Selling Lego on Amazon.com

[Bold-Arrow]

Looks like Toy Wave get a culling. Only 45 active listings 

[pharmjod]

Let's hope it sticks. 

[cladner]

4 hours ago, Bold-Arrow said:

Looks like Toy Wave get a culling. Only 45 active listings 

they'll be back.  just a pos poa away.   next time it will be funblob or something even more inane than toywave.

 

[pharmjod]

It at least seems to take some time in between each iteration which allows prices to rebound some. 

[Darth_Raichu]

6 hours ago, Bold-Arrow said:

Looks like Toy Wave get a culling. Only 45 active listings 

They are still active with over 40k ASINs, over 8k are LEGO

[Pseudoty]

2 hours ago, cladner said:

funblob

That’s what they called @exciter1in college 🤣

[pharmjod]

15 minutes ago, Darth_Raichu said:

They are still active with over 40k ASINs, over 8k are LEGO

They weren't when he posted earlier. They had 45 listings. I really hope Amazon AI shuts them down the more negative reviews they get. Even if it is just temporary.

 

[Darth_Raichu]

48 minutes ago, pharmjod said:

They weren't when he posted earlier. They had 45 listings. I really hope Amazon AI shuts them down the more negative reviews they get. Even if it is just temporary.

 

Amazon bots should be able to easily identify a huge red flag like Toywave.

This is just me guessing, but terminating an account the size of Toywave would most likely require some human interactions on Amazon's side.  So my question is, in the midst of ongoing lay offs at Amazon, which account manager is desperate / brave / daring enough to shut down a 3PS account that is consistently doing 5k++ sales / month for Amazon ?

ETA: since I am feeling like a bitter old man today.  Even if you find such account manager, which Sales Director would want to see 5k++ sales of toys removed from their monthly sales report ?

[House Schubert]

Yeah, but why is it that I have numerous (expensive) protections in place so that amz bots don’t take down my 100% white hat seller accounts, and still live in reasonable gear, while these fools are pissing all over the TOS And in bezos’s cereal bowl with impunity?

 

it has always boggled my mind. 

[pharmjod]

It doesn't boggle my mind. It pisses me off. 

[keymomachine]

41 minutes ago, Darth_Raichu said:

ETA: since I am feeling like a bitter old man today.  Even if you find such account manager, which Sales Director would want to see 5k++ sales of toys removed from their monthly sales report ?

It literally wouldn't take away from anything on the Amazon side, the sales would just go to legitimate sellers for likely a little more money and thus more profit for Amazon.

[vasp]

21 hours ago, Bold-Arrow said:

try to re upload both as a jpg for now and see what they say 

Thank you so much for that suggestion.

They accepted the jpg and processed reimbursement.

[exciter1]

Will LEGO Brand be labeled with this?

https://www.engadget.com/amazon-begins-flagging-frequently-returned-products-180013338.html

[Darth_Raichu]

19 minutes ago, exciter1 said:

Will LEGO Brand be labeled with this?

https://www.engadget.com/amazon-begins-flagging-frequently-returned-products-180013338.html

Not as long as Toywave continues to "ship" (or not) quality genuine products

[vasp]

Came upon this for 1 seller.

I guess this is acceptable till the bot picks it up.

• Business Address:
  • not available
  • Herndon
  • VA
  • 20171
  • US

[Phil B]

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/03/27/amazon-seller-consultant-admits-to-bribing-employees-to-help-clients.html

An influential consultant for Amazon sellers has admitted to bribing employees of the e-commerce giant for information to help his clients boost sales and to get their suspended accounts reinstated. From a report:Ephraim "Ed" Rosenberg wrote in a LinkedIn post that he will plead guilty in federal court to a criminal charge, stemming from a 2020 indictment that charged six people with conspiring to give sellers an unfair competitive advantage on Amazon's third-party marketplace. Four of the defendants have already pleaded guilty, including one former Amazon employee who was sentenced last year to 10 months in prison.

Rosenberg, who's based in Brooklyn, is a well-known figure in the world of Amazon third-party sellers. He runs a consultancy business that advises entrepreneurs on how to sell products on the online marketplace, and navigate unforeseen issues with their Amazon account. Rosenberg's Facebook group for sellers, ASGTG, has over 68,000 members, and he hosts a popular conference for sellers each year. "For a time, some years ago, I began to obtain and use Amazon's internal annotations -- Amazon's private property -- to learn the reasons for sellers' suspensions, in order to assist them in getting reinstated, if possible," wrote Rosenberg, who is due to appear in U.S. District Court in Seattle on March 30, for a change of plea hearing, according to court records. "On some occasions, I paid bribes, directly and indirectly, to Amazon employees to obtain annotations and reinstate suspended accounts. These actions were against the law."

[Darth_Raichu]

3 hours ago, Phil B said:

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/03/27/amazon-seller-consultant-admits-to-bribing-employees-to-help-clients.html

An influential consultant for Amazon sellers has admitted to bribing employees of the e-commerce giant for information to help his clients boost sales and to get their suspended accounts reinstated. From a report:Ephraim "Ed" Rosenberg wrote in a LinkedIn post that he will plead guilty in federal court to a criminal charge, stemming from a 2020 indictment that charged six people with conspiring to give sellers an unfair competitive advantage on Amazon's third-party marketplace. Four of the defendants have already pleaded guilty, including one former Amazon employee who was sentenced last year to 10 months in prison.

Rosenberg, who's based in Brooklyn, is a well-known figure in the world of Amazon third-party sellers. He runs a consultancy business that advises entrepreneurs on how to sell products on the online marketplace, and navigate unforeseen issues with their Amazon account. Rosenberg's Facebook group for sellers, ASGTG, has over 68,000 members, and he hosts a popular conference for sellers each year. "For a time, some years ago, I began to obtain and use Amazon's internal annotations -- Amazon's private property -- to learn the reasons for sellers' suspensions, in order to assist them in getting reinstated, if possible," wrote Rosenberg, who is due to appear in U.S. District Court in Seattle on March 30, for a change of plea hearing, according to court records. "On some occasions, I paid bribes, directly and indirectly, to Amazon employees to obtain annotations and reinstate suspended accounts. These actions were against the law."

Did not know Amazon employees were so cheap.  That was only $25k / person bribe and the consultant got 1000x benefits...

Quote

In all, the individuals allegedly paid $100,000 worth of bribes to employees and reaped more than $100 million in competitive benefits, the DOJ said.

In 2018, Amazon fired four employees in India who were allegedly connected to the bribery scheme.

 

So this was how the big timers did it

Quote

The documents also detailed defendants’ elaborate efforts to dodge detection by authorities, including allegedly stuffing a llama-shaped ottoman with cash believed to be bribes, according to Bloomberg.

 

[Bold-Arrow]

3 hours ago, Phil B said:

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/03/27/amazon-seller-consultant-admits-to-bribing-employees-to-help-clients.html

An influential consultant for Amazon sellers has admitted to bribing employees of the e-commerce giant for information to help his clients boost sales and to get their suspended accounts reinstated. From a report:Ephraim "Ed" Rosenberg wrote in a LinkedIn post that he will plead guilty in federal court to a criminal charge, stemming from a 2020 indictment that charged six people with conspiring to give sellers an unfair competitive advantage on Amazon's third-party marketplace. Four of the defendants have already pleaded guilty, including one former Amazon employee who was sentenced last year to 10 months in prison.

Rosenberg, who's based in Brooklyn, is a well-known figure in the world of Amazon third-party sellers. He runs a consultancy business that advises entrepreneurs on how to sell products on the online marketplace, and navigate unforeseen issues with their Amazon account. Rosenberg's Facebook group for sellers, ASGTG, has over 68,000 members, and he hosts a popular conference for sellers each year. "For a time, some years ago, I began to obtain and use Amazon's internal annotations -- Amazon's private property -- to learn the reasons for sellers' suspensions, in order to assist them in getting reinstated, if possible," wrote Rosenberg, who is due to appear in U.S. District Court in Seattle on March 30, for a change of plea hearing, according to court records. "On some occasions, I paid bribes, directly and indirectly, to Amazon employees to obtain annotations and reinstate suspended accounts. These actions were against the law."

The last sentence in the link had me in stitches. 

[Bricklectic]

Sorry to hear this. I know the man. I've worked for him to help set up the annual  massive amazon sellers conferences. Great guy. Not defending the crime, but just pointing out he has done a tremendous amount of good for the amazon sellers community and helping them out with free info on his  immensely helpful groups and newsletters. We will need to wait to see the details of what the bribes were for. If they were just to get info on suspensions and how to best try to get reactivated, to me that's not terrible, while obviously illegal and to be clear Im not advocating anyone try that route. It's just not the same as bribing for injustice. It's more like "bribing" for justice. We all know amazon is severy unfair to sellers in every which way.......

[Darth_Raichu]

4 minutes ago, Bricklectic said:

Sorry to hear this. I know the man. I've worked for him to help set up the annual  massive amazon sellers conferences. Great guy. Not defending the crime, but just pointing out he has done a tremendous amount of good for the amazon sellers community and helping them out with free info on his  immensely helpful groups and newsletters. We will need to wait to see the details of what the bribes were for. If they were just to get info on suspensions and how to best try to get reactivated, to me that's not terrible, while obviously illegal and to be clear Im not advocating anyone try that route. It's just not the same as bribing for injustice. It's more like "bribing" for justice. We all know amazon is severy unfair to sellers in every which way.......

This begs the question: did you see any llama shaped ottoman anywhere in his residence or in any one of his properties? 

[pharmjod]

1 hour ago, Bricklectic said:

Sorry to hear this. I know the man. I've worked for him to help set up the annual  massive amazon sellers conferences. Great guy. Not defending the crime, but just pointing out he has done a tremendous amount of good for the amazon sellers community and helping them out with free info on his  immensely helpful groups and newsletters. We will need to wait to see the details of what the bribes were for. If they were just to get info on suspensions and how to best try to get reactivated, to me that's not terrible, while obviously illegal and to be clear Im not advocating anyone try that route. It's just not the same as bribing for injustice. It's more like "bribing" for justice. We all know amazon is severy unfair to sellers in every which way.......

I actually agree with you here for the most part. I'm not going to shill for Amazon and act like they are worth defending for much of anything. 

[Darth_Raichu]

1 hour ago, Bricklectic said:

 If they were just to get info on suspensions and how to best try to get reactivated, to me that's not terrible, while obviously illegal and to be clear Im not advocating anyone try that route. It's just not the same as bribing for injustice. It's more like "bribing" for justice. We all know amazon is severy unfair to sellers in every which way.......

 

40 minutes ago, pharmjod said:

I actually agree with you here for the most part. I'm not going to shill for Amazon and act like they are worth defending for much of anything. 

By that logic, shouldn't we give Toywave a pass too? Most of you would agree that had Toywave not existed, those sales would have gone to legit sellers for (much) higher prices.  Therefore, Toywave is costing Amazon thousands if not hundreds of thousand in sales commissions.

[pharmjod]

2 minutes ago, Darth_Raichu said:

 

By that logic, shouldn't we give Toywave a pass too? Most of you would agree that had Toywave not existed, those sales would have gone to legit sellers for (much) higher prices.  Therefore, Toywave is costing Amazon thousands if not hundreds of thousand in sales commissions.

That's a fair point. I think for me anyway, toywave screws everyone else and suppresses prices and is in direct violation of the terms and services for Amazon. And they continue to do it with impunity, over and over and over again. You can say don't hate the player, hate the game all day long, but the reality is toywave isn't playing by the same rules a the rest of us which definetly makes for a less fun/fair game. If all toywave was doing was sticking it to Amazon, I really wouldn't care. But they are affecting every single person that sells the same set of skus without any of the risks or effort that the rest of us have and that sucks. Yeah, they have different risks, but those are as a result of a prohibited activity to begin with. 

Ed at least helped some folks out by learning about the totally convoluted and definitely not easy to navigate suspension policies and procedures that Amazon very arbitrarily enforces. Did he get rich doing it? It appears that way. Did he use illegal means to do so, apparently. I didn't realize bribing an employee of a private company was illegal honestly. I figured that would just be grounds for litigation from the company, but I didn't think it would be criminal.

If Amazon would enforce their rules uniformly and have humans you can talk to that can actually be helpful, people like him wouldn't have as much incentive or luck to do what he did. 

[Darth_Raichu]

2 hours ago, pharmjod said:

That's a fair point. I think for me anyway, toywave screws everyone else and suppresses prices and is in direct violation of the terms and services for Amazon. And they continue to do it with impunity, over and over and over again. You can say don't hate the player, hate the game all day long, but the reality is toywave isn't playing by the same rules a the rest of us which definetly makes for a less fun/fair game. If all toywave was doing was sticking it to Amazon, I really wouldn't care. But they are affecting every single person that sells the same set of skus without any of the risks or effort that the rest of us have and that sucks. Yeah, they have different risks, but those are as a result of a prohibited activity to begin with. 

Ed at least helped some folks out by learning about the totally convoluted and definitely not easy to navigate suspension policies and procedures that Amazon very arbitrarily enforces. Did he get rich doing it? It appears that way. Did he use illegal means to do so, apparently. I didn't realize bribing an employee of a private company was illegal honestly. I figured that would just be grounds for litigation from the company, but I didn't think it would be criminal.

If Amazon would enforce their rules uniformly and have humans you can talk to that can actually be helpful, people like him wouldn't have as much incentive or luck to do what he did. 

If you read the article about the actual charges / indictment you can see a few interesting tidbits about Rosenberg's allegedly illegal operation. 

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/09/18/doj-charges-six-people-in-scheme-to-bribe-amazon-employees.html

Like this:

Quote

In exchange for those bribes, “corrupted” employees and contractors allegedly helped to reinstate suspended third-party seller accounts and product listings on Amazon’s marketplace (....)

Amazon employees manually reinstated the suspended accounts and product listings, and approved “baseless and fraudulent” appeals submitted by merchants and, in some cases, drafted by the employees themselves, according to the indictment.

Surely, the majority of Rosenberg's clients are victims of arbitrary suspension by Amazon.  However, how many are actually doing something "not as aligned with Amazon rules"  and decide to use the "service++" (TM)  to "patch things up" with Amazon?  As much as I like making fun of Amazon bots, those things do catch dropshippers and Amazon rule breakers.  Most of people whining about getting suspended on Amazon forums were suspended because of dropshipping.

As far as Toywave, it is beyond strange that Amazon bots have not caught up with this operation with its huge red flag. What IF** Toywave is one of Rosenberg's clients or uses similar other "service++" providers, therefore able to elude Amazon suspension bots all this time ?  Perhaps elude is not the right word, but more like using the "service++" to get "Get out of Amazon's Jail Free" card every time it gets caught by bots.  Wasn't it strange when Toywave's item count dropped from thousands to 40 in one morning and backed up to thousands again by the end of day ?  🤔

Wholeheartedly agree with your argument about Toywave not playing by the same rules.  Perhaps both of these operations are not playing with the same rules (allegedly) as the rest of us**, therefore should be treated equally.

And yes, I am well aware this runs counter to my "what is the incentive for Amazon to drop Toywave" theory from upthread...

**Just a late night musing of an old man here, not trying to besmirch the sterling reputation of either party

 

[Tonka858]

toywave got 83 feedback in 30 days, So he probably shipped around 10,000 orders or more, You only need 200 orders to eat each defect.