UGHHH-we have fallen and can’t get back up! We have been stricken with the dreaded disappearance of the Buy Box and FOE. This is the first time this has happened to our store. We got hit with an A-Z claim yesterday, but we’ve had those before and were fine. Not asking the “why” question, because we know there is never a clear explanation, just ranting. The boss said use the “call me now” button and ask why…lol…it’s Ancient Chinese Secret
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Have you lost eligibility across all categories, or just certain ones?
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All
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You have my heartfelt sympathies. I’ve been there - twice in the past year.
Over on the FUSF, I’m trying to create a watering hole for sellers who have suffered thus, and maybe we can compel Amazon to admit that there is a problem. And then, we might get them to fix it.
If not that, at least it may function as a clearing house for individual sellers to get their accounts exorcised one at a time.
Look at this thread, and please add to it.
Every added post increases the pressure on Amazon to do something.
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Oh, I’m SO gonna ‘steal’ that for future reference to the NSFE… 
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Cowards!!! ( It was not auto-lock. The last post was a mere two weeks ago. )
They are feeling the pressure. I’m not sure why it is important to them, but they don’t want someplace where the numbers can be documented.
Now I’ll write two letters per week.
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Ummmm… isn’t THIS the place where numbers can be documented?
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I think the reason is called “subpoena.”
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Eligibility bug
by JoazBanbeck
4 months ago
It has happened too many times to be an accident. At least once a week, someone posts here that they have lost buy box eligibility. ( For those ESL readers, this is not about losing the buy box. It is eligibility for the buy box. )
I remember typing those very words back in 2017. 'Eligibility for the buy box’. Not the buy box, but eligibility for it. It took me three exchanges with seller support to get them to comprehend the problem.
Doe anyone else remember the great buy box eigibility bug of 2017? It hit hundreds of us in the span of a week. Some of us lost eligibility entirely. Some had it going on and off in 12 hour cycles. People used to joke about ‘being on the night shift’ or ‘being on the day shift’
For most of us, it was no joke. It bankrupted at least one person that I know of.
It took almost a month to get it fixed. Half of that time was spent just getting seller support to understand the problem. And most of the other half was spent convincing seller support that it was an Amazon mistake, not something that the seller triggered or deserved.
When it was fixed, we thought that it was fixed permanently. And it appeared to be. Nobody had any problems for the rest of 2017.
2018 passed with no problems, as did 2019, and 2020. It continued to be dormant in 2021.
I first heard of a new case in 2022. I dismissed it, thinking that the seller had screwed up and was unable to understand that. A few more cases popped up in late 2022.
It hit me in the spring of 2023. I went through the predictable evasions, denials, and incorrect solutions from seller support. I contacted a mod, who got it fixed. Then it hit me again, later in 2023. I got a case number, ignored the SS replies, and went straight to a mod. Again it was fixed.
Now it is clear that the bug is spreading. More and more sellers are reporting the loss of eligibility. And the replies that I see from mods treat each case as if it were an isolated event.
When is someone going to connect the dots?
Amazon, you have a problem. You have had this problem for at least five and a half years. Sellers lose eligibility for the buy box, and then they struggle to get it fixed. And nobody seemms to be trying to fix the root cause.
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Although I do not believe it’s a bug, I cannot fathom the reasoning of literally shutting down a stores production (not having the buy box), but they can still collect their monthly fees. The kicker is that we are on track to having a stellar year (best to date) and these stupid idiosyncrasies will halt our business on Amazon for 60 days. Anyway, we are still ok on Shopify and Walmart-so far…lol
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UPDATE…After a week of back and forth and not giving up, proving that Amazon did not follow policy and give us the allotted time to address the issue, the A-Z was removed yesterday. FOE/Buy Box was not restored, so back to contacting them tenaciously, the buy box is back this morning!!! I am not saying this will always work, but it did for us and now we can get back to normal selling!
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YES! Good on ya for not just giving in. This incompetence on Amazon’s part is intentional. Glad you held them accountable!
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Not to go off-topic here, but I actually had occasion to say that to a Chinese person a couple weeks ago.
I was selecting food at the Chinese hot bar in my local grocery story and indicated that I needed help with something. The lady behind the counter seamlessly obliged and showed me a “trick” which I was unaware of.
When I said, “Ahh, Ancient Chinese Secret,” she smiled. She either saw the humor or had no idea what I said.
No one’s sensibilities were offended, and I was not thrown out of the store.
So there is hope.
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As one who managed grocery stores in LA’s Chinese, Korean, Japanese and Vietnamese communities (and who had a Chinese neighbor and Vietnamese neighbor), we know that these cultures rarely show that they are offended. If they don’t like something, most smile at you and walk away. It is when they help you as if you as family, that you know you have gained their respect.
In the Korean neighborhood store, 90% of the population didn’t speak English. I used a piece of paper and drawings to communicate with them (and tried to pickup what I could of the language). I was sincere and so were they. I was very fond of the home cooked meals they would bring into the store for me as a thank you. As hard as it was to work there, it was equally enjoyable because of the relationships I got to have with people who I might not have ever crossed paths with.
Judge no book by it’s cover but by the content of it’s pages.
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Hear! Hear!
Would that more of we wee humans were willing to trod that reasonable path, to the exclusion of all less-reasonable options, better-off should we ALL be, methinks…
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Or, she my have applied the adjective ‘ancient’ to the noun ‘Chinese’, ie: the secret of an ancient Chinese, and taken it as a complement.
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