Amazon has announced two policy changes, One of which is very significant and may have a wide impact on most sellers across the globe.

• Selling Policies and Seller Code of Conduct: We are updating the Seller Code of Conduct to include language explicitly prohibiting price-fixing and search rank manipulation.
• Mediation Policy: We are specifying the fact that, in case of mediation, you have the option to designate one mediator among a list of two provided by the Center for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR).

Please see below-detailed changes in Selling Policies and applicable to Europe

• Behaviour that could be deemed as manipulation or “gaming” of any part of the buying or selling experience
• Never engage in conduct that violates price-fixing laws
• Actions that could be perceived as manipulating customer reviews, including by directly or indirectly contributing false, misleading or inauthentic content
• Activities that could be perceived as attempting to manipulate Amazon’s search results or sales rankings (such as by accepting fake orders or orders that you have paid for, or refunded externally or orders that you discounted externally) or making claims about sales rank in product titles or descriptions
• Activities that could be perceived as attempting to influence search results by inflating search ranking through keyword manipulation or incentivizing customers’ searches to appear as organic behavior
• Actions that intentionally damage another seller, their listings or their ratings

Most of the above policies are already enforced in the USA and it’s time for EU sellers to wake up! As always you are free to pay Amazon Wine customers to get reviews as Amazon does not consider it as influenced however they have restricted external sites for doing exactly the same thing (Typical Amazon!)

Mediation Policy

This is something I believe good start, As amazon now comes under the umbrella of CEDR Europe. ( No need to thank Amazon as its not a voluntary but forced decision.. So no thank you Amazon.. )

Whoever has issues with unfair account closure can now at least reach out to CEDR for help, There is one cache here as you can only use this service if you are in the EU or UK ( You need to buy a property mate! )

See the full policy here.. ( I have to thank Amazon here ! )

Your dispute must be an Eligible Dispute. An “Eligible Dispute” is a dispute between you
and Amazon Services Europe SARL (“Amazon”) which is related to Selling on Amazon,
but not to an Amazon Service that you use to enter into agreements with business
customers. Disputes that relate solely to Fulfilment by Amazon, or to your Amazon
Payments Europe s.c.a. or Amazon Payments UK Limited Selling on Amazon payment
account, are not Eligible Disputes. Further, a dispute is not an Eligible Dispute if there has
been a previous mediation process on the same subject matter, or where you have made
repeated unsuccessful mediation attempts, or where the dispute is not suitable for resolution
by mediation. Last, at the time that you request Mediation, Amazon’s final prior
communication to you on a decision on the dispute must not be older than 6 months.

You must have your registered place of business in the European Union or the United
Kingdom at the time you initiate the Mediation;

You must have made a good faith attempt to resolve your dispute with Amazon through our
internal complaints handling process prior to submitting your dispute for Mediation;

You must have had active listings in one or more Amazon stores through the selling
account to which your dispute relates.

• Effect of Mediation. Opinions rendered by the appointed mediator are non-binding. If the
  mediator decides in your favor, you will be reimbursed any Mediation fees that you paid to the
  mediator for that case. You may initiate legal proceedings at any time before, during or after
  the Mediation. A final court decision issued during the Mediation will automatically stop the
  Mediation.
• Choice of mediator. Mediation is provided by the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution
  (CEDR), who). CEDR will appoint a mediator offer you a choice of two available mediators
  among the Amazon Seller Mediation Panel in its discretion for each Eligible Dispute. You will
  have 3 working days to advise CEDR which of the two mediators you would like assigned to
  your Eligible Dispute, failing which, CEDR will independently assign a mediator to your
  Eligible Dispute. Once a mediator has been assigned to your Eligible Dispute, you will not be
  able to choose another mediator. By initiatingproceeding with Mediation, you agree with this
  choice of mediator.
• Fees. You will be required to pay any fees for the Mediation directly to CEDR as set out in
  more detail on the help page on Mediation.
• Relationship. Amazon and CEDR are independent contractors. You bear full responsibility to
  determine whether Mediation is right for you.
• Your information. By requesting mediation, you authorize Amazon to share any information
  we hold about your Selling on Amazon seller account, including any prior correspondence,
  with CEDR and the appointed mediator.

Feel free to write about your thought on this. I would love to hear your comments. You can visit this link for more details