Selling through Amazon FBA

[newbie77]

2 minutes ago, Loghamel said:

200+ items, roughly 30 ASINs

yeah you have to do that one at a time.

that's what happens when item is sent in duplicate ASIN's. try to avoid that. i completely understand the price on the original/actual ASIN which appears with the UPC is lower but again its the gamble one takes for higher $$ sometimes it works sometime it doesn't.

[Loghamel]

2 minutes ago, newbie77 said:

yeah you have to do that one at a time.

that's what happens when item is sent in duplicate ASIN's. try to avoid that. i completely understand the price on the original/actual ASIN which appears with the UPC is lower but again its the gamble one takes for higher $$ sometimes it works sometime it doesn't.

There is 0% chance that is the issue.  I only choose ASINs with the highest rank, which has never resulted in a duplicate ASIN issue.  It's also hard to choose the 'wrong' ASIN when it's 'Amazon's Choice'.  But, back to my point.  The chance that I somehow mistakenly chose the wrong ASIN for 100% of the 30+ ASINs I sent in is 0%.

[belljohn]

16 minutes ago, Loghamel said:

I'm on day 9 of my current issue.  Sent in a bit more than 200 items to 4 FCs.  All inventory received and reconciled.  All items Active.  All items Stranded.  What's even more awesome, it occurs when I try to create a new listing and select FBM.  Straight to Stranded.  I told them that I upgraded to a Professional account, but was told that should make no difference.  All CS people have been baffled as it all looks perfectly fine and Active, but is Stranded.  I did a search on the seller forums and found multiple issues with entire inventory going Stranded after they upgraded to professional account.  To top it off, a large portion of the shipments were Halloween and hunting season items.  So during the peak time for these seasonal items, my inventory is 100% stranded.  Gooooood times!

I had a really fun time upgrading to a professional account.  Did they ask you to verify your identity?  I upgrade to proffesional every fall, and this is the first year I had verify my identify.  All my inventory was stranded until I sorted it all out.  My steps were sending in my driver's license and bank account. This was all rejected until I updated my credit card expiration date.  Then my bank account statement was still rejected until I sent in a seven page bank account statement. They seemed to like that I can finally sell.   It took a few hours for my inventory to become un-stranded.  It might worth a call see if there is block on your account when you upgraded.  It took me 2 weeks to get it straight.

[Loghamel]

29 minutes ago, belljohn said:

I had a really fun time upgrading to a professional account.  Did they ask you to verify your identity?  I upgrade to proffesional every fall, and this is the first year I had verify my identify.  All my inventory was stranded until I sorted it all out.  My steps were sending in my driver's license and bank account. This was all rejected until I updated my credit card expiration date.  Then my bank account statement was still rejected until I sent in a seven page bank account statement. They seemed to like that I can finally sell.   It took a few hours for my inventory to become un-stranded.  It might worth a call see if there is block on your account when you upgraded.  It took me 2 weeks to get it straight.

That was my thought at first.  My approval came within 20 minutes of submitting my documents.  But it's like other parts of the system didn't get the memo.  I've talked to 5 different CS people and they say everything looks fine in the system except the Stranded issue, which is why we've been waiting for an update from the 'technicians' for a week now.

[asharerin]

On 10/11/2017 at 1:01 PM, Loghamel said:

That was my thought at first.  My approval came within 20 minutes of submitting my documents.  But it's like other parts of the system didn't get the memo.  I've talked to 5 different CS people and they say everything looks fine in the system except the Stranded issue, which is why we've been waiting for an update from the 'technicians' for a week now.

Your items became stranded because you upgraded to the Pro account. There are a few things to try but I will give you the sure fire method that works 100% of the time for us. Get seller support on chat and explain what is going on (make sure to suck up big time, ask them how their day is going etc). Next copy and paste your skus that are stranded. They will be able to relist them on their end which sends them back into active. Say thank you, suck up again etc, and leave 5 stars in all categories for them and a short paragraph on how awesome they are - this way the next time you need something the agent will see what good reviews you leave and they in turn will bend over backwards to bump up their metrics. With Amazon it is all about quid pro quo and that goes for absolutely everything on their platform. Forget about the seller forums the people there are usless except for redwing. Join a good fba group where you will get real help.

[Phil B]

Turns out one of my items accidentally landed on an alternate listing. How do I get it moved? Do I have to recall, resticker and resubmit?

 

PS: sent in a box of stuff to FBA yesterday, already checked in and ready to sell today. 18hrs between UPS pickup and FBA Received in Full emails. Granted, it only went one state over, but still .... me likey

 

[Bold-Arrow]

3 minutes ago, Phil B said:

Turns out one of my items accidentally landed on an alternate listing. How do I get it moved? Do I have to recall, resticker and resubmit?

 

PS: sent in a box of stuff to FBA yesterday, already checked in and ready to sell today. 18hrs between UPS pickup and FBA Received in Full emails. Granted, it only went one state over, but still .... me likey

 

Open a case. , provide your msku current Asin and desired Asin . Someone with some know how should be able to move it for you . Just moved two listings this month.

Tip : Chat yields better result 

[Phil B]

Open a case. , provide your msku current Asin and desired Asin . Someone with some know how should be able to move it for you . Just moved two listings this month.
Tip : Chat yields better result 

Got great support from the FBA seller team, but ultimately the problem solved itself (until I get a return) - my item sold (for $3 more than the buy box on the main listing). No complaints here

[ichiroll]

I was contemplating sending in some FO Transporters 75103 into FBA and noticed there are a considerable amount of alternate listings.  Obviously if I put my own FBA labels on, I can't jump from one listing to another, so I need to choose the right one now.  Just curious what everyone else does.  Go with the listing with the higher buy box price, lower number of offers, listing that Amazon.com is on, etc?

Thanks.

 

[Bold-Arrow]

1 minute ago, ichiroll said:

I was contemplating sending in some FO Transporters 75103 into FBA and noticed there are a considerable amount of alternate listings.  Obviously if I put my own FBA labels on, I can't jump from one listing to another, so I need to choose the right one now.  Just curious what everyone else does.  Go with the listing with the higher buy box price, lower number of offers, listing that Amazon.com is on, etc?

Thanks.

 

Rank, and price 

[ichiroll]

6 minutes ago, Bold-Arrow said:

Rank, and price 

sounds good, thanks.

[Bold-Arrow]

1 minute ago, ichiroll said:

sounds good, thanks.

Just a disclaimer that listing on alternates isn’t the proper way of selling on amazon . Risk is minimal but just thought I would let u know 

 

[Phil B]

I'd go by UPC, assuming those are all different between the listings.

[ichiroll]

Just now, Bold-Arrow said:

Just a disclaimer that listing on alternates isn’t the proper way of selling on amazon . Risk is minimal but just thought I would let u know 

 

Yep, I totally understand.  I've been doing business on Amazon for more than 10 years (not with Lego), so definitely have had my share of experiences with these alternate listings popping up on my original listings.  

Honestly I wish Amazon would police them more, but I also realize some people on BP have to list on an alternate listing for other reasons.

I guess I was wondering why this one had so many alternate listings, and if it's possible than an alternate listing could surpass the main listing in rank or number of sellers.

 

[Bold-Arrow]

1 minute ago, ichiroll said:

 

I guess I was wondering why this one had so many alternate listings, and if it's possible than an alternate listing could surpass the main listing in rank or number of sellers.

 

It does happen , usually when the main listing becomes more expensive . 

[landphieran]

That moment your distributor hijacks your Amazon listing and undercuts you by 50% 

 

[Bold-Arrow]

[asharerin]

15 hours ago, landphieran said:

That moment your distributor hijacks your Amazon listing and undercuts you by 50% 

 

You should have in your contract a clause stating your distributor agrees not to sell those items on Amazon itself, or at the very least they have to provide 3 months notice prior to selling so you can sell through or an agreement that they buy back all of your merchandise at cost if they start selling on Amazon. If not, you will next time

This is why Amazon is going to have a monopoly within 5 years, and why we keep buying Amazon stock, and why we keep diversifying and adding new skus every week:

 

https://www.amazon.com/b?ie=UTF8&node=17285120011

 

 

[landphieran]

Unfortunately, I have not been able to work out any contracts with any of my distributors (probably due to inexperience and lacking a true business location). There seems to be a lot of fear/hate for third party sellers, which I find difficult to navigate. I know a lot of people use grey market tactics to get around third party limitations.

Ironically, In this particular case the manufacturer has a brand on Amazon, which they manage extremely poorly. I had reached out offering to essentially run there online presence and help manage there brand. They said they'd be willing to hear me out, but i really have no idea what I'm looking to achieve so I haven't really pursued it further. Then i noticed they hijacked my listings. Still trying to figure out how to navigate this scenario.

Thanks to @asharerin I have expanded and greatly diversified so instances like this aren't a big deal. Its still annoying and further demonstrates the volatility of the online market. I operate 100% on OA however I would feel much more secure having some branded products I can anchor my sales in without having to juke and jive.

I feel like I should start a self help group. "ASA" - Amazon Sellers Anonymous - where people can speak about there trials and tribulations.

Edited October 25, 2017 by landphieran
spelling

[TANV]

I had a Return Authorization over a week ago from Amazon and I approved it. However, no response at all from the buyer.  They bought some books from me and it arrived late, according to them.

I can't seem to find the RA history either.  Has anyone encountered something like this before?

[biking_tiger]

Amazon initiated two FBA refunds in the last couple of days--both are new for me. One was "undeliverable" and the other "order not received". 

I'm small potatoes, but it seems this is happening more often. Will amazon reimburse my account in the usual "45 day" window? 

[Bold-Arrow]

4 minutes ago, biking_tiger said:

Amazon initiated two FBA refunds in the last couple of days--both are new for me. One was "undeliverable" and the other "order not received". 

I'm small potatoes, but it seems this is happening more often. Will amazon reimburse my account in the usual "45 day" window? 

Either that or the item will go back to your inventory 

[Phil B]

Either that or the item will go back to your inventory 

Or the return never happens. FBA authorizes, but the refund doesn't happen until the product has been received by AMZ.

[zskid00]

I am fighting with Amazon about an FBA return right now.  I waited the 45 days and the item was never returned, so Amazon did reimburse me but not the full amount they deducted from my account when they auto-refunded the buyer.  They claim their policy states that some FBA fees are not eligible for reimbursement, but I don't understand why there were any fees associated with a phantom return anyways.  They never had to restock the item in their warehouse or pay for return shipping.  It's only a $6 difference but I am really miffed that Amazon makes the seller pay for these return claims that the buyers never follow through on.

Edited October 27, 2017 by zskid00

[asharerin]

7 hours ago, zskid00 said:

I am fighting with Amazon about an FBA return right now.  I waited the 45 days and the item was never returned, so Amazon did reimburse me but not the full amount they deducted from my account when they auto-refunded the buyer.  They claim their policy states that some FBA fees are not eligible for reimbursement, but I don't understand why there were any fees associated with a phantom return anyways.  They never had to restock the item in their warehouse or pay for return shipping.  It's only a $6 difference but I am really miffed that Amazon makes the seller pay for these return claims that the buyers never follow through on.

Buy some Amazon stock so you get a piece of those fees (and some nice capital gains). I found it is not worth the time to even think twice about how Amazon conducts its business. Just look at those profits and capital gains at the end of the year and smile ear to ear. Yes they have fees for everything, but access to their Prime customers is worth alot more than we pay IMO.