Selling through Amazon FBA

[Jeff Mack]

All the Quidsi shops will be done next week and all just go through Amazon.

[Bold-Arrow]

Getting sick of this redistribution crap .. shipment is received just fine but few days later items start disappearing as if they were never received under the fba shipment tab . 

[KShine]

It seems as if the wave of scams on Amazon happened right after the gate went up

Is that just a coincidence, or do people think that Amazon might have seen trouble coming?

Edited April 12, 2017 by KShine

[Phil B]

11 minutes ago, KShine said:

It seems as if the wave of scams on Amazon happened right after the gate went up

Is that just a coincidence, or do people think that Amazon might have seen trouble coming?

Or disgruntled wannabe sellers taking revenge.... or even better, some of the larger sellers' attempts to thin the herd.....

Tinfoil hat mandatory....

[brickvoyeur]

3 minutes ago, KShine said:

It seems as if the wave of scams on Amazon happened after the gate went up - Is that just a coincidence or do people think that Amazon might have seen things coming?

Competition was removed and prices went up due to the influx of fresh lowballers no longer able to list. They also did a number on removing a chunk of the knockoffs. Some of the folks who were able to afford the prices when competition was greater are no longer able to get as much as they want due to skyrocketing prices on many sets.

How many buyers out there have given grief about knowing how much you paid for the set and the profits you make? They feel entitled to lower prices because they know how cheap you may have got the items for. These folks just found a system that is happy to give them what they want. They get things they can't afford and get to stick it to the profiteers.

If you can no longer afford it, but still want it... why not get it for free? Entitlement is the issue. And once that line is crossed these animals have no reservations about doing it again. Shady morals allow one to think "is it truly stealing if Amazon says I'm entitled to keep it for free?"

[Darth_Raichu]

36 minutes ago, KShine said:

It seems as if the wave of scams on Amazon happened right after the gate went up

Is that just a coincidence, or do people think that Amazon might have seen trouble coming?

Not right after it was up, but after the herd got thinned out a bit

22 minutes ago, Phil B said:

Or disgruntled wannabe sellers taking revenge.... or even better, some of the larger sellers' attempts to thin the herd.....

Tinfoil hat mandatory....

Those happened pre-gate, why not after gate ?

[landphieran]

Has anyone attempted to get Brand un-gated on Amazon and how successful have they been?

[Bold-Arrow]

Anyone in the Jeffersonville , Indiana area that is available on Tuesday April 18th for 2 hours starting 9:30 shoot me a PM

[cobrakai]

20 minutes ago, landphieran said:

Has anyone attempted to get Brand un-gated on Amazon and how successful have they been?

I was grandfathered into most brands, but there were a few that I didn't sell in before the gates.  I have been able to get ungated in: Star Wars episode 7, Hatchimals, Five Nights at Freddys, Moana,and most recently Pokemon.  Pokemon had an additional fee that required a wire transfer.  American Girl was one that I couldn't list recently, but I just checked and my application says "approved" even though I never filled it out.  As far as Lego ungating, there are some distributors that sell Lego books and I always wondered if that might work for people who weren't grandfathered.  Based on other ungatings, it might work.  I think my Five Nights at Freddys invoices were all "Funko" branded items featuring Freddys characters.

[landphieran]

Yeah, I was more curious if I went through the hassle of getting the invoices or authorization from these companies what is the likelihood of getting approved?

[redcell]

2 hours ago, landphieran said:

Yeah, I was more curious if I went through the hassle of getting the invoices or authorization from these companies what is the likelihood of getting approved?

If you have the invoices that Amazon is looking for, it's easy to get approved (at least in my experience).  However, be forewarned that they often apply quantity thresholds that they don't disclose ahead of time.  So if you have 3 invoices that reflect purchases of 1 case of a gated brand, that may not be enough to get ungated.

[Robb]

If you have the invoices that Amazon is looking for, it's easy to get approved (at least in my experience).  However, be forewarned that they often apply quantity thresholds that they don't disclose ahead of time.  So if you have 3 invoices that reflect purchases of 1 case of a gated brand, that may not be enough to get ungated.

I think it's funny you guys mentioning invoices and cases, I wouldn't even know a company to get those from. LEGO themselves? Is there a LEGO distributor in the US?

[landphieran]

2 minutes ago, Robb said:

I think it's funny you guys mentioning invoices and cases, I wouldn't even now a company to get those from. LEGO themselves? Is there a LEGO distributor in the US?

This isn't Lego related. Luckily I made it through the gate.

I have seen some other opportunities with some local clearances, however a lot of times the brand is gated. The only way I can see being un-gated is by finding a slightly unrelated wholesaler that happens to sell some of the branded products and finagle my way in. A lot of these are associated with some fairly high price tags so I most likely wont go through with it unless i can find a wide range of profitable re-repurchasable products.

[redcell]

4 hours ago, Robb said:

I think it's funny you guys mentioning invoices and cases, I wouldn't even know a company to get those from. LEGO themselves? Is there a LEGO distributor in the US?

I was grandfathered on Lego.  I went through the ungating process for Episode VII products last year.

[Jackson]

Where are you getting invoices for non-LEGO items?

[landphieran]

Can someone elaborate on the process of getting multiple accounts or storefronts setup for Amazon? I have started more heavily moving away from Toys. I feel like if someone were to search products I sell it may be difficult to find similar Toys or other various products in the same line.

Is there a downside for inventory management? Any struggles with the process would be helpful.

PM's are welcomed too, thank you!

[Sauromosis]

10 minutes ago, landphieran said:

Can someone elaborate on the process of getting multiple accounts or storefronts setup for Amazon? I have started more heavily moving away from Toys. I feel like if someone were to search products I sell it may be difficult to find similar Toys or other various products in the same line.

Is there a downside for inventory management? Any struggles with the process would be helpful.

PM's are welcomed too, thank you!

I've heard conflicting stories.  Some people have two stores, some say it's frowned upon.

[Bold-Arrow]

You need to apply and get approval to have 2 seller accounts on Amazon . You need to demonstrate why such a need exist and that both accounts won't be selling similar items .. 

[asharerin]

37 minutes ago, landphieran said:

Can someone elaborate on the process of getting multiple accounts or storefronts setup for Amazon? I have started more heavily moving away from Toys. I feel like if someone were to search products I sell it may be difficult to find similar Toys or other various products in the same line.

Is there a downside for inventory management? Any struggles with the process would be helpful.

PM's are welcomed too, thank you!

Just open a case and ask for permission to open a second selling account. If you have good metrics they will approve. Do NOT open a second selling account without permission or you will get suspended. You can open as many selling accounts as you wish as long as you get permission. We operate 3 (one for Lego, one for other toys, household, grocery and apparel, and one for health and beauty products). The downside is you will have 3 sets of fees ($40 per month for pro, and then any other add-ons such as repricers, inventory lab, scanlister etc). The upside is at tax time it makes things very easy across the 3 companies.

[landphieran]

I appreciate the feedback and apologize for not looking into this as heavily as i should have upfront. It appears there are very clear guidelines for creating separate accounts. As asherarin pointed out there is a cost associated with the split.

In summary for anyone concerned in the future :

1. Business Need

2. Separate Bank Accounts

3. Distinct item catalogs

4. Apply First

 

[Sauromosis]

I wouldn't pay 40 a month twice just on the off chance that some child clicks your store name and browses.  First off, very few people do that, and second, Amazon is not really a kids web site.  If they are really young they won't know what that is anyway.

[cobrakai]

1 hour ago, asharerin said:

Just open a case and ask for permission to open a second selling account. If you have good metrics they will approve. Do NOT open a second selling account without permission or you will get suspended. You can open as many selling accounts as you wish as long as you get permission. We operate 3 (one for Lego, one for other toys, household, grocery and apparel, and one for health and beauty products). The downside is you will have 3 sets of fees ($40 per month for pro, and then any other add-ons such as repricers, inventory lab, scanlister etc). The upside is at tax time it makes things very easy across the 3 companies.

What are the advantages to having multiple accounts?  I sell across all categories and just use a general storefront name that could cover any category.  Is it done because you guys think people are surfing your storefront based on your product selection being mainly toys or whatever? Or is it an emergency in case of issues with one of the accounts getting shut down or suspended? I guess it could be weird if you were "Johns Bricks" storefront selling ladies lingerie and hot sauce.  It would not be as weird if your storefront was "Johns Fine Goods" or something like that.  I sell 70% toys and I get at least 3 or 4 orders a day that are multiple toys going to the same person.  I never know if it is a coincidence because I have the buy box on them or if someone is surfing my store.

[asharerin]

4 minutes ago, cobrakai said:

What are the advantages to having multiple accounts?  I sell across all categories and just use a general storefront name that could cover any category.  Is it done because you guys think people are surfing your storefront based on your product selection being mainly toys or whatever? Or is it an emergency in case of issues with one of the accounts getting shut down or suspended? I guess it could be weird if you were "Johns Bricks" storefront selling ladies lingerie and hot sauce.  It would not be as weird if your storefront was "Johns Fine Goods" or something like that.  I sell 70% toys and I get at least 3 or 4 orders a day that are multiple toys going to the same person.  I never know if it is a coincidence because I have the buy box on them or if someone is surfing my store.

We don't have it set up this way for the name or storefront. We sell 99.99% FBA and I know Prime buyers are not searching storefronts. They search for their item and one click and done. We set it up this way so if we ever want to sell off one of the companies we can still continue with our other ungated items and brands. If we had everything under one account if we sold it off we would have to start from scratch and be gated out of just about everything. We can also give the companies to our kids if they want to keep on running it (my son may be interested in the lego account while our daughter may want to continue the health and beauty). Just gives plenty of flexibility which is key for success as ecommerce and amazon are constantly evolving and changing.

[Bold-Arrow]

B&M going down fast :

http://money.cnn.com/2017/04/22/news/credit-suisse-retail/index.html

 

[asharerin]

1 hour ago, Bold-Arrow said:

B&M going down fast :

http://money.cnn.com/2017/04/22/news/credit-suisse-retail/index.html

 

Self driving electric vehicles. That is the future of ecommerce. Amazon will have millions of self driving vehicles constantly in motion carrying all sorts of product. You tell echo you are out of diapers and a vehicle carrying that item within range will meet you in 20 mins for drop-off. The next 10 years is going to be insane, and today's $1k AMZN stock price is going to look dirt cheap. The good old days of shopping malls, Fedex and UPS are coming to a close.