Selling through Amazon FBA

[ISO8T0]

11 minutes ago, exciter1 said:

OK, here was my reply.

"We are sorry you feel this way. The set is now retired and no longer available, so the prices for this set have risen over the past 6 months. It was offered for the market price offered on Amazon and other various reseller outlets. Amazon may like to hear from you in regards to their 3rd Party Marketplace products, so you may want to reach out Amazon Support to provide feedback. Thank you again for taking the time to write us."

I hope I don't have to fight eventual negative feedback.  I still haven't been able to get the feedback removed where someone left 1-star for a Hulk Polybag and put NA for the feedback.

I think your response was good. There are a great deal of approaches, in terms of the response, that could have been made. Interesting that you suggest they contact Amazon regarding their 3rd party marketplace products. I would not have suggested that.

 

[exciter1]

23 minutes ago, Bold-Arrow said:

A negative for pricing is 100% removable . If they returned it open due to price , u have a decent chance of getting reimbursed by Amazon . 

They did not return it, just left blind feedback with this rating.  They have not responded to multiple messages.  Amazon wants me to call them and ask them to remove the feedback, but they won't have record of me calling them if I make an attempt. It was basically they were not happy with the delivery time or something, but Amazon support says "they need more information", which I can't get, since the buyer is not responding.  They left "Yes" they were happy with the product, but left 1-star blindly. Lame!

11 minutes ago, pstebbing said:

I think your response was good. There are a great deal of approaches, in terms of the response, that could have been made. Interesting that you suggest they contact Amazon regarding their 3rd party marketplace products. I would not have suggested that.

I wondered about that after I hit submit. 

[dcdfan]

45 minutes ago, Darth_Raichu said:

Thanks for the info.  Btw, those dot dot dots at the end of your email were great. Very suspenseful  

How 'bout these dots...?

[jbacunn]

1 hour ago, exciter1 said:

I received a message from an unhappy customer who bought a Raptor Escape recently.

Hi,
I just received the Lego set for my son. He was anxious to put it together, of course, so he opened all of the packages. I noticed it had much less pieces than a Jurassic set we just bought this week from Target so I looked up this item and found it for $39.95! I realize there are fluctuations in price, but less than half?? I am so disappointed that a company would hike up the price so significantly. I could have bought him two different sets if I would have realized this before I purchased or opened it so it could be returned.....

 

[KShine]

Amazon has a well earned reputation for having lower prices than anyone else. Many buyers will assume that when they search for an item, and see that it is being shipped by amazon, that it will be a reasonable price.

This is why many sellers experience higher sale prices through Amazon - The buyer (through no fault of the seller) is being fooled.

[dcdfan]

11 minutes ago, KShine said:

Amazon has a well earned reputation for having lower prices than anyone else. Many buyers will assume that when they search for an item, and see that it is being shipped by amazon, that it will be a reasonable price.

This is why many sellers experience higher sale prices through Amazon - The buyer (through no fault of the seller) is being fooled.

 

I'm DYING to know how Walmart is handling their 3rd party calls...

Edited April 6, 2016 by dcdfan

[Loghamel]

3 hours ago, dcdfan said:

I'm DYING to know how Walmart is handling their 3rd party calls...

I'm pretty sure they're just redirecting them to the 3rd party.  

[Loghamel]

Hi all.  I'm looking to send in some 10697 Creative Towers to FBA along with some other sets.  Most of them are packed in the original LEGO box containing 2 per box.  I have no idea how the discounted shipping rates work, so I'm not sure what to do.  Would you guys recommend shipping them in 24x24x24 boxes or leave them in their original boxes?  I can fit 4 of them plus a few other sets in a 24x box.  So I would need twice as many 24x boxes than I would if I used the original boxes.  I know usually it's better to send a larger box packed to the gills than it is a bunch of smaller ones, but, again, I don't know how the FBA discount shipping to the warehouses works.  Lastly, is there a way for me to find out this information without being dinged?   I've gotten to the point where it shows how many of each sets AMZ wants me to send to each warehouse, but I'm afraid to go any further as I don't want to commit to something and then cancel it, hurting my metrics in the process.  If it's possible to go a few more steps which would let me figure out this information on my own without hurting me if I cancel, please let me know.

 

Edited April 6, 2016 by Loghamel

[zak001]

18 minutes ago, Loghamel said:

Hi all.  I'm looking to send in some 10697 Creative Towers to FBA along with some other sets.  Most of them are packed in the original LEGO box containing 2 per box.  I have no idea how the discounted shipping rates work, so I'm not sure what to do.  Would you guys recommend shipping them in 24x24x24 boxes or leave them in their original boxes?  I can fit 4 of them plus a few other sets in a 24x box.  So I would need twice as many 24x boxes than I would if I used the original boxes.  I know usually it's better to send a larger box packed to the gills than it is a bunch of smaller ones, but, again, I don't know how the FBA discount shipping to the warehouses works.  Lastly, is there a way for me to find out this information without being dinged?   I've gotten to the point where it shows how many of each sets AMZ wants me to send to each warehouse, but I'm afraid to go any further as I don't want to commit to something and then cancel it, hurting my metrics in the process.  If it's possible to go a few more steps which would let me figure out this information on my own without hurting me if I cancel, please let me know.

 

Generate your shipment for the 10697s as case-packed items, 2 per case, so you can use the original shipping boxes. They don't waste any space and the UPS rates you'll be getting are fantastic to the point of being unreal, if you're used to doing fulfillment yourself. Send your other, non-case-packed stuff in another shipment.

[exciter1]

1 hour ago, zak001 said:

Generate your shipment for the 10697s as case-packed items, 2 per case, so you can use the original shipping boxes. They don't waste any space and the UPS rates you'll be getting are fantastic to the point of being unreal, if you're used to doing fulfillIment yourself. Send your other, non-case-packed stuff in another shipment.

I shipped in a few dozen just as described here and it worked out great.

[asharerin]

1 hour ago, Loghamel said:

Would you guys recommend shipping them in 24x24x24 boxes or leave them in their original boxes?  I can fit 4 of them plus a few other sets in a 24x box. 

It is always going to be cheaper to ship everything in one box. Their UPS rates are cheap but still expensive if you are sending in lots of small boxes rather than one large box. A 24x box to 50 lbs should cost around $18 to ship anywhere in the country and could be quite a bit cheaper if the warehouse is in your state or close by (around $9). Just keep them in their lego cases and put inside the bigger box if your goal is to save on cost. You can adjust by 6 units for each item as well so play around with the numbers, brand neutral settings, and time of day / month to get a close warehouse. When you get something you want lock it in. There is no time limit to ship, but all boxes in each shipment must be sent at the same time. I plan my year ahead and always pull Washington state or California until Sep and then that changes to Virginia  / Florida so I lock everything in well before Sep for the christmas season.

[Loghamel]

1 hour ago, zak001 said:

Generate your shipment for the 10697s as case-packed items, 2 per case, so you can use the original shipping boxes. They don't waste any space and the UPS rates you'll be getting are fantastic to the point of being unreal, if you're used to doing fulfillment yourself. Send your other, non-case-packed stuff in another shipment.

Just to clarify; am I sending those boxes in by themselves, ie 20 boxes of 2, or is it better to put those boxes in a larger box and then ship?  I'm pretty sure you mean to ship them individually, but I wanted to confirm first.

[exciter1]

5 minutes ago, Loghamel said:

Just to clarify; am I sending those boxes in by themselves, ie 20 boxes of 2, or is it better to put those boxes in a larger box and then ship?  I'm pretty sure you mean to ship them individually, but I wanted to confirm first.

20 boxes of 2

[zak001]

2 minutes ago, Loghamel said:

Just to clarify; am I sending those boxes in by themselves, ie 20 boxes of 2, or is it better to put those boxes in a larger box and then ship?  I'm pretty sure you mean to ship them individually, but I wanted to confirm first.

Whenever you add a new item to your catalog or choose to "Send/Replenish Inventory" for more copies of stuff FBA already has, you're taken to a page where you have the option to add to an existing shipment or create a new one. Choose "create a new shipment" and click "Case-packed items" before proceeding. Then enter the qty per case (2) and the number of cases (x) and see where they want you to ship them. You can dither somewhat with the results and choose to add or remove a case if you really don't want to ship cross-country.

On the page where you're handling the individual shipments to warehouses, you can always test to see what the difference between shipping individual cases vs cases packed in larger boxes is - just don't confirm the shipping charges until you've got the configuration you want.

[redcell]

It is always going to be cheaper to ship everything in one box. Their UPS rates are cheap but still expensive if you are sending in lots of small boxes rather than one large box. A 24x box to 50 lbs should cost around $18 to ship anywhere in the country and could be quite a bit cheaper if the warehouse is in your state or close by (around $9). Just keep them in their lego cases and put inside the bigger box if your goal is to save on cost. You can adjust by 6 units for each item as well so play around with the numbers, brand neutral settings, and time of day / month to get a close warehouse. When you get something you want lock it in. There is no time limit to ship, but all boxes in each shipment must be sent at the same time. I plan my year ahead and always pull Washington state or California until Sep and then that changes to Virginia  / Florida so I lock everything in well before Sep for the christmas season.

It's not a good idea to put the case packs into another box. There is a specific packing guideline that states that items shouldn't be double boxed. Has that changed?

Just to clarify; am I sending those boxes in by themselves, ie 20 boxes of 2, or is it better to put those boxes in a larger box and then ship?  I'm pretty sure you mean to ship them individually, but I wanted to confirm first.

It will be cheaper to buy the 22x22x22 XL boxes from home depot and pack then 4 to a box.

[exciter1]

It will be cheaper to buy the 22x22x22 XL boxes from home depot and pack then 4 to a box.

I don't think driving to Home Depot, buying boxes, unpacking and repacking is really going to save that much. That's a bunch of time and tape.

[asharerin]

5 hours ago, redcell said:

It's not a good idea to put the case packs into another box. There is a specific packing guideline that states that items shouldn't be double boxed. Has that changed?

 

You do not have to send as casepacks. Just put everything in a box as you would mixed skus. Cover any barcodes on the lego cases and billy at the warehouse is trained to unbox until he finds a scannable barcode. You can double, triple and quadruple box if you like.

[redcell]

I don't think driving to Home Depot, buying boxes, unpacking and repacking is really going to save that much. That's a bunch of time and tape.

I guess it depends on how far Home Depot is. I've never done a strict comparison, but it has always seemed like the shipping prices for FBA scale more based on the number of boxes you send than the weight of those boxes.

You do not have to send as casepacks. Just put everything in a box as you would mixed skus. Cover any barcodes on the lego cases and billy at the warehouse is trained to unbox until he finds a scannable barcode. You can double, triple and quadruple box if you like.

So you've done it this way? It would be a lot easier and less expensive when sending smaller quantities.

[asharerin]

That is correct redcell. If your shipment total weight is say 40lbs it is much cheaper to send that shipment in a single box than splitting two 20lb boxes or four 10lb boxes or eight 5lb boxes. That single 40lb box would run around $16 anywhere in the country vs $50 for the eight 5 lb boxes.

Just make sure to keep weights below 50lbs. Amazon states there is also a size limit of 25" for a side on box but they have never enforce it but they do enforce the 50lb limit on boxes.

[asharerin]

22 minutes ago, redcell said:

So you've done it this way? It would be a lot easier and less expensive when sending smaller quantities.

That is how I always do it. The lego cases are snug so don't take up alot of extra room but give alot of protection during shipping. The cost of each additional pound in a single box is pennies so I feel the benefit is worth the extra cost. I never send case packs for other reasons. Likewise you can double box a valuable collectible and put your label on the outer box along with a "ready to ship" sticker and then amazon will ship that item triple boxed to the customer (this is how I pack for the Soundwave Transformers etc().

[cobrakai]

3 hours ago, exciter1 said:

 

 

I don't think driving to Home Depot, buying boxes, unpacking and repacking is really going to save that much. That's a bunch of time and tape.

Uhaul delivers boxes free if you spend $50.  The quality and prices are comparable to Home Depot.  While I'm at it, this is a good seller to buy tape from on Ebay:

http://stores.ebay.com/medicalmartbymail/

[exciter1]

Uhaul delivers boxes free if you spend $50.  The quality and prices are comparable to Home Depot.  While I'm at it, this is a good seller to buy tape from on Ebay:

http://stores.ebay.com/medicalmartbymail/

Not in my town. They won't put them on the horse cart.

[ISO8T0]

4 minutes ago, gregbaynes said:

Uhaul delivers boxes free if you spend $50.  The quality and prices are comparable to Home Depot.  While I'm at it, this is a good seller to buy tape from on Ebay:

http://stores.ebay.com/medicalmartbymail/

not bad for 1.6 mil. but feel free to post here:

 

[river41]

12 hours ago, asharerin said:

That is correct redcell. If your shipment total weight is say 40lbs it is much cheaper to send that shipment in a single box than splitting two 20lb boxes or four 10lb boxes or eight 5lb boxes. That single 40lb box would run around $16 anywhere in the country vs $50 for the eight 5 lb boxes.

Just make sure to keep weights below 50lbs. Amazon states there is also a size limit of 25" for a side on box but they have never enforce it but they do enforce the 50lb limit on boxes.

i believe it is  additional 3.75 per box .(meaning if you ship 2 boxes at 25 pounds each or 1 box at 50 pounds the extra box will cost you a additional 3.75)It may vary based on your distance but for the warehouse hey normally send me too that is the price difference per box.

[exciter1]

3 minutes ago, river41 said:

i believe it is  additional 3.75 per box .(meaning if you ship 2 boxes at 25 pounds each or 1 box at 50 pounds the extra box will cost you a additional 3.75)It may vary based on your distance but for the warehouse hey normally send me too that is the price difference per box.

That's not bad, considering the additional cost for extra boxes, gas, tape and the time it would take to unpack and repack.