Tracking Your Clicks

Previously we talked about the risk of under-reporting Amazon.com traffic if you rely on referral URLs.  This was because some customer browsers drop the referral URL.  This means that some Amazon.com traffic is reported as “type_in” traffic. 

To minimize the impact of browser behavior and improve your tracking accuracy we have recently deployed new code to better pass the referral URL regardless of customer browser.  You can expect to see a change in your reports between February and January.

To accurately track 100% of traffic from your advertising sources, we encourage you to add referral tags in your product URLs.  For example "src=amazon".  By adding a ref tag you will be able to track the source of the click regardless of what browser the customer is using.  

Learn more about Tracking Your Clicks.

-Michelle S.

Why did my listing move from open to closed?

Q:  Why did my item move from the open to closed listings section of my seller account? Should I re-list it?

 A:  Please do not re-list this item in your inventory; it automatically moved from open to closed listings due to an order being placed, but you will not see the order on your orders page if it is still pending. Orders can be pending because we may still be in the process of validating the buyer’s payment method. As soon as it has been validated, a "Sold, ship now" notification will be sent to you and the order will be readily viewable in your seller account. If the payment method is not validated, the order will be canceled and your inventory will automatically be added back to your open listings. While an order is pending, it is not in a shippable status and should not be shipped, even if the customer contacts you directly. Pending orders will not have confirm and cancel buttons in the Manage Orders section of your account, and they will not appear in Order Reports or Unshipped Orders Reports.

To view pending orders, follow these steps: 

1. Log into your seller account.
2. Go to the orders section.
3. In the Search section at the top of the page, click the "Advanced Search" link. You will see a page with multiple search options. The default order display is for the last 3 days.
4. Click the "Include pending orders" checkbox.
5. Pending orders will appear in gray in order of the purchase date within your search results. In the status column, the order will be listed as Pending.

Once an order is in a shippable status, the confirm and cancel buttons will appear in Manage Orders and the order will be included in your order reports. At that point, the order should be shipped and the shipment confirmed in Manage Orders or with a feed.

For more information about searching for and viewing orders, please access the Help section of your seller account and search for “Manage Orders.”

-Rahul

Reminder - Free Amazon Product Ads webinar tomorrow

Want to learn how to get started with your Amazon Product Ads account?

You still have time to register for tomorrow's free webinar.

Topic:  Creating Your Product Ads
Date:   Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Time:   10:00-10:45 AM PST

You'll learn about:

    *Creating Your Feed
    *Feed Types & Upload Methods
    *Optimizing Your Feed
    *and more...

Register now

-Michelle S.

Hot News! Read the February 2010 Amazon Product Ads newsletter

This week we launched the February 2010 Amazon Product Ads newsletter.
 
Here's what's in our latest edition:
-New Policing Rules for Ads
-Keeping Track of Your Clicks
-Maximizing Product Descriptions
-Importance of detailed Product Descriptions
-Reactivating Your Inactive Account

Subscribe to receive the monthly Amazon Product Ads newsletter.  You'll get updates on the latest product enhancements, optimization tips to drive traffic to your website, and other important news.

-Michelle S.

Need some help getting started with your Product Ads account?

The key to a successful Product Ads account is creating good quality ads that drive Amazon.com customers to your website.  To help get you started, we’d like to invite you to live webinar hosted by the Product Ads team.  You’ll come away with step-by-step instructions on how to create and upload your product feed!

Webinar Information
Tuesday, February 23, 2010 10:00 AM PST
Reserve Your Complimentary Seat

In this webinar, you’ll learn about:

    *Creating Your Feed
    *Feed Types & Upload Methods
    *Optimizing Your Feed
    *and more...

We hope you can attend.

-Michelle S.

What is a Concession?

As previous posts covered, sellers can always issue partial or full refunds for order costs, but the Amazon system also allows sellers to compensate buyers for order issues as an alternative to or in addition to refunding order amounts. These buyer credits which exceed the order total are called concessions. There are situations where you may want to issue funds to the buyer beyond the cost of the item(s) and shipping amount.  For example, if a buyer receives a defective item and you want to compensate them for return shipping along with the order refund, you could issue a concession.

Concessions can be issued as partial refunds, with partial refunds, or along with full refunds. There are limits on the total amount sellers may provide to buyers when they issue order refunds and concessions. An order refund can't exceed the total amount originally paid by the buyer, however, the amount allowed in concessions may exceed the total cost of the order itself. Amazon displays the concession maximum for each item in an order using a formula that calculates the higher of the following two numbers:

Limit 1: 50% of the sum of original buyer-paid shipping plus product price
Limit 2: Twice the original buyer-paid shipping, plus $10 plus $20

To issue a concession:

1. Log in to your seller account.
2. Go to your orders section and bring up the details of the specific order you want to refund.
3. Click the "Refund order" button on the Order Details page.
4. Choose the tab that fits your refund: Full (which is the default page) or Partial Refund (which is a tab below the order number).
5. Use the pop-up menu to select the appropriate Reason for Refund. 
6. Enter the amount of the return shipping and/or other concession into the Amount to Refund box.
   You will receive a pop-up asking you to confirm the concession.
7. Add a memo to the buyer. 
   This is optional but highly recommended, allowing up to 255 characters.
8. Click the Submit Refund button.

Additional facts to note about concessions:

• It can take 15 minutes for the data to be updated in the order to reflect the refund in your seller account.
• Buyers will see a concession amount as a different entry than a partial or full refund on their payment statement.
• Concessions do not contribute to the refund percentage in your seller performance metrics. If one or more products in an order are fully refunded, then the order is counted as a refunded order and is included in your Refund Rate.

If you would like a more in-depth look at concessions, please access the help section of your seller account and search for concessions.

~Aleece

Happy Valentine's Day!

To our Sellers on Valentine's Day, we wrote you a couple Haikus to show you our love.

A gentle breeze blows

Amazon sells it for you

Your mind is at ease

- Aaron

Once it took so long

Shipping Amazon orders

I love FBA!

- Melissa

Happy Valentine's Day and thank you for selling on Amazon! - Amazon Services