Common Amazon Seller problems

Background

Listing your products on Amazon can be fraught with uncertainties for many reasons:

  • It may look intimidating.
  • Amazon evolves continuously to improve its service and its global reach, so the goalposts may move or change from one of your product listings to the next.
  • On Amazon you function as a Seller. Amazon expects Sellers to be informed and up-to-date on changes. How you track Amazon changes is therefore important, and it is easy to worry that “I don’t know what I don’t know… has Amazon changed anything, and how would I know about it?”
  • Amazon is a private giant whose gigantic policies and instructions don’t always have the level of global standardisation, fine granularity and empathy that would suit inexperienced barcode users.
  • Unscrupulous peoplemay  list their products on Amazon using fraudulent barcodes, and this can affect you if you are unlucky…
    When you, the legitimate barcode owner, go to list your product, it is possible that the Amazon automated system informs you that the number is already in use.
    You (and we) can prove that your barcode number is legitimate, but it can be frustrating and take time and effort.
  • Fraudsters and Amazon are evolving their strategies and procedures as they try to outwit each other, and for Amazon this inevitably includes heightened suspicion and a tightening of the barcode checks.

 

Problem when trying to list with the incorrect kind of barcode number

For retail products you need these types:

UPC barcode numbers for US and Canadian retail products

EAN-13 barcode numbers for retail products in all other international regions

For books you may need an ISBN barcode number, whether for yourself as Author, or for third-party books that you are selling.

 

Problem when using a barcode number that Amazon already has in use

How could your globally unique number already be in use?

Possibilities:

  • You’ve used it on a different product already.
  • Your legitimate barcode number is already being used illegitimately on Amazon, whether knowingly or unknowingly (users often don’t know that they bought barcodes from a fraudulent barcode reseller).
  • Your barcode number is a fake that you bought from a crooked supplier who either copied it from elsewhere or simply made it up. We try to identify and publicly denounce these suppliers, but they spring up around the globe, sometimes with sophisticated-looking websites.
  • Amazon’s Point Of Sale system is faulty.

How does Amazon inform you of this problem?

With a technical Amazon Error Message:

“The value ”123456789” specified cannot be used as it conflicts with the value ”DodgyJoeMower ” in the Amazon catalog. If this is ASIN ”, update the value to match the ASIN data. If this is a different product, update identifying information (UPC/EAN/Part Number/etc.).”

– or –

“The value ” specified cannot be used as it conflicts with the value ‘MPN#’ for ASIN ‘ASIN#’ in the Amazon catalog.”

This is technical jargon for “you are trying to list a product on Amazon when there is already a product using the barcode number that you are trying to provide”

What is the likely outcome?

If someone else is using your barcode number illegitimately, don’t expect a quick resolution:

Amazon’s “tomb-stoned” policy on fraudulent numbers makes this situation awkward…

It seems reasonable to expect that Amazon should remove the fraudulent listing from their database, thereby freeing up your own barcode number for legitimate usage. But it appears that they do not remove it… they punish the fraudulent Seller with product removal but do not remove the fraudulent barcode number from the database.

Amazon refers to these listings as “tomb-stoned listings” – in other words that barcode number (your number) is dead, buried and unusable on Amazon.

You can use the barcode anywhere else globally, and you can plead your case with Amazon, but you won’t necessarily be successful.

 

Problem when using Brand names in a product listing

( Amazon Error Code 5461 )

TIPS:

  • Amazon would lose credibility and business if it tolerated fake versions of known Brands, so it takes this issue seriously – you could lose your listing and your Seller Account if you use Brand names inappropriately.
  • If you list a Brand item on Amazon, you officially need to use that brand’s barcode number on the item.This applies to “major” Brands, which number about 130 000 on Amazon.
  • From June 2021 Amazon provides a checkbox  [ ] This product does not have a Brand. Toick this if you are listing a product without a Brand or if the Brand is not being accepted.

You can get in trouble in these circumstances:

  • You try to list the Brand name for a single product ( e.g. IKEA Chair ) using your own barcode number, or
  • You are listing a Brand name as a single item within a larger product bundle ( e.g. a 3-piece furniture set, where one of the pieces is IKEA branded )

How Amazon reacts:

As you type the Brand name (such as “IKEA”) into the Brand field, Amazon checks your barcode number against the Brand’s registered barcode numbers, and doesn’t find your number registered there (in other words, that Brand name cannot be allowed against your barcode number).

Amazon will then block your use of the Brand name. It could also block your listing and terminate your Seller Account.

The history behind this issue:

  • Historically Amazon allowed anyone to list any product using any barcode number, so long as that number wasn’t already being used for another product on Amazon. However, fraudsters with fake products quickly undercut legitimate Brand sellers, and even went so far as to copy their legitimate barcode numbers and list them on Amazon to thereby block the rightful product providers.
  • Amazon tightened its procedures and established contracts with some 130 000 Brands, which are now listed in Amazon’s Brand Registry (see https://brandservices.amazon.com/),

Brand Name barcode characteristics:

  • The barcode numbers are rented/ licensed to the Brand by GS1,
  • Amazon interrogates GS1’s gepir.org database for details on Brand barcode numbers.
  • Brand barcode numbers are listed in the Amazon Brand Registry against the Brand Name.

Amazon Error Code 5461 Error Messages that you may see:

  • “You are using UPCs, EANs, ISBNs, ASINs, or JAN codes that do not match the products you are trying to list.” (Amazon Error Code 5461)
  • “You may not create ASINs for this brand. Please review our ASIN Creation Policy here: https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/help/201844590 .” (Amazon Error Code 5461)
  • “You may not create ASINs for this brand. Please review our ASIN Creation Policy here: https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/help/201844590 .” (Amazon Error Code 5461)

Possible solutions/ workarounds:

  • From June 2021 Amazon provides a checkbox  [ ] This product does not have a Brand. Tick this if you are listing a product without a Brand or if the Brand is not being accepted:
  • When prompted for a Brand, type “ N/A “ in the Brand field to sidestep the issue (Amazon officially recommends this).
  • Input your own DBA or Amazon company name in the Brand field, and if you really need to use a sensitive Brand name, put it only into the Item Description.
  • File to Amazon for an exemption on using the GTIN to identify your product.
  • If the above strategies are unsuccessful, the only other likely option is to rent a GTIN from GS1, but note that this will tie you into membership fees and annual rental fees for the lifetime of your product.

 

Problem when listing a book on Amazon without an ISBN

An ISBN is unnecessary only if a publisher is selling their books informally on their own (for example from a personal website, personal shop or market stall).

An ISBN is required when a book is to be sold formally from Amazon, a wholesaler, or a third-party bookstore, and/or if it is to be available in a library or university.

 

Problem when treating “ISBN” and “ISBN Barcode” as the same

ISBN: a regulated 13-digit number that uniquely identifies books and book-like products published internationally.

ISBN Barcode: The image with vertical black lines that is encoded with an ISBN. The image is readable by barcode scanners for book sales and inventory purposes.

 

Problem when trying to use ISBNs per country

There are more than 160 ISBN Agencies around the world, with each ISBN Agency appointed as the exclusive agent for assigning ISBNs in their own country or territory.

However, these agencies exist for logistics purposes only, and the ISBNs themselves are internationally valid.

i.e. ISBNS apply globally so you can use them for every country, regardless of where you bought them.

 

Problem when trying to use one ISBN for multiple book variants

Variants of a book are treated as unique book products, each requiring a unique ISBN.

You need unique ISBNs for these book variants:

  • Any backlist title.
  • Any forthcoming title.
  • Each format or binding
    • hardcover,
    • paperbound,
    • VHS video,
    • laserdisc,
    • e-book,
    • etc.
  • Revised editions.
  • Translations.
  • Book Cover changes that clearly change the look of the product.
  • eBook formats
    • .lit,
    • .pdf
    • .html.
    • .mobi.
    • etc
  • Combinations of the above. For example:
    • French-language, eBook, PDF format
    • German-language, eBook, .mobi format, edition 2

 

You do not need unique ISBNs for these variants:

  • Books with different prices, or changes to prices.
  • Books with minor corrections.
  • Book Cover changes for marketing purposes.
  • Book Cover changes immediately after the book is released.

 

Problem when trying to assign the same ISBN to different eBook formats

According to ISBN standard, ISO 2108:2005, a separate ISBN is required for each digital format of an eBook Title:

“Each different format of an electronic publication (e.g. ‘.lit’, ‘.pdf’, ‘.html’, ‘.pdb’) that is published and made separately available shall be given a separate ISBN.”

This follows the general principle for ISBN differentiation: “a product needs a separate identifier if the supply chain needs to separately identify it.”

The logic for this differentiation of ebook formats, as for that of printed books, is based on trade and inventory requirements:

  • Differentiation by ISBN enables the correct format eBook to be ordered based just on the ISBN
  • Differentiation by ISBN enables eBooks with different formats to be tracked and managed uniquely in inventory.
  • Differentiation by ISBN enables sales and user trends to be tracked by the eBook formats.

Is there any alternative to unique ISBNs per eBook format?

Some awkward alternatives have been discussed internationally:

  • Suggested alternative: Create an eBook equivalent of the ISBN standard.
    > This seems to be a reinvention, so perhaps it makes sense to simply apply the existing ISBN standard.
  • Suggested alternative: Manage an eBook Title by a single ISBN, but with some additional metatext that qualifies that ISBN.
    For example, the eBook “Billy Defeats the Pirates” has a single ISBN 978-1-23-456789-0, but is always managed as ISBN – Format:

    • ISBN 978-1-23-456789-0 – EPUB,
    • ISBN 978-1-23-456789-0 – MOBI
    • ISBN 978-1-23-456789-0 – PDF
    • etc
      > This would likely introduce complexities and greater scope for mistakes.
      It would also require retrofitting all kinds of systems that cater just to the ISBN standard.

INTERESTING NOTE:
Some publishers are pushing for the .epub format as the only trackable eBook standard, and the only format requiring a barcode number.
Their argument is that nearly anyone can derive further formats from this source using free downloadable software or even free online software, and that these formats will therefore proliferate online. They believe that forcing ISBN-per-eBook-format will make the eBook industry chaotic, unmanageable and unrealistic.

The International ISBN Agency has formulated some guidelines:
Given the looseness of the eBook standard, the International ISBN Agency has created some guidelines:

The International ISBN Agency continues to recommend that publishers should assign ISBNs to each e-book format separately available. Publishers should supply their ISBNs to downstream intermediaries and channels if they are creating their own formats. There will, however, be instances of compressed supply chains where an e-book in a particular format is available exclusively through a single channel (e.g. Kindle). In those circumstances there is no requirement for an ISBN, unless the publisher needs it for control purposes. (A simple guiding principle is that a product needs a separate identifier if the supply chain needs to identify it separately).