Our friend @oneida_books also challenged SlimyJames SilentJim yesterday (link, NSFE), over both his promotion of USAN (“Used Sold As New”) as a viable biz model for RA/OA/B-Goods/Liquidation-sourced products, AND his assertion that the FMT-CMT had invited him to post - an assertion that he reinforced with this post:
In reality, the FMT-CMT has been busily editing his posts - w/ the typical Moderation ‘tag’ “[Moderator Edit: removed personal solicitations]” - for much of the last few hours of today (it’s 2024-10-20T04:00:00Z @ the time of this writing).
To be fair, I don’t doubt that this was his takeaway from huddling with select members of the FMT-CMT/AHT SMEs at Accelerate 2024 (for which attendance he won a prize [link, NSFE, 091924]) - but methinks that the plan has gone awry…
It now appears that the FMT-CMT is currently searching out ANY reference to the term “SilentJim” - no matter which NSFE User included it in a post over there, including, but not exclusively, more than a few members of the SAS - and applying the aforementioned Moderation ‘tag’ wherever and whenever they find it reproachable.
It will be interesting to note whether or not this apparent initiative to combat misinformation bears fruit, so I’ve set a reminder to revisit the topic next month…
I just posted this to @SEAmod on her post thanking ‘Jim’ for his praise of Amazon. It will be interesting to see what happens. I expect he will reply to my post since he and I have been playing ‘tag’ about his crap.
In defense of “Silent Jim”: Silent Jim is Jim Cockrum whom I first encountered while living in Guam, scouring the internet for ideas of what I could do to make a living from home once I got back to Seattle. I had frequent migraines at the time which was making it difficult to give piano lessons and play opera rehearsals. I had to wade through a lot of fraudsters and get-rich-quick schemes, but he has proven to be one of the most honest, genuine people I have run across. His course is what got me started on Amazon, and every thing in it was just down to earth practical information, with no hype.
I see from the posts in NSFE that he is promoting RA and OA, which at one time were apparently legitimate business models. I know some highly respected longtime sellers and “gurus” who are still doing this. I think they have been personally getting away with it because of how long they have been selling. They may not realize the Amazon is more lenient with them than with new sellers. I have never tried RA or OA myself, nor would I advise anyone to do so. I just think everyone is being too hard on the guy by lumping him in with the real scammers, for whom I have no pity.
I’ve long suspected that this is the case for many a ‘guru,’ because the available evidence suggests (as the seasoned & savvy forum vets of yesteryear pointed out, repeatedly, long ago) that what worked yesterday might NOT work today; as those folks taught the rest of us, Amazon is an ever-evolving beast.
Nice to see you again, Zardoz (yours is still one of my favourite Forum Handles, so I always notice it*) - please don’t be a stranger!
*
I remain fonder of Sean Connery’s & Charlotte Rampling’s roles in that eponymous-titled 1974 film than either of them professed to be…
Thanks for that perspective @Zardoz , and glad to know that he helped you during a tough time. Migraines suck. (People who don’t get them, don’t understand that they are not “just a bad headache” and that they have widespread neuro effects, throughout the body, for days.)
Have you stuck with the community all this time? Any possibility that he sold it or has changed his approach?
My problem is that (I assume) Jim is still “selling” the same “program” that worked years ago without any changes to take into account Amazon policy that has changed or that was not enforced in the past and now is. This is fraud.
It also feels like in this case he is simply shrugging his shoulders and dumping the issues off as “Amazon’s problem, go bother them on their forum” rather then actually updating the “program” to reflect current policy.
Do older grandfathered sellers get away with lax policy? YEP, but that does not mean you can tell brand new sellers to do the same thing and think the results will be the same.
And another (this one being a 102124 update, by the OP, to a NSFE discussion s/he originally created 100224; I harbor no doubt that “Doug” is likely a reference to the FMT-CMT member Dougal_Amazon’s reply of 100224 to that discussion - but it must be admitted that [as has been pointed out, previously, by many] the discombobulated nature of the NSFE itself likely produced the seemingly-disconnected display of replies):
Floundering (and/or foundering) upon the ever-rocky shoals of The River ain’t a pretty site to behold, to be sure - but there’s a reason why doing Due Diligence is a thing that’s kept many a finger out of the fire…
ETA:
The references to SilentJim are currently trending in various eCommerce-discussion venues, so I reiterate:
Has anyone tried to accept another brand invitation to connect their brand to your seller account and you get this message from Amazon? I already have brand registry. When I appeal they tell me that here are one or some of the reasons for declining my approval.
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I get told many time s that - for reasos below my invitation to join a brand is declined but no one at Amazon is telling me which reason applies to me and how to get this fixed.
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a) your account was engaging in conduct that violates Brand Registry’s policies, such as, but not limited to, invalid notice submissions through our notice submission channels or tampering with the catalog;
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b) your application or account is related to other Amazon accounts or brands that have violated Amazon or Brand Registry’s policies,
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c) you are associated with one or more selling accounts as a primary owner and all of them have failed seller verification,
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d) inability to provide sufficient evidence of branding on products/packaging;
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e) you have a selling account that is de-activated, or f) your trademark application appears to be filed by a filing firm that may be violating US federal regulations and USPTO rules
No offense, you don’t need to be told what one applies to you as a seller, you should know, unless you have 100% outsourced the managing of your account. If that is the case, well, sorry.
Actually, I haven’t had any contact with him for years. I should go back and thank him. His program really got me started. BTW, after trying 13 preventive drugs, neurofeedback, acupuncture, and chiropractic, I finally conquered the migraines using “Heal Your Headache, the 1,2,3 Program” by David Buchholz.
He said he’s gained so much he just wants to give back…
Yep he’s gained a ton of money from fools buying his “program”. Then he gets a kick back from Keepa, Jeff Schick (his attorney friend) and all the other stuff he “recommends” you sign up for, especially so you don’t get deactivated. And if you DO its because you didn’t FOLLOW his program, so call his lawyer so he can “gain so much more”.
And he claims he is a man of religion. @Pepper_Thine_Angus start working on that “smh” emoji we need that right now please. and thank you.
and thank you.