the shots or what can be done to make things right.
"Once they get placed in purgatory, it can be hard to reel them back in," McCabe said. "I don't think Amazon wants to be a marketplace where it's haphazard — who stays and who doesn't."
Schappert一家也曾向一名前亞馬遜員工Chris McCabe求助，他曾是專門負責與第三方商家的協作工作。在Chris McCabe的個人經驗中，不太嚴重的違規通常都能迅速解決並恢復賬號。但是McCabe也表示賬號恢復的過程在亞馬遜上的進程上有時會相當混亂。時常出現不知道該由誰來決定是否要恢復，誰能做最後拍板決策的問題。McCabe認為“一旦賣家們已經進入了被凍結的程度，那麼想要平安無事的返回就會很困難。我不認為亞馬遜會願意成為一個在誰留誰走的問題上全靠隨機性的市場平臺。”
Amazon said in its statement that sellers must comply with the law and that it "works with customers and sellers to resolve any concerns they may have."
To help small merchants deal with the complexity of the platform, Amazon is rolling out various professional support services. Amazon has recently been promoting a program called Marketplace Growth, which includes "12 months of personalized coaching, training and insight from an assigned Account Manager" and costs up to $5,000 a month.
為了幫助商家處理和平臺的種種麻煩事務。亞馬遜正在推出多種專門輔助方案。亞馬遜最近推出的項目Marketplace Growth就是為這個目的服務的。該項目包含有一個由專門賬號經理提供的長達12個月的專業人員培訓。而這個服務需要商家每月支付5000美元。
Last month, Amazon touted that service and others at a conference in New Orleans called Boost, designed to teach "strategies, tactics, tools, and services that make the difference for successful FBA sellers."
月前，亞馬遜在新奧爾良的Boost會議上推出了這個項目，聲明該項目是為了“教授能為FBA賣家帶來不同效益的策略，技巧，工具以及服務。”
From a business standpoint, it's working — the company generates almost $40 billion a year in revenue for third-party seller services, which includes commissions, fulfillment and shipping fees. Sales in the first quarter surged 44 percent to $9.3 billion.
只從商業角度來看的話，這個做法是可行的。亞馬遜每年從第三方賣家的銷售上獲得的收益差不多有400億美元，包括佣金，配送費，庫存費用等等。僅第一季度的銷售額就激增44%達到了93億美元。
Peter Kearns, a former Amazon Marketplace leader, spent four years at the company and now helps sellers from the outside. Kearns said that most sellers who get suspended aren't paying close enough attention to what's happening with their business, and with all the nuances and changes at Amazon.
But even those who are being diligent and proactive can get wrapped up in Amazon's aggressive and increasingly automated effort to remove problem merchants, he said.
我們採訪了亞馬遜的前市場主管Peter Kearns，他在亞馬遜工作了四年，現在致力於通過站外方式來幫助賣家解決問題。Kearns說大多數被凍結賬號的賣家都沒有對自己的業務投注足夠多的關注，同時也忽視了亞馬遜上不斷髮生的改變。
"There are a lot of good sellers that get caught in the crossfire of Amazon's machine learning, which it's using to combat the bad apples," said Kearns, who is now a vice president at 180Commerce. In general, "Amazon doesn't just come out of the blue and knock you off and suspend you," he said. "You have to show a pattern of bad behavior."
Kearns表示，“在亞馬遜這個機器學習，並與壞蘋果不斷的交火中，許多表現良好的賣家不幸的手打了波及。亞馬遜並不會閃現出來然後把賣家從平臺上趕出去。只有在賣家的確已經表現出一些不良的徵兆時才會如此。”
Amazon has recently shaken up the marketplace organization, after years of exponential growth led to a surge in counterfeits and all sorts of manipulative seller tactics. Sebastian Gunningham, who was senior vice president of the division, left for WeWork in April, and the person directly below him, Peter Faricy, has since been stripped of most of his responsibilities.
With all the changes, sellers like the Schapperts remain stuck in the vortex, desperate for answers. George Schappert estimates the business is out $6,000 in fees and consulting expenses, not to mention the many tens of thousands of dollars in lost revenue.
"We're just trying to figure out what they want so we can provide that," he said. "But it almost seems like they don't want us there anymore."
鑑於近些年出現的偽造品和其他操縱性的行為在以指數級的程度增長，亞馬遜也針對性的進行了人事調整，市場結構組織部副主管被換下，新主管上任。儘管已經在做出改變，像Schappert這樣的情況任然看不到樂觀的前景。包括諮詢費用等等在內，目前他的店鋪已經損失了超過6000美元，更不用說在隨後的一段時間內還會產生更多的損失。
老魏點評：
雖然這只是CNBC的一篇新聞報道，但在閱讀的過程中，我們可以從賣家的視角、從美國賣家的視角、從亞馬遜平臺的視角、從第三方服務商的視角來思考作為一個賣家，應該如何做才能更符合平臺規則，獲得在平臺上長期穩定發展的機會。我覺得，這才是閱讀這篇文章最深刻的意義。
如果你總是無視規則，如果你總是想當然的認為，如果你總是自以為是，下一個賬號掛掉的也許就是你。你認為呢？
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