Selling Lego on Amazon.com

[Bold-Arrow]

19 minutes ago, redcell said:

If they've lost an entire shipment, chances are that it has simply been misplaced and you'll get the inventory when they eventually find it.  They lost an entire pallet of inventory a few years back and it took around 3 months, but it eventually showed up in my inventory.

If they're only asking you to prove up units you've sold over the last 12 months, they're tightening that requirement.  It used to be that you'd have to prove ownership of enough inventory to support every unit that you had sold of an item from the beginning of time until the date of the shipment...and if you're even 1 unit short, they'll deny the entire claim.  The requirement is a total PIA, but makes sense if you think about it.  If I've bought and sold 1000 units of a given item and decide to gin up a reimbursement claim by including another 100 units on a shipment that never show up to a FC, this requirement prevents me from using the invoices for the 1000 legit units to support reimbursement for the non-legit 100 that I'm trying to scam them on.  

One upshot of this type of situation can be that you can get reimbursed for the inventory AND get to sell it if it shows up well after that reimbursement has processed.  I'm not sure if they've put things in place to prevent this from happening now, but I've had a few instances over the years where I got to double-dip.  On one occasion, I even wrote to them to tell them they'd already reimbursed me for the inventory and they told me to go ahead and sell it.

Most, not all ,  of the time they reverse the inventory reimbursement if the stuff is found. Sometimes the reversal  wont show till 6 months after the fact 

[redcell]

Most, not all ,  of the time they reverse the inventory reimbursement if the stuff is found. Sometimes the reversal  wont show till 6 months after the fact 

I guess I haven’t paid that much attention. I wonder if they charged people back when they did the huge warehouse clean out a year or so ago and found stuff from 6-7 years ago still floating around.


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[vasp]

Free for all ungating has been the biggest disappointment.

I think it was lego that put the brakes a couple of years ago. Amazon at that point grandfathered all old timers and new sellers were to seek permission at ASIN level. 

Wonder whatever happened to that process.

Moreover holiday metric requirements were very helpful.

Now, a just launched seller comes in drops price from $75 to $25 and Boom - all listings get closed due to pricing error/fair pricing etc etc.

 

[pharmjod]

14 minutes ago, vasp said:

Free for all ungating has been the biggest disappointment.

I think it was lego that put the brakes a couple of years ago. Amazon at that point grandfathered all old timers and new sellers were to seek permission at ASIN level. 

Wonder whatever happened to that process.

Moreover holiday metric requirements were very helpful.

Now, a just launched seller comes in drops price from $75 to $25 and Boom - all listings get closed due to pricing error/fair pricing etc etc.

 

Preach

[407brianb8872]

27 minutes ago, pharmjod said:

Preach

Absolutely brutal. Look at the prices, by this time every year past, we have started to see the jump in price. Add to it, these very real sales, shows the demand is ebbing and maybe largely. Boys, those of us who are $10’s of thousands in this… are in for a longer hold than comfortable. I think we will see a lot of sellers panic and dump their stuff as they need liquidity. 

[Bold-Arrow]

1 hour ago, 407brianb8872 said:

Absolutely brutal. Look at the prices, by this time every year past, we have started to see the jump in price. Add to it, these very real sales, shows the demand is ebbing and maybe largely. Boys, those of us who are $10’s of thousands in this… are in for a longer hold than comfortable. I think we will see a lot of sellers panic and dump their stuff as they need liquidity. 

that's ok. I think it is too early to sell my Orc Forge's anyhow. Hope the batteries didn't go bad. Glad I didn't find some stuff behind the furnace a la  @BrickLegacy

[Darth_Raichu]

3 hours ago, vasp said:

 

Now, a just launched seller comes in drops price from $75 to $25 and Boom - all listings get closed due to pricing error/fair pricing etc etc.

 

The bigger problem is Amazon's price ceiling algorithm.  Just because 1 out of 100 available stock is sold at much lower price, does not automatically mean the other 99 have to be sold at that low price.  Basically, Amazon would rather nuke the whole ASIN rather than letting the market decide the fair price of an item. 

That is unless Amazon is also selling on that ASIN.  Their inventory can still show up at much higher price like $35 even though plenty of sellers sold the item at $7 and even more sellers are pricing at around $7.

 

Can't you tell I hate double standards ?

[landphieran]

5 hours ago, 407brianb8872 said:

Absolutely brutal. Look at the prices, by this time every year past, we have started to see the jump in price. Add to it, these very real sales, shows the demand is ebbing and maybe largely. Boys, those of us who are $10’s of thousands in this… are in for a longer hold than comfortable. I think we will see a lot of sellers panic and dump their stuff as they need liquidity. 

When blood 🩸 is in the water🦈🦈

Bout to buy me up some newbies. RAWR.

[pharmjod]

8 hours ago, Darth_Raichu said:

Can't you tell I hate double standards ?

If it weren't for double standards Amazon would have no standards at all.

[Bold-Arrow]

Updated Holiday Return Policy : 

The 2022 extended holiday returns window will be in effect from October 11 through December 25, allowing customers to return most items through January 31, 2023.

[Darth_Raichu]

41 minutes ago, Bold-Arrow said:

Updated Holiday Return Policy : 

The 2022 extended holiday returns window will be in effect from October 11 through December 25, allowing customers to return most items through January 31, 2023.

Lord Bezos in his infinite wisdom had graciously granted you 10 fewer days than the original announced dates (10/7 - 12/31). 

Kneel and kiss his rings you peasants !!!

[chaozz]

16 minutes ago, Darth_Raichu said:

Lord Bezos in his infinite wisdom had graciously granted you 10 fewer days than the original announced dates (10/7 - 12/31). 

Kneel and kiss his rings you peasants !!!

Walmart started it on OCT 1st, Return rate on Walmart is much much higher,

[Darth_Raichu]

Just now, chaozz said:

Walmart started it on OCT 1st, Return rate on Walmart is much much higher,

When does Walmart's holiday return period end ? Is it 12/31 ?

As a smaller scale seller, I do not know if I want to sell at Walmart anytime soon with their higher return rate

Granted it may not matter by the end of this year

[cobrakai]

As good as the profits were in 2020 and the 1st half of 2021, it wasn't worth it when I look back on it.  I make my full time living selling toys online and the past year has been the worst by far since I started 8 years ago. It seems like there were a lot of people bored and staying home with more free time and money to get into collecting.  This inflated demand at the same time supply was scarce.  Now these toy companies have ramped up production based on that inflated demand during 2020/early 2021 and there is no scarcity and also less demand (partially based on MSRPs being raised too high.)  Shipping container costs have dropped 75% since the peak and that was one of the main reasons costs went up for toys, but i'm not sure we will see toy companies dropping prices. Everything is totally out of whack right now.

[chaozz]

To help build customer trust and confidence this holiday season, we're giving your shoppers the gift of an extended return window. This means that all items sold between 10/1/2022 and 12/31/2022 will have an extended return window and shall be returnable until January 31, 2023. This applies to all orders except wireless phones, Walmart protection plans, AppleCare, precious metals, and select luxury items.

[Bold-Arrow]

1 minute ago, chaozz said:

To help build customer trust and confidence this holiday season, we're giving your shoppers the gift of an extended return window. This means that all items sold between 10/1/2022 and 12/31/2022 will have an extended return window and shall be returnable until January 31, 2023. This applies to all orders except wireless phones, Walmart protection plans, AppleCare, precious metals, and select luxury items.

That has been revised twice now. 

[chaozz]

12 minutes ago, cobrakai said:

As good as the profits were in 2020 and the 1st half of 2021, it wasn't worth it when I look back on it.  I make my full time living selling toys online and the past year has been the worst by far since I started 8 years ago. It seems like there were a lot of people bored and staying home with more free time and money to get into collecting.  This inflated demand at the same time supply was scarce.  Now these toy companies have ramped up production based on that inflated demand during 2020/early 2021 and there is no scarcity and also less demand (partially based on MSRPs being raised too high.)  Shipping container costs have dropped 75% since the peak and that was one of the main reasons costs went up for toys, but i'm not sure we will see toy companies dropping prices. Everything is totally out of whack right now.

You nailed it,  So many lego that Amazon should of run out of they still have, Or there is still to many sellers to get a good return, Or buy box is still suppressed , Bright side of inflation parents will go with out gifts and still buy for kids

[chaozz]

4 minutes ago, Bold-Arrow said:

That has been revised twice now. 

I got that email the 27th, 

We stopped selling pretty much any lego over $100, the return rate on Walmart is insane, One of our accounts it was 18%, I open cases on all claiming it was trashed and unsellable. Get a few bucks back,

[Bold-Arrow]

4 minutes ago, chaozz said:

I got that email the 27th, 

We stopped selling pretty much any lego over $100, the return rate on Walmart is insane, One of our accounts it was 18%, I open cases on all claiming it was trashed and unsellable. Get a few bucks back,

The one I posted earlier today was just announced today. Wow @ 18%, nuts 

[chaozz]

21 minutes ago, Bold-Arrow said:

The one I posted earlier today was just announced today. Wow @ 18%, nuts 

Sometimes I think it's Amazon sellers swapping items, Plus the amount of "Lost after delivery" All you have to do is call Walmart and say it shows delivered but I did not get it.

and you get all your money back, I'm not about to put sig on everything.  

[cobrakai]

7 minutes ago, chaozz said:

Sometimes I think it's Amazon sellers swapping items, Plus the amount of "Lost after delivery" All you have to do is call Walmart and say it shows delivered but I did not get it.

and you get all your money back, I'm not about to put sig on everything.  

I switched 99% of my Walmart stuff to Walmart fulfillment.  They eat the cost on all the lost after delivery refunds.  My return rate is about 4%.

[chaozz]

Just now, cobrakai said:

I switched 99% of my Walmart stuff to Walmart fulfillment.  They eat the cost on all the lost after delivery refunds.  My return rate is about 4%.

the shipping to them is supper cheap, I just don't get anywhere near the volume Amazon does, 

[Darth_Raichu]

4 minutes ago, chaozz said:

the shipping to them is supper cheap, I just don't get anywhere near the volume Amazon does, 

The 3PS prices at Walmart are often higher than Amazon.  How do Walmart 3PS sellers justify higher price when volume is lower than Amazon ?

[landphieran]

Does anyone know the logic behind suppressing a listings buy box, only to show "Buying options"?

In my opinion there should be no reason to not have a featured seller. Not having a head buying option destroys a listings selling rank. I've been the buy box leader then randomly the buy box disappears off of the listing for seemingly no reason.

[Darth_Raichu]

6 minutes ago, landphieran said:

Does anyone know the logic behind suppressing a listings buy box, only to show "Buying options"?

In my opinion there should be no reason to not have a featured seller. Not having a head buying option destroys a listings selling rank. I've been the buy box leader then randomly the buy box disappears off of the listing for seemingly no reason.

My guess is, Amazon want you to pay extra to become the featured seller for an ASIN.  Kind of like the current Ebay model