Three more Chinese consumer businesses have been barred from selling on Amazon as part of the e-commerce giant’s ongoing crackdown on sellers attempting to solicit good consumer ratings, striking a further blow to the “made in China, sold on Amazon” community.
According to the South China Morning Post (SCMP), Amazon has banned the sale of RAVPower power banks, Taotronics headphones, and VAVA cameras, all of which are owned by Shenzhen-based electronics business Sunvalley, as of June 16.
Businesses Have Been Barred From Selling On Amazon
The retailers were found to be providing gift cards to customers wanting to post favourable evaluations about their purchases, which led to the suspension. This is a typical technique in Chinese e-commerce, but Amazon considers it to be an abuse of the review system.
“According to our investigation, the reason [for the ban] may be that some products offered gift cards to customers, which is allegedly in violation of the rules of the Amazon platform,” SACA said in the statement.
According to SCMP, the three brands affected by the recent decision sell a variety of consumer electronics products, including baby monitoring cameras, with the affected products contributing for roughly one-third of Sunvalley’s total sales revenue on Amazon since the beginning of 2020.
Why The Biggest Chinese Electronic Gadget Sellers Vanished From Amazon ?
Product listings from some of the major Chinese electrical gadget merchants have gone from Amazon’s online marketplace since last month, as SCMP previously reported.
“The main reason Amazon specifically targeted the biggest Chinese accounts is to send a very strong signal to sellers. If you are breaking the rules, we will shut you down,” Franklin said.
Amazon has a ‘zero-tolerance policy towards violations, including asking a friend to leave a review and its latest action has garnered wide public attention in China because of the vendors involved.
“Amazon shuts down thousands of stores every single day for manipulation of the review system. The reason it’s so notable this time is because the stores that they shut down are so big,” said Zack Franklin, a Shenzhen-based Amazon consultant for merchants.