[antipodes123]

Long time Amazon Seller here

It's against Amazon TOS to contact Amazon's customers outside the Amazon messaging system, and they are really heavy handed against sellers breaching this.

If you complain to Amazon that the seller is contacting you outside the Amazon messaging platform and harrassing you, then Amazon will close their seller account.

Alternatively you can threaten to report them to Amazon for this and they will go away.

[greenyoda]

> "contacted Amazon, who responded with "we'll deal with the issue and get back to you within 48 hours", which never happened"

Apparently, complaining to Amazon didn't solve the problem.

[tablespoon]

> Apparently, complaining to Amazon didn't solve the problem.

Amazon has different tiers of support. My understanding (from a few years ago, after being very persistent on an issue), is that their chat support people are relatively dis-empowered compared to their phone support people. So it's totally possible that one support channel could solve this problem, and other ones can't.

And if that's the case, the fault is totally Amazon's: no customer should have to understand their bureaucracy to that level of detail to get their issue resolved.

[owenversteeg]

If an Amazon phone CSR can be trusted, that's still the case. I recently had an unusual issue that required escalation "all the way up" and at a certain point I reached a guy who claimed, at least, that that was as high as any customer could go - it was on the phone and he mentioned that the chat CSRs had much less power. He had managers of course but they were "not allowed" to speak to customers.

[bryanrasmussen]

maybe the contact to Amazon said something like "The seller is harassing me" not "The Seller is contacting me outside of official Amazon channels and harassing me", and probably, if you just dropped the harassing me it would be even more important to Amazon to shut that down.

[plorkyeran]

I have complained to Amazon several times about sellers contacting me and AFAICT it has never done anything.

[saos]

Likewise. I’ve decided to stop using Amazon altogether as I’m not sure how seller is getting my number.

[saos]

I had a seller contact me directly on WhatsApp. I reported it to Amazon and never heard back. Eventually the same number that contacted me on WhatsApp changed their display photo from company logo to an exotic woman asking me for Bitcoin payment

[neolog]

> It's against Amazon TOS to contact Amazon's customers outside the Amazon messaging system

Is there some reason the seller needs to have the buyer's contact info?

[mcny]

> Is there some reason the seller needs to have the buyer's contact info?

I have the same question, except I'll narrow the scope a little bit. In case the order is fulfilled by Amazon.com (FBA), is there any reason for the seller to have the buyer's contact or shipping information?

I know the seller has my information because I have a similar experience to TylerRobinson, except my gift card was only USD 5:

> The situation with Amazon reviews has become unbelievable. I recently purchased a $20 item with around 30,000 reviews, overwhelmingly positive. $20 was a reasonable market price for this item from any retailer.

> There was a card inside the box from the seller saying they’d send me a $15 gift card for posting a 5-star review and then forwarding them proof I had posted it to some gmail account. I followed the instructions, and like clockwork got $15 back on Amazon.

[Dyac]

Part of it is to do with liability and tax stuff. If amazon doesn't share the info in both directions, can they really claim to the taxman and insurance providers that the seller sold you the stuff, or did Amazon really sell you the stuff and the seller was simply their supplier?

Amazon wants to say the seller sold it (unless it was a vendor sale "sold and fulfilled by Amazon.com").

[moltar]

For FBA buyer info isn’t released. Emails are obfuscated and proxies via @amazon.comm domain.

They did release this info up to about 2y ago.

[antipodes123]

Sellers don't get access to customer info unless they are fulfilling the product themselves.

Sellers are obtaining this through black hat methods.

[Fuzzeh]

If the item isn't full-filled by Amazon (ie my stock isn't in an amazon warehouse) then I need their address details and phone number (for the courier) to ship the item.

Dealing with Amazon, as a seller, can be a terrible experience. Using their full-fillment service more so. They don't check returns so the next customer night get only part of a product, or in lots of cases a bogus product when a buyer fills the box with other cheap junk.

[kadoban]

Do you actually need a phone number to ship? I've literally never had a shipping company call or text me, can't imagine they require phone numbers.

[Fuzzeh]

Courier companies DPD/FedEx/UPS request one. Sometimes it speeds up the process is a location is difficult to find.

With DPD it's certainly down to the individual driver because they're calling on their own phone ( many just wont because of thst).

[slapfrog]

> > "contacted Amazon, who responded with "we'll deal with the issue and get back to you within 48 hours", which never happened"

> "If you complain to Amazon that the seller is contacting you outside the Amazon messaging platform and harrassing you, then Amazon will close their seller account."

What is the purpose of telling somebody to do exactly what they just told you they already did, and insisting that it will work when they just told you it didn't? Your comment is tantamount to gaslighting.

[antipodes123]

Hi there - "gaslighting", seems a bit extreme? I'm just offering some help.

The thing with Amazon is that it's super fragmented and you have to complain through the correct channels. After six years I'm still struggling to navigate at times.

General Customer service team members' KPIs are to just close tickets, that's all they care about.

Go to the Product page and click "“Report Abuse”" on the reviews.

Or email the support team and ask them to escalate the ticket to Seller Performance.

Also complain to [e-mail]

[taurath]

I have done all these things myself, and I still see the seller accounts live, or name changed.

Around 10% of items I’ve ordered have been either fakes of name brands, didn’t match the photos, or had a seller review scam thing going. It’s not an outlier, it’s standard.

[bawolff]

> Your comment is tantamount to gaslighting.

That's a bit strong. People can have different experiences, amazon might treat different groups differently, etc

[neilv]

> insisting that it will work when they just told you it didn't

Apt username: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antipodes

> In geography, the antipode (/ˈæntɪˌpoʊd/ or /ænˈtɪpədiː/) of any spot on Earth is the point on Earth's surface diametrically opposite to it.