Should Sellers create a sellers union? While a sellers union seemingly can be effective in forcing Amazon to treat legitimate sellers fairly, I believe there are some potential hurdles with this for the following reasons.
- If Amazon resists, you are then fighting Amazon and they seem to have unlimited influence in certain aspects of the government which will be hard to overcome.
- They have 1000s of lawyers (too many if you ask me) and endless funds and influence that can endlessly challenge every potential policy change.
- The government clearly does not understand Amazon Selling and even with the right intentions can still reach the wrong conclusion with unintended negative consequences.
- It can take years for a single policy to change. This is how government (doesn’t) work.
- It’s been proven challenging to get tens of thousands of sellers to support a single movement. You need numbers for this to work.
- I would prefer to #workWithUSAmazon rather than fight with them since sane policy reforms will ultimately benefit everyone.
- Amazon wants sellers to be happy. The issue was always the how and the what. What should be policy and how to weed out the bad guys from the good guys?
Possible Better Solution.
ASGTG Sellers Group. This is essentially a loose network (since 2015) of the entire sellers community that has proven to be effective in surfacing illogical policies that hurt legitimate sellers and buyers. By communicating professionally with each other, it allows us to group source and solve the majority of Amazon-related pain points. If there is no solution within the system regardless of how well we are communicating, we can reach out to Amazon to allow for a solution who would want to fix this.
We can surface through direct outreach, social media, petitions, media, etc. It also allows very unfair one-off mistakes to be quickly surfaced to Amazon for lighting-quick resolution.
I believe this “sellers group” concept has resonated throughout the world as most sellers want a fair platform, and open communication, with clear rules that are enforced fairly and equally. I do not think Amazon can fight or ignore the whole community when we stand together which is what’s happening with ASGTG. It can also work with a legal Arm in some targeted situations.
What is ASGTGs goal: ASGTG’s stated goal is to network like-minded legit sellers to pool our resources to solve problems ethically within White Hat (WH) Amazon with sane and workmanlike policies.
Is there a fee? This is something every organization/movement has to grapple with is how to fund something like this. There are extensive fees for keeping something like this running including software development, Bots, admins, etc. I have been self-funding this through my services and events which I try not to connect with the groups. This is sometimes a hard balance but I believe the best option for everyone to keep it running without soliciting fees. Nobody is forced to join and benefit from the free groups and though many follow them in some capacity. Most have not used ASGTG paid services or come to an event which is totally fine with me.
Here is a short list of some accomplishments that cannot be done without such a network:
- Over 1200 ethical escalations to senior Amazon reps that reinstated unfair suspensions. These are false positive suspensions with no next step that gets reinstated via surfacing to Amazon executives. (this is a great thing)
- The most impactful FB group on compliance with over 68K members. ” Our first rule since 2015 is in the image below about not posting anything that will hurt Amazon.
- Highly Moderated 85+ Telegram Groups that solve every pain point on E-commerce selling with every word encouraging WH since 2015. (Our TG group has people of all stripes and backgrounds, including some Arabs living in Israel who feel right at home.)
- The TG groups include an expensive customized BOT (over $150k) that keeps out anything offensive, sexist, racist, bigoted, or dehumanizing comments against any group, including BH, and strives to make it a welcoming environment to all professional sellers of all faiths and backgrounds.
- Dozens of systemic changes with Amazon Proper.
- World famous color-coded notification system that alerts sellers instantly of developing enforcement news.
- The #1 weekly email (800+) on Amazon compliance with every bullet point stressing adhering to Amazon TOS since 2015 before WH was even fashionable. Many public companies have sponsored these posts, and Amazon and the media all read them. There are over 100 lawyers on the list.
- The top 3 most successful Seller Petitions in 3P history
- Home of famous #workWithUSAmazon
- Over 100 Videos stressing Amazon compliance.
- search@asgtg.com is an amazing automated free system that helps resellers quickly research the brand’s history in filing Rights owner complaints. This is priceless information for resellers.
- A vetted, free third-party resource sheet so there is no soliciting in the group.
- One of the Top 3 Amazon Sellers Events that Amazon, eBay & Walmart SR reps have attended multiple times with a strong PRO Amazon tilt and emphasis on compliance and rule-following.
- Over 300 Sellers Polls on every nuance of selling on Amazon. SR Amazon execs used this in their meetings.
- Widely considered the #1 source for rule-following, compliance-minded sellers. It is also considered the #reform & change engine PRO TOS, PRO Amazon entity in the sellers community.
And as anyone following the ASGTG is aware, the list goes on and on.
