Selling Lego on Amazon.com

[BrickLegacy]

16 minutes ago, legolegolego2014 said:

I have had returned FBA sets that did not have my label bar code and I did not commingle. Amazon is constantly shifting shipments to meet their needs. It could also happen that way. 

That would really piss me off if it were true (it probably is)

[brickology101]

9 minutes ago, legolegolego2014 said:

I have had returned FBA sets that did not have my label bar code and I did not commingle. Amazon is constantly shifting shipments to meet their needs. It could also happen that way. 

I make a mark on my sets, visible yet discrete, and conveniently located so I know where to look when a set is coming back to me. I take a picture of the mark and each seal. I don't know in the end if this would make a difference with AMZ CS when asking for a reimbursement on a set that supposedly wasn't mine in the first place. I never really had to because since I started marking my sets it seems I am only getting mines back, how strange ?

[legolegolego2014]

9 minutes ago, brickology101 said:

I make a mark on my sets, visible yet discrete, and conveniently located so I know where to look when a set is coming back to me. I take a picture of the mark and each seal. I don't know in the end if this would make a difference with AMZ CS when asking for a reimbursement on a set that supposedly wasn't mine in the first place. I never really had to because since I started marking my sets it seems I am only getting mines back, how strange ?

I mostly get my own back but have had a few random stickers here and there. 

[exciter1]

Anyone else get a premature scary message from Amazon again today?  I think they did the same about this time last year.

 

[Bold-Arrow]

1 minute ago, exciter1 said:

Anyone else get a premature scary message from Amazon again today?  I think they did the same about this time last year.

 

mine said i am good to go 

[exciter1]

mine said i am good to go 

Well, mine says this and I’m not sure why.

We are writing to let you know that your seller account does not currently meet some or all of the following Holiday Selling Guidelines for the Toys & Games store this holiday season. This notice only serves as a warning your account may not be eligible to sell during the holiday. Final eligibility decisions will be sent on October 10, 2018:

[Bold-Arrow]

Just now, exciter1 said:

Well, mine says this and I’m not sure why.

We are writing to let you know that your seller account does not currently meet some or all of the following Holiday Selling Guidelines for the Toys & Games store this holiday season. This notice only serves as a warning your account may not be eligible to sell during the holiday. Final eligibility decisions will be sent on October 10, 2018:

I am thinking they meant FBM , they probably will send out a clarification  

[marcandre]

I got that message. It has this at the bottom:

Please note that your orders that use Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) will not be subject to the holiday season shipping requirements. 

[exciter1]

24 minutes ago, Bold-Arrow said:

I am thinking they meant FBM , they probably will send out a clarification  

I figure that's probably the case.

8 minutes ago, marcandre said:

I got that message. It has this at the bottom:

Please note that your orders that use Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) will not be subject to the holiday season shipping requirements. 

Mine says that too.  After all these years, I had at hoped at some point they could clear up the language.

[4cs]

12 hours ago, cladner said:

That kind of extra twist of the knife would make me more worried about competition being mad at me for either bombing the listing with large quantity and/or undercutting the price of a listing that has been stable for a long period of time.  not saying this is what happened - just how my paranoid mind works.

 

I was curious about that as well. Earlier this year I was contacted by one of my competitors who sells mainly minifigures asking me why I don't price my items the same as him and a few of the others. To be clear, I'm not pricing well below the buy box to destroy the listing, but if i have 20-40 of a minifigure I want to move, I'll price it $0.03 - $0.05 below the buy box to move the product quickly. Most of my other items I price close to buy box or above at the sales point goal I have for that item. Basically the person said in their messages "if you undercut me again, I'll destroy your listings". Well, at that point I just let it die on the vine assuming they were just being hot-headed and I didn't want to open a can of worms by turning them into AMZ (they even messaged me through the AMZ network) and have an enemy out there waiting to ruin my online presence.

To clarify, the 70751 set in question was never returned by a buyer, and I don't see any negative feedback claiming the inauthenticity, only the scary email from AMZ.

If selling on AMZ, especially in the buildup to holiday selling, is as tenuous as one motivated competitor lying to remove me from the marketplace then my confidence in the platform is gone. I've heard some of you mention creating multiple accounts to be a backstop in the event of something like this, but seriously, is that what it has come to?

[marcandre]

47 minutes ago, exciter1 said:

I figure that's probably the case.

Mine says that too.  After all these years, I had at hoped at some point they could clear up the language.

No kidding. This was the first email I received from them on it this season. I assumed I had Sept & Oct. If I had not asked here I would not have known the change & been left with 11 days to move 25 FBM. 

[odysea11]

The Amazon forums are blowing up about that right now. They did the same thing last if you recall. They followed that message up with an apology shortly thereafter. I got the same message....

[exciter1]

Just now, odysea11 said:

The Amazon forums are blowing up about that right now. They did the same thing last if you recall. They followed that message up with an apology shortly thereafter. I got the same message....

OK, great, I wondered if it would get some attention.

[Migration]

30 minutes ago, 4cs said:

I was curious about that as well. Earlier this year I was contacted by one of my competitors who sells mainly minifigures asking me why I don't price my items the same as him and a few of the others. To be clear, I'm not pricing well below the buy box to destroy the listing, but if i have 20-40 of a minifigure I want to move, I'll price it $0.03 - $0.05 below the buy box to move the product quickly. Most of my other items I price close to buy box or above at the sales point goal I have for that item. Basically the person said in their messages "if you undercut me again, I'll destroy your listings". Well, at that point I just let it die on the vine assuming they were just being hot-headed and I didn't want to open a can of worms by turning them into AMZ (they even messaged me through the AMZ network) and have an enemy out there waiting to ruin my online presence.

To clarify, the 70751 set in question was never returned by a buyer, and I don't see any negative feedback claiming the inauthenticity, only the scary email from AMZ.

If selling on AMZ, especially in the buildup to holiday selling, is as tenuous as one motivated competitor lying to remove me from the marketplace then my confidence in the platform is gone. I've heard some of you mention creating multiple accounts to be a backstop in the event of something like this, but seriously, is that what it has come to?

Report that other seller.

1 hour ago, Bold-Arrow said:

I am thinking they meant FBM , they probably will send out a clarification  

I got the "good to go" email twice over the last month and a half, got the "no go" email today. Annoying. 

[Bold-Arrow]

32 minutes ago, 4cs said:

I was curious about that as well. Earlier this year I was contacted by one of my competitors who sells mainly minifigures asking me why I don't price my items the same as him and a few of the others. To be clear, I'm not pricing well below the buy box to destroy the listing, but if i have 20-40 of a minifigure I want to move, I'll price it $0.03 - $0.05 below the buy box to move the product quickly. Most of my other items I price close to buy box or above at the sales point goal I have for that item. Basically the person said in their messages "if you undercut me again, I'll destroy your listings". Well, at that point I just let it die on the vine assuming they were just being hot-headed and I didn't want to open a can of worms by turning them into AMZ (they even messaged me through the AMZ network) and have an enemy out there waiting to ruin my online presence.

should have reported them on the spot.

23 minutes ago, odysea11 said:

The Amazon forums are blowing up about that right now. They did the same thing last if you recall. They followed that message up with an apology shortly thereafter. I got the same message....

people love da drama of it all.. 

[cladner]

57 minutes ago, 4cs said:

I was curious about that as well. Earlier this year I was contacted by one of my competitors who sells mainly minifigures asking me why I don't price my items the same as him and a few of the others. To be clear, I'm not pricing well below the buy box to destroy the listing, but if i have 20-40 of a minifigure I want to move, I'll price it $0.03 - $0.05 below the buy box to move the product quickly. Most of my other items I price close to buy box or above at the sales point goal I have for that item. Basically the person said in their messages "if you undercut me again, I'll destroy your listings". Well, at that point I just let it die on the vine assuming they were just being hot-headed and I didn't want to open a can of worms by turning them into AMZ (they even messaged me through the AMZ network) and have an enemy out there waiting to ruin my online presence.

To clarify, the 70751 set in question was never returned by a buyer, and I don't see any negative feedback claiming the inauthenticity, only the scary email from AMZ.

If selling on AMZ, especially in the buildup to holiday selling, is as tenuous as one motivated competitor lying to remove me from the marketplace then my confidence in the platform is gone. I've heard some of you mention creating multiple accounts to be a backstop in the event of something like this, but seriously, is that what it has come to?

wow - that's very annoying to be threatened by the minifigure seller.  

yeah - that's pretty weird for amazon to randomly drop you the email.  i was assuming you had sold a 70751 and buyer was making claim.

did you have recent giant spike or ramp up in sales after a slower dormant period?  wondering what the red flag was to look at your inventory to make this claim.

 

 

Edited September 19, 2018 by cladner

[4cs]

1 minute ago, cladner said:

wow - that's very annoying to be threatened by the minifigure seller.  

yeah - that's pretty weird for amazon to randomly drop you the email.  i was assuming you had sold a 70751 and buyer was making claim.

did you have recent giant spike or ramp up in sales after a slower dormant period?  wondering what the red flag was to look at your inventory to make this claim.

 

 

No recent spike in sales, I'm pretty small potatoes compared to some I think, only about $1k per week in payments from AMZ. I've sold a handful of larger sets (AOH, TOA, EW) this year - a few FBM, but these two TOA were FBA.

[micbelt]

Anyone get the email about easy replacement for customers on FBA? This seems like it could be rife for scammers

Edited September 19, 2018 by micbelt

[brickology101]

3 hours ago, 4cs said:

No recent spike in sales, I'm pretty small potatoes compared to some I think, only about $1k per week in payments from AMZ. I've sold a handful of larger sets (AOH, TOA, EW) this year - a few FBM, but these two TOA were FBA.

1k$ a week, hey. I would call this average size potatoes definitely not small potatoes

[exciter1]

Anyone get the email about easy replacement for customers on FBA? This seems like it could be rife for scammers

Yes

[Bold-Arrow]

1 hour ago, micbelt said:

Anyone get the email about easy replacement for customers on FBA? This seems like it could be rife for scammers

this isn't new.. been in place for years but rarely applied. 

[justapilgrim]

just got my "this set is used" new/sealed friends hotel (selling around $260ish).

box beat to hell and then some, the shipping box is worse. Seals are popped and resealed with packing tape on both sides. everything inside is sealed but the first instruction book is missing. I am about 99% sure they reported this so they could get a free instruction book. Not sure what to do, but probably just move on. The buyer would not respond to my super polite email.

[brickology101]

1 hour ago, justapilgrim said:

just got my "this set is used" new/sealed friends hotel (selling around $260ish).

box beat to hell and then some, the shipping box is worse. Seals are popped and resealed with packing tape on both sides. everything inside is sealed but the first instruction book is missing. I am about 99% sure they reported this so they could get a free instruction book. Not sure what to do, but probably just move on. The buyer would not respond to my super polite email.

Now you are in getting your money back mode rather than making money. I would call AMZ CS and open a case. Ask to be reimbursed. Even a partial refund is good. Probably won’t work but try anyway. Next I would buy the missing instructions on bricklink. They are not so expensive. Then I would sell on eBay used or open box. Not much else you can do really.

[justapilgrim]

probably not worth the hassle. I can not "prove" what condition Amazon got it (they did accept it), as I also do not have wholesale inventory receipts. I just with there was a way to ding the buyer, or force them to respond to me. I do not have any more Heartlake hotels so I want to not stir up a hornet nest if I dont have to

[Phil B]

I had the 75153 ASIN in my tracking XLS, so I opened a case. Got a quick reply saying they fixed the node and it should reappear in 24-72 hours, but so far it hasn't shown yet (we're almost at 72hrs). I was also told to open new cases for each individual ASIN with the same problem, and as far as I can see this affects a whole block of LEGO products....

Ok, two weeks later and 75153 is still not showing. Case is still open, even had to provide them with the browse tree guide node. Anyone else had any luck getting some of the many missing sets to show?

 

Also discovered 76054 scarecrow Harvest of Fear is missing.

 

 

PS: Never received a go/no go notice for holiday selling last week when others were reporting it here. Should I worry? Made my 25 sales already.