If you opened your Amazon Influencer account this week and saw “Your content is ineligible to appear in placements,” take a breath. I have been watching this message pop up for the last couple of days, and I want to give you my honest read on it, including what I know and what I do not.
- What the Message Actually Means
- What We Saw Before With Crossposting
- Is It Connected to the Global Storefront Change?
- The Pattern Worth Putting a Pin In
- What to Do Right Now
What the Message Actually Means
The message says your content is ineligible to appear in placements. In plain English, your videos are no longer showing up on product pages. Amazon has not explained why it is appearing right now, and customer support does not have a clear answer either. That is the frustrating part: nobody can point to a rule you broke.
What We Saw Before With Crossposting
This is not the first time we have seen this message. The first situation was people who uploaded a lot of videos to other countries. Amazon never had a written rule about it, but too much crossposting would trigger this. For those creators the messages often alternated, and sometimes you would see something like a volume warning instead.
In those cases, the recovery time was at least 10 days and sometimes up to 60 days. As far as I know, everyone in that group eventually got their placements back. So there is precedent for this resolving, but the timeline was not short.
Is It Connected to the Global Storefront Change?
Right now the message is showing up right next to the global storefront message, so a lot of people are assuming the two are connected. They might be. I am not drawing a direct line, though, because the pattern is just too sporadic.
- I opted in on day one and hit the yes button saying I am from the US. I only did Canada and the UK, and I still saw nothing like this on my end.
- I talked to someone this morning who got hit and who barely did anything after clicking that they are from the US.
- Some people have said it happened because they uploaded too many videos to a storefront, but if Amazon moved the videos over themselves, that explanation gets shaky.
We are still all trying to figure out global earnings and the global storefront changes, so it is natural to connect the dots. I just do not think we can assume it is storefront related yet. If you want the background on that change, I cover it in my other global storefront posts.
The Pattern Worth Putting a Pin In
Here is the part that raised an eyebrow for me. Last year in November and December, a fairly large group of influencers seemingly randomly lost all of their placements for several days. Amazon never admitted what it was or gave an explanation. It hit again in December almost on the exact same day, lasted almost the exact same number of days, and hit almost the same group back to back.
We are now seeing something similar at almost the same time of year. It could be storefront related, but I think the timing is worth putting a pin in. It might also just be coincidence, and I am not claiming otherwise.
What to Do Right Now
- Contact Amazon customer support. They probably will not have an answer, but the louder this gets, the more likely someone who does know will pay attention.
- Warn your brands. If you are working with brands, they will look for your videos on product pages. Let them know what is going on for any videos or products you still owe them.
- Expect around 10 days as a baseline based on what I saw before, but nothing is guaranteed. It could come back tomorrow.
- Decide how you want to handle new videos. Slowing down or pausing is completely understandable in case the worst case happens. If you would rather keep creating because it gives you something to work on, that is fine too.
I will keep my ears open and share anything I hear. While you wait, tools like Oink for Influencers can help you keep researching products and planning content so your pipeline is ready when your placements return. Watch my full video below for the complete discussion.
Sorry you are having to deal with this. Keep creating smart, and visit oinkforinfluencers.com to see how Oink can help you keep your Amazon Influencer business moving.
