Selling Lego on Amazon.com

[nolanfan34]

What's the longest someone's had an order pending FBM? I've had a sale pending now for 3 days. 

[newbie77]

4 minutes ago, nolanfan34 said:

What's the longest someone's had an order pending FBM? I've had a sale pending now for 3 days. 

9 days and it fell off.

if it's genuine customer's order then it should be back within 3-5 days. It's mainly due to address change, payment method discrepancy etc

If it's not from customer then it's one of those amazon ploys veteran and established sellers use such strategy to hold inventories of competitions as well. 

[nolanfan34]

On 6/2/2017 at 3:08 PM, newbie77 said:

9 days and it fell off.

if it's genuine customer's order then it should be back within 3-5 days. It's mainly due to address change, payment method discrepancy etc

If it's not from customer then it's one of those amazon ploys veteran and established sellers use such strategy to hold inventories of competitions as well. 

Oh wow, 9 days. Mine went through after close to 4. I was curious on your second point - in this case it was a Bionicle figure with few sellers so I have wondered about that.

[redcell]

What's the longest someone's had an order pending FBM? I've had a sale pending now for 3 days. 

It's been a few years since I've done FBM, but I recall having an order stay pending for at least 2 weeks at one point.

[newbie77]

last few weeks  claims on high value retired sets:

75054 AT-AT

10211 Grand Emporium

10221 Super Star Destroyer™ 

a single line: "This is an unofficial item, looks as total counterfeit.. Please refund me"

"Item not as described"

[LegoEdison]

7 minutes ago, newbie77 said:

last few weeks  claims on high value retired sets:

75054 AT-AT

10211 Grand Emporium

10221 Super Star Destroyer 

a single line: "This is an unofficial item, looks as total counterfeit.. Please refund me"

"Item not as described"

welcome to the club 

Amazon still did not do anything 6 months after my fake A-Z claim 

Edited June 6, 2017 by LegoEdison

[newbie77]

4 minutes ago, LegoEdison said:

welcome to the club 

Amazon still did not do anything 6 months after my fake A-Z claim 

its more like re-entry there were rampant claims in december-jan-feb. now back again.

 

[biking_tiger]

34 minutes ago, newbie77 said:

last few weeks  claims on high value retired sets:

75054 AT-AT

10211 Grand Emporium

10221 Super Star Destroyer 

a single line: "This is an unofficial item, looks as total counterfeit.. Please refund me"

"Item not as described"

FBA or FBM? 

[newbie77]

15 minutes ago, biking_tiger said:

FBA or FBM? 

mix. 

75054 FBA[2] and FBM[1] [ 3 claims total ]

10211 FBA[1]

10221 FBM[2]

Edited June 6, 2017 by newbie77

[mizeur]

On 5/19/2017 at 1:52 PM, landphieran said:

I'm obviously going to remove the listing, but i find this odd as I purchased the item from Asmodee themselves? I find it insane they can block me from selling an item that is rightfully mine. This is scary though as one day you could purchase some large orders from anywhere and just get retroactively blocked from selling it based on the platform.

The Lexmark Supreme Court case says you have the right to items you've purchased. What you don't have is the unrestricted right to sell items you've purchased wherever you want. Markets, manufacturers, and sellers can enter into exclusivity agreements.

[carini26]

8 minutes ago, newbie77 said:

mix. 

75054 FBA[2] and FBM[1] [ 3 claims total ]

10211 FBA[1]

10221 FBM[2]

Curious what were these as percentage of total sales (FBM & FBA)?

[LegoEdison]

20 minutes ago, newbie77 said:

mix. 

75054 FBA[2] and FBM[1] [ 3 claims total ]

10211 FBA[1]

10221 FBM[2]

what are the out come for the FBA order? Never heard they target FBA before 

[landphieran]

8 minutes ago, LegoEdison said:

what are the out come for the FBA order? Never heard they target FBA before 

It happens a lot less frequently, but is often returned to the seller as "customer damaged". Depending on my availability I'll take images of what was returned, show what the item normally is and create a case. Often times Amazon will refund you the cost of the item. 
 

I haven't had this happen too often with FBA Lego's however. The few times i have had returns they actually sent the real item back *GASP*. That being said I have scaled down my FBA presence of large sets and have completely removed all sets from FBM. I have started diversifying my sales and trying to limit my exposure to the current fraudulent Lego claims. Mainly in attempt to avoid getting shut down or gated by Amazon.

[newbie77]

On June 6, 2017 at 9:04 AM, LegoEdison said:

what are the out come for the FBA order? Never heard they target FBA before 

FBA orders are the painfully dragged on process. 

a. have to recall item back.

b. when the item is back then have to file claim with amazon for reimbursement.

bigger problem is with the claim these a**holes are making it puts account in jeopardy. as soon as "fraudulent" item or "inauthentic" claim is launched you would get the listing suspended within (few business days) and then paperwork hell starts.

i am beginning to suspect competition for these actions. 

[Kenxxx]

On 6/6/2017 at 11:53 AM, carini26 said:

Curious what were these as percentage of total sales (FBM & FBA)?

@newbie77 ... I have to chime in with carini26... may we ask how many "big" sets you sold via AMZ over this same period (i.e., sell price $150 and above)?  This is worrisome.  Being stung myself on FBM, I have sold several big sets via FBA in the past couple months (so far so good). I thought it was a safe.  But I've heard a couple stories now like yours - getting "fraud" claims thru FBA.  I've now got to seriously reconsider selling any big ticket items on Amazon.  There's a price premium on Amazon, but small guys like carini and I need to gauge whether it's worth it.  If you got 6 fraud claims in 600 big-ticket sales, that's one thing.  If you got 6 claims in 25 sales, that's another.  Can you share?

[RogerWilco]

I've got a bit of a horror story unfolding here and was curious what options I have, if any.

To preface, I'm very small time. I basically have bought sets to subsidize my family's LEGO hobby. I make maybe 1 sale every month or so, at the most (excluding the holiday season).

The story, so far:

I sold a Grand Emporium at the end of April and sent it out the next day with signature confirmation. Since I don't have many sales (this was the last one I had) I was tracking the progress and noticed that delivery was attempted but the recipient wasn't home. I sent a message via Amazon's interface letting them know that signature was required and that delivery had been attempted. That's when I noticed that the Amazon buyer's name was completely different than the recipient. Started getting a bad feeling about this... Since I didn't get a response, I decided to try to contact the recipient directly, to let them know.

I managed to find an e-mail for them (after a bit of googling) and sent off an e-mail, letting them know. They were appreciative for the heads-up and ended up picking up the package at a UPS office the next day. So far so good.

Last week the buyer (not to be confused with the recipient) sends me a message claiming the package was never received - Bad feeling confirmed. I respond letting them know that the recipient had signed-for and picked up the package at the UPS office... no response.

I contact Amazon Seller Support proactively (no A-Z claim had been filed at this point), to give them a heads up. They assure me that, with signature confirmation, I shouldn't have anything to worry about. They asked me to send off an e-mail to their fraud division too, which I did, with all of the info.

Fast-forward to today. I receive an e-mail that an A-Z claim had been resolved, that the buyer claimed to not have received the package, and I would be paying for the refund. I was extremely confused since it was the first notice I had received. I search through my e-mail and find an e-mail from Amazon on Monday in my spam folder for the initial A-Z claim notification. Of course its the only Amazon e-mail that has ever gone to spam....

I appeal the case, citing all of the evidence including the fact that I have since spoken again to the recipient and they said they have built the set, love it, and are extremely happy with the purchase.

Response comes back from Amazon A-Z: Denied. Since I didn't respond within the initial 3 day window I automatically lose and I'm SOL.

It appears that Amazon is going to essentially steal my money to pay this scammer. I am now in the process of trying to get a hold of someone... I mean, this is just ludicrous.

Am I screwed? Should I just take the $400+ hit and move on.... I'll admit, that is going to be extremely hard for me to do since I tend to obsess about this stuff to the extreme.

Edited June 9, 2017 by RogerWilco

[Bold-Arrow]

I read a carbon copy case on the Amazon forums few months ago and sadly it is a sol situation . The scam is the same almost every single time and it is sad that Amazon sides with the scammer who isn't the final recipient .

maybe if you can get the receipt to email Amazon directly? 

[Jackson]

I would keep talking (calmly) to seller support until the matter gets resolved to your liking. The best way to do that might be to get someone on the phone whose first language is English. The "calmly" part will be hard, extremely hard. I've lost my shi* a time or two.

Other than that, small claims court? Has anyone actually ever taken that route?

[newbie77]

55 minutes ago, RogerWilco said:

I've got a bit of a horror story unfolding here and was curious what options I have, if any.

To preface, I'm very small time. I basically have bought sets to subsidize my family's LEGO hobby. I make maybe 1 sale every month or so, at the most (excluding the holiday season).

The story, so far:

I sold a Grand Emporium at the end of April and sent it out the next day with signature confirmation. Since I don't have many sales (this was the last one I had) I was tracking the progress and noticed that delivery was attempted but the recipient wasn't home. I sent a message via Amazon's interface letting them know that signature was required and that delivery had been attempted. That's when I noticed that the Amazon buyer's name was completely different than the recipient. Started getting a bad feeling about this... Since I didn't get a response, I decided to try to contact the recipient directly, to let them know.

I managed to find an e-mail for them (after a bit of googling) and sent off an e-mail, letting them know. They were appreciative for the heads-up and ended up picking up the package at a UPS office the next day. So far so good.

Last week the buyer (not to be confused with the recipient) sends me a message claiming the package was never received - Bad feeling confirmed. I respond letting them know that the recipient had signed-for and picked up the package at the UPS office... no response.

I contact Amazon Seller Support proactively (no A-Z claim had been filed at this point), to give them a heads up. They assure me that, with signature confirmation, I shouldn't have anything to worry about. They asked me to send off an e-mail to their fraud division too, which I did, with all of the info.

Fast-forward to today. I receive an e-mail that an A-Z claim had been resolved, that the buyer claimed to not have received the package, and I would be paying for the refund. I was extremely confused since it was the first notice I had received. I search through my e-mail and find an e-mail from Amazon on Monday in my spam folder for the initial A-Z claim notification. Of course its the only Amazon e-mail that has ever gone to spam....

I appeal the case, citing all of the evidence including the fact that I have since spoken again to the recipient and they said they have built the set, love it, and are extremely happy with the purchase.

Response comes back from Amazon A-Z: Denied. Since I didn't respond within the initial 3 day window I automatically lose and I'm SOL.

It appears that Amazon is going to essentially steal my money to pay this scammer. I am now in the process of trying to get a hold of someone... I mean, this is just ludicrous.

Am I screwed? Should I just take the $400+ hit and move on.... I'll admit, that is going to be extremely hard for me to do since I tend to obsess about this stuff to the extreme.

how often do you log into the portal?

* if one is selling on AMAZON should log in the portal everyday and check the lower left hand size "performance" section.

most likely "yes" move on. out of my few hundreds of A-Z representations. of 18 denied none have been successful in appeal. so chances are not high. but never had i experienced your case i.e. not representing within first 3 days so can't compare.

Edited June 9, 2017 by newbie77

[newbie77]

35 minutes ago, Jackson said:

I would keep talking (calmly) to seller support until the matter gets resolved to your liking. The best way to do that might be to get someone on the phone whose first language is English. The "calmly" part will be hard, extremely hard. I've lost my shi* a time or two.

Other than that, small claims court? Has anyone actually ever taken that route?

1. most like because of these persistent nagging now you cannot open tickets for the same topic or reopen tickets . most of those decisions are somewhat final.

2. nagging seller-performance can haunt you back. never never do that. you can read horror stories in seller-forum. be professional. make the case. then move on. [ either on win or loss]

3. unless buyer and seller happens to be in the same state its extremely hard to get it through small claims court. 

4. actually, i have filed police cases in the delivery address jurisdiction, in few of these in-authentic claims [ this is how i came to find out 90% of those cases were actual friends and family of competitions. ] yes i spent more time and money than its worth but had to do it because it was getting ridiculous to the point that it was driving me insane. there were for claims back in jan/feb/march.

Edited June 9, 2017 by newbie77

[Jackson]

1 minute ago, newbie77 said:

 

4. actually, i have filed police cases in the delivery address jurisdiction, in few of these in-authentic claims [ this is how i came to find out 90% of those cases were actual friends and family of competitions. ] yes i spent more time and money than its worth but had to do it because it was getting ridiculous to the point that it was driving me insane.

For the police cases you filed, did you get any compensation, or what was the outcome?

[amtrak23]

50 minutes ago, RogerWilco said:

Am I screwed? Should I just take the $400+ hit and move on.... I'll admit, that is going to be extremely hard for me to do since I tend to obsess about this stuff to the extreme.

Not necessarily, but probably. They are being super stingy now with reimbursements, etc., and since you didn't respond in time technically they are off the hook.

Try another appeal to two, making sure to highlight the fact that you proactively tried to alert them. If that doesn't do it send an email to Jeff@. With a little persistence you may be able to recover the funds. 

[newbie77]

27 minutes ago, Jackson said:

For the police cases you filed, did you get any compensation, or what was the outcome?

here is the deal, you have to be persistent, may even have to hire local attorneys or if you have friends and families in law enforcement in the jurisdiction it helps.

in my case, last 2 were in New York. and i filed cases there. if you can get the police to knock the address and make the inquiry. most of the time people "buckle". they don't want that trouble especially if they get more than 2-3 visits then they will fold and tell who is doing what. this is how i found out that there were competitions causing some(majority) of the problem.

long behold i got my item back. [lets just leave at that ]. for those lurkers in brick picker who are trying the same be careful you might not get away so easily. this is to the gentlemen from MO, and TN. you guys know who you are. 

Edited June 9, 2017 by newbie77

[RogerWilco]

I appreciate the responses, everyone.

22 minutes ago, newbie77 said:

how often do you log into the portal?

* if one is selling on AMAZON should log in the portal everyday and check the lower left hand size "performance" section.

most likely "yes" move on. out of my few hundreds of A-Z representations. of 18 denied none have been successful in appeal. so chances are not high. but never had i experienced your case so can't compare.

I'll generally login every 1 or 2 days to check on things when there is something in-progress. Since I have such low activity I usually just wait for an e-mail notification from Amazon to check in on the portal. Of course, this now seems like a not-so-smart way to operate, but this is truly the first time I have had an e-mail go to spam. I monitor e-mail closely and always respond immediately.

The fraudulent buyer made the claim on Monday. I ended up getting so swamped with work this week that this issue didn't really cross my mind. I think I had kind of (dumbly) come to the conclusion that I was in the clear after having talked to the Amazon folks earlier and having what I thought was an air-tight case. This is the first A-Z claim I've received... and I failed miserably. Still can't believe the damn thing went to spam...

I'm more disappointed in myself than anything, I think. I thought I had this one in the bag if anything came of it.

Edited June 9, 2017 by RogerWilco

[river41]

1 hour ago, newbie77 said:

here is the deal, you have to be persistent, may even have to hire local attorneys or if you have friends and families in law enforcement in the jurisdiction it helps.

in my case, last 2 were in New York. and i filed cases there. if you can get the police to knock the address and make the inquiry. most of the time people "buckle". they don't want that trouble especially if they get more than 2-3 visits then they will fold and tell who is doing what. this is how i found out that there were competitions causing some(majority) of the problem.

long behold i got my item back. [lets just leave at that ]. for those lurkers in brick picker who are trying the same be careful you might not get away so easily. this is to the gentlemen from MO, and TN. you guys know who you are. 

can you now go back to amazon that your competitors tried to scam you to cause you problems and now cause that they have the problems