Selling Lego on Amazon.com

[Bricklectic]

17 minutes ago, Shortbus311 said:

 For all of you legacy guys that are completely ungated on every set, I would recommend finding out what these sets are that everyone else is gated on and concentrate your purchases there.

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Not sure anyone is completely ungated. Been selling since 2015ish and have many many gates. Would be interested in more data points if older accounts are less gated.

[gmpirate]

35 minutes ago, Darth_Raichu said:

I used to be bothered by that but now I think for every 100 who asked probably only 5 would move their butts and actually do something about the information.

I have that low expectation in humanity

It's true.  You can tell a group of people exactly what to do and most still wouldn't.  I've heard so many speakers express the same when they are questioned about it.  Aren't they worried about the competition??  not at all

[gmpirate]

31 minutes ago, Bricklectic said:

Not sure anyone is completely ungated. Been selling since 2015ish and have many many gates. Would be interested in more data points if older accounts are less gated.

It's my understanding that when you become a whale you can have many of these gates fixed.

[brickvoyeur]

7 minutes ago, gmpirate said:

It's true.  You can tell a group of people exactly what to do and most still wouldn't.  I've heard so many speakers express the same when they are questioned about it.  Aren't they worried about the competition??  not at all

Too many dipwad vloggers getting followings. Thankfully most of the idiot followers in the groups only buy a handful of things at close to RRP. Even better to watch when they're asking about buying and holding newly released sets for years. 

Truly looking forward to them getting "surprise" 1099's January 2023. If the polar ice doesn't all melt by then, their tears should be enough to raise the ocean up enough to flood most low lying areas. 

 

[chinothegeeko]

Not sure anyone is completely ungated. Been selling since 2015ish and have many many gates. Would be interested in more data points if older accounts are less gated.

Haven’t found a set I can’t sell this year. Lego has become my 3rd best selling brand as I’ve branched out to many other products in categories like beauty, grocery, and clothing.


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[Bricklectic]

5 minutes ago, chinothegeeko said:

Haven’t found a set I can’t sell this year. Lego has become my 3rd best selling brand as I’ve branched out to many other products in categories like beauty, grocery, and clothing.


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when are you selling since if you dont mind me asking

[chinothegeeko]

when are you selling since if you dont mind me asking

On amazon since august 2018.


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[cobrakai]

I don't recall seeing any specific sets restricted for my account besides the Vader Castle a couple years ago. I just looked up my first sale and it was in June 2014. It was a 9464 Vampyre Hearse for those that remember the crazy Lego sale on those! Those first few years were amazing. Still fun, but tough now to spend all day scanning toys at Walmart & Target with all the listings getting yanked and requiring safety documents.  

[marcandre]

The glut of sellers this year is crazy. I think dropping the 25 sales in sep-oct rule has contributed. 

20th Slave was nearing 300 six weeks ago. Now it's been pushed down to almost 200. And that's just one example. 

[severalads]

I got ungated in August with proper wholesaler invoice. Why did I bother😂 

However, since then Amazon asked me to submit invoices for some sets twice already, which I had (talking about proper invoices, not receipts). But I do wonder how retail arbitrage sellers get away with it.

What is more worrying, LEGO may decide they want to start blocking resellers again if there are too many, like they used to. That will be a big blow.

On a side note, it's funny to read some comments here like "omg I'm quitting because there's competition now" what, seriously? You hoped you'd be getting crazy ROI on your money forever?

[Mark Twain]

12 minutes ago, severalads said:

On a side note, it's funny to read some comments here like "omg I'm quitting because there's competition now" what, seriously? You hoped you'd be getting crazy ROI on your money forever?

It's not the competition. Most established sellers can pivot to longer hold times and shift focus from FBA to FBM and roll with the punches to account for lost sales. Rather,, it's not good to open the flood gates and let anyone in who has a SAH receipt because it's going to make Amazon crack down with more insane policy requests and reselling all the more difficult.  

[Darth_Raichu]

24 minutes ago, severalads said:

On a side note, it's funny to read some comments here like "omg I'm quitting because there's competition now" what, seriously? 

To be fair, I have been saying that since 2016...

[Bold-Arrow]

2 minutes ago, Mark Twain said:

It's not the competition. Most established sellers can pivot to longer hold times and shift focus from FBA to FBM and roll with the punches to account for lost sales. Rather,, it's not good to open the flood gates and let anyone in who has a SAH receipt because it's going to make Amazon crack down with more insane policy requests and reselling all the more difficult.  

This ^. You are starting to see a increase in scamming by sellers on Walmart do amazon is justified to a certain extent with what they are doing and will probably do in the future as far a further restrictions go 

[severalads]

2 minutes ago, Mark Twain said:

It's not the competition. Most established sellers can pivot to longer hold times and shift focus from FBA to FBM and roll with the punches to account for lost sales. Rather,, it's not good to open the flood gates and let anyone in who has a SAH receipt because it's going to make Amazon crack down with more insane policy requests and reselling all the more difficult.  

Yeap, good point! I was thinking more of SAH cracking down, but Amazon is also a possibility 

[carini26]

Couple things could help - Yes, there's X times more sellers, but there's also a lot of $ flowing through the economy and more people shopping online than ever before.  Could balance things out.

I also agree with whoever commented on new v. experienced sellers moving into new categories.  Pretty good indicator is seeing 200+ sellers for SKUs that are not retiring any time soon.

On the other hand, Walmart seems to be allowing anyone or anything to sell on its platform, which will likely scare away customers once they purchase 3P LEGO and see a plastic bag arrive with return address in mandarin and contents smelling like a burned out appliance.

[skinsfan0521]

5 minutes ago, carini26 said:

Couple things could help - Yes, there's X times more sellers, but there's also a lot of $ flowing through the economy and more people shopping online than ever before.  Could balance things out.

I also agree with whoever commented on new v. experienced sellers moving into new categories.  Pretty good indicator is seeing 200+ sellers for SKUs that are not retiring any time soon.

On the other hand, Walmart seems to be allowing anyone or anything to sell on its platform, which will likely scare away customers once they purchase 3P LEGO and see a plastic bag arrive with return address in mandarin and contents smelling like a burned out appliance.

Just a comment on WM allowing "anyone and anything" - Walmart is being surprisingly strict on their approval process. From what I understand, it's not like Amazon where you can just have a sole prop or something like that. During the application process they ask for detailed business info. Also, I'm in a couple reseller groups where there are 7 figure Amazon sellers having their WM applications denied on a regular basis. That being said, the sales velocity on WM is pathetic compared to Amazon. So, if there ends up being a ton of sellers on WM, that will water it down even more. I've got items that sell dozens per day on Amazon and barely sell 1-3 per week on WM. It's truly surprising how low the volume is there.

[Darth_Raichu]

3 minutes ago, skinsfan0521 said:

Just a comment on WM allowing "anyone and anything" - Walmart is being surprisingly strict on their approval process. From what I understand, it's not like Amazon where you can just have a sole prop or something like that. During the application process they ask for detailed business info. Also, I'm in a couple reseller groups where there are 7 figure Amazon sellers having their WM applications denied on a regular basis. That being said, the sales velocity on WM is pathetic compared to Amazon. So, if there ends up being a ton of sellers on WM, that will water it down even more. I've got items that sell dozens per day on Amazon and barely sell 1-3 per week on WM. It's truly surprising how low the volume is there.

Most 3PS on Walmart priced their LEGO sets on par with or higher than Amazon 3PS.  I would think Walmart's customer base are more price sensitive Amazon's.

Also it gave me (potential 3PS) the impression that selling fees are higher on Walmart than Amazon.

[brickology101]

I got ungated in August with proper wholesaler invoice. Why did I bother 
However, since then Amazon asked me to submit invoices for some sets twice already, which I had (talking about proper invoices, not receipts). But I do wonder how retail arbitrage sellers get away with it.
What is more worrying, LEGO may decide they want to start blocking resellers again if there are too many, like they used to. That will be a big blow.
On a side note, it's funny to read some comments here like "omg I'm quitting because there's competition now" what, seriously? You hoped you'd be getting crazy ROI on your money forever?

I would say a BIG portion of 3P Lego sellers on Amazon are doing retail arbitrage. A lot of them are new obviously based in this thread discussions right now but others were grandfathered in before the brand gating dropped in 2016. And yes, for these folks, especially those with well established sales it is a risky business because an error or even a dishonest feedback about authenticity and the troubles start: Thousands of dollars of funds and inventory withheld for months or ever depending on the outcome. Nightmarish.


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[cobrakai]

21 minutes ago, skinsfan0521 said:

Just a comment on WM allowing "anyone and anything" - Walmart is being surprisingly strict on their approval process. From what I understand, it's not like Amazon where you can just have a sole prop or something like that. During the application process they ask for detailed business info. Also, I'm in a couple reseller groups where there are 7 figure Amazon sellers having their WM applications denied on a regular basis. That being said, the sales velocity on WM is pathetic compared to Amazon. So, if there ends up being a ton of sellers on WM, that will water it down even more. I've got items that sell dozens per day on Amazon and barely sell 1-3 per week on WM. It's truly surprising how low the volume is there.

I have been on Walmart since 2016 and sold less than 100 items.  I don't keep anything listed there anymore because of the awful user interface and policies.  I hear the horror stories about people getting refunded even with delivery confirmations.  I have always worked by myself from home and never had a business address or anything.  I think they did let me set up my account as a single member LLC, which Amazon doesn't really let you do.  Amazon and Ebay are just so much easier to use.

[madisondp]

5 minutes ago, cobrakai said:

I have been on Walmart since 2016 and sold less than 100 items.  I don't keep anything listed there anymore because of the awful user interface and policies.  I hear the horror stories about people getting refunded even with delivery confirmations.  I have always worked by myself from home and never had a business address or anything.  I think they did let me set up my account as a single member LLC, which Amazon doesn't really let you do.  Amazon and Ebay are just so much easier to use.

After being approved in 2016, I have been "onboarding" with WM since 2017. I have had an open case with their seller support since then. I can't imagine what a nightmare it would be to work with them if they have a 4 year backlog to fix a screen issue in their process.

[skinsfan0521]

9 minutes ago, cobrakai said:

I have been on Walmart since 2016 and sold less than 100 items.  I don't keep anything listed there anymore because of the awful user interface and policies.  I hear the horror stories about people getting refunded even with delivery confirmations.  I have always worked by myself from home and never had a business address or anything.  I think they did let me set up my account as a single member LLC, which Amazon doesn't really let you do.  Amazon and Ebay are just so much easier to use.

Oh, definitely. The UI is one of the worst possible things that they could come up with! It's almost as if they sat in a room and said "how can we make this so difficult that no sellers would ever want to work with us?!" And then, they built it.

As for the refunds even with delivery confirmation - yup, I've had that happen several times. It's called "Lost After Delivery" and any customer can at any time request a refund saying that they never received the item even if the delivery confirmation shows it was delivered. The only way to protect yourself from that is buying signature confirmation for every order. I've heard of people having issues fighting the refund process even with signature confirmation, but I haven't experienced that myself.

[Darth_Raichu]

3 minutes ago, skinsfan0521 said:

Oh, definitely. The UI is one of the worst possible things that they could come up with! It's almost as if they sat in a room and said "how can we make this so difficult that no sellers would ever want to work with us?!" And then, they built it.

What's more concerning to me is the person responsible for this Walmart ecommerce was fairly recently hired as current eBay CEO.   

I tried the new eBay listing tool and lets just say it is not ready for prime time yet (or ever?).

I am afraid eBay is slowly transforming to Walmart.com 2.0

[river41]

11 minutes ago, skinsfan0521 said:

Oh, definitely. The UI is one of the worst possible things that they could come up with! It's almost as if they sat in a room and said "how can we make this so difficult that no sellers would ever want to work with us?!" And then, they built it.

As for the refunds even with delivery confirmation - yup, I've had that happen several times. It's called "Lost After Delivery" and any customer can at any time request a refund saying that they never received the item even if the delivery confirmation shows it was delivered. The only way to protect yourself from that is buying signature confirmation for every order. I've heard of people having issues fighting the refund process even with signature confirmation, but I haven't experienced that myself.

amazon was that way until a couple of years ago .Any customer could claim item not delivered if there was no signature confirmation

[BrickLover80]

2 minutes ago, river41 said:

amazon was that way until a couple of years ago .Any customer could claim item not delivered if there was no signature confirmation

To be fair, there is a fair bit of package theft. Which is why Amazon is investing in Ring and the like.

[marcandre]

16 minutes ago, skinsfan0521 said:

As for the refunds even with delivery confirmation - yup, I've had that happen several times. It's called "Lost After Delivery" and any customer can at any time request a refund saying that they never received the item even if the delivery confirmation shows it was delivered. 

Does amazon takes the hit on these if you buy shipping through them? They have taken the hit on my lost/stolen orders but I have not had a lost after delivery. 

Lost after delivery is nonsensical. Pretty soon they will have lost after built.