Check My File has left the building

 

Amazon deleted this important seller tool, creating catalog errors and churn

Being an Amazon Seller got harder during the fall of 2020, when Amazon took away the Check My File feature. And there is no easy fix in sight.

Feeds were already challenging for even the most experienced of third-party sellers. Removing access to Check My File has created massive listings errors for some sellers. And surely it has created churn for Amazon as well, with hundreds or thousands of Seller Support cases opened to try and fix the bad listings now being uploaded to the Amazon catalog.

Previously, before uploading files, sellers used Check My File to double-check inventory files for warnings or mistakes. Seller Central would show the seller where errors existed, and those errors would be corrected. Wash, rinse and repeat until Check My Filed said that you passed. Then, an error-free feed could be pushed to Amazon.

Now, without the tool:

• Errors are uploaded to the catalog, rather than caught during the Check My File process.
• Often, these errors “stick” and cannot be resolved with another file upload.
• Sometimes, these errors are significant. We saw one client accidentally break all their variations. Months later, these listings still are not all fixed.

When sellers mess up the catalog with bad feeds, they must reach out to Seller Support to fix what they broke. The support is … less than supportive to say the least. Case after case after case, and the issues still are not solved. This causes unnecessary frustration for sellers simply trying to create or update their listings.

The entire scenario is creating time-consuming, painful headaches for sellers and churn for Amazon. As an experienced seller and consultant, I honestly don’t understand the endgame. Even owning your company’s brand registry doesn’t seem to help. Hopefully, Amazon has noticed and will bring back Check My File.