[Crew Review] Were you invited to Prime Day 2.0?

steal $300,000

Duplicates 

Prime Day 2022 will be on July 12 and 13. But before we even get there, there’s already another huge Amazon sales event in the pipeline, and it’s frustrating for some sellers because of the lack of details.

Here’s what we know so far.

Amazon Top Terms

We’ve run the calculations and churned out the top 10 trendiest keywords that have jumped up in popularity between June 12th and June 25th. Check out the terms that crushed it on Amazon this past week!

Amazon is already pulling out some deals on its products ahead of Prime Day. We find some top keywords related to models of Amazon devices like "b08mqldff6|b08mqzxn1x" and "b08mqzxn1x|b08n5nq869", some of the retail giant Amazon Echo devices that are already offering big discounts.

While there are more companies trying to rival Amazon's Prime Day, the company shows no signs of slowing down in terms of sales and customers.

Were AMZ Investors Misled? They Think So.

Amazon has grown so much since its humble beginnings at a young Jeff Bezos’ garage. It’s enough to make people wish for a time machine to invest everything they have in the company when it first went public.

However, investors are now filing a class action, accusing Amazon of misleading them. The complaint alleges that the company did not disclose its anti-competitive practices, resulting in inflated stock prices. In addition, it has continued to expand unsustainably during the pandemic and has since slowed down.

Because of its size and these antitrust allegations, the company is under stricter federal scrutiny.

So apparently, it isn’t just sellers whose product ideas are stolen—ahem—used as design inspirations who have trouble with this practice.

Updates on China

Good news for Chinese importers: China’s COVID policies are getting more lenient.

According to the country’s National Health Commission, quarantine will be shortened from 14 to 7 days, with three-day home isolation. International travelers also don’t have to take nose swabs as the less painful throat swabs are already considered enough. This may signal a transition to fewer lockdowns, which can significantly affect operations in manufacturing districts.

However, despite these, according to the South China Morning Post, there’s a “gloomy future” for Amazon sellers who import their products from the World’s Factory.

The e-commerce boom during the pandemic is slowly dying down. In addition, there are other factors that negatively affect the future of “Made in China, Sold on Amazon” such as the Ukraine war and tighter government regulations.

Too Easy Returns?

Starting August 1 this year, third-party sellers won’t be able to provide custom return and refund policies on the “Your Information & Policies” page. Amazon does this to ensure that buyers get a consistent experience whether they’re purchasing products from an Amazon private-label brand, or an FBA or FBM seller.

This poses concerns to some sellers, especially those who are selling customized items. And in general, sellers are concerned about buyers who outright scam them by taking advantage of Amazon’s quite lenient returns policies. A man was able to steal $300,000 worth of items using this, and he’s not the only one who’s taken advantage of the system.

Apparently, There’s a Free Library on Amazon

Speaking of returns, authors who use Kindle Direct Publishing are having a similar problem. They are protesting Amazon’s e-book return policy that basically allows readers to check out their books and return them for a full refund after 7 days—more than enough time to finish a book if you don’t procrastinate.

Amazon’s cancellation terms are meant to allow buyers to return accidental orders, e.g., a child clicks on Buy, or you sat on your Kindle and purchased 50 Shades of Grey. However, some users are trying to game the system. The worse thing is, Amazon charges a digital delivery fee to authors, so they can actually end up owing the company money.

This return policy has been around for a while, but it was only after the “life hack” went viral on TikTok that authors started seeing negative balances. This just goes to show how influential TikTok is. It’s great for online marketing, but it does have its downsides.

This move is clearly disadvantageous to KDP authors like ourselves. A petition was started to change the return policies, which you can sign here.

Meet the Industry Experts

Helium 10 is hosting the Sell + Scale Summit this coming September 19 to 22 at the Virgin Hotel in Las Vegas. Get to meet and learn from some of the best in the industry:

• Gary Vaynerchuk—You’re living under a rock if you don’t know this serial entrepreneur, CEO, and social media rockstar.
• Brad Sutton—Helium 10’s Chief Brand Evangelist and our favorite Zumba instructor
• Mike Jackness—You’ve heard his voice on the podcast. Why not say hi in person?
• Ne-Yo—Okay. He’s not an e-commerce industry expert, but he’s gonna be performing at the private welcome party.

There are plenty of other speakers who will motivate you to start your journey to the next level. It’s also a great way to network with like-minded sellers—and a good excuse to have fun in Sin City while still getting work done.

Our friends from Helium 10 are slashing $100 off the registration fee if you enter the code S3PAXECOMCREW upon checkout.

See you in Vegas.