3 Amazon Seller Ninja Tactics You Won't Find Anywhere Else

Next-Level Tactics for Amazon Sellers

When I decided I was going to start a LinkedIn newsletter, the first thing I knew was that I would not be sharing the "hack" of the week from every other mastermind, or any corny "listicles" (10 Ways to Optimize Your Listings ????). I promised nothing short of the most raw, cutting-edge tactics, brought to you by a bona fide Amazon seller-operator - and that’s what you’ll continue to get.

For Starters: A Quick Appetizer

Out of the three gems that I’m going to be tossing your way today, this first one has the highest chance of some sellers already knowing about it. The reason I’m choosing to include it is because of the number of sellers I cross paths with who are not aware of it.?

A seller's Case Log is an extremely important place on Seller Central. This is where all communications occur and the most significant of issues are (hopefully) resolved. Have you ever scrolled to the bottom of the case log to find an orange button reading "Export report"?

On the bottom left of the Case Log screen where it says, "Number of Rows to Display per Page", select "50" from the dropdown. Then, click the orange button at the bottom right of the page. You can export your entire case log fairly quickly by exporting 50 cases at a time. Having your entire Case Log exported in Excel format has its advantages in itself – from there, though, filters can be applied. Cases that date back years can be easily referenced. I'm sure there are other creative uses as well.

The hidden details found in these exports, though, is what I really would like to highlight. We all know the pain of staring at a Case ID, wondering what is really going on behind the scenes with Amazon's infamous "Internal Team" and if your issue is ever really going to get resolved. The case log export displays some extremely telling insights that allow a seller to understand what’s really going on, and react accordingly. For example, if you reference the screenshot below, for the second case, you will see the "Case Status", "Severity", and "CC List" sections highlighted. This information is not displayed on the dashboard in Seller Central.

What these details tell us is that our case has been escalated to a value of "2" (the lower the value, the more severe it is), and the "Executive Seller Relations Team" ([email protected]) is currently working on it. Now that you can see this valuable information, you know not to send any additional emails, call Amazon, or do anything at all, because a serious escalation team is currently working on your case.?

Notice the statuses present are "Resolved", "Working", and "Pending Amazon Action". When the status shows "Working", it means that a real person is literally working on your case at that moment. On the flip side, when Amazon tells you on the phone that your case has been escalated, yada yada yada...and you see that there are no escalation teams present, a severity of "4", and "Pending Amazon Action", you know that a cannonball escalation email is needed.

Kicking it up a Notch With APIs & JSON

These next two things I’m going to show you are not for the faint of heart. Out of the people who read my articles, I know there are some who will read it and think what they may, and others who will understand the value of what I'm sharing and dive right in. If you are on the fence about which side you fall on, I highly recommend you make this article the one where you actually begin to act on what’s being shared.

Very few operators are aware of the "hidden" APIs from the Seller Central dashboard that are jammed-packed with value, so I’m going to share two of them with you today. There are various others, but we will cover those another day. The two that we are going to be focusing on today are the Performance Notification API and the Policy Violations/Account Health API.?

I know what you are thinking - API - MWS/AWS Keys - Coding - Tokens - Programming languages. This is understandable. However, the beauty of these APIs is that, like other APIs, they supply an abundance of information – but we can sidestep the sometimes intimidating technical parts.

Performance Notifications API

At one point or another, I'm sure you have crossed paths with a form of structured data called "JSON". If unfamiliar, it appears scary and not exactly the type of data that invites a person to dive into. JSON is beautiful, though - a diamond in the rough. Allow me to share with you Mozilla's definition of what JSON is:

"JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) is a standard text-based format for representing structured data based on JavaScript object syntax. It is commonly used for transmitting data in web applications (e.g., sending some data from the server to the client, so it can be displayed on a web page, or vice versa)."

JSON is lightweight but packs a powerful punch. This is why many databases and platforms utilize it. I'm going to provide you with two API URLs. What they are going to output is JSON, which I understand does look like Japanese to some. All I ask is that you have a little faith in me.

When logged into the seller account of your choice, open a new tab, copy the link below, and paste it into your browser.

https://sellercentral.amazon.com/performance/api/notification?pageSize=50&pageNumber=1&sortBy=NewestToOldest&filterBy=Any

This will bring you to a page full of JSON data as seen in the first image of the SlideShare below:

Now, follow these simple steps:

1. Select all and "copy"
2. Go to: https://www.convertcsv.com/json-to-csv.htm (2nd image in SlideShare), paste the raw JSON
3. Download the converted JSON (CSV format)
4. Open it

We now have much more visibility: we’re able to see from which email/team the notification came from, the status of any appeals submitted, the status/tags of those appeals, and any additional tags assigned to your case. This is one example that’s limited in the number of "FROM EMAIL ADDRESS" examples shown, as well as many other tags that exist and provide an abundance of insight. Without fail, the most telling piece of this data is in row 12, where Amazon indicates that the suspended account is blocked. This field could read suspended, at-risk, or under review as well. For the most part, there is no coming back from an account that has a status of "BLOCK". When assisting sellers with suspended accounts, the first thing we check is what sort of suspension the account is facing. There are many other uses for this data. I encourage you to explore it.

Policy Violations/Account Health API

I saved the best for last – this next API is BEAST. There is nothing more frustrating and annoying than staring at an Account Health Dashboard, trying to decrypt the vague information that Amazon provides. We’re looking to dive into the nitty-gritty and handle every issue accordingly. Without knowing the finite deals of these violations, we are left having to play trial and error – until we decided to take the Account Health API and own it. Below, please find the link to the Account Health API:

https://sellercentral.amazon.com/performance/api/product/policy/defects/

This API unloads a plethora of data, some of which is too technical for any non-Amazonian. The days of attempting to guess what's causing certain issues and wasting time trying to get a full picture of what your account health looks like are officially over. Let's take a few quick steps again:

1. After pasting that URL above into your browser, select all of the JSON, and copy.
2. Go to: https://www.convertcsv.com/json-to-csv.htm (2nd image in SlideShare), paste the raw JSON
3. Download the converted JSON (CSV format)

This is where things take a slight turn. This API provides so much data, the straight-up converted JSON will blow your socks off. You will never hear me complain about "too much data". With that said, when there is more information present than we are able to work with, the proper steps must be taken to make it as valuable as possible. Those of you who have read a few of my articles probably know what's coming...

... a handy dandy Google Sheet Template

In the SlideShare above, the third image is the converted JSON pasted into the template. Once this is done, go to the custom menu up top that reads "JEDI MIND TRICKS" and select "Extract Desired Data". Grant the script permissions to run. Upon completion, the most relevant and informative formatted data will populate in the third tab in (SlideShare image number 4).

Don't just read the article. These tactics that I'm sharing will allow you to accomplish things you have no chance of accomplishing at the moment. These tactics provide you with insights that will save you countless hours of troubleshooting the same issues we all run into sooner than later on the Amazon platform. As always, if anybody has any questions, please feel free to reach out.