Wizards of Ecom: Bonus Episode: Price Gouging on Amazon Marketplace with Chris McCabe

Bonus Episode: Price Gouging on Amazon Marketplace with Chris McCabe

Apr 6, 2020

Price gouging is a real concern these days. Not just from the perspective of the buyer but also of the seller. Chris McCabe is a former Amazon Compliance employee who has a pre-recorded episode coming out later this week, and is back (for the show) to discuss price gouging and its importance.

First, you can’t be angry with Amazon for being overzealous. They are required to comply with 50 different state laws regarding monopoly and price gouging. Essentially, they are going to take the hard line with any complaints or accusations of price gouging and for good reason.

That being said, there are a few key things you can do to quickly reinstate your listings should they be taken down to complaints or accusations. First, keep your receipts. If you can show how much you purchased a product for and then subsequently sold it at, assuming the gap isn’t obviously inflated, then your request for appeal should be fairly straight-forward.

Also, don’t respond while you’re emotionally charged. This will cause you more harm than good. If for some reason you can’t move past the emotional charge of the situation, reach out to Chris and his team to file your appeal for you.

Most of all, realize that even if you’ve done nothing wrong, you have to be able to prove it. Keep all of your records and make sure that you’re able to either create a specific and detailed rebuttal or provide all the information for a third party to do the same.

We are all going through an insane time right now, don’t take advantage!

In This Episode:

[00:28] Welcome back Chris McCabe to chat about price gouging on Amazon.

[02:51] What is price gouging?

[03:59] Why Amazon is so stringent about these charges and how the law is involved.

[06:09] Chris defines the difference between gouging and simply obtaining a bigger return.

[11:03] Is there a severity scale on gouging?

[14:17] Seller performance should be able to see if you have a repricer on your account, but there have been a lot more false positives.

[17:26] What kinds of requests and reports is Chris seeing?

[20:13] If your account has been suspended, don’t react while you’re still stewing in emotion.

[22:14] Wait until you’re in a good mental state, but respond as quickly as possible.

[23:24] How quickly can Chris’s team get accounts back up and running?