Selling Lego on Amazon.com

[Bold-Arrow]

2 minutes ago, fossilrock said:

If something is discontinued by the manufacturer, in theory that could trigger amazon to unlock it.  I doubt the Force Awakens sets will be gated once lego no longer supplies it.  Amazon's not going to leave money on the table.  And those sort of locks barring certain resellers that don't meet a set group of criteria to be released by having an expiration date placed on any inventory within the inventory management system. 

Pretty sure that is not the case , enter Disney Frozen . 

[fossilrock]

15 minutes ago, Bold-Arrow said:

Pretty sure that is not the case , enter Disney Frozen . 

Maybe.  I guess we won't know until these force awakens sets get discontinued.  I also think this could be tested, if someone out there that is currently locked out goes in and tries to add a set that is currently (discontinued by manufacturer).  

[pcaster]

Hoping one of you that better understands how the catalog is managed can help shed some light on the "discontinued by manufacturer" thing.  I've made a couple of requests to seller support to make corrections at one point or another - typically for weight or size so that FBA shipping fees would be computed correctly.  Is there a certain level of permission that a seller can request or purchase to make changes themselves, even if they didn't originate the listing?

I feel like this "discontinued" name change is going to hurt sales more than help, but I'm guessing some seller wanted it to be added because they thought the opposite.  It will be interesting to see what happens to sales rank over the next month or two for the items that have been changed.

[Bold-Arrow]

^ there are no levels of permissions when it comes to seller support. However some changes are more tideous than others and require more documentation . With experience you will learn what to send from the get go to make your like easier . 

[pcaster]

Thanks BA - I guess my question wasn't clear though.  What I'm really asking is if it would have been possible for a seller to make these name changes without having to involve seller support.  I'm just having a hard time seeing Amazon initiating these changes, especially with some of the errors when they first showed up.

[Bold-Arrow]

2 minutes ago, pcaster said:

Thanks BA - I guess my question wasn't clear though.  What I'm really asking is if it would have been possible for a seller to make these name changes without having to involve seller support.  I'm just having a hard time seeing Amazon initiating these changes, especially with some of the errors when they first showed up.

If I recall correctly , there are certain things that only the original listing creator can change and I believe the pic and tiltes are few examples , however I am not sure . I gave up changing or modifying listings  on my own since those changes don't seem to stick unless seller support gets involved as the creator would undo my actions . 

[redcell]

I always thought the discontinued by manufacturer tag was added by sellers who were trying to remove the Buy Box limitations so that a BB would appear even when there was a larger spread from MSRP.

[amtrak23]

24 minutes ago, pcaster said:

Thanks BA - I guess my question wasn't clear though.  What I'm really asking is if it would have been possible for a seller to make these name changes without having to involve seller support.  I'm just having a hard time seeing Amazon initiating these changes, especially with some of the errors when they first showed up.

Yes, a seller can make these changes sometimes. It depends on their asin authority (or detail page control) level, which is a score that if high enough can let you make detail page changes. People with high scores can make changes at will.

[Bold-Arrow]

2 minutes ago, amtrak23 said:

Yes, a seller can make these changes sometimes. It depends on their asin authority (or detail page control) level, which is a score that if high enough can let you make detail page changes. People with high scores can make changes at will.

that does explain a lot 

[jaisonline]

4 hours ago, asharerin said:

Newbie can you try add ASIN B00NHQFMKM?

Are you allowed to sell that or is that blocked for you?

i'm not allowed to sell the ucs helicarrer set   so far of all the sets i tried, only the TFA snowspeeder was allowed to be listed.

[asharerin]

4 minutes ago, jaisonline said:

i'm not allowed to sell the ucs helicarrer set   so far of all the sets i tried, only the TFA snowspeeder was allowed to be listed.

Sounds like you are blocked from the Lego brand, and the TFA Snowspeeder must be under TFA and not Lego.

Had you sold Lego on Amazon recently?

[jaisonline]

5 minutes ago, asharerin said:

Sounds like you are blocked from the Lego brand, and the TFA Snowspeeder must be under TFA and not Lego.

Had you sold Lego on Amazon recently?

update: the TFA snowspeeder is now blocked.  no, i haven't sold lego on amazon recently.  been at least 2 years.  a seller support rep is helping me. i'm on hold.  i seriously doubt she will be able to help me.

[KShine]

1 minute ago, jaisonline said:

update: the TFA snowspeeder is now blocked.  no, i haven't sold lego on amazon recently.  been at least 2 years.  a seller support rep is helping me. i'm on hold.  i seriously doubt she will be able to help me.

Do you sell through ebay as well?

[jaisonline]

3 minutes ago, KShine said:

Do you sell through ebay as well?

ebay and bricklink.

[asharerin]

28 minutes ago, jaisonline said:

update: the TFA snowspeeder is now blocked.  no, i haven't sold lego on amazon recently.  been at least 2 years.  a seller support rep is helping me. i'm on hold.  i seriously doubt she will be able to help me.

They must have had something in their criteria regarding recent lego sales to grandfather people in then. Let us know if that rep was able to do anything for you.

[jaisonline]

6 minutes ago, asharerin said:

They must have had something in their criteria regarding recent lego sales to grandfather people in then. Let us know if that rep was able to do anything for you.

so far the reps were useless.  my case has been escalated again. 

 

[Migration]

so far the reps were useless.  my case has been escalated again. 

 

Shocking.

[tjenson]

Anyone trying to make sense of this situation while the rollout is only partially complete is wasting their time, re: ASIN level restrictions vs Brand restrictions, grandfathering, etc.

Might as well be trying to figure out how to put lipstick and lotion on a lepin barbie doll...in the dark.

[asharerin]

4 minutes ago, tjenson said:

Anyone trying to make sense of this situation while the rollout is only partially complete is wasting their time, re: ASIN level restrictions vs Brand restrictions, grandfathering, etc.

So what part of the gating process have they not rolled out exactly?

[redcell]

I think the question is whether they are rolling out these new restrictions in one shot or in waves so that those of us beyond the gate now may not stay there in the coming weeks/months.

[tacsniper]

Is it just me or is this very irresponsible of Amazon to just drop the gates without any advance warning to its current sellers? At this time of the year, many sellers will have their POs in or have inventory arriving for the Christmas rush.

I understand it is Amazon's store and they can set restrictions as they see fit. But doing it weeks prior to the start of the holiday rush is going to screw a lot of small time sellers who may have been stacking inventory throughout the year.

[asharerin]

7 minutes ago, redcell said:

I think the question is whether they are rolling out these new restrictions in one shot or in waves so that those of us beyond the gate now may not stay there in the coming weeks/months.

Seems like they gated 8/26 for everyone at the same time from what I have been reading. Given sellers only have until 8/30 to provide proof if it is required for their accounts I doubt this is going in waves.

[jaisonline]

Amazon support got back to me via email.  Basically, they are blaming Lego.  I'm just shaking my head.  Note: I talked to big Amazon FBA Lego reseller (2 years selling FBA)  He's current stock seems fine but he's now noticing approval restrictions on new listings.  He was unaware of all of this until I called him today.

Anyway, here is the email Amazon seller support sent me 15 mins ago.

Dear Seller,

I understand your issue regarding your ASIN B00NHQFMKM and I deeply regret the inconvenience caused to you in this regard.

I would like to inform you that there is a recent gating on this product by the manufacturer. Please know that such products are currently restricted to be listed. Only sellers with prior manufacturer's authorization are allowed to list such product.

Please note that the manufacturer of this product must have requested our categories team to restrict sellers from listing this product.

To ensure buyer satisfaction our seller performance team occasionally restrict the sales of certain products to pre-approved sellers. Although certain sellers may be listing these items, Amazon is not accepting new offers at this time both for seller fulfilled and Amazon fulfilled listings.

Please know that the pre-approved sellers refers to the sellers who are directly approved by manufacturer to be their preferred distributors.

These listings have been restricted based on reports that some customers have received products that are inconsistent with the product detail pages. It is no reflection on you as a seller. It is just a way for us to protect both the buyer as well as our sellers. Due to the nature of this restriction, Seller Support cannot provide further information or approve new requests to list/relist this ASIN.

Please understand that the decision to allow sellers to list this item only relies with the manufacturer and the categories team.

Having said so, I would also like to inform you that as of now, our team is currently working on the making the process of gaining approval easier for our sellers and we are currently waiting for an update regarding the same.

I also see that you have listed the products earlier with this brand name however they are now having block placed on them in your inventory due to the same restriction.

--> link removed 

In this case, I request you to kindly request approval by referring to the below link.

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I deeply apologize for the delay that this may cause you but request you to kindly allow us the time to provide you with the best solution.

Your patience and understanding in this regard would be much appreciated.

If you still have any issues, please use the following link to get in contact with a member of our Seller Support team:
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/contact-us/contact-amazon-form.html

[redcell]

They must have had something in their criteria regarding recent lego sales to grandfather people in then. Let us know if that rep was able to do anything for you.

I didn't get gated on Funko or Lego. I have sold maybe 15 Funko Pops worth around $200 total over the past year so I don't think it is necessarily based on volume.

[tacsniper]

44 minutes ago, jaisonline said:

Please note that the manufacturer of this product must have requested our categories team to restrict sellers from listing this product.

To ensure buyer satisfaction our seller performance team occasionally restrict the sales of certain products to pre-approved sellers. Although certain sellers may be listing these items, Amazon is not accepting new offers at this time both for seller fulfilled and Amazon fulfilled listings.

Please know that the pre-approved sellers refers to the sellers who are directly approved by manufacturer to be their preferred distributors.

This is becoming more and more common practice among brand name items. Samsung began doing this on Amazon couple years ago due to rampant counterfeit products. Manufacturers will rarely issue letters to Amazon as new agreements often prevent resellers to sell on online market place as the brand registry owner want full control of the online market. Companies like Otterbox made dealers sign new agreements of not to sell in online market places before they can order from their distributors again.

Edited August 27, 2016 by tacsniper