Selling through Amazon FBA

[Bold-Arrow]

11 minutes ago, asharerin said:

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.

They are aiming for 30 minutes delivery at some of their fulfillment centers now... mind blowing. 

[landphieran]

10 minutes ago, asharerin said:

Amazon will have millions of self driving vehicles constantly in motion carrying all sorts of product. 

There is a lot of legislation slowing this down, I'm guessing it will take 20 years, but i agree we will get there. There is too much fear around safety and "hackers". People will need to be slowly eased into the transition.

[Jeff Mack]

12 minutes ago, asharerin said:

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.

That has to better than the tool that drives my same day delivery to my house, tosses the package out the window and i have to find it in my bushes. 

[Phil B]

46 minutes ago, asharerin said:

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.

And then they rebrand themselves to Buy&Low and start producing space ships?

[Robb]

And then they rebrand themselves to Buy&Low and start producing space ships?

I don't think they're going to rename themselves but they are going to make spaceships.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Origin

[Darth_Raichu]

35 minutes ago, asharerin said:

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.

I thought the future was flying drones ??

 

[exciter1]

Has anyone sold a 10221 - Super Star Destroyer through Amazon recently?  Is this listing all jacked up, or am I looking at it wrong?   I see the knock-off version is still on Amazon.

[Bold-Arrow]

4 minutes ago, exciter1 said:

Has anyone sold a 10221 - Super Star Destroyer through Amazon recently?  Is this listing all jacked up, or am I looking at it wrong?   I see the knock-off version is still on Amazon.

The primary is kinda hidden : https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0050R0YB8

[exciter1]

1 minute ago, Bold-Arrow said:

The primary is kinda hidden 

That's never good

[KShine]

1 hour ago, Darth_Raichu said:

I thought the future was flying drones ??

They are - The drones will be flying the electric trucks to your city/town.

[asharerin]

1 hour ago, Darth_Raichu said:

I thought the future was flying drones ??

 

Nope it is autonomous vehicles. Drones is just for PR. Amazon will be disrupting freight and final delivery taking out Fedex and UPS. They are currently building Amazon airlines where travellers will be able to get heavily discounted (or free with Prime) air travel with only carry on and my inventory in the cargo hold

 

1 hour ago, Phil B said:

And then they rebrand themselves to Buy&Low and start producing space ships?

Bezos will be building the infrastructure for space travel that will allow the next generation of innovators to take manufacturing off planet. Just as the freeway system made freight possible on the ground and allowed Bezos to build Amazon he will do the same for the next generation.

[gregpj]

2 hours ago, Jeff Mack said:

That has to better than the tool that drives my same day delivery to my house, tosses the package out the window and i have to find it in my bushes. 

I'm not sure how a self-driving car will be able to deliver the packages any better? I imagine this... worker places parcel in passenger side seat. Car drives to home, car ejects parcel to your bushes. (it's safe from theft there)

How can drones and self-driving cars do signature confirmation? What if you're not home? Where would they leave the parcel? If a self-driving car came to your home with parcels for a half dozen deliveries, would you be expected to find the right one in the trunk? How many bozos would steal the others (I imagine a camera would deter regular folks, but criminals have been proven to be pretty stupid)? Or simply grab the wrong one - take the biggest box by "accident"?

Too many complications for it to be feasible in my lifetime.

[Deadfraggle]

Since I don't currently do FBA, (I've only been utilizing Amazon for FBM), I am curious if you guys are using FBA for expensive sets, exclusives, retired sets, etc.?

The reason I ask is that the past several packages I have been shipped from Amazon have really arrived in poor shape. Very poor packaging. Three of my four packages today had no inner pillows or other protection, and the fourth had a solitary, sad air pillow. As you can imagine the contents did not arrive unscathed. This particular shipment contained seven collectible items, which I intend to display in the box - six of those boxes have damage.

In terms of LEGO specifically, if you're selling a $19.99 city set to little Timmy's Grandma and it arrives with a crease, its probably okay, but what happens when it's the $299 UCS Star Wars set and the box is trashed?

How much is this a concern?

[Robb]

27 minutes ago, gregpj said:

Too many complications for it to be feasible in my lifetime.

Are you very sick?

In 15 years they have done a crazy amount. I think they'll figure out the kinks in this one just fine.

[zskid00]

45 minutes ago, Deadfraggle said:

Since I don't currently do FBA, (I've only been utilizing Amazon for FBM), I am curious if you guys are using FBA for expensive sets, exclusives, retired sets, etc.?

The reason I ask is that the past several packages I have been shipped from Amazon have really arrived in poor shape. Very poor packaging.

I believe if the seller raises an issue with your FBA item, but it is due to poor packaging or damage in transit, Amazon will take care of it for you and you probably won't even know about it.  I'm no expert like @Bold-Arrow though.  Perhaps he can clarify.

Edited April 24, 2017 by zskid00

[exciter1]

2 minutes ago, zskid00 said:

I believe if the seller raises an issue with your FBA item, but it is due to poor packaging or damage in transit, Amazon will take care of it for you and you probably won't even know about it.  I'm no expert like @Bold-Arrow though.  Perhaps he can clarify.

My most recent issue was a commingled Black Manta set, the buyer was sent a Gorilla Grodd.  They weren't happy, since they unboxed it the day before their kid's birthday.

[Bold-Arrow]

4 minutes ago, zskid00 said:

I believe if the seller raises an issue with your FBA item, but it is due to poor packaging or damage in transit, Amazon will take care of it for you and you probably won't even know about it.  I'm no expert like @Bold-Arrow though.  Perhaps he can clarify.

It depend on the reason for return . You will def know about it but if Amazon owns up to their mistake they will issue a reimbursement upon return of the item to their FC . 

As far as whether FBA is good for big retired sets it depends on how much risk you are willing to take and what your business model is.. it is an individual call but I cap my risk at $350-$400 personally . ( got greedy once and it backfired ) 

[Kenxxx]

3 hours ago, Phil B said:

And then they rebrand themselves to Buy&Low and start producing space ships?

I believe the reference you were going for was "Buy-N-Large"

[Deadfraggle]

7 minutes ago, Bold-Arrow said:

It depend on the reason for return . You will def know about it but if Amazon owns up to their mistake they will issue a reimbursement upon return of the item to their FC . 

As far as whether FBA is good for big retired sets it depends on how much risk you are willing to take and what your business model is.. it is an individual call but I cap my risk at $350-$400 personally . ( got greedy once and it backfired ) 

Thanks for the insight.

On a related note, on the Amazon return drop down menu, I don't see an option for "Your warehouse workers are monkeys and should have bubble wrapped my prized collectable toy, but didn't, so the box arrived scuffed and crinkled - and don't even get me started on the corners." am I just overlooking that choice?

I really want to return the whole lot, but @asharerin has me terrified to make a return to Amazon for fear of lifetime ban. After the zombie apocalypse, or the great retail war of 2017, I won't have any other shopping options left and I may die.

[Kenxxx]

FBM is still too "wild west" for me.  So @asharerinis always telling us to not use Amazon "for storage"... , i.e., don't ship in more than what you can sell in the next 30 days.  Anyone have more specific details about Amazon storage fees, billing, etc?  I look at my Amazon statements and, my god, I have no idea what they are charging me for.  Specifically, I'd like to know...   Example: You ship an item in to FBA. It is received on the 10th. It sells on the 11th. Are you still billed 1 month of storage? Or do storage fees commence on the 10th of the next month?  Do fees start on the 1st of the next month, regardless of when your product arrived? Any tips for making the least of my FBA storage fees are appreciated.

[gregpj]

Are you very sick?
In 15 years they have done a crazy amount. I think they'll figure out the kinks in this one just fine.

No but according to my kids I'm pretty old.

They have done crazy things in the last 15 years but I just dont think I'll see it. Too many NIMBYs in the world today... id love to see real automated cars on the road. It would be soooo much easier getting the kids to their activities!!

(Also, I am not a person who generally needs next day delivery let alone 30 minute delivery)

[legorunner]

3 hours ago, Kenxxx said:

FBM is still too "wild west" for me.  So @asharerinis always telling us to not use Amazon "for storage"... , i.e., don't ship in more than what you can sell in the next 30 days.  Anyone have more specific details about Amazon storage fees, billing, etc?  I look at my Amazon statements and, my god, I have no idea what they are charging me for.  Specifically, I'd like to know...   Example: You ship an item in to FBA. It is received on the 10th. It sells on the 11th. Are you still billed 1 month of storage? Or do storage fees commence on the 10th of the next month?  Do fees start on the 1st of the next month, regardless of when your product arrived? Any tips for making the least of my FBA storage fees are appreciated.

@Kenxxx I've only sent in 3 relatively small batches so far, so I'm sure there is a lot more knowledge out there to be offered, but storage is prorated for the number of days its stored. As for the date, according to Amazon: "Inventory Storage Fees are typically charged between the 7th and 15th day of the month following the month the fee applies to." I just do a simple estimate when the item sells to quickly calculate revenue and profit, then I go back and double check my math from the report once the fees hit. Perhaps there is a more precise way out there? 

[river41]

6 hours ago, exciter1 said:

That's never good

does that mean there were so  many scams on the primary that they no longer display the listing(leading one to i would think avoid the secondary list also so as not to become a victim)

[exciter1]

47 minutes ago, river41 said:

does that mean there were so  many scams on the primary that they no longer display the listing(leading one to i would think avoid the secondary list also so as not to become a victim)

I assume the first one was scammed so much it's not listed as a primary.  Bold-Arrow can maybe still see it, but someone would probably have to put a case in to get them working on it to get it showing again.

[asharerin]

On 4/24/2017 at 10:07 AM, Deadfraggle said:

In terms of LEGO specifically, if you're selling a $19.99 city set to little Timmy's Grandma and it arrives with a crease, its probably okay, but what happens when it's the $299 UCS Star Wars set and the box is trashed?

How much is this a concern?

I don't worry about it at all. None of the stuff we send in is mint and it certainly isn't going to be mint after shipping to FBA, thrown onto the conveyor belts, possibly thrown into another pile to be rerouted to another fulfillment center, on another conveyor, then picked, and shipped with a 30lb pound bag of dogfood on top of it. Never had a complaint about a damaged box tho as I imagine the Lego inside is still fine and able to be built. As long as there are no punctures or tears it is FBA ready as far as our business model is concerned. I imagine if a buyer is worried about a mint box then they will shop on ebay where they get to see multiple pics of the item and can be confident it is packed well and not thrown in with other items. As far as we can tell Prime shoppers want the item fast so we assume they are builders and not concerned about the outer box as long as all the lego is inside of it.