Selling Lego on Amazon.com

[DadsAFOL]

14 minutes ago, Bold-Arrow said:

In related news :

 

We were one of the early SFP sellers.  I can't say if its really worth it or not.  On one hand, sales are up significantly when items have the Prime badge.  On the other hand, you must buy shipping from Amazon and sometimes it forces you into an expensive overnight cross country option.  If you FBA that is the far better option because they cover whatever postage it takes to get your item delivered on time.  However if you have items that you don't want to send to FBA so that you can control box quality, its a good option to stay competitive as long as you are prepared to eat the occasional crazy shipping cost.

The other thing is its extremely maddening to be at the mercy of the USPS (or UPS but not FedEx because Amazon and FedEx don't play together).  If they don't deliver on time for ANY REASON, you take the hit.  If your on-time delivery metric drops below the threshold you get a "time out" and lose your Prime badging for at least a week until your metric returns to green.

 

[redcell]

24 minutes ago, exciter1 said:

Crossing fingers they'll fix that.

If they don't change the TFA/Star Wars gate, it will be worth it to go through the ungating process, particularly if they apply the gate at the brand level so that you would be automatically approved for any new rounds of SW products that get gated.  If the gate stays in place, the gated ASINs will become very profitable over time because of the limited competition.

[Bold-Arrow]

1 minute ago, redcell said:

If they don't change the TFA/ Star Wars gate, it will be worth it to go through the ungating process, particularly if they apply the gate at the brand level so that you would be automatically approved for any new rounds of SW products that get gated.  If the gate stays in place, the gated ASINs will become very profitable over time because of the limited competition.

Curious if last year's ungatting process would still work for Lego TFA or if things changed with the new rules . 

[exciter1]

5 minutes ago, Bold-Arrow said:

Curious if last year's ungatting process would still work for Lego TFA or if things changed with the new rules . 

I'm just thinking they have to be gated by ASIN and it's just a matter of time. 

[redcell]

22 minutes ago, Bold-Arrow said:

Curious if last year's ungatting process would still work for Lego TFA or if things changed with the new rules . 

If you weren't ungated for TFA, but can still list Lego, check and see if you can list Poe's X-Wing.  I got ungated on TFA so I can't see if the recent changes had any effect on that level.

[Bold-Arrow]

1 minute ago, redcell said:

If you weren't ungated for TFA, but can still list Lego, check and see if you can list Poe's X-Wing.  I got ungated on TFA so I can't see if the recent changes had any effect on that level.

We are gonna need a third volunteer for our expirement 

[exciter1]

8 minutes ago, redcell said:

If you weren't ungated for TFA, but can still list Lego, check and see if you can list Poe's X-Wing.  I got ungated on TFA so I can't see if the recent changes had any effect on that level.

Yep, I'm good for Rey, Troop Transporter, Kylo Ren and Poe.  I'm still restricted on the Falcon, but it's still in the Star Wars category.

Sorry guys!

[jaxman]

I can list Poe, Rey, and the transporter.  No go on the Falcon.  Basically ditto what @exciter1 said.  I was gated on TFA previously.

Edited August 30, 2016 by jaxman

[redcell]

It will be interesting to revisit once the Rogue One toys come out to see how they're implementing the gate for those products.

[jaxman]

Poe's X-Wing was part of the original TFA gate, correct?

[Bold-Arrow]

Just now, jaxman said:

Poe's X-Wing was part of the original TFA gate, correct?

Yes 

[newbie77]

1 hour ago, DadsAFOL said:

We were one of the early SFP sellers.  I can't say if its really worth it or not.  On one hand, sales are up significantly when items have the Prime badge.  On the other hand, you must buy shipping from Amazon and sometimes it forces you into an expensive overnight cross country option.  If you FBA that is the far better option because they cover whatever postage it takes to get your item delivered on time.  However if you have items that you don't want to send to FBA so that you can control box quality, its a good option to stay competitive as long as you are prepared to eat the occasional crazy shipping cost.

The other thing is its extremely maddening to be at the mercy of the USPS (or UPS but not FedEx because Amazon and FedEx don't play together).  If they don't deliver on time for ANY REASON, you take the hit.  If your on-time delivery metric drops below the threshold you get a "time out" and lose your Prime badging for at least a week until your metric returns to green.

 

well said amount you can charge for shipping or the shipping credit you get is so low it doesn't cover anything unless you increase the price then you aren't competitive enough...

[Loghamel]

My guess is that they'll all be un-gated.  Last night when I checked, Poe's, Rey's, Obi's, and MF were all gated for me.  Today, only the MF remains gated.  And these are just the first 4 or 5 I checked today.

Just checked and FOT is another that is no longer gated for me.  My stacks of TFA sets are looking so much better right now.  I really hope they don't change the rules again to kick me out until after the holidays.

Edited August 30, 2016 by Loghamel

[jaxman]

1 hour ago, Loghamel said:

 My stacks of TFA sets are looking so much better right now.

Ditto this.

1 hour ago, Loghamel said:

I really hope they don't change the rules again to kick me out until after the holidays.

And double ditto that.

[belljohn]

Anyone get a notice about a new anti counterfeiter listing fee of a $1000?

Nothing for me yet, but I am a little worried.

"No list of brands or products has been publicly released, but sellers said they've been notified about the $1,500 charge to sell Nike, Adidas and Asics shoes. In different categories, Amazon is charging $1,000 to sell products from Hasbro, Lego, Pokemon and others."

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/08/29/amazons-plan-to-fight-counterfeiters-will-cost-legit-sellers-a-ton.html

[exciter1]

2 minutes ago, belljohn said:

Anyone get a notice about a new anti counterfeiter listing fee of a $1000?

Nothing for me yet, but I am a little worried.

"No list of brands or products has been publicly released, but sellers said they've been notified about the $1,500 charge to sell Nike, Adidas and Asics shoes. In different categories, Amazon is charging $1,000 to sell products from Hasbro, Lego, Pokemon and others."

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/08/29/amazons-plan-to-fight-counterfeiters-will-cost-legit-sellers-a-ton.html

From what we've noticed so far, these are for new or existing sellers who were not grandfathered in.

[fossilrock]

WOOO HOOOO I can list in all the Force Awakens sets from last years force friday!  What happened?  Who sucked up to Amazon?

[newbie77]

4 minutes ago, fossilrock said:

WOOO HOOOO I can list in all the Force Awakens sets from last years force friday!  What happened?  Who sucked up to Amazon?

must be few of 1MM+ sellers

[Phil B]

4 minutes ago, fossilrock said:

WOOO HOOOO I can list in all the Force Awakens sets from last years force friday!  What happened?  Who sucked up to Amazon?

As reported earlier, because the entire LEGO brand is now gated, the individual ASIN gates have slowly been removed, with the last ones disappearing just in the last 24hrs.

[fossilrock]

6 minutes ago, newbie77 said:

must be few of 1MM+ sellers

Actually, I just looked, and most of the Force Awakens sets don't have a lot of sellers yet at all.  This could be a good thing.  Now that the gate is locked, and some of us sit behind it.... I'm a little giddy that those days of seeing 200+ sellers on amazon could be history.  This might mean, I can stack up on advent calendars this year and laugh at all those that did that last year! 

[diablo2112]

Been reading and lurking in this thread for the last week.  Am I the only person that thinks Amazon's actions amount to restraint of trade?  I'm no lawyer, so I really don't know.  Arbitrary fees ($1000-$5000), new rules, etc. all seem to amount to unfair trade practices.  Anybody who understands this stuff want to chime in?  I'm all for Amazon fighting counterfeits; taking out legitimate sellers in the process is much more concerning.  

I would be willing to bet we'll soon see some counteraction from third party sellers on the legal front.  Class action?

 

[Bold-Arrow]

9 minutes ago, fossilrock said:

Actually, I just looked, and most of the Force Awakens sets don't have a lot of sellers yet at all.  This could be a good thing.  Now that the gate is locked, and some of us sit behind it.... I'm a little giddy that those days of seeing 200+ sellers on amazon could be history.  This might mean, I can stack up on advent calendars this year and laugh at all those that did that last year! 

The same 400+ sellers who listed Santa can in theory list all TFA sets and advents . I wouldnt be too optimistic just yet . 

[biking_tiger]

1 minute ago, diablo2112 said:

Been reading and lurking in this thread for the last week.  Am I the only person that thinks Amazon's actions amount to restraint of trade?  I'm no lawyer, so I really don't know.  Arbitrary fees ($1000-$5000), new rules, etc. all seem to amount to unfair trade practices.  Anybody who understands this stuff want to chime in?  I'm all for Amazon fighting counterfeits; taking out legitimate sellers in the process is much more concerning.  

I would be willing to bet we'll soon see some counteraction from third party sellers on the legal front.  Class action?

 

I wouldn't be surprised to see the lawsuits, but Amazon isn't restricting the only avenue of trade. I think that's the key--but I'm no lawyer, either. I'd guess they can do whatever they want because it's their store. Amazon is not a free marketplace. 

[newbie77]

2 minutes ago, diablo2112 said:

Been reading and lurking in this thread for the last week.  Am I the only person that thinks Amazon's actions amount to restraint of trade?  I'm no lawyer, so I really don't know.  Arbitrary fees ($1000-$5000), new rules, etc. all seem to amount to unfair trade practices.  Anybody who understands this stuff want to chime in?  I'm all for Amazon fighting counterfeits; taking out legitimate sellers in the process is much more concerning.  

I would be willing to bet we'll soon see some counteraction from third party sellers on the legal front.  Class action?

 

what class action? none of the requirement for class action are met.

1. they are imposing it to new sellers or can impose to existing sellers. As long as they treat all of the sellers equally there is no class action.

 

[asharerin]

3 minutes ago, diablo2112 said:

Been reading and lurking in this thread for the last week.  Am I the only person that thinks Amazon's actions amount to restraint of trade?  I'm no lawyer, so I really don't know.  Arbitrary fees ($1000-$5000), new rules, etc. all seem to amount to unfair trade practices.  Anybody who understands this stuff want to chime in?  I'm all for Amazon fighting counterfeits; taking out legitimate sellers in the process is much more concerning.  

I would be willing to bet we'll soon see some counteraction from third party sellers on the legal front.  Class action?

 

When you sign up as a seller you agree to waive all of your rights. Nobody is forcing anyone to sell on their platform. Amazon rules change every 4-6 months, and will continue to do so. The only ones who may have a case are the brand owners who Amazon is now making money off.