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Amazon Marketplace Shoppers Slam the Spam (fortune.com)

Posted by msmash on from the no-way-out dept.

Spammy follow-up email messages are turning off Amazon Marketplace shoppers. Shoppers who buy from Amazon's Marketplace typically like the convenience and prices. But many are also unhappy about the barrage of emails that sellers send them after the purchase, notes Fortune. It adds: Sellers deluge often inboxes with requests for product reviews, inquiries about how the process went, and sales pitches for more stuff. Considering the comments on social media, feedback from friends and family, and in posts in Amazon.com's customer service forum over the past two years, this problem is not getting any better. There appears to be no way to opt out of this email flood, which is odd, given Amazon's self-professed zeal for great customer service. One shopper in Amazon's customer forum thread posted a response from an Amazon service representative that apologized for the notifications and noted that the feedback had been forwarded to the company's "investigations team."

4 of 120 comments (clear)

  1. Funny thing is by TheCastro1689 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    This kind of customer service used to be appreciated. A follow up asking if the product arrived on time and if it was what they wanted and such was a nicety. I have gotten a few and as long as they aren't multiple ones or a random one asking me to buy other things from their amazon shop I don't care.

    1. Re:Funny thing is by DeMechman · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Its certainly appreciated, however when its for a $2 roll of tape that is where its silly.

    2. Re:Funny thing is by Obfuscant · · Score: 4, Insightful

      If I purchased their product, I've initiated a relationship with this company

      No, you haven't. You've initiated a relationship with Amazon. You're on the Amazon website and you pay Amazon. You don't deal with the vendor directly, and there is no business relationship to use as an excuse for unsolicited commercial email.

      What I would have a problem with is getting a barrage of e-mails from companies that sell similar or competing products espousing the virtues of their superior versions.

      What about companies that barrage you with requests for positive feedback and reviews and wanting to know how the product you haven't gotten yet is working out? You have to realize that the "how is it working" part of the email is just an excuse to spam you for good feedback, since they KNOW you can't tell them how well it works before it has even arrived.

    3. Re:Funny thing is by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 4, Insightful

      If I purchased their product, I've initiated a relationship with this company and I do not mind the follow up e-mail.

      It isn't a "followup" since there is no human behind it, and there is generally no way to directly respond to the email. It is just machine generated spam, trying to generate a statistical response. If I receive one message, I delete it. If I receive another from the same vendor, I go to Amazon and give them a one-star review. If you do this too (and I hope you do) then do NOT mention the spam as a reason for the bad review. If you do that, Amazon will remove the review, since reviews must be about the product and not the company selling it. So just make something up instead.

      If enough people do this, the spam will stop.

      An even better solution would be for Amazon to allow the customers to opt out of having their email shared with vendors.