Selling Lego on Amazon.com

[33Lego]

OK, this explains it.

 

 

Technical Notification
Feb 28, 2017

 

11:25 PDT: We are currently experiencing a system issue that is impacting the Add a Product tool and the Buy Shipping tool. We are working hard to resolve this issue.

[Phil B]

18 minutes ago, 33Lego said:

OK, this explains it.

 

 

Technical Notification
Feb 28, 2017

 

11:25 PDT: We are currently experiencing a system issue that is impacting the Add a Product tool and the Buy Shipping tool. We are working hard to resolve this issue.

Perhaps related: http://venturebeat.com/2017/02/28/aws-is-investigating-s3-issues-affecting-quora-slack-trello/

[FaustLatvia]

Hello, LEGO fans. As I was looking into LEGO reselling I stopped at question - is Amazon a good place where to start selling at this point of time because of "brand gating"?

[Bold-Arrow]

14 minutes ago, FaustLatvia said:

Hello, LEGO fans. As I was looking into LEGO reselling I stopped at question - is Amazon a good place where to start selling at this point of time because of "brand gating"?

Welcome . If you haven't sold lego on Amazon before it is close to impossible to sell Lego on that platform at the moment 

[SpaceFan9]

Hey all.  I could use some advice.  I received an order for a high-value ($200+) item to be delivered to a hotel---a first for me.  I recall this type of arrangement is ripe for fraud.  Based on the name and phone number, customer is from out of the country.  But here's the kicker: the hotel is located about 5 miles away from me.  I'm very tempted to set up a pick-up time and hand deliver it.  Any reason that's not a good idea? Proof of delivery for amazon would be the biggest issue I forsee.  Anything else I'm missing?  I would rather avoid a lost package / charge-back claim if I can.

Advice appreciated.

[thombockerman]

mark it signature required?

[Bold-Arrow]

3 minutes ago, SpaceFan9 said:

Hey all.  I could use some advice.  I received an order for a high-value ($200+) item to be delivered to a hotel---a first for me.  I recall this type of arrangement is ripe for fraud.  Based on the name and phone number, customer is from out of the country.  But here's the kicker: the hotel is located about 5 miles away from me.  I'm very tempted to set up a pick-up time and hand deliver it.  Any reason that's not a good idea? Proof of delivery for amazon would be the biggest issue I forsee.  Anything else I'm missing?  I would rather avoid a lost package / charge-back claim if I can.

Advice appreciated.

it is not a recommended practice because customer can claim none-delivery and you won't have any proof to back it up.

[exciter1]

Soooo, what's up with the Prime (4-5 Days) label I see on some of the 3P listings today?

[landphieran]

3 hours ago, exciter1 said:

Soooo, what's up with the Prime (4-5 Days) label I see on some of the 3P listings today?

I believe it has to do with your relative location to some products which are labeled but FBA. If you don't have large enough quantities they aren't able to distribute larger stock such that it can be delivered in 2 days.

[jaxman]

So Prime is not necessarily Prime for sellers.  Interesting to know.  Am incentive to comingle.

[ravenb99]

5 minutes ago, jaxman said:

So Prime is not necessarily Prime for sellers.  Interesting to know.  Am incentive to comingle.

my wife is very anti-commingling.   Not sure why...

[jaxman]

12 minutes ago, ravenb99 said:

my wife is very anti-commingling.   Not sure why...

Same here.  I think I'm way off on what International Women's Day is supposed to mean.

[ravenb99]

1 hour ago, jaxman said:

Same here.  I think I'm way off on what International Women's Day is supposed to mean.

Valentine's day part deux

[jaxman]

3 minutes ago, ravenb99 said:

Valentine's day part deux

That's what I said.  To her.

It was not received well.

[BrickLegacy]

Misery loves company

https://sellercentral.amazon.com/forums/thread.jspa?threadID=341157&start=30&tstart=0&sortBy=helpful

[Bold-Arrow]

15 minutes ago, BrickLegacy said:

Misery loves company

https://sellercentral.amazon.com/forums/thread.jspa?threadID=341157&start=30&tstart=0&sortBy=helpful

v2.0 over so soon ?

 

[Darth_Raichu]

17 minutes ago, BrickLegacy said:

Misery loves company

https://sellercentral.amazon.com/forums/thread.jspa?threadID=341157&start=30&tstart=0&sortBy=helpful

It sounds like the scammers from eBay found easier marks

[Bold-Arrow]

2 minutes ago, Darth_Raichu said:

It sounds like the scammers from eBay found easier marks

hence the importance of us sellers reporting those buyers

[jaxman]

Happened to me over the the holiday season.  Sent an item, delivered but buyer said never got it.  I even sent a replacement (my naive mistake).  Replacement delivered but buyer said never got it.  Then gave me a one star.  Amazon support would not remove the negative feedback.  Haven't FBM'd since.

[BrickLegacy]

From a high reputation poster on that seller central thread.  The thread is 7 pages and counting.

"I hate to join in on the negativity as I usually try to stay away from it all but I do have to say that we've seen an increase in scammers as of late. 

There are more examples then I'd like to mention here but the items we are having the most issues with are in the $150 to $250 price range. We get SC on every package and insurance but of course after the customer signs for the item there's something wrong with it. One person even claimed the factory sealed retail package which weighed 2 lbs was empty. Yes, a 2 lb 6"cube cardboard box. 

In each case we provided the customer with a prepaid return label just so they can return the items to us without charge and they either return us some piece of garbage which is completely different from what we sent them or they file an A to Z claim. Since the A to Z system is skewed in favor of the customer we all know how the majority of those turn out.

I'm not ready to pull all our high value items off of Amazon just yet but if it continues we will have to consider it. It's painful to lose one $200 item after another. It used to be that the scammers went after the rookie sellers but now it seems like they've perfected the scam so well that they can pretty much get away with scamming any seller."

https://sellercentral.amazon.com/forums/thread.jspa?threadID=341157&start=75&tstart=0&sortBy=date

[stoltzjl77]

The trouble is, Amazon would rather pay out the A-to-Z claim than litigate. Here's another scary story (though it turned out okay for me). I sold an item in January for $480 to a buyer named Sue V. The shipping address was for a man's name in a city a couple hours away from me so I made out like a bandit on shipping. I wasn't particularly suspicious as it isn't infrequent that someone buys a present on Amazon and has it direct shipped to the recipient. So I sent it Priority Mail and it was delivered 2 days later.

A week later, the buyer sends me an email stating that the item wasn't received and requesting a refund...or else he/she would "escalate" the claim. I replied politely that USPS tracking showed that the item had been delivered to the address specified in the order, to please check with neighbors and the local carrier, and that if the item was truly missing to file an A-to-Z claim with Amazon as there was nothing else I could do for the buyer. I got no reply. Another few days went by, and then I get an email through Amazon from the person whose name was on the shipping address. He tells me he thinks the person who bought it might be committing fraud. He explained that he had purchased the item on eBay for $320 from a seller whose listed address was in Israel(!) and he noticed on the packing slip that the cost on Amazon was much higher than what he had paid for it. He also happens to be a 3P seller on Amazon who has gotten burned by this type of fraud and so he wanted to make sure I knew that the package was actually delivered.

So of course I thanked him and then I promptly reported the matter to Amazon seller services. At this point, no A-to-Z claim had yet been filed. Amazon seller services obviously didn't care at that point but did assure me that they cared, because that's what they say.

Another couple of days go by, and sure enough the buyer files an A-to-Z claim. So I represented my case and Amazon accepted my defense and did not make me provide a refund - but Amazon DID give the buyer a refund.

So here we have a case where multiple fraudulent activities occurred - most likely drop-shipped the eBay order using a stolen credit card, then fraudulently claim non-delivery and gets a refund from Amazon despite USPS tracking showing delivery and the person on the delivery address notifying Amazon IN WRITING that the package was received. And yet that lying sack of donkey dung fraudster walks free with over $700 in stolen money...this is why we can't have nice things.

So far I have not had an A-to-Z claim go against me. For domestic orders I *always* purchase shipping through Amazon, even though it isn't always the cheapest. I had another claim where the buyer had put a bad address in the system and the postal service delivered it to the nearest valid address, which turned out not to be correct. It took a bit but I convinced Amazon not to charge me. If you bug Seller Support long enough you can usually get justice, at least for yourself. Those wretched frauds though - it really bugs me that Amazon doesn't care enough to go after them. Some day.

[Phil B]

23 minutes ago, stoltzjl77 said:

The trouble is, Amazon would rather pay out the A-to-Z claim than litigate. Here's another scary story (though it turned out okay for me). I sold an item in January for $480 to a buyer named Sue V. The shipping address was for a man's name in a city a couple hours away from me so I made out like a bandit on shipping. I wasn't particularly suspicious as it isn't infrequent that someone buys a present on Amazon and has it direct shipped to the recipient. So I sent it Priority Mail and it was delivered 2 days later.

A week later, the buyer sends me an email stating that the item wasn't received and requesting a refund...or else he/she would "escalate" the claim. I replied politely that USPS tracking showed that the item had been delivered to the address specified in the order, to please check with neighbors and the local carrier, and that if the item was truly missing to file an A-to-Z claim with Amazon as there was nothing else I could do for the buyer. I got no reply. Another few days went by, and then I get an email through Amazon from the person whose name was on the shipping address. He tells me he thinks the person who bought it might be committing fraud. He explained that he had purchased the item on eBay for $320 from a seller whose listed address was in Israel(!) and he noticed on the packing slip that the cost on Amazon was much higher than what he had paid for it. He also happens to be a 3P seller on Amazon who has gotten burned by this type of fraud and so he wanted to make sure I knew that the package was actually delivered.

So of course I thanked him and then I promptly reported the matter to Amazon seller services. At this point, no A-to-Z claim had yet been filed. Amazon seller services obviously didn't care at that point but did assure me that they cared, because that's what they say.

Another couple of days go by, and sure enough the buyer files an A-to-Z claim. So I represented my case and Amazon accepted my defense and did not make me provide a refund - but Amazon DID give the buyer a refund.

So here we have a case where multiple fraudulent activities occurred - most likely drop-shipped the eBay order using a stolen credit card, then fraudulently claim non-delivery and gets a refund from Amazon despite USPS tracking showing delivery and the person on the delivery address notifying Amazon IN WRITING that the package was received. And yet that lying sack of donkey dung fraudster walks free with over $700 in stolen money...this is why we can't have nice things.

So far I have not had an A-to-Z claim go against me. For domestic orders I *always* purchase shipping through Amazon, even though it isn't always the cheapest. I had another claim where the buyer had put a bad address in the system and the postal service delivered it to the nearest valid address, which turned out not to be correct. It took a bit but I convinced Amazon not to charge me. If you bug Seller Support long enough you can usually get justice, at least for yourself. Those wretched frauds though - it really bugs me that Amazon doesn't care enough to go after them. Some day.

Great story - thanks for sharing. The lengths people go through to scam you/me/corporations is amazing.

The thing is, by the time the money lost to scams like this is substantial enough for Amazon to really do something about it, it is already too late and the marketplace will have been redflagged by buyers and sellers as too risky. They should take action now to prevent this from becoming a too big problem in the future. The problem is that this realization will likely hit the top echelon when it's already too late ....

[Bold-Arrow]

Amazon just passes on these losses to 3P sellers in fees and commissions . They don't pay sh*t from their own pocket . 

Suck it up buttercup is more like it 

[I am Niko]

Is it just me, or did AMZ roll back their "no more condition notes for new items" plan?  When I checked last night, the new descriptions were hidden, but now I'm seeing them again.  Probably a smart thing, as I was going to pull a bunch of listings, because I couldn't describe minor box imperfections.

[Bold-Arrow]

2 minutes ago, I am Niko said:

Is it just me, or did AMZ roll back their "no more condition notes for new items" plan?  When I checked last night, the new descriptions were hidden, but now I'm seeing them again.  Probably a smart thing, as I was going to pull a bunch of listings, because I couldn't describe minor box imperfections.

you don't see an increase in returns due to these notes on said items?