Amazon uses dark technology to crack down on Black Friday sales, and Black Friday flash sales are widely cancelled

The Qatar World Cup is in full swing. Following Argentina's upset defeat, the four-time champion Germany was also reversed by Japan 2:1.

As a grand event with an influence that surpasses the Olympics, the World Cup is not only the focus of global attention, but also a battleground for overseas companies. As early as the warm-up stage, the demand for related peripheral products on major e-commerce platforms has risen sharply. As the battle officially begins, the unpredictable results of the game also affect the sales trend of World Cup products.

At the same time, the annual Black Friday promotion in Europe and the United States also made its debut. The combination of the two buffs also brought more boosting effects to the peak season sales of cross-border merchants.

However, while many sellers are celebrating Black Friday and the World Cup, some sellers are caught in Amazon's violation inspections and miss out on the Black Friday event.

Amazon's Black Friday promotions have begun one after another, and sellers who have been preparing for a long time have also submitted their discount promotions. In order to increase the success rate, many sellers have chosen to take the shortcut of using service providers to submit their applications. However, recently some sellers have been "hit hard" by Amazon for this reason.

One seller said that he asked a service provider to register for the Black Friday and Cyber ​​Monday flash sales before Black Friday started, but later he unexpectedly found that most of the flash sales he had registered for were cancelled, and the BD that had already started was also forcibly interrupted.

This is not an isolated incident. Based on feedback from all parties, many sellers have recently seen their registrations for Black Friday online flash sales cancelled on a large scale.

"My run was cancelled after 5 days. I'm afraid Amazon will punish me later."

“All the Black Friday and Cyber ​​Monday sales that I asked service providers to register for were cancelled by Amazon.”

"It's the same with my colleague's new product. He contacted the service provider early to report the Black Friday label, but it was all cancelled yesterday."

Some sellers said that the service providers on the market basically violate regulations by taking advantage of loopholes, and even if the report is successful, it may not necessarily achieve significant results, and such black technology methods are also very likely to be reviewed by Amazon.

It is reported that the principle of service providers to apply for BD is mostly to follow the ASIN that is eligible for flash sales. Then, they use plug-ins to graft it to another ASIN to obtain the registration qualification.

One seller bluntly stated that after he asked a service provider to report a flash sale on his behalf, the number of orders plummeted, from an average of 20 to 30 orders per day to single digits.

What’s more critical is that even if the flash sale is canceled or no order is placed, Amazon will still charge a fee. Many sellers have failed in the flash sale before they have placed half an order, and as a result, $1,000 has been wasted.

However, in fact, it is not only the service providers who report the problem due to their black technology. Some sellers also had their Black Friday reports cancelled. As the big promotion is in full swing, Amazon's risk control policy has become more stringent, and both ordinary flash sales and 7-day promotions are at risk of being cancelled.

A seller revealed that he had received a notice from official personnel as early as the end of last month that Amazon was investigating the illegal reporting of deals.

▲ The picture comes from Zhiwubuyan

Sales surged during Black Friday, but at the same time, Amazon's review policy becomes more stringent during big sales. For this reason, sellers still need to practice the basics down to earth and work hard to improve product rankings in order to obtain submission qualifications. Only compliant operations are a long-term solution.

So far, Amazon's European, Middle Eastern, and Australian sites have slowly kicked off Black Friday, while sites in the United States, Japan, and other countries are also gearing up to open soon.

What’s different from previous years is that this year’s Black Friday coincides with the quadrennial World Cup. This globally-watched football feast collides fiercely with the Black Friday promotion. What kind of sparks will the sellers’ orders produce?

According to a sales survey initiated by European sellers, 50% of sellers complained that this year's Black Friday sales were even worse than usual, nearly 22% of sellers said they did not participate in the promotion, and only 12% of sellers saw a surge in sales and welcomed a surge in orders during the peak season.

Some sellers quickly ranked among the top three in their category on the German site; some sellers saw a double increase in orders on the first day, with sales in just one day that many people could not match; some sold 700 orders a day, successfully clearing out last year's redundant inventory; and some sellers took a two-pronged approach with preferential advertising, but their ACOS, fees, and warehousing all exploded, yet their sales remained flat.

▲ The picture comes from Zhiwubuyan

Many sellers admit that the sales volume in the peak season of the European site is generally not as good as that in normal times. Under the situation of more sellers than porridge, the traffic is mostly tilted to the top sellers, and the traffic space of small and medium-sized sellers is almost squeezed out. The performance of the previous two member days was mediocre, and the boosting effect of Black Friday this year was also less than expected.

▲ The picture comes from the seller communication group

Tracing back to the reasons behind this, on the one hand, the continued high inflation pressure has forced Europeans and Americans to tighten their purse strings and reduce their consumption budgets, and the relaxation of foreign epidemic prevention and control policies has also prompted consumers to return to offline physical stores.

On the other hand, the cycle of major promotional activities such as Black Friday and the Internet is constantly lengthening. Promotional activities are not only limited to a few days before and after Black Friday, but also include different discounts throughout November and December. The lengthening of the battle line has also given consumers more choices and diverted sales, making it more difficult to have a concentrated outbreak of orders.