Understanding Seller Ratings on Amazon

Amazon grades its sellers on several different levels. The internet retailer not only grades sellers based on direct feedback from consumers, it also reviews its merchants as well.

So, with that said, we will now take a look at some of the ways Amazon seller ratings affect your business – and what you can do about them.

What Does Your Amazon Seller Rating Mean?

Generally speaking, the Amazon rating system is developed by data received from shoppers. This rating is a measurement system that estimates the quality of the experience merchants provide to their clients. Each AMZ merchant has its rating.

Each order on the platform gets its quality score. First, the scores for all purchases within the last years are added together to calculate the average score: it is the seller’s order quality score. Nonetheless, the sellers’ performance on recent orders has more weight than previous ones. Once the final score is estimated, merchants are rated as either fair, good, very good, or excellent.

Is AMZ Seller Rating the Same as Amazon Seller Feedback Rating?

Your selling rating isn’t the same as your seller feedback on the platform. The latter means reviews shoppers share about your goods and services, which is the only one shown in the customer feedback section.

Instead, the seller rating is a bit broader as it evaluates the client experience you provide. Every transaction will contribute to the AMZ seller rating, depending on several aspects. It’s one of the essential factors shown on the product page.

The History of Amazon Seller Rating

A few years ago, sellers first glimpsed Amazon’s new measuring system. The focus was to get an idea of customers’ satisfaction with sellers, ensuring that their customers received the highest quality service possible. Amazon unveiled this feature with the hopes of enabling sellers to improve upon their client service, resulting in higher sales and happier consumers. In addition, the seller rating was intended as a tool to help sellers develop and perfect their customer service skills. The rating ranged from 0 (for extremely poor) to 100 (for excellent customer service).

In 2015, the online giant completely removed this feature from the Amazon seller dashboard. Unfortunately, the site gave no warning or clear explanations for why they discontinued the rating system. The reason for the removal confused many people; to this day, people are still wondering why the decision was made.

It’s still unclear how exactly AMZ ratings work. But we have a basic understanding of how to rate a seller on AMZ. They use six main factors to grade a seller:

• How quickly the seller responds to customers
• How promptly the Seller ships orders
• How often customers cancel orders
• How often the seller experience chargebacks
• A-to-Z claims
• What sort of feedback the seller receives (Amazon especially judges negative feedback). Any Amazon prime seller must take note of the role negative feedback plays in deciding position and sales.

Amazon would look at these factors and average the scores to determine the final Amazon seller rating. They would average these scores by combining every order the account had processed over the past 365 days. Today, each AMZ order still carries a point value that follows this metric system.

The platform considers some offences much more severe in the eyes of this rating system than others. Consequently, these points affect the seller’s final grade more significantly than others. For instance, a seller may be harshly penalized for an A-to-Z claim, while a late shipment would less significantly affect his overall score. In addition, the online shop will reward its sellers with bonus points when they exceed expectations in their customer service endeavours. The reward can be up to ten points per order!

 There are points available from the internet retailer to help improve the feedback a seller enjoys on AMZ. Basic recommendations include a few ways of avoiding one and two-star reviews:

• Maintain a stocked inventory
• Plan well to promptly deliver orders
• Ensure that product listings include high-resolution images and informative descriptions
• Display the Seller Central phone number or other contact information, like emails. It makes it easy for buyers to contact seller support at any time.
• Provide customers with polite service while answering their questions

Other Important Metrics

• Perfect Order Percentage – How frequently you deliver the order with 100% accuracy.
• Order Defect Rate – The number of orders with a defect divided by the total number of orders.
• Pre-Fulfilment Cancellation Rate – How frequently you run out of inventory.
• Late Shipment Rate – How frequently you ship orders late.
• Refund Rate – How frequently you make refunds.
• Valid Tracking Rate – How frequently you include tracking shipment information.
• Customer Service Dissatisfaction Rate – How frequently you leave customer complaints unresolved.
• Response Times Under 24 Hours – How frequently you respond to customer inquiries within 24 hours.
• Late Responses – How frequently you respond late to customers’ inquiries.
• Average Response Time – The average amount of time you take to respond to customer inquiries.
• Return Dissatisfaction Rate – How frequently you inaccurately process returns.
• Negative Feedback Rate – How frequently customers give negative feedback regarding your service.
• Feedback Rating – How frequently customers give positive feedback regarding your service/product.
• …and several other facets that are still being tested.

Another critical factor that may eventually influence your seller rating is using MPN. What is an MPN number, and why do you need it? To put it shortly, with it, you can stay assured that your consumers can find the products they need. Go to our article to find out more. 

Instead of looking at every aspect of these rating metrics in detail, we will focus on two key points that carry significant weight. First, we will delve deeply into the “negative” and “positive” feedback ratings. The highest star rating one can get is 100%.

Negative Feedback Rate

It is Amazon’s internal and non-customer-facing method of measurement. They decide the rating for this part by looking at the orders with negative feedback and dividing it by the total number of orders. If the seller receives a percentage between 0 and 2, Amazon judges him as an excellent seller. It considers anything five and over as a worrisome seller.

Amazon pays great attention to negative feedback. Apart from the fact that it reflects the poor quality of products or services offered, it negatively impacts the site. A customer who receives poor services or takes delivery of inferior goods from the site is most likely to see the site in a bad light.

Feedback Rating

The AMZ rating for feedback is what most sellers consider when they think of their rating on Amazon. It follows a 100-point scale of grading. It is something that everyone can readily see when they visit an AMZ seller’s page. It is something that potential customers are sure to review before doing business with you. They can see all of your feedback. That means they not only see the positive reviews and feedback from your happy customers. They also see the negative and neutral feedback from customers that are not too pleased. They can see this information from the past month, 90 days, or even the past year you’ve been doing business. Check out our tool for an AMZ seller: how to get reviews on autopilot.

Amazon also incorporates the ratings of a seller into its Buy Box algorithm. 

For this reason, many Amazon sellers use SageMailer (click for the free 30-day trial, no card required). It offers a two-week free trial, which also results in increasing your ratings. SageMailer automates Amazon sellers’ solicitation and follow-up processes using a cloud-based tool. It also tracks the information so sellers can see how feedback affects their rating. It allows Amazon sellers to see trends in their feedback, track open rates and monitor product reviews on different Amazon marketplaces.

It helps your positive feedback rating. SageMailer is also known for diminishing negative feedback ratings. Marketplace allows sellers to remove feedback on Amazon after 60 days. However, with SageMailer, you will receive an alert immediately of the situation through email or text. This way, you receive the opportunity to quickly correct the issue and possibly have the negative feedback removed even faster.

Amazon sellers like you have a lot on your plate. Sometimes the stress can be overwhelming. With a grading system that monitors and judges your every move, it’s a wonder Amazon sellers can get much accomplished. Sagemailer is here to help take some of the pressure off of you. So take a deep breath, remain positive, and focus on your customers. 

While maintaining your cool-headed demeanour, remember to implement top-of-the-line systems and plans like SageMailer in your business management. As long as you manage all of that, the numbers should just fall into place.

Why is Amazon Seller Rating Important?

Having seen how to rate Amazon sellers, it’s time to look at why seller rating is critical and is an integral part of the online store. Here are a few reasons not to sustain such ratings.

Ratings impact sellers’ relationship with Amazon

 It’s one of the factors to consider before suspending a seller from the site. When the retailer giant eventually suspends a seller, it factors the ratings or feedback into its decision to withdraw the selling rights. So any seller with high ratings wins the race in the long run.

Rating influences Buy Box’s position

Amazon employs positive ratings in deciding Buy Box share. The seller with the better rating is usually given the sale, provided other factors remain the same. Amazon also uses your order defect rate to assess seller performance.

Rating adds business value that you can’t describe

In a marketplace full of competition, a seller’s rating plays a significant role in determining how well he does against the competitors. Therefore, every positive rating puts you further ahead of the current and future competition.

Rating influences non-Buy Box orders

It is known that some customers sidestep the Buy Box and settle for “Other Sellers on Amazon.” In such circumstances, the buyer makes a decision based on the seller’s convincing ratings. 

How to Improve Your Rating?

You might not know how to sell on Amazon and get good seller feedback. Here are some suggestions that would help improve your rating while selling on Amazon.

Contact Amazon

It’s impossible to please everybody. So, no matter how much effort you put in, there will always be customers you cannot satisfy. When a buyer leaves negative feedback, the first thing to do is crosscheck if it’s in line with Amazon guidelines. Next, the customer should rate you based on the service delivered. In a situation whereby he deviates from this into providing a product review, you should contact the site and ask for the removal of the rating or feedback. Finally, communicate such observations to Amazon in a concise manner. 

Stop the issue before it starts

The relationship built with the customer matters. When you receive negative customer feedback, getting in touch with them becomes very important to sort out the issue. You can do this through emails. Be prompt in your response to the feedback and explain the situation in a way that can convince him or assure him that you are willing to improve. The buyer will likely remove such negative feedback or rating and replace it with a positive one.

Make changes in the event of genuine problems

You may have done everything you thought necessary to ensure effective service delivery. Yet problems still happen despite your efforts. Once in a while, customers end up ordering the wrong product by mistake. Products could also arrive broken. Offer to fix the issue where possible. Above all, use the negative feedback to improve the overall performance of your service. A better feedback score puts you ahead of that’s who have poor scores.

Answer questions and address concerns

Amazon places a premium on customer satisfaction. Therefore, ensure that you answer questions and address concerns raised by customers. Even though you cannot respond at odd hours, respond to each inquiry within 24 hours.

Communicate well

You can seize the chance a negative customer rating provides to improve your business and give it a positive outlook. But, on the other hand, if a buyer is not happy, find out the reasons for such. For example, it could be because the product does not meet the description or other reasons.

No matter the situation, try as much as possible to communicate with them professionally and politely, offering to fix the problem. Once you have fixed the case, let shoppers know that customer service is your number one priority and politely request they should remove the negative feedback.

Use the positive to overshadow the negative

Try to make every customer leave positive feedback for you as much as possible. Then, when you have many positive ratings, the few negative ones would have little or no adverse effects.

When a customer purchases your product, send him a mail asking him to contact you in case of any challenge. They are more likely to relate positively to you, knowing there is a real human at the other end. Try to educate buyers on the need to leave feedback when they buy your product. You can also use Google consumer surveys to determine your buyers’ preferences and make them available for your services. It will eventually improve your seller ratings extensions, which ultimately help people find your products through Google search due to the high rating.

Take care of the problem with or without customer contact

Customers hate wasting time. If you receive a complaint from an unsatisfied buyer, ship a replacement product immediately without first replying to the emails. Accompany the shipment with a letter explaining why you have to replace the item. If you replace the buyer’s product in such a timely manner, he could change his view of your services and remove the negative rating.

FBA Offers Many Benefits

Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA) is popular among online merchants as most of them have come across it. The program is at a stage whereby it’s experiencing exponential growth and expansion. To understand what Amazon FBA is, look at the explanation below. You will also learn how FBA Amazon can improve your seller reputation and the few possible exceptions that exist.

Amazon launched the FBA more than six years ago, with the main target being partners with its sellers. The main pitch was that Amazon was to offer sellers storage, packaging and shipping services at a reasonable price. The offer was great, as proven by its popularity even after many years. Its expansion is reaching the global market and is set apart by rapid growth, according to Amazon. You can think of fulfilment by Amazon as a great chance for merchants to benefit from outsourcing and, at the same time, ensure buyers get quality services.

How to Use FBA to Your Advantage as a Merchant?

FBA faces customers implies that it dramatically affects the seller’s reputation. There are many reasons why you should consider FBA. You can guarantee your business will gain from it and boost your reputation. There are many pros of Amazon FBA, with a few cons. Take a look at the advantages that you will enjoy with FBA:

• Amazon has been in business for many years and has proven to be a leader in online order fulfillment. It is why FBA came into being in the first place. As a seller, you will have the chance to experience quality services from industry experts.
• The buyers will have the opportunity to ship Free Super Saver and enjoy other benefits, such as fast shipping through their Prime seller accounts.
• One apparent cause of negative feedback is out-of-stock orders. FBA tries to reduce the risk, especially during the high seasons. It is done through the use of a multichannel selling environment.
• In some situations, the FBA will allow one to strike out negative feedback.
• The growth that FBA is experiencing, including an increase in the number of Amazon warehouses, means that the prime two-day shipping will come down to one-day shipping.
• FBA Amazon allows you to offer gift wrapping and detailed tracking on shipments.
• In some markets, buyers can enjoy locker delivery.
• The 24/7 Amazon customer services will back you up and boost your reputation.

Amazon FBA Cons

There is also the other side of the coin, which are the disadvantages that come with FBA. The main issue is that certain adjustments in Amazon FBA fees earlier this year upset the sellers. You will also pay more for products that require special preparation during packaging. Some sellers prefer to do their packaging, especially for expensive items requiring personalized care.

Final Thoughts

You should improve your Amazon seller rating to develop a sustainable and long-term business in the marketplace. It is not easy. Apprehending the platform’s seller rating takes time and effort. Next, your task is to come up with the steps to it. Put the abovementioned measures into practice, and you will get a higher ranking and seller rating on the AMZ search result page. Thus, you will have a higher conversion rate.

It might be a lot to take in, so concentrate on mastering one metric daily until you have them all. Your goal should always be flawless in every single order. You will not necessarily have a 100 Seller Rating in the marketplace, but perform as you will and get top-notch scores as a byproduct.

As an Amazon seller, success will only come if you deliver exceptional customer service. To ensure that you build on your strengths, SageMailer’s feedback management tool (free 30-day trial, no card required) allows you to follow up on product orders and connect with your customers directly. As a result, it will improve your business reputation over time.