There are certain risks in merging on Amazon, whether it is merging variations (Variation Merge) or merging so-called "zombie ASINs or abandoned listings", as follows:

1. **Risks of merging variations**:

- **Policy violation**: If the variation merge does not comply with Amazon's product variation creation rules, such as forcibly combining different child products that do not belong to the same parent product, it may cause the account to be reviewed or punished.

- **Information confusion**: Incorrect merging may result in inaccurate information on the product details page, affecting consumer purchasing decisions, and then leading to returns, bad reviews and reduced customer satisfaction.

- **Ranking and evaluation loss**: Improper merging may result in the loss of sales history, evaluation and ranking data of the original variation, which will have a negative impact on product search ranking and sales.

2. **Risks of Merging Zombie Links**:

- **Policy Violation**: Merging zombie links or abandoned ASINs into active listings without permission usually violates Amazon's terms of service, especially if the ASINs represent completely different products or categories.

- **Legal Issues**: If the merged links contain a history of false reviews or other violations, it may lead to legal disputes or penalties from the Amazon system.

- **Evaluation and Ranking**: Similarly, merging zombie links may cause the reviews accumulated by the original links to disappear or become confused, and may also trigger the anti-fraud mechanism of the Amazon system, thereby removing related reviews and affecting the overall performance of the product.

- **Account Security**: Serious violations may result in account suspension or permanent ban.

Therefore, sellers must strictly abide by Amazon's official policies and guidelines when performing any merging operations to avoid unnecessary risks. When merging variants, ensure that all variants comply with the regulations of the same parent product; and when dealing with zombie links, it is generally not recommended to merge at will unless there is official support and guidance, so as not to violate platform rules.