Has Amazon's algorithm changed?

[Jayser100]

Hi Chaps,

In August, despite the poor weather, my Amazon UK sales were higher than 12 months ago but from September 1st, it's swapped around. I cannot think of any logical reason for this, other than to wonder if Amazon have updated their search algorithm, or made some other changes that have effected our visibility / sales (e.g. an upgrade for FBA customers, which I am not). It surely can't be a coincidence that this change around happened right at the start of a new month.

Has anybody else had the same experience, or does anyone know why this can happen?

I was hoping to add a screen grab of the report graph here that clearly shows the change but I don't think it's possible to do it.

 

[alanc]

I had a large drop in Amazon sales earlier this year. It turned out that the big A was no longer showing me as a seller on almost 1/3rd of my listings. Making a small, manual edit to each of the several hundred products fixed the problem. There was no pattern to the it: new products, old products. The only place where this behavior wasn't showing up was on the first page of the product inventory (so I never noticed it).

 

[Jayser100]

It's by no means certain the problem is an algorithm change. As I sell sunglasses, weather makes a big difference. Can anyone remember what it was like late August - early September last year? If it looks like summer has ended early, sales do tend to drop early, it has happened in previous years from memory.

In 2014 we had a little surge at the beginning of September (presumably when people had been paid - this must be a common phenomenon for all Amazon sellers) but it didn't happen this time. The continuing chilly and dull weather could be the reason. Our best-selling products are still riding high for key search terms from what I can see. Alan, none of my products are sold by anyone else so the problem isn't likely to be the same but thank you for your response to my question.

 

[e-vulture]

Interesting, my amazon sales have dropped off a cliff since the beginning of the month, meanwhile ebay sales of the same products have been very good. I haven't found the reason why (yet).

 

[Low Cost Sourcing]

Amazon change their search algorithms all the time. Sometimes this makes a difference to some sellers, sometimes not. If you check out the seller forums on Amazon there are probably hundreds of threads going back months about sales slowing down or down x amount on last year etc..

No one has been able to pin point why but Amazon seem to be getting most of the blame as always.

It is always a good idea to keep checking your reports, make sure your search keywords are relevant and also any keywords in your product titles.

 

[Jayser100]

I don't think it is a keyword issue. I think when it comes to keywords, their algorithm is pretty consistent. I suspect significant changes are more likely to be a result of the following:

1). A change in importance for Prime items over non Prime items
2). A shift of emphasis for customer reviews
3). A shift of emphasis in terms of sales figures for individual items
4). A change of emphasis with regard to overall seller ratings

I would doubt they have changed the keyword importance much as the system they have works pretty well. I have been an Amazon seller since 2007 and I've never noticed any significant changes on that score. The above list of factors that effect where you appear in listings are far more likely to be targeted. I strongly suspect that number 1 on my list is the most important because Amazon are pretty aggressive when it comes to getting sellers to use FBA, or to sell to them as Vendor Central customers. It would not surprise me if, over a period of time, they make life far less comfortable for those of us who do our own fulfillment.

 

[jjscruff]

our sales plummet one month then next month will be record sales. We have no consistency on amazon UK and we have learned not to worry about it too much

 

[FBAPREPUK]

Amazon have had a cull of reviews, that they think are in breach of the TOS, discounted product reviews that don't state a discount was given, reviews by 'connected' people, rumors say that AZ are checking Facebook profiles etc and if they see connections with your reviews then they have been canceling them..rumors as they are .. has your product review count changed??

 

[Jayser100]

No, and I never 'fiddle' reviews so it can't be that, but interesting to know. It's about time Amazon did something about that in all honesty. I have also noticed that one of our major competitors has actually gone to the lengths of writing false questions with multiple replies about a product (it is rumoured that Amazon's algorithm benefits products with Q&A's). Amazon have created an internet monster and the reality is, they are really struggling to keep any sort of discipline when it comes to sellers sticking to the rules.

 

[Pish_Pash]

Not sure this adds much to the mix, but our sales haven't dropped...they've been pretty consistent (slightly higher in early September vs mid-late august)....but we're about 95% FBA. That said, if it was an algo change to the benefit of FBA sellers, then we would have surely seen more of an increase (I can't compare solely 'amazon sales' to last year without some degree of delving ...but besides, we're growing month on month, so not sure how well we'd be able to interpret the sales figures).

IMHO there's certainly some culling (or at least tightening up) going on...if you look at seller central forums, it's peppered with people getting suspended...I had selling privileges removed myself for 10 days on one of my SKUs, because one customer 'thought' the product I was selling was counterfeit...I'm the main UK distributor for this product! Pray this doesn't happen to you in your busy month, because it took them a fortnight to re-instate my selling privilege for the SKU in question ...vs. their quoted 'one business day))

 

[Jayser100]

Hi Pish Pash, we expect a drop-off to some extent because it happens this time of year when you sell sunglasses, but the extent of it and the way it coincided with the 1st of the month made me suspicious. Things have steadied now. The poor weather over the Bank Holiday didn't help our cause. Getting suspended is everybody's worst nightmare. I am pleased to say it's only ever happened to me on Amazon Spain, and that was because the Spanish postal service went through a spell where they didn't seem capable of delivering anything on time and we suffered the consequences. I know people moan a lot about being suspended on those forums but I do think many of them probably fell foul of Amazon's rules somewhere down the line. If you don't walk the tightrope of what's allowed too much, you're usually okay. You can be vulnerable if your sales are very small however, because it then only takes 2 - 3 problems to hit in one go and you're in real trouble. I've just had some idiot on Amazon Canada give a product a one-star review. His review was thus: "when it says 'sunglasses' you expect them to be made of glass." We hardly sell anything in Canada, hence my rating plummeted to about 50!!