Selling Lego on Amazon.com

[KShine]

It sounds as if people might start going back to selling LEGO out of their trunk, in the TRU parking lot.

I can't remember who mentioned doing that, years ago.

[Bold-Arrow]

Just now, KShine said:

It sounds as if people might start going back to selling LEGO out of their trunk, in the TRU parking lot.

I can't remember who mentioned doing that, years ago.

it is green and loves hotcakes 

[asharerin]

4 minutes ago, Bold-Arrow said:

my concern with the above method is box condition upon deviltry to buyer. ebay folks tend to be picky when it comes to dents and dings and Amazon has a bad record when it comes to keeping a big Lego set in pristine condition. 

Three ways we have figured to deal with this. Firstly is if we list a set as mint on ebay (which we almost never have) then we would pack carefully and box before sending into Amazon. That way when Amazon fulfills to the ebay customer it will arrive double boxed. If we are extremely worried we may even double box before sending to Amazon for MCF so it arrives triple boxed lol.

Second option is not to list mint on ebay and put in the description that it may show shelf or shipping wear. We were every successful in the past with this and if a customer ever messaged asking for a mint box prior to purchasing then they joined the blacklist. Never had an issue.

Third option which is very interesting to me but will require alot more thought and testing is to sell on ebay without the outer Lego box. That takes the box queens out of the equation and then we can easily store and sell the outer boxes if they become valuable in a few years. This appeals to me the most as customer service costs alot of time.

[exciter1]

It sounds as if people might start going back to selling LEGO out of their trunk, in the TRU parking lot.
I can't remember who mentioned doing that, years ago.

Can't remember??? You must be joking???

[Darth_Raichu]

2 hours ago, asharerin said:

Three ways we have figured to deal with this. Firstly is if we list a set as mint on ebay (which we almost never have) then we would pack carefully and box before sending into Amazon. That way when Amazon fulfills to the ebay customer it will arrive double boxed. If we are extremely worried we may even double box before sending to Amazon for MCF so it arrives triple boxed lol.

Second option is not to list mint on ebay and put in the description that it may show shelf or shipping wear. We were every successful in the past with this and if a customer ever messaged asking for a mint box prior to purchasing then they joined the blacklist. Never had an issue.

Third option which is very interesting to me but will require alot more thought and testing is to sell on ebay without the outer Lego box. That takes the box queens out of the equation and then we can easily store and sell the outer boxes if they become valuable in a few years. This appeals to me the most as customer service costs alot of time.

Lol so eBay is posed to benefit from this.  Even with the decreased FVF discount for TRS+, Amzn sellers are forced to go back to the so-called feebay

[asharerin]

1 hour ago, Darth_Raichu said:

Lol so eBay is posed to benefit from this.  Even with the decreased FVF discount for TRS+, Amzn sellers are forced to go back to the so-called feebay

I don't think they are forced to yet but we are going to be lightening up on our Lego medium to long term exposure and using ebay guaranteed delivery and Amazon MCF to capture some nice sales in 2017. 2018 and beyond we will be sticking to mostly FBA for Lego as long as they don't ban selling the brand entirely.

[Loghamel]

1 hour ago, asharerin said:

I don't think they are forced to yet but we are going to be lightening up on our Lego medium to long term exposure and using ebay guaranteed delivery and Amazon MCF to capture some nice sales in 2017. 2018 and beyond we will be sticking to mostly FBA for Lego as long as they don't ban selling the brand entirely.

I just can't see this happening.  Amazon is one of the only places to get retired sets.  If they did away with 3rd party sellers, they'd be no different than LEGO Shop at Home, WM, Target, etc.  I would love to see how many sets are sold and fulfilled by AMZ vs. how many are sold 3rd party.  I'm guessing the latter is a much, much larger number.  Add to that the fact that 3rd party sells are usually more than AMZ can charge for sets and that equals a TON of money they'd be missing out on.  eBay would REJOICE if Amazon ever pulled this.

[asharerin]

1 hour ago, Loghamel said:

I just can't see this happening.  Amazon is one of the only places to get retired sets.  If they did away with 3rd party sellers, they'd be no different than LEGO Shop at Home, WM, Target, etc.  I would love to see how many sets are sold and fulfilled by AMZ vs. how many are sold 3rd party.  I'm guessing the latter is a much, much larger number.  Add to that the fact that 3rd party sells are usually more than AMZ can charge for sets and that equals a TON of money they'd be missing out on.  eBay would REJOICE if Amazon ever pulled this.

It is not Amazon. It is up to The Lego Group. Amazon simply enforces the brand owner's demands. Look what happened recently to all the NFL sellers on Amazon. I am not saying the TLG will ask Amazon to shut down all 3P sellers, just that the possibility is very real sometime in the future.

[Sfcommando14]

14 minutes ago, asharerin said:

It is not Amazon. It is up to The Lego Group. Amazon simply enforces the brand owner's demands. Look what happened recently to all the NFL sellers on Amazon. I am not saying the TLG will ask Amazon to shut down all 3P sellers, just that the possibility is very real sometime in the future.

Is that why I had trouble finding a Packers 2017 box calendar for my wife's step-father this Christmas?  I did not order from Amazon...

[zskid00]

This is a new one for me.  I sold a Ganondorf Amiibo via FBM and the buyer claimed they received a Disney Infinity Ultron figure instead.  I sent them a message saying that was not possible and I would accept the return if they sent the Ganondorf figure back to me.  I already authorized the return because I don't think I have a choice here.  I'm prepared to open a case with Amazon CS if I get back an Infinity figure instead.

[exciter1]

16 minutes ago, zskid00 said:

This is a new one for me.  I sold a Ganondorf Amiibo via FBM and the buyer claimed they received a Disney Infinity Ultron figure instead.  I sent them a message saying that was not possible and I would accept the return if they sent the Ganondorf figure back to me.  I already authorized the return because I don't think I have a choice here.  I'm prepared to open a case with Amazon CS if I get back an Infinity figure instead.

I'm being too logical here.  Maybe they ordered something and received something wrong from someone else?

[BrickLegacy]

Amazon Will Collect State Sales Taxes Nationwide April 1

https://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyphillipserb/2017/03/27/tax-free-no-more-amazon-to-begin-collecting-sales-tax-nationwide-on-april-1/#583624694e59

Something to keep an eye on

[Bold-Arrow]

13 minutes ago, BrickLegacy said:

Amazon Will Collect State Sales Taxes Nationwide April 1

https://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyphillipserb/2017/03/27/tax-free-no-more-amazon-to-begin-collecting-sales-tax-nationwide-on-april-1/#583624694e59

Something to keep an eye on

Too short .. I need to be spoofed plz 

[Phil B]

In light of the above, if I sell on FBA on a personal (not business account), does Amazon withhold tax for me or do I need to account for sales tax in my personal administration? I know for FBM I will need to swallow the sales tax if I sell to a buyer in my state, but how is this for FBA?

[redcell]

3 hours ago, Phil B said:

In light of the above, if I sell on FBA on a personal (not business account), does Amazon withhold tax for me or do I need to account for sales tax in my personal administration? I know for FBM I will need to swallow the sales tax if I sell to a buyer in my state, but how is this for FBA?

You have to set up the tax collection yourself within the Amazon system.  They will collect it for you, but you have to tell them which states that you want them to collect it for.

[Phil B]

23 minutes ago, redcell said:

You have to set up the tax collection yourself within the Amazon system.  They will collect it for you, but you have to tell them which states that you want them to collect it for.

Yes, that feature is only available for business accounts... personal accounts do not allow for this sales tax levy setup. My question was more about whether Amazon is now going to charge tax for all (Amazon and 3P) sales automatically (so we no longer have to deal with it) or whether this will only hold for sales where Amazon is the seller, and I will need to do my own sales tax accounting for FBA sales I make. I assume it's the latter but I would be so much easier if it was the former

[river41]

9 minutes ago, Phil B said:

Yes, that feature is only available for business accounts... personal accounts do not allow for this sales tax levy setup. My question was more about whether Amazon is now going to charge tax for all (Amazon and 3P) sales automatically (so we no longer have to deal with it) or whether this will only hold for sales where Amazon is the seller, and I will need to do my own sales tax accounting for FBA sales I make. I assume it's the latter but I would be so much easier if it was the former

your wrong you dont need a business account for that feature what you do need is a professional account(where you pay 40 dollars a a month) 

[redcell]

Yes, that feature is only available for business accounts... personal accounts do not allow for this sales tax levy setup. My question was more about whether Amazon is now going to charge tax for all (Amazon and 3P) sales automatically (so we no longer have to deal with it) or whether this will only hold for sales where Amazon is the seller, and I will need to do my own sales tax accounting for FBA sales I make. I assume it's the latter but I would be so much easier if it was the former

Oh, didn't realize it was only for pro accounts. I don't know for sure, but I would wager that Amazon won't automatically collect for 3p sellers and will leave it up to each seller to determine which states they need to collect and remit sales tax for.

[asharerin]

4 hours ago, Phil B said:

In light of the above, if I sell on FBA on a personal (not business account), does Amazon withhold tax for me or do I need to account for sales tax in my personal administration? I know for FBM I will need to swallow the sales tax if I sell to a buyer in my state, but how is this for FBA?

Currently you only need to collect sales tax if you have a nexus in the state where the customer is. FBA does not constitute a nexus per the supreme court ruling but that may change in the future. Just be aware if you do register in another state to collect sales tax they will also come after you for alot more than that in other fees,licenses and levies for doing business in that state.

What is happening is that your FBA customer is supposed to be paying the state sales tax themselves on items purchased online but obviously most do not do that. So Amazon is collecting the sales tax for those states in advance and they are also keeping a 2% cut. Whether or not they will start imposing this on all FBA sellers whos current address is not in a tax free state remains to be seen (very likely tho IMO).

[Phil B]

3 hours ago, asharerin said:

Currently you only need to collect sales tax if you have a nexus in the state where the customer is. FBA does not constitute a nexus per the supreme court ruling but that may change in the future. Just be aware if you do register in another state to collect sales tax they will also come after you for alot more than that in other fees,licenses and levies for doing business in that state.

What is happening is that your FBA customer is supposed to be paying the state sales tax themselves on items purchased online but obviously most do not do that. So Amazon is collecting the sales tax for those states in advance and they are also keeping a 2% cut. Whether or not they will start imposing this on all FBA sellers whos current address is not in a tax free state remains to be seen (very likely tho IMO).

Yeah I guess I'll just continue with my current approach (no pro account) where I manually deduct my local sales tax for any Amazon sales I make to Ohio residents. I had hoped that the earlier announcement would mean that Amazon now collects sales tax on behalf of all of us, so we don't have to report ours anymore, but sounds like that's not the case. I don't get many local sales anyways (so far, excluding CL/OfferUp/FB/LetGo, less than 2% of my sales).

[zskid00]

On 3/27/2017 at 3:11 PM, exciter1 said:

I'm being too logical here.  Maybe they ordered something and received something wrong from someone else?

I found out today that I'm pretty confident they are trying to scam me.  I sent a message to the buyer telling him it was impossible that he received a Disney Infinity figure from me since I have never purchased one and I don't sell them.  I also gave him the tracking number and asked him to double check the package he received with the Infinity figure in it against that.  Today he opened an A-to-Z claim.  I sent a reply to Amazon stating my case, but I'm assuming this is a case of "he said, she said" in which Amazon will side with the customer and force me to refund him without even returning the item.  I'm not sure as I've never had an A-to-Z claim against me.

[exciter1]

1 minute ago, zskid00 said:

I found out today that I'm pretty confident they are trying to scam me.  I sent a message to the buyer telling him it was impossible that he received a Disney Infinity figure from me since I have never purchased one and I don't sell them.  I also gave him the tracking number and asked him to double check the package he received with the Infinity figure in it against that.  Today he opened an A-to-Z claim.  I sent a reply to Amazon stating my case, but I'm assuming this is a case of "he said, she said" in which Amazon will side with the customer and force me to refund him without even returning the item.  I'm not sure as I've never had an A-to-Z claim against me.

They might still let you keep the funds, but I'm not sure if you'll get a ding.  If it was filed for non-delivery and you have delivery confirmation, it may not ding your metrics.

[zskid00]

Unfortunately they filed it under "not as described" so I don't know how I can prove otherwise.  I don't think that's possible.

[Bold-Arrow]

11 minutes ago, zskid00 said:

Unfortunately they filed it under "not as described" so I don't know how I can prove otherwise.  I don't think that's possible.

When u authorized the return did you provide a prepaid return label ? If not I would suggest you do that asap and include that fact in your a-z reply . You have a much higher rate of success if you have the "switcharo" on hand or just waiting on the buyer to return item . 

If you already provided buyer with prepaid return label and u haven't received item you should be fine for now and def include that in your reply . 

[zskid00]

2 hours ago, Bold-Arrow said:

When u authorized the return did you provide a prepaid return label ? 

How do I provide a prepaid return label?  I went ahead and authorized the return before the A-to-Z claim, but I don't know if I had the option for a prepaid label or I just missed it.  Thanks for the help BA!