Amazon has asked its US sellers to rate the support team in the future. This measure was a response to the wishes of marketplace retailers.

The relationship between Amazon's marketplace retailers and the merchant support team is often characterized by tensions: Sellers repeatedly report inadequate answers to inquiries or problems. Criticisms include the fact that the answers often consist of text modules and do not respond to the questions individually. It is also criticized that problems are often forwarded to different support staff, which causes additional displeasure.

Amazon has apparently recognized this criticism and is now responding in the US by asking sellers to provide feedback more frequently following support cases.

Evaluations possible after every email interaction

Amazon allows sellers to leave a review after every email interaction with the support team — even if the issue hasn't been resolved yet. “You can rate your satisfaction with the support you received and provide details in your own words,” says a message in SellerCentral.

According to Amazon, this innovation was achieved at the request of many retailers. The feedback should help improve support, for example through targeted training or improvements in communication and support functions.

Initial reactions show skepticism

Despite the introduction of the feedback function, initial responses are rather skeptical. Under the official announcement, some sellers are critical. For example, a user notes that although it is good to get rid of their frustration in a review, they fear that their case will “disappear into a black hole” if they rate the staff as incompetent.

A common allegation in the comments relates to the lack of training provided by support staff. They would often not sufficiently understand what problems sellers actually have and are poorly trained to apply guidelines. The criticism is therefore directed less at individual employees and more at Amazon's structural deficiencies in support.

It is currently unclear whether and when this feedback function will also be introduced for German retailer support. So far, there has been no announcement in this direction in the German SellerCentral.

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