What are the Upcoming Changes to Amazon Buyer-Seller Messaging?

What are the Upcoming Changes to Amazon Buyer-Seller Messaging?

Here’s a quick look at what you need to know about Amazon’s updates to Buyer-Seller Messaging guidelines.

Changes to Amazon’s Communication Guidelines

Amazon announced that the following Communication Guideline changes will go into effect on November 3, 2020.  They published the changes in PDF format on Seller Central, which are separate from the current Communication Guidelines.

Good News for Sellers

Amazon provided clarity about the types of messages you can send to buyers, what you can include in your messages, and how to style messages to be compliant with Amazon policies. It also defined two types of messages that can be sent to buyers.

✅ Must Haves when sending Permitted Messages

1. 1. Send within 30 days of order completion
   2. Include the 17-digit order ID
   3. Be in the buyer’s Language of Preference

❌ Not Allowed when sending Permitted Messages

The following messages types are not allowed: Order or shipping confirmations Messages that say only “Thank you” or that you are here to help if buyers have any problems Marketing or promotional messaging, including coupons Language that either incentives or persuades the buyer to submit positive product reviews or seller feedback, including by offering compensation, money, gift cards, free or discounted products, refunds, rebates or reimbursements, or future benefits Language that requests removal or an update of an existing product review Language that requests a product review only if they have had a positive experience with the product A repeat request (per order) for a product review or seller feedback

 

In your email content do not include: External links unless they are secure working links (HTTP, not HTTPS) necessary for order completion or links to Amazon Attachments except for product instructions, warranty information, or invoices Logos, if they contain or display a link to your website Link to opt-out of messaging Sensitive content in images or text (e.g. bare skin, violence/gore, adult/offensive language) Tracking pixels or images Email addresses or telephone numbers Images of purchased products as Amazon includes those on your behalf Images that do not relate to your brand or company

In your email styling do not include: Accessibility issues as specified in the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines from the Web Accessibility Initiative Emojis GIF Message margins over 20% max width Image or graphic sizes larger than 80% max width Overrides of Amazon’s default line height, font family, or font color Fonts in more than three sizes Message bodies that are centered or that otherwise override default text alignment settings More than two line-breaks (spacing between paragraphs) in a row Unsecured images (HTTP instead of https) Spelling errors or grammar issues

As always, Ratingraja works to stay current with Amazon policies as they change. Stay tuned as we will be making product updates to align to these updated Communication Guidelines.