@Tree_Hugger (PlantDealer) posted a new topic, subject "Seller phone number in Amazon answers". It read:

   We have a customer that asked for contact info as a Amazon Answers on a product page We do have our number listed on our seller page. Is it within policy to give our phone number to a customer who requested it on the product page?
    
    TIA

Then @The_Sawle_Mill (The Sawle Mill) said

    It is against Amazon policy for Sellers to direct customers offsite…

Then @FusionS (Shaukaku) said

    Just give them instructions on how they can find your number on your storefront page. They're literally one click away it shouldn't be too hard.

To which @ASV_Vites (ASV VITES) replied

    Did you read the OP's initial post?
    
    Tree_Hugger:
    
    > We do have our number listed on our seller page.
    
    All communications with buyers on Amazon should be done through buyer/seller messaging per the policy.

Then @Tree_Hugger (PlantDealer) said

    That is how i will answer it, to send us a message through Amazon or see the number on our seller page.

So @The_Sawle_Mill (The Sawle Mill) replied

    You are under no obligation to respond

To which @FusionS (Shaukaku) replied

    Are you saying sellers aren't allowed to communicate on the phone with buyers? I don't really understand what you're saying by your post. All I said is to provide instructions to the buyer on how they can locate your phone number on your Amazon storefront page, because many buyers don't know how to find that information.

So @ASV_Vites (ASV VITES) replied

    **Telephone numbers except those related to warranties, shipping providers, or manufacturers**
    
    ## Buyer-Seller Messages
    
    You may only send Permitted Messages to customers who have contacted you about purchasing a product or who have already purchased a product from you on the Amazon store. We define Permitted Messages as those communications necessary to complete an order or to respond to a customer service inquiry.
    
    Proactive Permitted Messages are those messages that you initiate and are not responses to a buyer's question. Proactive Permitted Messages can be sent via email, using Amazon's templates via the **Contact buyer** or **Request a review** page in Seller Central, third-party applications in the Application Store, or via Application Programmer Interface (API). You may send proactive Permitted Messages for the following reasons: resolving an issue with order fulfillment, requesting additional information required to complete the order, asking a return-related question, sending an invoice, requesting product review or seller feedback or both, scheduling the delivery of a heavy or bulky item, scheduling a Home Services appointment, verifying a custom design, or any other reason where the contact is required for the buyer to receive their purchase. Proactive Permitted Messages must be sent within 30 days of order completion. All proactive Permitted Messages must include the 17-digit order ID and be in the buyer's language of preference. Sending proactive Permitted Messages to your buyer using Amazon's templates, third-party applications, or via API automates the inclusion of order ID, language of preference translations, and critical message guidelines.
    
    Permitted Messages do not include any of the following message types (in many cases we are already emailing customers with this information on your behalf):
    
      * Order or shipping confirmations (Refer to the Indirect communication section below)
      * Messages that say only “Thank you” or that you are here to help if buyers have any problems
      * Marketing or promotional messaging, including coupons
      * Language that either incentivizes or persuades the buyer to submit positive product reviews or seller feedback, including by offering compensation, money, gift cards, free or discounted products, refunds, rebates or reimbursements, or future benefits
      * Language that requests removal or an update of an existing product review
      * Language that requests a product review only if they have had a positive experience with the product
      * A repeat request (per order) for a product review or seller feedback
    
    
    
    Permitted Messages may not include any of the following:
    
      * External links unless they are secure working links (https, not http) necessary for order completion or links to Amazon
      * Attachments except for those needed to resolve a buyer's issue (for example, shipping labels, invoices, and custom designs)
      * Logos, if they contain or display a link to your website
      * Link to opt-out of messaging
      * Sensitive content in images or text (for example, bare skin, violence or gore, and adult or offensive language)
      * Tracking pixels or images
      * Email addresses
      * **Telephone numbers except those related to warranties, shipping providers, or manufacturers**  
    *** Ima**ges of purchased products as Amazon includes those on your behalf
      * Images that do not relate to your brand or company

After which, @The_Sawle_Mill (The Sawle Mill) added

    You are NOT permitted to direct, or request, etc. Customers to contact you by ANY method other than Message Central.
    
    FusionS:
    
    > All I said is to provide instructions to the buyer on how they can locate your phone number on your Amazon storefront page
    
    Because that would be a serious violation, and could result in a suspension of selling privileges.
    
    Remember that anything that happens off Amazon, in the case of a dispute, did not happen.
    
    And you have been selling how long?

To which @FusionS (Shaukaku) replied

    …You do realize there is a field under account info that says “phone number” and when you put a phone number into that field it shows customers your number on your storefront page?

Then @The_Sawle_Mill (The Sawle Mill) said

    Yes, transparency and all that. You aren't supposed to tell customers to look for it, that is an implicit direction to contact you offsite. Section 3 violation and all that.

@ASV_Vites (ASV VITES) replied

    You do realize that you provide possibly the worst advice on this forum than any other contributor right?

So @FusionS (Shaukaku) replied

    Tallytony said the same thing? I think you're nitpicking

Then @The_Sawle_Mill (The Sawle Mill) said

    Did we agree with @TallyTony? The difference is they aren't standing there in their wrongness, arguing with everyone after the community demonstrates differently.

@ASV_Vites (ASV VITES) replied

    I don't know what Tony said or wrote.
    
    Many of your posts are cringeworthy as pointed out by many forum veterans. I am really worried that some newbie sellers will follow it and get themselves into trouble.
    
    That should concern you as well.

Then @Lake (Lake) said

    I believe the phone number on the seller profile is legitimate.
    
    I would not put a phone number in the Amazon Answers q/a. Not because of policy, but because most of the questions I get through Amazon answers do not belong on the detail page.
    
    Most of them I see on other catalog pages are just stupid.
    
    Anything which draws attention to them is likely not to be good marketing.

@ThisIsTheWay (This Is The Way) replied

    And the account damaging recommendations continue from a “Long Time” seller

To which @FusionS (Shaukaku) replied

    That's what I'm saying…People are somehow assuming that because a customer is asking for someone's phone number that indicates they are trying to complete a transaction outside of amazon? If someone calls you and says I was looking at your Amazon page and wanted to buy something, you should just tell them that you can't complete the transaction outside of amazon if they ask. The simple act of telling a customer where to find your phone number does not mean you're trying to complete a transaction outside of amazon?

@FusionS (Shaukaku) replied

    I help people every day including you. Many times they come back to the thread and tell 10+ people that what I suggested worked for them such as appeals and other issues. I've never had a person come back and say “this caused me harm” but you never know.

@ThisIsTheWay (This Is The Way) replied

    FusionS:
    
    > Many times they come back to the thread and tell 10+ people that what I suggested worked for them such as appeals and other issues.

After which, @ASV_Vites (ASV VITES) added

    Even a broken clock is right twice a day. YES, you provided a link yesterday that was helpful to me. Thank You.
    
    Before you write something on a forum you should know for sure you are right 100% of the time. If you're not sure, just move on to the next thread.

So @ASV_Vites (ASV VITES) replied

    This isn't about competition or proving ones self.
    
    It's about providing consistently correct and actionable advice in accordance with Amazon's stated policies.
    
    You don't always do that often.
    
    This forum has been very valuable to us over the years in helping us build our brands here. I just don't want other sellers to be steered the wrong way and you shouldn't either.
    
    This will be my last interaction with you forever. Good Luck with your ventures and try to always do the right thing here.
    
    PS - I didn't flag down your post, believe it or not.

@ThisIsTheWay (This Is The Way) replied

    ASV_Vites:
    
    > This isn't about competition or proving ones self.
    > 
    > It's about providing consistently correct and actionable advice in accordance with Amazon's stated policies.
    
    This
    
    It is not about how many  you get either. This is not a social media platform.
    
    We are all human and we all make mistakes, you need to learn when to admit this and learn.

@FusionS (Shaukaku) replied

    It's not a competition. But I'm proud of doing good things and help people with their issues.You should be proud of helping people too. I learn so much just by reading policies trying to help people and find an answer probably half my posts are linked to a policy. And every person helped here on the forums means that the problem is referenced and a solution is identified and can be used to help sellers for months to years at a time so yeah I get excited when I solve a problem for people when others say “there is no solution”

After which, @The_Sawle_Mill (The Sawle Mill) added

    FusionS:
    
    > The simple act of telling a customer where to find your phone number does not mean you're trying to complete a transaction outside of amazon?
    
    But it is decidedly directing buyers to communicate offsite.

After which, @M_L_H (MLH) added

    FusionS:
    
    > But I'm proud of doing good things
    
    … But your also doing harm. And when your called out on it you fight back. You always have to get the last word in.
    
    Keep this in mind… there was a former poster here who had the same SOP as you do, same fight back when questioned… She is now banned from all Amazon platforms. They were such a disturbance to other sellers that it is believed that their username is even a banned/auto delete word in the forum software.
    
    … Just sayin.

To which @bookwormapril (bookwormapril) replied

    Tree_Hugger:
    
    > asked for contact info as a Amazon Answers on a product page
    
    As long as I am understanding – this is the Q&A part of the detail page?
    
    If so – I would ignore this buyer question. There is no upside to any sort of response, and no real downside to not responding.

Then @The_Lunatick_Fire_an (The Lunatick Fire and EMS Store) said

    Amazon is bipolar when it comes to this.
    
    They want you to have your phone number listed on your seller page.
    
    They also don't want you communicating with any buyers outside of Amazon messaging system.
    
    Anytime a customer calls or e-mails me direct once I identify them as an Amazon customer I just inform them that we are not allowed to communicate outside of the Amazon messaging system.  
    If its an e-mail I contact them through Amazon messaging and quote their original e-mail so it becomes part of the communication.  
    A phone call I message them with a summary of what was discussed. I also have a phone recorder (got a cheep one off Amazon for about $50) that automatically announces they are being recorded. If I feel it is appropriate I will attach a recording as well.

To which @Colorado_Book_Lovers (Colorado Book Lovers) replied

    Well, this is certainly a fascinating (if slightly volatile) thread.
    
    ASV or Sawle, assuming that you are correct, do you mind summarizing why, in your view, Amazon would be so insistent that a seller phone number be provided in the first place, if they also would view the very mention of such a number as detrimental to their business? Or am I missing something obvious here?

To which @Aquaponic_Lynx_LLC (TCLynx) replied

    Seeing as a Product Detail page is meant as the Page that ALL sellers who sell the item can list on. It would not be appropriate to post the contact info for a particular seller on the product detail page. An individual seller should not answer such a question.
    
    If however, the buyer is asking for contact information for the Brand/Manufacturer to be able to check some detail of the specifications that they are not getting properly answered in the Q&A, then I suppose it is more of a grey area.
    
    But as others have noted, If you are a Seller on Amazon, Yes they like you to share a phone number. But you should probably not go out of your way to help amazon's customers call you on it.
    
    You may be better off (if you can) finding out what the actual question is they want answered and see if you can answer it in the Q&A But ONLY if it is Product detail oriented and not individual seller oriented.
    
    Yes, I realize this is a bit more confusing for those who are Brand/manufacturer for their own products but try to keep your hats separated.

To which @Tried_Tested (Tried_Tested) replied

    Dunno about anyone else, but I'm here for the 
    
    Everything else is tertiary.
    
    I purposely left secondary blank just in case something comes up.

To which @Tried_Tested (Tried_Tested) replied

    Tally is a friggin G.
    
    Contribute like him and then make an oopsy and no one will say 
    
    Contribute like you and you'll get called out for it.

@Aquaponic_Lynx_LLC (TCLynx) replied

    Colorado_Book_Lovers:
    
    > ASV or Sawle, assuming that you are correct, do you mind summarizing why, in your view, Amazon would be so insistent that a seller phone number be provided in the first place, if they also would view the very mention of such a number as detrimental to their business? Or am I missing something obvious here?
    
    I know I'm not the one you asked but…  
    For years it has been a no no on all the platforms for sellers to try to divert customers from the platform to their own web sites or businesses to complete sales. I'm sure Amazon and Ebay and others would love to keep it that way and I'm sure they didn't really want to post everyone's contact information BUT, there have been situations and lawsuites and things which say Amazon and other platforms need to provide transparency about WHO actually sold the products to people. So Amazon, deciding they didn't want to get in the middle, decided it would be easier and cheaper for them to simply post contact information (at least address) of all their sellers.  
    Actual brick and mortar businesses were all quite happy about this. There are quite a lot of individual sellers who were definitely NOT happy about having their names and addresses posted for all the world to see.

Then @Tried_Tested (Tried_Tested) said

    Do you also “recondition” tv's under the “radar?”
    
    I swear you type like that other guy.
    
    T_T

After which, @Tried_Tested (Tried_Tested) added

    shaukaku I see you.
    
    shakaku.jpg918×612 131 KB

To which @StL1 (StL1) replied

    Whether giving them your phone number is legit or not. I don't think you want to.  
    Talking to buyers never gets you extra money. The less communication the better.  
    Template, robotic, automated type responses are the way to go.

To which @451_book_sales (451 Book Sales) replied

    Images of purchased products as amazon includes those on your behalf.  
    I am laughing so hard that I may need medical care.  
    Dwight

@spc (SPC) replied

    Mark no response needed. Don't go there. Buyer/seller messaging is where you want all communications to be. Can we refuse to give telemarketers our phone number, too?

Then @TJB (TJB) said

    I would suggest telling the buyer how to contact you through the messaging system. That way you have a record of exactly what was discussed. Too many potential issues with phone conversations as they could report you or threaten to report you for any number of things with a phone call and you have nothing to back up anything that actually happened.
    
    Good Luck,
    
    TJB

Then @Tree_Hugger (PlantDealer) said

    We are the brand owner. My response to the Amazon Answers question was… Please reach out to us via a message on Amazon or check out our sellers page. It is definately a grey area detail and I hope that I answered the question in a way that is helpful to the customer and within Amazon Policy.
    
    Thanks for all the responses!

To which @Tree_Hugger (PlantDealer) replied

    I dont see how? This was all done on the Amazon platform. Can you elaborate how this was done outside of Amazon please?

So @swbp (SWBP) replied

    Sorry, I meant to reply to another seller. I withdrew the comment to avoid confusion

So @The_Sawle_Mill (The Sawle Mill) replied

    Two-fold, the first is that Amazon makes money from on Amazon transactions. Obviously, they feel that it is stealing from them if Amazon puts a buyer & Seller together and then the two go off and conduct business without Amazon.
    
    The more important reason now, is that sometimes things go sideways with a sale, when everything is kept on-site and recorded for Amazon's posterior, if/when there is some sort of issue or dispute, Amazon has everything needed to arbitrate, mediate, and defend themselves and Sellers. Any communication off Amazon, leaves Sellers and Amazon vulnerable, to fraud and shrinkage. Remember that anytime you talk on the telephone with a customer, it instantly becomes “he said, she said.” As the big business and the precise wording and intent of Federal and State Consumer Protection Laws, when in doubt the customer is always right. So you will always lose, in those situations.

After which, @Colorado_Book_Lovers (Colorado Book Lovers) added

    Thank you. That part. I certainly do understand. But I'm wondering about the other side of the equation–why, given that everything you said is obviously true, that Amazon insisted on sellers' business phones being visibly displayed in the first place.

To which @Bad_Mouse_Vinyl (Bad_Mouse_Vinyl) replied

    I had a customer the other day use my listed phone number on Amazon to call me. She had purchased a customized mailbox sticker set, and had some questions. I did not direct her to call me, she found my number on her own (I had not shipped her order yet) on my storefront page. She identified herself as an Amazon Customer, gave me her order number, I looked up her order, found her info, verified the info she had questions about, and I shipped her order that afternoon. She got her order, loved it, and left me positive feedback. She COULD have just messaged me through the junk messaging system, which she told me on the phone was difficult to navigate for her, but a 3 minute phone conversation cleared up her concerns, and questions, and made her happy… Sometimes It's easier to take the call. I totally understand the need for documented communication with customers, but there are times that a simple phone call can prevent “some sort of issue or dispute” with the sale, and make everyone happy. Buyers are less likely to open a return if they have decent communication with a Seller in whatever form is available, be it email, or telephone. In her case, a phone call made her confident in her purchase.
    
    As for OP's question - I would simply respond to the publicly visible message with “We encourage anyone with questions to contact us through the Amazon Buyer-Seller Messaging System.” and leave martincrystal@example.org. No more, no less. Your store info is on your storefront page and a determined buyer WILL find it, you don't need to link to it, post it, or publicize it.

After which, @The_Sawle_Mill (The Sawle Mill) added

    Telephones and Addresses were added for transparency and to maintain that third-party Sellers are contractors and Sellers of Record. And there was also, the huge amount of legal department requests from Law Enforcement and IP owners and civil attorneys, asking for the addresses of Sellers, to determine if Sellers needed to be sued or if they were legit operations. But mostly, Amazon was going to lose the benefits of being merely a processor for third-party transactions in the US and the EU ordered Amazon to do it, so European consumers would be able to know if they were buying from a local guy or a dirty American.

So @au_de (My Name will appear here in NSFE) replied

    Tree_Hugger:
    
    > Is it within policy to give our phone number to a customer who requested it on the product page?
    
    What difference does it make. If you send them your phone number in a message they won't get the message anyhow unless they actually log in to Amazon and look for it. I would also not be surprised if Amazon would simply censor it.
    
    Meanwhile you can't leave your phone number in your public response to the customer, but you can direct them to it in your public response with something to the effect of “It is against Amazon policy for us to direct customers off of Amazon, but you can find our phone number by clicking on… We also encourage customers to contact us through the Amazon correspondence/email system for support by clicking on…”

@Danielle401 (Dan) replied

    Amazon encourages customers to contact us off site, otherwise why do they post publicly our company contact information that is off Amazon? I'd rather not have stalker Joe at my door.

Then @Home_and_Holiday (Home and Holiday) said

    I will say this… there is typically no benefit from having someone call you (for Amazon orders). In our experience its someone trying to avoid a paper trail, or ask for further compensations, etc. This is not always the case but anything that can be said on the phone can be typed in the email. Often times it leads to more headache than anything.
    
    We are a small company, there are no departments or anything, but when someone calls (when they find our number), we always tell them to contact the “Amazon Department” by sending a message through the buyer seller messaging system. The dude that takes the calls is 10 steps away from me, but he always just says you will need to contact the Amazon department…just act as if you have a huge operation going on, and most people will follow the instructions and send an email.

To which @ASV_Vites (ASV VITES) replied

    Customers can contact a seller / brand in any way they wish using contact information found anywhere, including on the sellers page.
    
    Sellers cannot initiate that invitation in a manner outside of buyer-seller messaging. That is my understanding of the policy.
    
    Maybe I'm wrong but I don't think so.

@you-know-what-dragon (The You-Know-What Dragon) replied

    Diverting people off the platform where they find you is pretty much a no-no on all platforms. Things used to be a little looser.
    
    For example, back in the days of “ZShops” and “ZAuctions” (around 2001 I think?), I sold here and on eBay. I used to link my listings here with eBay and vice versa. It was right there in the listing: “Check my listings on this other website”. I may have had a website link at that time too, I don't remember.
    
    Anyway, someone at eBay finally spotted this. Did they kill my listings? Did they shut down my account and ban me for life? Nope. An eBay rep called me and told me this was not allowed and they were going to shut down my listings.
    
    Ok, this is a true story… I asked the rep to please not shut down my listings since they were all auctions that would end in the next 72 hours. Naturally, you can guess the response. That's right, the rep said “ok, but don't do that again.” Yes, the rep left my listings in place and allowed the auctions to finish.
    
    That would never happen today, but it's fun to remember the “wild and wooly” days of online sales.

@wolfy (Wolfy) replied

    Not always. I had a 90year old customer thank me effusively for giving her support over the phone. There is still a segment of the population that prefers dealing with humans more than bots.

@Danielle401 (Dan) replied

    I have very negative feedback from Buyers about poor customer service but they never contacted us through Amazon just called the number Amazon posted for us to the public and because we dont answer the phone anymore ( because of the daily hundreds of spam calls from posting the number to the public). I tried to get it removed because it states we never call them back but alas no it stays.

After which, @Bad_Mouse_Vinyl (Bad_Mouse_Vinyl) added

    Instead of trying to have it removed, why not add a custom message to your voicemail to the effect of “Thank you for calling , As we receive hundreds of spam calls every day, it may not be possible to answer your call. If you have a question about an Amazon order, please contact us through the Amazon messaging System. Have a Nice Day.”
    
    I too deal with the spam calls, but I have a voicemail set up on the line, and it encourages them to leave a message. The spambots don't. The customers do, and I often wait for a text or voicemail to respond (my business number is a Voip number and has text as well as voice).


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