Selling through Amazon FBA

[asharerin]

For low dollar, low risk items commingled does make the most sense. We do not use FBA for anything else other than low dollar and low risk. 

[mykingdomforabrick]

You could be correct - I did not think commingled impacted shipping warehouse or winning the buy box due to location.   

 

Never risked it since the counterfeit/fraud thing came up last year and I have decent valued stuff in FBA.

[No More Monkeys]

Hmm. I don't know.

 

I don't sell High Dollar stuff through FBA typically. I was under the impression that commingled made inbound shipping easier. For example I just sent 18 22x22x21 Boxes to Amazon (Dimensional weight of 50+ pounds - So a total shipment weight of around 900 pounds) for only $220. Shipment was almost 400 lego sets. All of my shipments besides 1 stayed on this side of the country.

 

I figured non commingled I would be shipping them all over the place. Is this not the case?

 

Also was under the impression that commingled made winning the buy box easier as you will rarely win the buy box if they have to ship your item across the country. If my item can ship from any location in the US it seems to make it an easier win for me.

 

Last year I went over 350k in sales, didn't have an issue (knock on wood) I'd love some insight from you guys who are not using commingled as to what (if any) changes it makes to inbound shipping.

You would still be shipping to nearest warehouse if choose not to comingle. And Amazon does not mention that comingled and buy box have any relation.

But you would have to be applying a LOT of labels with your kind of volume, if you don't comingle 

[grackleflint]

I figured non commingled I would be shipping them all over the place. Is this not the case?

 

Also was under the impression that commingled made winning the buy box easier as you will rarely win the buy box if they have to ship your item across the country. If my item can ship from any location in the US it seems to make it an easier win for me.

 

Last year I went over 350k in sales, didn't have an issue (knock on wood) I'd love some insight from you guys who are not using commingled as to what (if any) changes it makes to inbound shipping.

 

For non-commingled items, in order to keep your items separate, you get a unique bar code label for each item that you need to put on to completely cover the UPC code.

 

For inbound shipping, the default is to have Amazon automatically allocate your items to their warehouses and they obviously want to spread it across the country so for more than 3 items, they generally will tell you to send them to three separate warehouses (east, west, central). This obviously isn't practical if you just have a few (like 5) items. 

 

To counteract this, they do offer the options of Inventory Placement Service where you can send everything to a single warehouse for a per-item fee. The fee depends on size and weight. For standard size, light (< 1lb) items, it is like $0.30 each which is negligible. The big oversize and heavy items can go for $2-3 each.

 

Also, for non-commingled items that use their Inventory Placement Service, Amazon may decide to arbitrarily "transfer" some of your stock to another warehouse themselves. Your items then put in a "will arrive on xxx date" status on the listing but will still be orderable.

[dubzero]

If you don't want to ship your stuff all over god's creation, you can enable inventory placement and all will ship the the same warehouse. Oversize will all ship to the same oversize warehouse. It's around $.50 an item to do so, so with many Items it can add up quickly.

That said AZ will still move your stuff around after the fact.

[Bold-Arrow]

Anyone got an offer from Amazon to buy some of their inventory ?

[LegoManiacc]

Anyone got an offer from Amazon to buy some of their inventory ?

Yes, just did...MC sets specifically...looked like a pretty good deal, no worries about buyer's remorse either (if they actually go through with the purchase, that is)

[No More Monkeys]

Yes, just did...MC sets specifically...looked like a pretty good deal, no worries about buyer's remorse either (if they actually go through with the purchase, that is)

So.... they will buy MC sets from you at inflated price, then will try to sell them at msrp, little alarm goes off, resellers buy it off in seconds, and send for FBA. Or they will use fake seller name, to sell for even higher?

[mykingdomforabrick]

Interesting.  Wasn't aware Amazon did this.

 

What's the business impetus for this?   Must be some sales metrics they have to hit for some VP's compensation bonus to kick in.

[LegoManiacc]

So.... they will buy MC sets from you at inflated price, then will try to sell them at msrp, little alarm goes off, resellers buy it off in seconds, and send for FBA. Or they will use fake seller name, to sell for even higher?

They had some of the sets in stock for a short time earlier at MSRP...oversold and are now buying to fulfill orders while eating the loss....that's some good customer service!

Edited December 3, 2014 by LegoManiacc

[Bold-Arrow]

Interesting. Wasn't aware Amazon did this.

What's the business impetus for this? Must be some sales metrics they have to hit for some VP's compensation bonus to kick in.

first time I've seen this ..

[Dbroncoboy]

I went for it. Offered me 99.99 for an sw advent and almost triple what I paid for some minecraft sets

[LegoManiacc]

I went for it. Offered me 99.99 for an sw advent and almost triple what I paid for some minecraft sets

Triple?? I'm getting ripped off, lol. Guess I was just ripping myself off though due to my pricing.

[mykingdomforabrick]

first time I've seen this ..

 

if they are doing it to cover already sold orders (makes sense) it must mean they ran out of commingled inventory.

 

I always assumed they'd just buy the inventory directly without asking.   All interesting.

[Dbroncoboy]

Triple?? I'm getting ripped off, lol. Guess I was just ripping myself off though due to my pricing.

If they offered different prices they will probably just get the cheapest

[Bold-Arrow]

This is the email intro :

We have identified unsold unit(s) in your Fulfillment by Amazon inventory below that could be used to fulfill a recent out-of-stock customer order sold by Amazon.com. We would like your permission to purchase these unit(s) at your recently posted price to fulfill this customer order. Amazon will not purchase your inventory without your permission, which you can provide by clicking on the

[dubzero]

This is the email intro :

We have identified unsold unit(s) in your Fulfillment by Amazon inventory below that could be used to fulfill a recent out-of-stock customer order sold by Amazon.com. We would like your permission to purchase these unit(s) at your recently posted price to fulfill this customer order. Amazon will not purchase your inventory without your permission, which you can provide by clicking on the

[mykingdomforabrick]

Just got an item this week I ordered from Amazon which had 2 different FBA stickers on it.

 

I've seen this happen frequently with high turnover items - didn't realize Amazon approached each seller individually though.

[Bold-Arrow]

Just got an item this week I ordered from Amazon which had 2 different FBA stickers on it.

I've seen this happen frequently with high turnover items - didn't realize Amazon approached each seller individually though.

I think this is the first time that thru have directly reached out to sellers

[grackleflint]

Anyone getting offers from Amazon for 79108 Stagecoach Escape?

 

In looking at my pending orders, it looks like Amazon sold a few more than I had sent in so I was wondering how Amazon would handle it. Looks like Amazon is trying to make sure FBA doesn't look bad to buyers by canceling orders and also piss off sellers who are supposed to trust their inventory/ordering systems. 

Edited December 4, 2014 by grackleflint

[Bold-Arrow]

Anyone getting offers from Amazon for 79108 Stagecoach Escape?

 

In looking at my pending orders, it looks like Amazon sold a few more than I had sent in so I was wondering how Amazon would handle it. Looks like Amazon is trying to make sure FBA doesn't look bad to buyers by canceling orders and also piss off sellers who are supposed to trust their inventory/ordering systems. 

nope, i wish they did. 

[Brickbuilder.g]

Do you all know when the last day is to mail items to FBA?

[Bold-Arrow]

Do you all know when the last day is to mail items to FBA?

dec 10th to guarantee it will be recieved for Christmas orders .

U can keep sending year long

[Brickbuilder.g]

dec 10th to guarantee it will be recieved for Christmas orders .

U can keep sending year long

Thanks..just to confirm ...I have to mail by 12/10 or it has to be there at Amazon by that date?

[Bold-Arrow]

https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/help/help-page.html/ref=ag_201637520_cont_scsearch?ie=UTF8&itemID=201637520