Communication Guidelines #

As part of selling on Amazon, sellers communicate with buyers both directly and indirectly. Amazon requires that sellers follow certain guidelines when communicating with buyers.

Direct Communication #

1. Shipment Confirmation email: Timely communication of order status is an integral part of high-quality shopping experience on Amazon. We require our sellers to communicate with buyers using a Shipment Confirmation email when they have shipped the buyers’ orders. This email must contain clear information about the buyer address, items shipped and quantity, ship carrier used with shipment tracking number, and the expected date of delivery.
2. Order Unavailable email: Sellers must communicate with buyers if the product ordered is not available to be shipped. Adjust the full order amount using the Manage Orders feature or an Order Adjustment feed. Sellers must use NoInventory or CouldNotShip as the reason codes for the adjustment as necessary. Use the Order Unavailable email template to communicate with the buyer about your inability to fulfill the order. The Order Unavailable email must contain a confirmation that the order amount was adjusted with the appropriate reason for the unavailability of the items. If you think you can fulfill the order but the shipment will be delayed beyond the advertised availability, you must notify the buyer about the delay. If the buyer decides cancel the order, you should then start the refund process.
3. Return Confirmation email: If a buyer returns an order, we encourage you to communicate with the buyer when the item is received. Use the Return Confirmation email template for this communication. This email must contain confirmation of the items returned, order amount refunded and the date of refund. However, you must process refunds for the order amount (minus any charges) using the Manage Orders feature or an Order Adjustment feed.
4. Customer Review Request email: After an order is completed, Amazon automatically sends an email to buyers asking them to leave a review and provide feedback. Additionally, you are allowed to send one email per order to request a Customer Review. If you decide to ask a buyer to provide a Customer Review, you cannot ask only for a positive review, nor can you request reviews solely from buyers who have had a positive experience. You also cannot ask customers to change or remove their review, attempt to influence the review, or ask customers to send negative reviews to you directly and only write positive reviews on Amazon.You must comply with these guidelines in all your communications with the customer, including shipping box inserts. For example, you may not offer any compensation for a review, including money or gift cards, free or discounted products, refunds or reimbursements, or any other future benefits. Please review Amazon Customer Reviews guidelines here. We encourage you to monitor reviews regularly and reach out to customers to resolve product or service issues. However, you cannot ask customers to change or remove their review, even after an issue is resolved.

Indirect Communication #

Amazon communicates order-related information to buyers through their “Your Account” updates. These updates include information such as when an order has been shipped (with the tracking number) or when a refund has been processed. These updates are based on shipping confirmations and refunds initiated using Manage Orders or the following feeds:

1. Shipping Confirmation feed: This feed tells Amazon that you’ve shipped buyer orders and provides order tracking information for the buyers. Timely communication of order status is an important part of a high-quality shopping experience for Amazon buyers.
2. Order Adjustments feed: This feed tells Amazon that you’ve issued buyer refunds. Buyers want to know their refund status after they return products. Therefore, it is critical that you process refunds promptly. You can also use the Manage Returns feature to issue a refund.Note: We require sellers to promptly confirm shipment of all orders, either by using theManage Orders feature or by uploading a Shipping Confirmation feed. After you confirm shipment, Amazon sends a confirmation email to the buyer.

In general, you may contact a buyer who has purchased from you on Amazon only for the purposes listed above or to complete an order or to respond to a customer service inquiry. You may not contact buyers in any way for marketing or promotional purposes, via email, physical mail, telephone, or otherwise.

If you send a permitted email to a buyer, your email may not include any of the following:

• Links to any website, unless necessary to fulfill an order. For example, links to track packages are allowed.
• Links to opt-out of unsolicited messages from sellers.
• Logos, if they contain or display a link to your website.
• Any marketing or promotional messaging.
• Any promotion for additional products or referral to third-party products or promotions.

Be sure to include the Amazon order ID in your communications to buyers and on the shipment packing slips.

If you have questions about our policies regarding communicating with buyers, contact Seller Support.

Authentic Buyer-Seller Communications #

Buyers who want to contact sellers can do so by clicking the seller name link on the product detail page. This link opens a page that, in addition to displaying all of your products and your returns policy, also provides a link to your customer service email.

When a buyer sends you an email, they receive a confirmation that the email is sent and that you, the seller, will be contacting them.

When you receive email from a buyer via your customer service link, it will contain only plain text. There should not be any images, Flash animation, or hyperlinks. If you receive an email from a buyer that is not plain text and yet appears to be coming from Amazon, do not respond to the email or click any links or images in the email. If the email from the buyer encourages you to click or paste a link into your browser, or that asks you to go to another web site, do not perform this action. For information about how to recognize suspicious email, see Security and Your Account.Note: While Amazon directs buyer messages to you, we do not review the content. Carefully review each message before you reply to it. As a reminder, the Amazon Services Business Solutions Agreement explicitly states that payment and refunds for sales on Amazon are to be made solely through Amazon Payments.

See also Buyer-Seller Messaging Service.

Source: Amazon Seller Central, Updated 12th October 2018