Have you ever encountered difficulties when creating new listings or merging multiple listings on Amazon? I certainly have, and it's incredibly frustrating.
Let's start with creating listings.
1 - Manual Listing Creation: The attribute options in Amazon's backend are overwhelming and confusing. Plus, when using Amazon's backend to create or modify listing content, it often lags as if running some massive program. Even though it's just a few forms, the system still feels incredibly sluggish.
2 - Bulk Upload via Excel: The Excel file is a nightmare. There are so many fields, and it's unclear which ones are mandatory. Some of the content looks like pure gibberish, making it impossible to understand. Additionally, when uploading images, I need to provide a URL. If my product images are only stored on my computer, I must upload them to an online platform first—far too inconvenient. Why can't Amazon make image uploads optional so sellers can add them later via the backend?
Now, let's talk about merging listings.
1 - When There Is No Parent Listing: I can't merge child listings directly in the backend; I must download yet another Excel file. Here we go again with Excel—it's overly complicated and constantly throws errors. These error messages are often vague and provide no clear instructions on how to fix the issue. Referring to Amazon's help articles rarely clarifies anything, as the guidance is too generic to be useful.
2 - When a Parent Listing Already Exists: Adding a new child listing should be straightforward through Amazon's backend. However, even when no errors are shown, the child listing may still fail to merge for no apparent reason. It's incredibly frustrating. If you use Excel to merge listings, sometimes there are no error messages at all, yet the merge still fails. It's utterly baffling.
Lastly, Amazon's customer support feels like it's run by outdated robots. Their responses often consist of generic copy-pasted replies that provide no real assistance. Even worse, if you ask multiple questions, they tend to answer only the first one, completely ignoring the rest—another incredibly frustrating experience.
I believe Amazon's overly complex seller backend is a nightmare for new sellers. It's time Amazon simplified this process to make life easier for everyone.