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I worked for a startup that sold a food product direct, with a significant part of sales on Amazon. We decided to switch our standard size from 12 packs to 8 pa

I worked for a startup that sold a food product direct, with a significant part of sales on Amazon. We decided to switch our standard size from 12 packs to 8 packs to better fit our customers consumption habits. But on Amazon that meant creating new listings for new SKUs, abandoning hundreds of positive comments/ratings on each 12 pack flavor SKU, which would crush sales for a while. So instead we let inventory run out for each 12 pack SKU, then shipped replacement 8 pack SKUs, and renamed the SKUs from 12 packs to eight packs. They still had some reviews praising them for having a dozen packs, which was weird but the ratings were still there.

Raed667 6y ago
There must be -somewhere- an acceptable delta to keep your listing while doing legitimate edits. The line should be somewhere in-between: 1- changing the package size from 12 to 8 2- changing a german car oil listing, to a horse accessory and then a toy drone
- Cerium 6y ago
  Maybe there is and that is why the listing took the path it did. "Horses and cars are both modes of transportation, so I guess this change is ok." then "Horses and drones are both hobby activities in this day and age, so I guess this change is ok." I lean towards change in package size ok, but just about anything else is not. Otherwise you can anneal the product page to fit your needs.
- LargoLasskhyfv 6y ago
  A "diff" view for the product description like in version control systems, and the revievs sorted according to the time the change in product description happened, and not some commingled ratings which have nothing to do anymore with the product.
noveltyaccount 6y ago
That's crazy. Can't you add two variants to the same product? Like how a single t-shirt item can have different sizes and colors? Or maybe Amazon only allows that for certain listings, or only if they're set up that way from the start?
- valuearb 6y ago
  We couldn’t. It’s been a year and Amazon wasn’t my primary responsibility so I can’t remember the details out Amazon manager laid out, but we were forced to go through this time consuming and painful process.
opportune 6y ago
Honestly if I were your customer I would probably really dislike this since I tend to put food products on subscriptions. Also the fact you were able to do this for something (I am assuming) was relatively innocent shows someone could do this for more nefarious purposes.
- valuearb 6y ago
  We did have Amazon subscriptions, and it was a nightmare, esp. given how little contact Amazon allows with your customers.
- Izkata 6y ago
  > shows someone could do this for more nefarious purposes. That's what happened with GGP, scammers get high ratings on some cheap product, then switch it with crap while keeping the high ratings.
dehrmann 6y ago
This reminded me of shopping for an SSD. I found Western Digital and Sandisk versions of the same drive). All the stats were the same, and they were most likely the same hardware with a different label (WD owns Sandisk). One had a higher review. What's interesting is different people will purchase each, so you're actually getting a different set of reviewers, so the ratings could be genuinely different.

Raed667 6y ago

There must be -somewhere- an acceptable delta to keep your listing while doing legitimate edits. The line should be somewhere in-between: 1- changing the package size from 12 to 8 2- changing a german car oil listing, to a horse accessory and then a toy drone

Cerium 6y ago
Maybe there is and that is why the listing took the path it did. "Horses and cars are both modes of transportation, so I guess this change is ok." then "Horses and drones are both hobby activities in this day and age, so I guess this change is ok." I lean towards change in package size ok, but just about anything else is not. Otherwise you can anneal the product page to fit your needs.
LargoLasskhyfv 6y ago
A "diff" view for the product description like in version control systems, and the revievs sorted according to the time the change in product description happened, and not some commingled ratings which have nothing to do anymore with the product.

noveltyaccount 6y ago

That's crazy. Can't you add two variants to the same product? Like how a single t-shirt item can have different sizes and colors? Or maybe Amazon only allows that for certain listings, or only if they're set up that way from the start?

valuearb 6y ago
We couldn’t. It’s been a year and Amazon wasn’t my primary responsibility so I can’t remember the details out Amazon manager laid out, but we were forced to go through this time consuming and painful process.

opportune 6y ago

Honestly if I were your customer I would probably really dislike this since I tend to put food products on subscriptions. Also the fact you were able to do this for something (I am assuming) was relatively innocent shows someone could do this for more nefarious purposes.

valuearb 6y ago
We did have Amazon subscriptions, and it was a nightmare, esp. given how little contact Amazon allows with your customers.
Izkata 6y ago
> shows someone could do this for more nefarious purposes. That's what happened with GGP, scammers get high ratings on some cheap product, then switch it with crap while keeping the high ratings.

dehrmann 6y ago

This reminded me of shopping for an SSD. I found Western Digital and Sandisk versions of the same drive). All the stats were the same, and they were most likely the same hardware with a different label (WD owns Sandisk). One had a higher review. What's interesting is different people will purchase each, so you're actually getting a different set of reviewers, so the ratings could be genuinely different.