Disclaimer: This is a long post. If you don’t have the time, scroll down to the last paragraph.
I’m at my wit’s end with Seller Support. It’s become a vicious cycle of explaining an issue, receiving a canned (often nonsensical) copy/paste response asking for the same information we already provided, providing said information again, and getting a non-answer “answer” from someone else that likely didn’t have access or bother to review the information provided. Case closed!
I’d personally spent years of my life in a call-center environment, dealing with every possible scenario. I know what it’s like to be on the receiving end of earful of pent-up frustrations. There are de-escalation techniques and ways to empathize with those you are supposed to assist. I do not believe that Amazon intends to utilize any of these techniques, and we all suffer as a result. Including the Support Associates.
We do not wish to disrespect, berate, or belittle the Support Associates, especially when they are not directly responsible for the issues we face. We know that they often do not have the access or knowledge base to properly address our inquiries. We’re starting to believe that this is by design. Amazon is waging a war of attrition against its sellers, and they’ve put their own Support Associates on the front lines.
It’s becoming increasingly difficult to hide our frustrations when dealing with Seller Support. Most of our cases are the result of flaws in the Send to Amazon (STA) workflow. Seller Support rarely acknowledges awareness of any issues on their end, let alone accepting any responsibility. Common scapegoats are the browsers, cookies, caches, operating systems, and sellers themselves. If not those culprits, maybe we could just delete the workflow and start over from scratch? The IT equivalent to the classic “just unplug it, wait 10 seconds, and plug it back in” suggestion, which never actually solves anything. Our fear is that we give in and delete/start over, only to have the same issues occur yet again. Until they address the root causes of the various issues within their system, we have no recourse other than to create more cases. The vicious cycle continues...
Since the implementation of STA, we have yet to have a single issue properly resolved. The best we can hope for is an eventual workaround on our end, never courtesy of Seller Support. It’s not sustainable. Our business is in real danger if we do not get rapid resolutions for our current wave of open issues. Our entire warehouse is in jeopardy of losing their jobs, to no fault of their own.
Unfortunately, Seller Support does not seem to be the avenue to address STA issues and offer suggested improvements. Everything winds up with mythological “internal team,” which we cannot communicate with directly. We’ve noticed that certain policies and procedures are lost in translation between sellers, the liaison (Support Associates/Live Specialists), and the “Internal Team(s)” in both directions. Often, there are slight discrepancies between the responses from the (many) Support Associates, moving the goal posts once again. To maintain the football metaphor, sellers are the Charlie Brown to Seller Support’s Lucy. Good grief!
Long story short: Sellers need to feel heard, understood, and valued. We feel frustrated, misunderstood, and disposable. Real empathy is rare in this toxic environment. Seller Support associates do not take ownership of the cases that come their way. We need to (re)build trust in Seller Support and STA. When we ask questions, we expect answers. In a timely fashion.
Maybe the mods have the answers?
CliffsNotes Version: If so, what’s the best way to simply suggest improvements to STA? How can we utilize our experiences to help Seller Central become more efficient, less buggy, and more mutually beneficial?
