Sellers Can Now Outsource Customer Service to Amazon: CSBA

Last year, we told you Amazon was creating a service to handle customer service on sellers' behalf for self-fulfilled orders. Now it's rolling out the service, called Customer Service by Amazon (CSBA) and is giving sellers a free 30-day trial to test it out.

Here's how Amazon describes its new offering, which is by invitation only at the present time.

What is Customer Service by Amazon (CSBA)?

Customer Service by Amazon is a paid service where Amazon takes care of customer service on your behalf for your self-fulfillment orders. We will direct customer inquiries for these orders to Amazon Customer Service so that you do not need to handle them yourself. At this time, CSBA is available to select sellers on an invitation-only basis. You will enjoy a 30-day free trial period when you join CSBA for the first time. After your free trial, you will be charged the CSBA fee per self-fulfilled shipped unit based on your customer service performance. You can opt-out of CSBA at any time.

One of the sellers who forwarded an invitation to the program wrote, "Like many Amazon (eBay too) initiatives that start this way, as a pay-for opt-in, how much longer before this becomes required and the cost is added onto or baked into monthly fees?"

Here's how Amazon described the benefits of the new CSBA program:

- CSBA helps improve customer experience by providing a 24-hour, high quality customer service throughout the year.

- CSBA supports customers in the marketplace-supported language via phone, instant message, and email.

- CSBA's high-quality customer service can help you reduce A-to-z Guarantee claims, Order Defect Rates (ODR), and negative reviews.

- CSBA can help you manage customer service in response to changing demands (for example, during the holiday period).

- CSBA helps you save time and may reduce customer service cost. 

Sellers discussed the new offering on the Amazon seller boards. Some were skeptical about the company's ability to field questions about their products, and some feared Amazon would be too customer-centric in how they handled customer inquiries.

Let us know what you think!

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