Announcement: Update to Merch by Amazon Royalty Payments

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Elizabeth@Amazon asked Apr 25, '18

Announcement: Update to Merch by Amazon Royalty Payments

Today we have an update on how we will be paying Merch by Amazon royalties. Due to the rising cost of processing returns, Merch will deduct royalties for returned products starting May 1st. You will be able to view your returned products in a new Returns column on the Analyze page and CSV file. Monthly earnings will be based on the difference between royalties for products shipped and refunded that month. Negative monthly balances will not be debited from your bank account but will be carried over to the following month.

merch by amazon announcement

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CreativeDirector commented · Apr 25, 2018 at 05:58 AM

Hello Elizabeth@Amazon

It seems with this business model the only fault the creator can be held accountable for, concerning returns, is if they upload poor quality / low resolution designs. Where can the Merch community find more detailed information pertaining to this policy? Specifically:

Are royalties withheld because of a mistake made by Amazon?
- Due to bad image alignment, wrong image printed, damaged in fulfillment, vinegar processing smell
- Or customer error: wrong size and/or color chosen
Will royalties be issued if a replacement shirt is sent to the customer?

Also, is this an attempt to help eliminate poor quality copycat designs? If so, more details would be appreciated.

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ScottFromWyoming CreativeDirector commented · Apr 25, 2018 at 04:24 PM

I've returned a shirt and all they do is issue a credit, so the buyer would then have to go re-order if they want to try again. I did; the second shirt had the same problem (design reduced to 70% on an XL shirt). I only paid for one shirt, but got royalties on both. It never occurred to me to keep returning shirts but I can certainly see how that might be abused. Say there's something wrong with it, get credit, buy again...repeat.

I would also like to know the general reason for the return. If they complain about the design or that it didn't print well, I'd want a chance to fix it.

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newuser-01215e6f-543a-47dd-8c7e-780278dbefa3 commented · Apr 25, 2018 at 05:50 PM

I thought the returns were priced in the drastical royalties cut in january???

With Amazon letting more and more competition and copycats flooding in, throttling, technical issues, it becomes anyway less and less profitable for sellers to put in such a lot of investment.

(From what I saw customers complain bad shirt quality, vinegar smell, wrong sizes. Not the designers fault.)
A further race to the bottom.
I'm shocked. Very disappointing. :/

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newuser-851b94e1-a3d8-4797-8ff2-089dd87361b6 newuser-01215e6f-543a-47dd-8c7e-780278dbefa3 commented · Apr 25, 2018 at 06:20 PM

Product returns were not specifically mentioned as a reason for the royalties cut announced November 2017 - just customer service related costs which is all encompassing:

"We have seen an increase in the costs to support Merch, including storage, fulfillment, transportation, raw materials, customer service, and the resources required to detect and prevent fraud. As a result, we will be adjusting the royalty on Merch by Amazon products. This change will take effect for sales of all new and existing products starting January 15th, 2018. If your product is priced below the new minimum price, it will be automatically updated to the minimum price. To find out more please visit our royalties page."

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newuser-152bef9b-8cf2-47a4-bb4a-ccb84f0ed56e newuser-851b94e1-a3d8-4797-8ff2-089dd87361b6 commented · Apr 26, 2018 at 11:18 PM

Customer service is mentioned. Returns are part of customer service.

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Answer 1 · 2018-04-25T01:19:51Z

newuser-ba19ea63-09cc-4b5f-a4d4-edebdbf78666 answered Apr 25, '18

Even when it is Amazon's fault for shipping the wrong shirt or shitty printing job?

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Answer 2 · 2018-04-25T01:40:30Z

lawrence westfall answered Apr 25, '18

So, the designers will suffer when it is not their fault. Thanks, Amazon.

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Answer 3 · 2018-04-25T01:48:38Z

GlitterBomb answered Apr 25, '18

Considering most of the issues are with the shirt quality or the actual print job, none of which we have any control over, this is a crappy deal, Amazon.

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Answer 4 · 2018-04-25T01:49:36Z

Maye Rose answered Apr 25, '18

So how's it going to work when a replacement gets sent out when Amazon messes up the printing or sends the wrong size or prints the wrong design? I guess I can see it if the customer just receives a refund but if they get a replacement through no fault of ours why do we lose the royalty, especially as the customer paid for the shirt? What am I missing here?

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Maye Rose commented · Apr 25, 2018 at 01:54 AM

What happens when Amazon sells the returned shirt? Will we get any royalty now? As of February 1, 2018 we were told we wouldn't get a royalty as we already were paid for it.

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Answer 5 · 2018-04-25T01:58:09Z

FocusedOnResults answered Apr 25, '18

Thank you for the update. I'll look forward to info on additional details. It would be a positive step to have a breakdown of the reason for each return. I'd also appreciate info on current return rate -example being if 10 percent on average, to be able to determine if any return volume that I may experience is above or below the norm. Thank you.

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Answer 6 · 2018-04-25T02:47:11Z

Tnacrew answered Apr 25, '18

I'd like to chime in with a question too, what happens to the returned shirt?

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Answer 7 · 2018-04-25T02:58:48Z

newuser-b2c2ccf3-6341-49d2-a0dc-1cc91e657860 answered Apr 25, '18

This sounds like a class action lawsuit in the making. So if a shirt is returned, they take away the artist's royalties, then Amazon resells the shirt (with the artist's art on the shirt). Amazon gets paid and the artist gets nothing? And what happens when a replacement shirt is sent to the customer? Are we also not getting paid for that? This sounds like art theft to me. A royalty means you pay the artist a cut of the profit when you use/sell their art.

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newuser-96e4a67a-e87a-40bb-9c8f-95cc1155318b commented · May 02, 2018 at 07:07 PM

Ive thought the same, royalties have to be paid on a transaction, regardless if that transaction made profit or not. The royalty needs to be paid if the shirt is result, even if it’s sold cheap.

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newuser-96e4a67a-e87a-40bb-9c8f-95cc1155318b commented · May 02, 2018 at 07:08 PM

*resold not result

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newuser-02df7398-2de6-4553-aafb-b367727d84c7 commented · May 04, 2018 at 03:01 AM

I was just charged the price of a shirt today because somebody ordered one and cancelled it literally right afterwards. There was no time for Amazon to even print the thing. I can't even believe this.

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Answer 8 · 2018-04-25T05:08:40Z

MrApo answered Apr 25, '18

This is worse than Ponzi scheme, and deserve lawsuit. I will delete my works, because I don't work for free, and I will not allow you to parasiting on me, with this shady business practices.

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Answer 9 · 2018-04-25T07:07:40Z

newuser-819721b6-a577-4839-a3fc-ac4fbb2a93fa answered Apr 25, '18

If a customer returns the shirt because of the poor quality of the product (very common issue by the way), why should the content creator be accountable for it deducting the cost of return from his/her royalties???

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Answer 10 · 2018-04-25T07:17:45Z

Luke answered Apr 25, '18

Quality control really needs to be sorted out. Basic things like designs being in the centre aren't happening even though they are in the design template. Not even a little bit wrong. One shirt I ordered was 3 inches to one side!

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