“Amazon will no longer allow new enrollments in the Early Reviewer Program” (Source: Amazon Seller Info) 

• Amazon announced that as of March 10, 2021, they will no longer allow new enrollments in the Early Reviewer Program, and will stop offering the service to sellers currently enrolled in the program on April 25, 2021. 
• You will not be charged for any reviews for enrolled products that are published after this date, and you will not be charged for the service if the program has not generated any reviews for your business. 
• Amazon will return your program fee within three months after the program closure date for any active enrollments with more than one review and not completed by April 25.
• One Tap Reviews and Global Review Sharing programs have proven more effective in generating reviews than the Early Reviewer Program. 
• They will continue to build new features to improve the store for customers and sellers.
• Read the full article here

“Amazon Applies Some Quality Requirements” (Source: Whole Foods Magazine) 

• In order to drive greater accountability and responsibility for the dietary supplement industry, Amazon began to take action to monitor supplements in November 2020. 
• Over the course of recent weeks, letters were sent to many sellers/brands outlining new requirements in order to sell Dietary Supplements on Amazon.
• Some sellers concerned over whether they’ll be able to sell at all saying: “What is also very unclear is if only one seller will be required to submit compliance documents for a particular ASIN or each seller. If the latter, then the big supplement companies have finally found a way to kick 3rd party sellers out of the category.”
• It seems the new policy is kicking out this practice which will likely please many legacy brands, whose products are being redistributed but will cause backlash from 3rd party sellers on the platform.
• While this action by Amazon is a start, there is tremendous ground to cover, as these requirements are not really that stringent, and certainly not stringent enough to change the quality/trust equation online.
• Amazon defines dietary supplements as vitamins, minerals, herbs, or other substances (like amino acids or fatty acids) eaten to supplement the diet (tablets, capsules, softgels, gelcaps, powders, and liquids).
• You can use Amazon’s compliance checklist to be sure your product can be sold on the marketplace (linked below).
• Read the full article here 

“Dodgy Amazon FBA stock to be disposed of – New Policy” (Source: Tamebay)

• Amazon has announced that dodgy Amazon FBA stock will be chucked in the bin or otherwise disposed of under a new unsuitable inventory investigations policy which comes into effect on March 19th.
• Under the new policy, if Amazon suspects that you may have been engaged in the sale of counterfeit products or other illegal goods, they may require additional information about the affected inventory.
• There are two main instances when dodgy Amazon FBA stock will be disposed of: 1) If you do not provide the requested information or 2) Amazon investigates and finds that the inventory constitutes unsuitable units.
• Typically, the instances where your stock could be investigated is when a customer complains that they’ve received a fake. 
• There is one situation where merchants have had issues and that’s with comingled FBA inventory, even though it’s not a unit that you directly supplied, you can potentially find that you’re asked to prove your stock is genuine. 
• It is of course going to be critical that you respond promptly when Amazon requests information regarding the authenticity of your stock. 
• Make sure you meet whatever deadline Amazon set as failure to do this could quite conceivably see your perfectly good and genuine stock being chucked for a simple failure to supply some paperwork.
• Read the full article here

“AMAZON UPDATE – Amazon is Removing Customer List Downloads” (Source: cruxfinder) 

• From April 8, 2021, sellers on Amazon will no longer be able to re-market to their customers or build customer lookalike audiences.
• The Amazon Fulfilled Shipments Report will no longer include Amazon Customer name and address information. However, they have created a Tax Remittance report for tax purposes only.
• You can download all customer lists as far back as they go right now before it’s no longer available. 
• This is so you can always retarget or create lookalike audiences to target new customers similar to yours. These lists are extremely valuable and something that brands could benefit from having in their arsenal.
• To download the report, go to Reports / Fulfillment / Amazon Fulfilled Shipments / Download 30 days at a time. Hopefully, you can get all your reports downloaded by the end date.
• Read the full article here