Selling Lego on Amazon.com

[Tonka858]

On 2/20/2024 at 12:53 PM, NIevo said:

So I got the email from Amazon saying I have to buy commercial liability insurance😐  Who are you guys going through and how much am I going to be looking at?  I've already reached out to my  regular insurer but haven't heard back yet.

You can get a quote from Amazon, Click on settings, Account info,business information and then click insurance , 

hartford  has online quote tool, so you don't have to call anyone 

https://www.thehartford.com/business-insurance

Edited February 23 by Tonka858

[gmpirate]

A-to-Z Claim.

It was my understanding that buyers need to contact sellers before filing?  Customer ships the item back after receiving stating they "ordered my mistake".  Then I get a A-to-Z claim on the 26th stating "different from what I ordered" and want a refund.  I look up the order and see the item arrived back last Thursday the 22nd.  I hadn't see it, so I go in the next day and check my neighbor, he has it, so I grant the refund.  Get an email from Amazon later today saying issue resolved, case closed but they will count it against me since I granted the refund after the claim was filed.

This is on Amazon's pages:  "You can file an A-to-z Guarantee claim after you've contacted the third-party seller and have provided the third-party seller one calendar day to address the issue."

There has never been any communication between the buyer and I.

EDIT:  Been looking through the order again and it said buyer contacted on the 24th.  I look up all messages and there is one from him that simply says "undefined".  Literally that's what it says.  Didn't think anything of it at the time as sometimes people just say random things.

Edited February 28 by gmpirate

[smittypop2]

4 hours ago, gmpirate said:

A-to-Z Claim.

It was my understanding that buyers need to contact sellers before filing?  Customer ships the item back after receiving stating they "ordered my mistake".  Then I get a A-to-Z claim on the 26th stating "different from what I ordered" and want a refund.  I look up the order and see the item arrived back last Thursday the 22nd.  I hadn't see it, so I go in the next day and check my neighbor, he has it, so I grant the refund.  Get an email from Amazon later today saying issue resolved, case closed but they will count it against me since I granted the refund after the claim was filed.

This is on Amazon's pages:  "You can file an A-to-z Guarantee claim after you've contacted the third-party seller and have provided the third-party seller one calendar day to address the issue."

There has never been any communication between the buyer and I.

EDIT:  Been looking through the order again and it said buyer contacted on the 24th.  I look up all messages and there is one from him that simply says "undefined".  Literally that's what it says.  Didn't think anything of it at the time as sometimes people just say random things.

It doesnt matter either way. I have appealed A to Zs stating that policy and they never address it or care and I lose. Amazon rarely follows its own policy. 

[Bricklectic]

anyone loving this new inventory placement fee? My shipping just tripled in price. Effective MArch 1st. 

[vasp]

16 hours ago, Bricklectic said:

anyone loving this new inventory placement fee? My shipping just tripled in price. Effective MArch 1st. 

Not able to digest it.

Created a shipment (just 4 items, approx 22 lbs). Was very excited to see finally they want me to send to a WH 60 miles away. shipping charge $7.55.

Total was showing $49.55. I'm like wtf. I then noticed the box for the placement service fee of $42. DAMN.

I can ship all of this coast to coast and it wouldn't cost that much. 

Not sure where this is headed.

[river41]

3 minutes ago, vasp said:

Not able to digest it.

Created a shipment (just 4 items, approx 22 lbs). Was very excited to see finally they want me to send to a WH 60 miles away. shipping charge $7.55.

Total was showing $49.55. I'm like wtf. I then noticed the box for the placement service fee of $42. DAMN.

I can ship all of this coast to coast and it wouldn't cost that much. 

Not sure where this is headed.

was this oversize items? To me it looks like oversize have higher placement fees 

[Bricklectic]

only way I was able to circumvent it was to send in multiple boxes, which then split them on a box level with no extra fees. altho a bit more for shipping since theyre going all over the usa. but this is brutal for those one bo shipments...

[skinsfan0521]

29 minutes ago, vasp said:

Not able to digest it.

Created a shipment (just 4 items, approx 22 lbs). Was very excited to see finally they want me to send to a WH 60 miles away. shipping charge $7.55.

Total was showing $49.55. I'm like wtf. I then noticed the box for the placement service fee of $42. DAMN.

I can ship all of this coast to coast and it wouldn't cost that much. 

Not sure where this is headed.

You can change your settings to not only ship to the closest location and not pay any placement fees. But, amazon may have you ship to several different locations across the country. So, shipping will go up, but fees go away. Or, you can do it the way you have it... High placement fees and low shipping. 

[vasp]

29 minutes ago, river41 said:

was this oversize items? To me it looks like oversize have higher placement fees 

The $42 placement still doesn't make sense. Their notification said $0.30 per item.

some on amazon forum complaining about $15.xx shipping fee but $230 placement fee.

I'm hoping some sort of a programming issue

[cobrakai]

56 minutes ago, skinsfan0521 said:

You can change your settings to not only ship to the closest location and not pay any placement fees. But, amazon may have you ship to several different locations across the country. So, shipping will go up, but fees go away. Or, you can do it the way you have it... High placement fees and low shipping. 

What happens if it is a casepack shipment and you are only sending one case so it can't be split? 

[vasp]

2 hours ago, cobrakai said:

What happens if it is a casepack shipment and you are only sending one case so it can't be split? 

I guess they will make you break the case pack

[Tonka858]

8 hours ago, skinsfan0521 said:

You can change your settings to not only ship to the closest location and not pay any placement fees. But, amazon may have you ship to several different locations across the country. So, shipping will go up, but fees go away. Or, you can do it the way you have it... High placement fees and low shipping. 

Effective March 1, 2024, we’re ending the paid FBA Premium Placement program in accordance with the program terms and conditions, and launching the FBA inbound placement service fee as previously

[skinsfan0521]

6 hours ago, Tonka858 said:

Effective March 1, 2024, we’re ending the paid FBA Premium Placement program in accordance with the program terms and conditions, and launching the FBA inbound placement service fee as previously

Yes, but there is an option to not pay any placement fees. You just have to ship to 4+ locations and they could be all over the country.

I just packed up a shipment yesterday. It normally would've gone to one fulfillment center not too far from me. Instead, it went to 5 across the country. My shipping costs about doubled from what they used to be. But, if I would've paid the placement fee instead, I would've spent triple in total costs instead of double. 

Obviously, it sucks either way. I don't like my costs doubling overnight, but it's better than tripling. 

[Tonka858]

6 hours ago, skinsfan0521 said:

Yes, but there is an option to not pay any placement fees. You just have to ship to 4+ locations and they could be all over the country.

I just packed up a shipment yesterday. It normally would've gone to one fulfillment center not too far from me. Instead, it went to 5 across the country. My shipping costs about doubled from what they used to be. But, if I would've paid the placement fee instead, I would've spent triple in total costs instead of double. 

Obviously, it sucks either way. I don't like my costs doubling overnight, but it's better than tripling. 

 

 

Ouch just tested it,  2 boxes that normally runs $20 is now $50 and goes across the country. If i bump to 4 boxes and do away with fees it still goes across the country and is $90, 

So now we get no buy box and higher fee's, what could go wrong with this LOL

Edited March 4 by Tonka858

[Bricklectic]

These "order not received" refunds drive me nuts. Are they freebies to the customer or will amazon take the loss for their faulty delivery. These are FBA

[cladner]

1 hour ago, Bricklectic said:

These "order not received" refunds drive me nuts. Are they freebies to the customer or will amazon take the loss for their faulty delivery. These are FBA

This has replace the switcheroo as the top performing scam on Amazon or I mean scamazon.  I have had chargebacks denied and refunds given for this reason even buying shipping through Amazon with proof of delivery, including picture of the package on the porch. Nope.  In the end, you have to remember where your fees are going.
 

[gmpirate]

Always fun on Amazon.  Woke up this morning and issues with 2x Speed Champions and 1x Technic.  I have one SC listing with FBA inventory now stranded because the listing has become "restricted".  Been selling the sets for a couple years.  Another SC listing just disappeared and one Technic just disappeared.

[Jackson]

LEGO 70805 Trash Chomper has suffered the same fate. There is an "Appeal" option. Is it worth trying?

[gmpirate]

3 hours ago, Jackson said:

LEGO 70805 Trash Chomper has suffered the same fate. There is an "Appeal" option. Is it worth trying?

Idk, never done it.  I have the option with my stranded inventory so will try.  Problem is, it says if approved it will have to be delisted.  Does not solve the problem of all my units sitting in their various warehouses across the country.  Plus who knows what they will actually ship back to me.  I still have a stack of stuff sent back from the holidays that I haven't even identified what they are.

[gmpirate]

Ok, now another issue.  I'm locked out of Seller Central for "invalid charge method".  It's been drawing off the same card for the past few years and card is still valid.  There was an old card listed that expired in 2021.  I deleted it and made sure all marketplaces/charges go to my current card.  I then go to my bank account online and see two pending charges from Amazon for $2.75 and $1.19 for today.  I'm still locked out.

I call Amazon and rep just repeats I need to update info.  I explain card is current, I can see current charges from Amazon from today and still locked out.  Then she says I need to wait 48 hours.  My response is I have orders to ship.  She doesn't understand that and says I'm just locked out temporarily for 48 hours.  I ask for someone else to help and then I'm just put on hold going on almost 20 minutes now.

[Sozial]

57 minutes ago, gmpirate said:

Ok, now another issue.  I'm locked out of Seller Central for "invalid charge method".  It's been drawing off the same card for the past few years and card is still valid.  There was an old card listed that expired in 2021.  I deleted it and made sure all marketplaces/charges go to my current card.  I then go to my bank account online and see two pending charges from Amazon for $2.75 and $1.19 for today.  I'm still locked out.

I call Amazon and rep just repeats I need to update info.  I explain card is current, I can see current charges from Amazon from today and still locked out.  Then she says I need to wait 48 hours.  My response is I have orders to ship.  She doesn't understand that and says I'm just locked out temporarily for 48 hours.  I ask for someone else to help and then I'm just put on hold going on almost 20 minutes now.

Sorry to hear that - that just sucks, hope that issue gets resolved fast.

[exciter1]

Investors and consumers need to know this very important fact about Amazon (Marketplace). They just dug their own grave. Third party sellers make up about 65% of the sales generated on Amazon and recently they did a dirty move to third sellers that will have many leaving the platform or raising prices so high that Amazon becomes uncompetitive to consumers. Amazon just announced/implemented two new double-dip fees that will crush third party sellers and that's not even an exaggeration.

The first fee which has been implemented already is an "inbound placement fee" which is a shipping fee Amazon tacks on to send inventory to Amazon "Prime" for Amazon FBA (fulfilled by Amazon). This fee has increased the shipping cost for third party sellers by 6-10x. For example, a seller sending a truckload of inventory (prior to this inbound placement fee) to Amazon traditionally spent about $600-$800, sometimes way more. Now on top of this they are charged with the inbound placement fee of about $3,000-$5,000. This essentially wipes out a huge chunk, if not most, of the profit margin for a seller on Amazon. Add in the additional fees Amazon charges: 15% referral fee (just to list on their site), 8-15% fulfillment fee (FBA; picking, packing and delivery), storage fees (around $0.78 per cubic foot) and advertising costs (about 2-15% of the price of each good depending on the market).

The second fee which will take place in about a month is a "low inventory fee" which is a fee imposed by the Amazon algorithm when inventory is starting to run low at Amazon fulfillment centers. This fee can be anywhere from $0.32-$1.11 PER ITEM. The kicker is that the Amazon fulfillment center receiving process is a huge cluster fuck that can take 30+ days to inbound and check-in from when the Seller ships it. That is, if Amazon doesn't lose or damage the goods at the warehouse OR during delivery.

So by the time Amazon ships a product out to a customer, they have essentially pocketed about 60% of the sale. When you take out the cost of the good for the seller, that leaves them with very little profit margin, if any. The margins were already razor thin before these rate hikes and now they are all but gone.

Why is this important to investors and customers? The only solution for third party sellers to barely keep their head above the water and maintain a remote semblance of their razor thin margins prior to the new fees is to raise prices. I'm talking 20-30% price increases are required at a minimum just to get back to par. You want to talk about all the issues with inflation well, now you know, corporate greed is being shown at its finest. Amazon reported a $30.4 billion net income for 2023 but will penny pinch third party sellers even more at the expense of driving prices up for consumers like never before seen on the platform. This will cause consumers to look elsewhere to shop other than Amazon because Amazon will now be highly uncompetitive. It's just a matter of time. Amazon shot themselves in the foot and needs to reverse course on these absurd fees.

PUTS ON $AMZN

[ADD] Wow this post blew up! While I have your attention, remember when you get a damaged or wrong product from Amazon, don’t go leaving a 1-star negative review because that just screws over the seller who had nothing to do with the transaction. It’s 100% Amazon’s fault and leaving a negative review is a shit thing to do. Contact customer service instead and yell at them. On that note, if a seller reaches out and makes things right, leave a good review or edit the bad review you left. The good Sellers work hard for their reviews and you shouldn’t shit on them for Amazon’s mistakes.

[brickvoyeur]

While I love me some WSB, I agree with the responses. This is not going to hurt the stock as sellers have no other true sales venue to move significant product. So they'll hike prices to cover the fees, and Amazon will profit more. Sellers get screwed, buyers pay more, Amazon makes more on both ends. 

Some sellers will get squeezed out for sure. Others will move to FBM allowing Amazon to take that fee without putting in any labor to get it. 

Calls are a better bet

Edited March 7 by brickvoyeur

[Sozial]

7 minutes ago, exciter1 said:

Investors and consumers need to know this very important fact about Amazon (Marketplace). They just dug their own grave. Third party sellers make up about 65% of the sales generated on Amazon and recently they did a dirty move to third sellers that will have many leaving the platform or raising prices so high that Amazon becomes uncompetitive to consumers. Amazon just announced/implemented two new double-dip fees that will crush third party sellers and that's not even an exaggeration.

The first fee which has been implemented already is an "inbound placement fee" which is a shipping fee Amazon tacks on to send inventory to Amazon "Prime" for Amazon FBA (fulfilled by Amazon). This fee has increased the shipping cost for third party sellers by 6-10x. For example, a seller sending a truckload of inventory (prior to this inbound placement fee) to Amazon traditionally spent about $600-$800, sometimes way more. Now on top of this they are charged with the inbound placement fee of about $3,000-$5,000. This essentially wipes out a huge chunk, if not most, of the profit margin for a seller on Amazon. Add in the additional fees Amazon charges: 15% referral fee (just to list on their site), 8-15% fulfillment fee (FBA; picking, packing and delivery), storage fees (around $0.78 per cubic foot) and advertising costs (about 2-15% of the price of each good depending on the market).

The second fee which will take place in about a month is a "low inventory fee" which is a fee imposed by the Amazon algorithm when inventory is starting to run low at Amazon fulfillment centers. This fee can be anywhere from $0.32-$1.11 PER ITEM. The kicker is that the Amazon fulfillment center receiving process is a huge cluster **** that can take 30+ days to inbound and check-in from when the Seller ships it. That is, if Amazon doesn't lose or damage the goods at the warehouse OR during delivery.

So by the time Amazon ships a product out to a customer, they have essentially pocketed about 60% of the sale. When you take out the cost of the good for the seller, that leaves them with very little profit margin, if any. The margins were already razor thin before these rate hikes and now they are all but gone.

Why is this important to investors and customers? The only solution for third party sellers to barely keep their head above the water and maintain a remote semblance of their razor thin margins prior to the new fees is to raise prices. I'm talking 20-30% price increases are required at a minimum just to get back to par. You want to talk about all the issues with inflation well, now you know, corporate greed is being shown at its finest. Amazon reported a $30.4 billion net income for 2023 but will penny pinch third party sellers even more at the expense of driving prices up for consumers like never before seen on the platform. This will cause consumers to look elsewhere to shop other than Amazon because Amazon will now be highly uncompetitive. It's just a matter of time. Amazon shot themselves in the foot and needs to reverse course on these absurd fees.

PUTS ON $AMZN

[ADD] Wow this post blew up! While I have your attention, remember when you get a damaged or wrong product from Amazon, don’t go leaving a 1-star negative review because that just screws over the seller who had nothing to do with the transaction. It’s 100% Amazon’s fault and leaving a negative review is a **** thing to do. Contact customer service instead and yell at them. On that note, if a seller reaches out and makes things right, leave a good review or edit the bad review you left. The good Sellers work hard for their reviews and you shouldn’t **** on them for Amazon’s mistakes.

The conclusion is Not correct in all aspects in my opinion, even If the prices are higher, i suppose people will still buy at Amazon. Most of stuff we sell can be purchased elsewhere cheaper, our target group are lazy buyers or people with money who do not care.

I guess the assumption can be right with other products, where buyers could be more hesitant when prices are higher.

[$20 on joe vs dan]

1 hour ago, Sozial said:

The conclusion is Not correct in all aspects in my opinion, even If the prices are higher, i suppose people will still buy at Amazon. Most of stuff we sell can be purchased elsewhere cheaper, our target group are lazy buyers or people with money who do not care.

I guess the assumption can be right with other products, where buyers could be more hesitant when prices are higher.

Amazon sells convenience with competitive pricing of stuff

honestly...in this age, convenience sells better than sex... it's all about the target markets.  I used to think that a drive-thru at Starbucks made no sense...until I had a baby in a childseat. Yesterday I ordered wipers for my car while waiting in a parking lot (it was raining).

I am hoping Walmart can do better...and have some hope for Target as well to provide some reasonable competition for Amazon...  as delivery prices get more and more expensive I see a future of shipping regions (similar to USPS); the notion that it should cost the same to ship within a state vs cross country is stupid and makes 70% who live in big markets subsidize shipping for everyone else (same analogy applies to urban centers vs rural).