Amazon launches new system! Can’t contact buyers? !

Since the end of last month, I have often heard the operations lady complain to me about why all the customer contact information in the order information has become the same number, and she doesn’t know how to contact the customer when there are any questions.

Is Amazon testing something again? Abuse of buyers’ phone calls is also a serious problem. Will Amazon stop contacting customers via phone calls?

Just recently, Amazon released an announcement of a new plan, and buyers’ phone information will not be made public to sellers!

Let’s first take a look at the original announcement in the background

The new system is that the buyer’s real phone number will no longer be displayed, and Amazon will provide a switchboard number for the phone number in the order information.

If the seller needs to contact the buyer, he needs to dial the switchboard number, and then enter the extension number displayed in the order information (different for each order) and the delivery address zip code according to the voice prompts. The switchboard will transfer the seller to the buyer.

There is nothing wrong with protecting customers' mobile phone numbers. Domestic Internet companies have also been using related systems for a long time, and they are much better at using them than Amazon's complicated system.

For most domestic number protections, merchants do not need to do anything extra. You can contact the buyer directly through the virtual mobile phone number assigned to you by the platform. This virtual number will automatically expire when the transaction is completed or times out.

For sellers, it is just like contacting buyers directly, and it also prevents the customer's mobile phone number from being abused or leaked. Amazon is a big deal, requiring both the extension number and the zip code, and the steps are so complicated that it seems like a hacker trying to crack it.

Most sellers' response to this is mostly the same. This is an overly complicated system, and quite a few logistics suppliers/software do not support entering numbers other than normal numbers.

The inability to print the customer's contact information on the shipping package means that the courier/logistics company cannot contact the customer directly and can only obtain the extension number from the seller again and then contact the buyer based on the zip code.

In addition, the validity method and judgment of extension numbers announced by Amazon have also caused controversy among American sellers.

Amazon had quietly implemented the feature to hide buyer numbers long before the announcement, but compared to other new changes, the testing time for this feature was too short.

So in addition to the expiration date issue that American sellers are worried about, this new feature also has another very fatal problem that has not been solved, and that is the postal code .

The zip code displayed in Amazon orders is filled in by the customer, and its accuracy is very worrying . At the same time, even if the zip code is filled in correctly, it may not be consistent with the zip code generated by the logistics company during actual delivery .

In this way, even if the extension number is printed on the courier label, the courier may not be able to contact the buyer due to the wrong number .

And if the zip code filled in by the buyer is wrong, will Amazon assign the buyer the real zip code plus extension number , resulting in the customer being unable to be contacted directly?

The starting point of Amazon's new system is definitely good, and protecting buyers' mobile phone numbers is a global trend.

However, the clumsy and outdated anonymous telephone system not only greatly increases the workload of sellers/logistics providers, but also may lead to various unexpected situations, directly bringing a large number of negative reviews from sellers to this new feature.

It is not like Amazon to rush this feature to the market. We can speculate that the government may be investigating or preparing to investigate Amazon for compliance with user privacy regulations, so Amazon quickly released the test feature to deal with the government review.

Currently, you can only send one internal message on Amazon (which is basically not read by customers), and it is difficult to make phone calls, which is very unfavorable for sellers to maintain customer service.

I have prepared a way for you to find the customer's email address (not the internal message) , please chat with me privately to find out~

PS. If you want to join the seller discussion group, you can also private message me to let me add you to the group

Source: Cross-border Business School

For the highlights of the past, please click the link below to review

Have you been fooled by Amazon’s weird reasons for removing products from shelves?

The shipment was rejected?! Something went wrong with FBA!

If you don’t participate, your store will be closed!? Amazon’s new plan is released

Click to like and share your experience▼