Amazon recently released a policy that puts forward new requirements for product highlights, especially restrictions on special characters, emojis, and certain phrases (such as refund related guarantees).
Sellers should avoid using terms such as "environmentally friendly" and "antimicrobial" mentioned in the new regulations to describe products when creating a product list, otherwise the listing will be restricted. The new regulations will be implemented from August 15th, and it is recommended that sellers investigate and modify according to the new regulations as soon as possible. At the same time, a significant change in the review mechanism is that Amazon will use generative artificial intelligence (AI) to detect the quality of product information. Therefore, this is also a major upgrade in Amazon's review mechanism, and sellers need to be cautious.
01
Changes in Product Review Requirements
Amazon released an announcement in the backend on August 1st. Starting from August 15, 2024, Amazon will update its existing product requirements to simplify and improve its product detail pages for buyers. The update includes the following key points:
·Restrictions on special characters, emojis, and certain phrases (such as refund related guarantees).
·Using AI to assist sellers in creating clear and concise high-quality points.
Specifically, special characters such as ™、®、 €,…,+, ≠, 0, medium, £, ￥ ©、 ±,~, â, etc. No emoticons can be used.
Prohibited phrases, such as eco-friendly, environmentally friendly, antimicrobial, antibacterial, made from bamboo, containing bamboo, made from soybeans, containing soybeans, etc.
Disable guarantee information, such as "full refund", "if not satisfied, please return it", or "unconditional guarantee, unlimited".
Many sellers add special characters and emoticons when writing five point descriptions to increase the vividness of the text presentation, in order to attract consumers' attention and increase clicks. But according to the new regulations, the appearance of special characters and emoticons in product descriptions is considered a violation and may be deleted.
There are also many details that sellers need to pay attention to in the "Guidelines for Writing Requirements of High Quality Points", such as:
Start with a capital letter;
Punctuation marks cannot be used at the end;
Highlight product features and advantages, rather than brand marketing activities;
Highlight how the product meets the needs of buyers, rather than just listing facts;
Maintain data consistency between product variants;
Avoid using any subjective statements, performance statements, or comparative statements unless they can be verified on the product packaging. Do not compare the product with competitors;
Avoid using statements related to consumer survey results, even if the survey collects subjective opinions, unless there are sources and dates provided.
02
Five point description of AI tool detection and optimization
In 2023, the trend of AI applications is on the rise, and Amazon has launched a generative AI listing feature. Sellers only need to provide a brief description of the product, a few keywords, or a few sentences to obtain high-quality titles, five point descriptions, and product descriptions that meet Amazon's requirements automatically generated by AI, greatly simplifying the process of sellers creating listings. Now, in terms of detection, Amazon has also increased the application of AI tools.
In the announcement, Amazon stated that in addition to the existing review process, the platform will also use generative artificial intelligence (AI) to help sellers optimize the quality of product information. After AI detection, the platform will delete product descriptions that do not meet the requirements and use AI to generate compliant high-quality points. Amazon will provide AI generated improvement information for sellers' reference and will not directly modify it into product information.
Amazon stated that these updates are intended to help buyers quickly compare products and determine if they meet their needs. Standardization points allow buyers to easily identify and evaluate key features and advantages, and enable them to make informed purchasing decisions.
From this new regulation, it can be seen that Amazon has placed the heavy responsibility of detecting product descriptions on AI tools, and the platform's application and promotion of AI tools are gradually deepening. Undoubtedly, it will also have a profound impact on the operation of sellers.
Previously, Amazon used AI tools to scan sensitive words, and would issue performance notifications to sellers whenever the five points and title appeared, such as Free/Gift/Arrangement. At that time, a large number of sellers had their five points removed, mainly focusing on descriptive words such as free and warranty period. Fortunately, the impact on the account is not significant. As long as the seller deletes the relevant sensitive words, the performance can disappear.
Sensitive words that may be taken down include: warranty, contact, warranty, free standing, lifetime, etc. Special symbols such as colons can also cause errors. Some sellers have reported that deleting these words will result in a five point recovery, and performance will also be automatically cleared.
A seller has opened a case with Amazon asking how to handle the detection of prohibited words. The customer service representative stated that if the listing contains prohibited words, it may cause the system to delete descriptions such as' five points', and these words should not appear in the title and five point description. If detected by the system, the account status page in the background will prompt a violation. After sales related vocabulary such as Perfect, High Quality, etc., as well as the phrase "contact us 24 hours a day to guarantee returns", cannot appear.
When an ASIN is marked as a restricted product violation or faces account level restricted product violations, you can refer to the following steps to self check and prepare for appeal.
- Identify non compliant ASINs;
- Carefully review the Amazon "Restricted Goods" policy and local laws and regulations on the Amazon Seller Platform Help page;
- Check the listing information of ASINs to determine the source of violations, such as images, sensitive words, categories, ingredients, and even the product itself;
- The seller shall conduct a self inspection of the operation process to confirm whether there are any loopholes in the process from product selection, editing product information to subsequent restricted product inspection.