What customer data Amazon lets you keep, and what it doesn't

What you get on each order

If you ship orders yourself, you see the buyer's name and shipping address so you can deliver. Amazon's seller policy says that information may be used only to fulfill the order, and you may not use it to contact the customer outside Buyer-Seller Messaging without their consent (Prohibited Seller Activities).

If you or your software pull orders through Amazon's Selling Partner API, the Data Protection Policy limits how long personal data can be kept: no more than 30 days after the order is delivered, and only for fulfillment, tax or legal reasons (Data Protection Policy).

What Buyer-Seller Messaging allows

Buyers and sellers talk through Amazon-generated email addresses, and sellers may not ask buyers for a direct email address (Prohibited Seller Activities).

Messages you start yourself are limited to things like fixing a fulfillment problem, asking a return question, sending an invoice, requesting a review, or scheduling delivery of a heavy or bulky item. They must go out within 30 days of the order and include the order ID. Marketing, coupons and plain thank-you notes aren't allowed, and neither are links that aren't needed to complete the order (Communication Guidelines).

What brand owners can see

With a Professional account and a brand in Brand Registry, Brand Analytics shows aggregate data: the search terms that lead to your products, impressions, clicks, cart adds and purchases, repeat purchase behavior, products bought together, and a demographics breakdown by age, income, education, gender and marital status (Amazon Brand Analytics).

All of it is aggregate. It tells you what kind of people buy, and it never tells you who they are.

What brand owners can do with an audience

Brand Tailored Promotions let a brand offer a 10% to 50% discount to Amazon audiences such as repeat buyers, lapsed customers or shoppers who added to cart. The audience must have at least 1,000 people, and the offer shows up on Amazon's pages for the eligible shoppers (Brand Tailored Promotions).

That's a discount shown on Amazon, and it never becomes an email. The tool that used to email brand followers, Manage Your Customer Engagement, stopped sending campaigns on February 16, 2024 (Amazon Seller Forums announcement).

What you don't get

• The buyer's real email address.

• Permission to send marketing to Amazon buyers through Amazon messages.

• A way to send Amazon shoppers to your website from a listing or a message.

• Personal data you can keep after the order is done.

How sellers build a list they own

The list has to start somewhere you control: a store on your own domain, a warranty registration page on that site, social profiles, or events. Ask for consent when you collect an email, and follow the CAN-SPAM basics when you send (FTC CAN-SPAM guide).

Your own store does most of this work, because every order comes with an email. To ask ShippingCow to build one, send your Amazon link.