I lost 300,000 yuan in goods due to an unscrupulous supplier.

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I joined Amazon in 2016. I remember very clearly that my family strongly opposed my decision to join the industry. In their plan, I should have a stable clerical job arranged by them after graduation.

Starting a business? It’s a fantasy!

But at that time, no matter how they told me how hard it would be to start a business, I was unfazed. In my opinion, my parents were the biggest obstacle in my journey towards the future I wanted. Until they finally nodded and were willing to let me try, I felt that I had overcome all difficulties...

The reason why I chose to work on Amazon was that I wanted to get out of the ivory tower that my family had built for me and to make a breakthrough on my own, otherwise I would have to live under their control forever. Another important reason was that my college roommate and her boyfriend were working on Amazon together, and they wanted to expand their business and open another store, but they didn’t have enough funds, so they wanted to find a partner to work with them.

In addition, I have resource advantages. My relative's factory produces auto parts and has been doing business domestically, so I can get first-hand supplies at the lowest price.

After weighing the pros and cons, I joined their team, half learning and half operating, and officially started my Amazon entrepreneurial journey~

Fortunately, by the end of 2017, my turnover reached $300,000, and even my family members who opposed me at the beginning began to accept my choice. I have always been glad that I insisted on my decision.

In 2018, my relative suddenly decided to transfer the factory to someone else. He told me that he had already contacted the new boss and would still let me buy the goods at the lowest price.

Unexpectedly, the new boss decided to replace the old products soon after he took over. I was still looking forward to this product at that time. The new person in charge of the factory also tricked me into taking 2,000 sets at a time, and told me that if I wanted to do business, I should do it bigger and not be stingy all the time. I got excited and took 1,600 sets of goods from him in two batches. The price of one set was about RMB 180. Including the old models, I took nearly RMB 300,000 worth of goods in total.

The nightmare begins...

We bought so many products, so we put all our energy into it. And because the old products sold well, we wanted to build on our success. Our initial idea was to rank in the top three in the small category, so we did it on a large scale, using in-site advertising and finding celebrities to promote it. We did everything we could.

Although the advertising costs were staggering, I still believed that a good product would last forever. Soon, the rankings rose rapidly, and the funds were recovered in less than a month and a half. Although it did not reach the ideal top three, it was at least the fifth place.

One day we suddenly discovered that this product received nearly 40 negative reviews within two weeks. It is normal to have negative reviews when a product sells well, but the sudden surge in negative reviews is very abnormal.

The situation became increasingly serious, and our star rating dropped directly from 4.8 to 4.5, and then directly to 4.0, but at the same time, sales continued to grow, and the speed was quite fast, so much so that we ignored the negative impact of returns and bad reviews.

Until one day we received a red flag from Amazon suspecting that we were selling fakes. Our first reaction was that we were being spoofed by our competitors. But after we collated and compared the negative reviews, we found that they were basically real reviews, and the content was very pertinent. All the complaints pointed to the quality problems of the product: basically it stopped working after two or three uses, and there was an odor. This proved that this product actually had this quality defect.

We tried to write a POA for Amazon, but too many problems with the product itself were exposed. Negative reviews surged, and there were more and more complaints from buyers. Later, Amazon directly removed our listing.

Because I trusted the factory too much, I did not test this batch of new goods. I just checked the outer packaging and sent it directly to the Amazon warehouse.

We were furious and went to question the person who was in contact with us at the factory. He initially denied that the product had any quality issues and even showed us a quality inspection report. We simply put the product in front of him and tested it several times. It turned out to be just as the reviews said. It stopped working after a few runs. He then confessed to us that because of the rising market costs, they chose another material to replace the original one, and they did not expect such a problem to occur...

At last, the boss said that we should return the goods and he would give us a new batch of products. How could we believe him? Who knows what kind of defective products he will give us next?

Moreover, if we move the warehouse and ship it back, we will lose nearly 100,000 yuan. Moreover, the reputation of the product has been so bad that even if we put it back on the shelves, no consumers will be willing to pay for it. After weighing the pros and cons, we have no choice but to destroy this batch of goods. The 300,000 yuan worth of goods is a waste of our own money...

Actually, if I think about it now, the factory needs to expand its scale and launch new products, does it have anything to do with me? If the factory gives me a discount of 5 or 10 yuan for each product, what impact will it have on my business? If my business is doing well, I won’t care about 5 or 10 yuan at all. If my business is not doing well, and this batch of goods is at the bottom of the box, can the factory waive the payment for me? It is impossible.

But we also have our own problems. Can the extremely high rate of negative reviews be achieved in one day? In fact, it is not. It is just that when it appears in small quantities, we choose to ignore it because we are busy with other work, such as advertising on the site, looking for channels outside the site, and asking for reviews. When your product can be sold 200 to 300 times a day and only 20 to 30 returns, your level of concern will also decrease, and your vigilance will naturally decrease. This is the lesson we have learned.

I really feel regretful and helpless. I regret that I was so blinded by the temporary good results that I didn't pay attention to the situation of the store in time.

Unfortunately, we are also victims, but we can neither ask Amazon to return our listings nor ask the factory to give us effective compensation. We can only swallow our pride...

Therefore, I would like to advise all sellers here: Many times, seemingly perfect opportunities may be lurking with dangers, and the only long-term solution is to be vigilant at all times.