Selling through Amazon FBA

[LegoEdison]

13 minutes ago, Darth_Raichu said:

It seems like Amzn know their 3PS better than we thought.  The new holiday storage fees is working the way it is designed

it drive down the price = less commission .... can this offset the storage fee profit? only they can tell 

[cladner]

47 minutes ago, Migration said:

Or it’s people that got 100 for $25 on clearance at Wal Mart and are perfectly happy with the current return.

or they know about a remake.  or they have 50 and they don't want to be toy planet selling all of them once.  sell a slice here, sell a slice there.  75094 is a great set but the hoped for demand just is not there based on the sales rank numbers and the current seller count is over 100.   the set was on a 40% off permasale. its doing as expected.  i always load on an extra few clearance sets just before EOL to sell short hold set into the bump to boost cagr, keep cash flow even from month to month. it took 3 months to sell 4 sets into the EOL bump.  that's not good.   

the price has gone steadily down  since the summer with the worsening glut of sellers. so yeah you  can tie up $200 capital  on 4 sets for another year and hope to make $100 more in  a year maybe or take the 30% profit and capital and put your brain to work coming up with a better investment where there aren't 100something star wars fans sitting with 40-60 in their storage areas. until this set loses half of its sellers its going to be under $180.  ecto1 is suffering a similar fate.

this is not the graph of a 2017 winner.

 

this is the graph of a 2017 winner.

 

75094 will probably end up doing like palpatine's arrest which took several years to sell through the permasale stock and is now poised for rapid growth.

Edited November 27, 2017 by cladner

[Darth_Raichu]

20 minutes ago, LegoEdison said:

it drive down the price = less commission .... can this offset the storage fee profit? only they can tell 

We all know the 3PS comission is a tiny portion of their revenue stream.  Forcing the 3PS to lower the prices keeps the appearance of Amzn as the best place to shop during holidays 

[zak001]

12 minutes ago, Darth_Raichu said:

We all know the 3PS comission is a tiny portion of their revenue stream.  Forcing the 3PS to lower the prices keep the appearance of Amzn as the best place to shop during holidays 

uh, 3PS are half of Amazon's sales and produce something close to a third of their net revenue. Nothing tiny about it.

[Darth_Raichu]

6 minutes ago, zak001 said:

uh, 3PS are half of Amazon's sales and produce something close to a third of their net revenue. Nothing tiny about it.

More like 17% revenue in 2016, but granted still a good chunk of the revenue.

[Bold-Arrow]

So turns out TP used to be Amazing Plush which does make sense. they are ranked 1,210 in Amaozn's top 5000 sellers. . oh and the parked 120 Republic Gunships .. could be worse I suppose. 

Live from Seller Stalking Network , this was BA with the latest. 

[Phil B]

3 minutes ago, Bold-Arrow said:

So turns out TP used to be Amazing Plush which does make sense. they are ranked 1,210 in Amaozn's top 5000 sellers. . oh and the parked 120 Republic Gunships .. could be worse I suppose. 

Live from Seller Stalking Network , this was BA with the latest. 

After one $0.05 price drop they have realized the foolishness of their ways and have allowed me to share their listing (perhaps because they lurk here and saw me post *wink* ). I have now sold through my 4 copies and they can have their Buy Box all to themselves. 

Net, for everyone in this game:

- You don't need to have the Buy Box all by yourself to be able to sell. Amazon will share fairly between all qualifying sellers at the same price point.

- You do not need to undercut to sell your wares. Just match the Buy Box.

[LegoBro]

So turns out TP used to be Amazing Plush which does make sense. they are ranked 1,210 in Amaozn's top 5000 sellers. . oh and the parked 120 Republic Gunships .. could be worse I suppose. 
Live from Seller Stalking Network , this was BA with the latest. 

So basically when they park this many sets in a slow-moving ASIN they block any future maturity for the long term? The Death Star of Amazon so to speak.

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[Bold-Arrow]

Just now, LegoBro said:

 

So basically when they park this many sets in a slow-moving ASIN they block any future maturity for the long term? The Death Star of Amazon so to speak.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using Brickpicker Forum mobile app
 

 

basically.

[zskid00]

This is my first time seeing the new Manage FBA Returns page and it's pretty slick.  I like that it provides all of the relevant return information in one place including customer comments about the return and tracking the return back to Amazon.

For you FBA pros, a customer returned an item with the reason of "item never arrived."  However the item was returned with a disposition of "customer damaged."  This doesn't make any sense.  Should I just recall the unsellable item and open a case once I receive it?

[Phil B]

Explain this to me: In the Daily Deals thread someone complained that their Snow Globe listing suddenly dropped from 4th place to 3rd page after the listing went up at LEGO Shop at Home this morning. I get this if it is all FBM, but there are 10+ new FBA listings showing in-stock at $49, whereas the BB price was $55 just half an hour earlier. If this was all Seller-fulfilled Prime, then maybe, but some of these sellers have really low feedback count. How is this possible? How can they have an FBA listing up, with stock, merely hours after it becomes for sale again at LEGO Shop at Home? 

The only explanation I can think of is that this is a panic reaction from resellers and everybody dropped their price en-masse to get their inventory sold before the new 40223 inventory hits FBA .....

Anyone have any further insights?

[Loghamel]

3 minutes ago, Phil B said:

Explain this to me: In the Daily Deals thread someone complained that their Snow Globe listing suddenly dropped from 4th place to 3rd page after the listing went up at LEGO Shop at Home this morning. I get this if it is all FBM, but there are 10+ new FBA listings showing in-stock at $49, whereas the BB price was $55 just half an hour earlier. If this was all Seller-fulfilled Prime, then maybe, but some of these sellers have really low feedback count. How is this possible? How can they have an FBA listing up, with stock, merely hours after it becomes for sale again at LEGO Shop at Home? 

The only explanation I can think of is that this is a panic reaction from resellers and everybody dropped their price en-masse to get their inventory sold before the new 40223 inventory hits FBA .....

Anyone have any further insights?

My money is on panic.

[Bold-Arrow]

[Migration]

2 hours ago, Bold-Arrow said:

You never count your money while you're sittin' at the table. There'll be time enough for counting, when the dealings done... Thank you so much for that particular ear worm.

Edited November 28, 2017 by Migration

[Achilles]

Here's a fun one, Amazon "lost" a case of 10 items... They have since reimbursed me for... 3 of them. I wonder how they make that determination?

 

[Sauromosis]

1 minute ago, Achilles said:

Here's a fun one, Amazon "lost" a case of 10 items... They have since reimbursed me for... 3 of them. I wonder how they make that determination?

 

They are trying to meet tight deadlines, pressing the wrong keys, working 10 hours days, and falling asleep standing.

[landphieran]

new 3P has came in to a lot of listings with sizable numbers undercutting most listings by 5-10$

Interesting 4th quarter strategy. Wait for listings to sell volume BF and CM. Then undercut and move inventory quickly later 4th qtr.

[pcaster]

20 hours ago, landphieran said:

new 3P has came in to a lot of listings with sizable numbers undercutting most listings by 5-10$

Interesting 4th quarter strategy. Wait for listings to sell volume BF and CM. Then undercut and move inventory quickly later 4th qtr.

 

No kidding.  And on some slower selling items, also.  On a few of them they now have a 6-12 month inventory.  I don't get it...

 

[Bold-Arrow]

Anyone else getting these " FBA Inbound Shipment Problem" emails  when when you are 100% certain that you packed correctly. 

[newbie77]

1 hour ago, Bold-Arrow said:

Anyone else getting these " FBA Inbound Shipment Problem" emails  when when you are 100% certain that you packed correctly. 

all the time. quantity reduced by few per shipment. in certain box where there is not suppose to be any shortage.

usually its eye catching/hot items. they don't want all LEGO set but battle-packs are very very prone... 

and if you are sending mini figures better be prepared for it...

[xeeeej]

20 hours ago, landphieran said:

*Store has came in to a lot of listings with sizable numbers undercutting most listings by 5-10$

Interesting 4th quarter strategy. Wait for listings to sell volume BF and CM. Then undercut and move inventory quickly later 4th qtr.

Undercutters have a special, extra fiery place reserved for them in the afterlife. Every one of my listings is match lowest FBA.  PM me if you have further concerns.  Thanks for the business advice though!

Edited December 1, 2017 by xeeeej

[justapilgrim]

Anyone else getting these " FBA Inbound Shipment Problem" emails  when when you are 100% certain that you packed correctly. 

Yes. They unloaded half a shipment left week and have 5 sets still pending a week out

[anon33]

Anyone ever have the following occur? Shipment 100% accounted for and one week later shipment indicates a few items missing? How does that happen?

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[Bold-Arrow]

15 minutes ago, anon33 said:

Anyone ever have the following occur? Shipment 100% accounted for and one week later shipment indicates a few items missing? How does that happen?

Sent from my XT1031 using Brickpicker Forum mobile app
 

Yup, always keep an eye on your shipments for few weeks especially ones that go to redistribution centers 

[asharerin]

30 minutes ago, anon33 said:

Anyone ever have the following occur? Shipment 100% accounted for and one week later shipment indicates a few items missing? How does that happen?

Sent from my XT1031 using Brickpicker Forum mobile app
 

Instead of reimbursing cash for all lost units (cost too much) they are taking units from shipments previously received in full and adding them to holding accounts and then retroactively modifying the counts on those previously received in full shipment. That way when you or another seller file a claim for that lost unit in the future they will then resticker the holding account units and add it back into the sellers account that filed the claim and Amazon does not have to pay cash. You will have to spend hours scanning inventory reports, event detail, and daily inventory reports to track down exactly which warehouse "procured" your items. This is how FBA will be going forward (actually started in July at select warehouses but is now in place across the board) so expect some shrinkage on your items (think of it as the next fee increase).

What has worked for us - we now place FNSKU labels on our items, polybag all items, then place another two FNSKU labels on the polybagged units on opposite sides, as well as 2 bright orange "ready to ship/sold as a set do not separate" labels next to the FNSKU labels on the polybag. We have done tests sending two identical shipments to the same warehouse on the same day and like clockwork a small percentage of the unpolybagged units were taken and the shipment reported as short retroactively while the polybagged multiple stickered units have no issues at all. Our theory is when they have a choice of "procuring" units they go for the unpolybagged units with just one FNSKU they can easily place a sticker over to cover things up. Net result we have not had a single unit taken from our inventory since following the new protocol. Costs more in time (the stickers are very cheap so not an issue) but  we save overall and will be alot less work for us at the end of the year when accounting for ending inventory to figure COGS.

It sucks but just another reminder Amazon is not your business partner so plan accordingly. They love to make changes every 6 months and you must continually adapt or your business will suffer. They did not get to number one by following the rules. On the flipside this is going to make their warehouse operations alot more profitable so if you are a shareholder you are going to be happy ;).