Selling through Amazon FBA

[Sfcommando14]

8 hours ago, Phil B said:

10686 was the listing I had TP come in on when I was just sending in my last 2. Managed to sell one at $50 before their inventory arrived. They started at $43, but after a few days moved up to $48. Sold my last one at that price, by just matching them. Since my average buy in on those was $12 and I picked my last two up just 2 weeks ago from Shopko, I'm not complaining.

I managed to get 3 sold at $60 before the bottom fell out (I only sent in 3).  The rest are safely in a box until next year

[landphieran]

Tax collection for orders shipped to Washington State - Effective 1/1/2018
Dec 11, 2017

 

Based on changes in Washington State tax laws, Amazon will calculate, collect, and remit sales tax for all orders shipped to customers in Washington State beginning 1/1/2018. No action is required on your part; we will automatically take these actions for your Washington orders. For more information, see Marketplace Tax Collection FAQ.

- That's nice of them however still troubling. Tax free internet purchases are coming to a close.

Edited December 13, 2017 by landphieran

[Bold-Arrow]

22 minutes ago, landphieran said:

Tax collection for orders shipped to Washington State - Effective 1/1/2018
Dec 11, 2017

 

Based on changes in Washington State tax laws, Amazon will calculate, collect, and remit sales tax for all orders shipped to customers in Washington State beginning 1/1/2018. No action is required on your part; we will automatically take these actions for your Washington orders. For more information, see Marketplace Tax Collection FAQ.

- That's nice of them however still troubling. Tax free internet purchases are coming to a close.

Good . Hopefully this will  get rid of the tacky **no tax anywhere** none sense in some of them 3p store names

[chrisynd]

On 12/13/2017 at 12:57 AM, chrisynd said:

World's Best was a problem last year but seems to have grown a lot... I'm not sure if they're worse than Toy Planet, though. TP tends to have less SKUs but much deeper inventory. For example, TP parked 400+ of 10686 within the last day or two at ~$43.... Price was rising quickly to ~$55+ last week. World's Best tends to have something like 20-80 units. TP routinely shows up on a listing with a single unit or two per day volume with 100+ units and just destroys the price. I remember a year--maybe 2 years ago it was--when 9497 was bouncing off $100 FBA and TP showed up with however many hundreds. All the way down to $65 now, some year or two later.

10512 is another classic, it was happily making its way toward $50 FBA going into the holidays:

https://camelcamelcamel.com/LEGO-DUPLO-Jakes-Treasure-10512/product/B00C9X592U

Down to 19.99 (retail was 14.99) with 300+ units. Often no one is even challenging or matching their prices, they could easily move up...but I guess when you have so many units...

Sigh... 

I may have to eat my words slightly. World's Best just blew up the 42038 listing, too. Was bouncing around between 160-180.

[LegoBro]

I may have to eat my words slightly. World's Best just blew up the 42038 listing, too. Was bouncing around between 160-180.

166 units to burn through to add to the madness.

[landphieran]

9 minutes ago, chrisynd said:

I may have to eat my words slightly. World's Best just blew up the 42038 listing, too. Was bouncing around between 160-180.

Can someone explain this to me? How do you knowingly pass up 30+$ in straight profit for slightly faster turn over. They aren't selling goods in fear of being reproduced. The hurry to sell shouldn't be there...

Unless they are in major debt from holiday price mistake purchases..

[exciter1]

2 minutes ago, landphieran said:

Can someone explain this to me? How do you knowingly pass up 30+$ in straight profit for slightly faster turn over. They aren't selling goods in fear of being reproduced. The hurry to sell shouldn't be there...

Unless they are in major debt from holiday price mistake purchases..

Probably major debt from RRP purchases.

[joch29]

12 minutes ago, landphieran said:

Can someone explain this to me? How do you knowingly pass up 30+$ in straight profit for slightly faster turn over. They aren't selling goods in fear of being reproduced. The hurry to sell shouldn't be there...

Unless they are in major debt from holiday price mistake purchases..

or big enough to be happy with a decent profit and keep buying more products to grow

[chrisynd]

1 hour ago, joch29 said:

or big enough to be happy with a decent profit and keep buying more products to grow

Not to suggest World's Best didn't buy at some sort of a discount, but RRP was $84.99 on that set. Buy box is now $15 above that and fees would drop their takeaway to below RRP.

[newbie77]

15 minutes ago, chrisynd said:

Not to suggest World's Best didn't buy at some sort of a discount, but RRP was $84.99 on that set. Buy box is now $15 above that and fees would drop their takeaway to below RRP.

If I am not mistaken world’s best is South Korean seller with access to whole Asian Lego network. Their cost is less than 50% of us rrp 

[newbie77]

1 hour ago, landphieran said:

Can someone explain this to me? How do you knowingly pass up 30+$ in straight profit for slightly faster turn over. They aren't selling goods in fear of being reproduced. The hurry to sell shouldn't be there...

Unless they are in major debt from holiday price mistake purchases..

When one has 100+ of same units at Amazon and another 200+ At their warehouse calculation is about rotation not higher $. 

I.e. they can move 100/wk at $120 vs 70 @ $150 .

i used to move about 40units of 75920 @120/day vs 5 units @ 174 that’s major difference

Edited December 14, 2017 by newbie77

[landphieran]

29 minutes ago, newbie77 said:

When one has 100+ of same units at Amazon and another 200+ At their warehouse calculation is about rotation not higher $. 

I.e. they can move 100/wk at $120 vs 70 @ $150 .

i used to move about 40units of 75920 @120/day vs 5 units @ 174 that’s major difference

This has been a hot topic in my mind as of recently. Simply stated, what percentage does a set need to rise by year to year to justify holding?

Assuming short term (1-4 months) 30-50% ROI. How much ROI do you need to make for a year hold to be worth it? Two years? Obviously those hold numbers fluctuate based on how well you are able to consistently utilize your capital to make ROI gains on the money coming in. How do you evaluate risk of price increase decrease of the hold? Risk of new investments?

I find myself often operating under intuition and a basic level of what i deem as acceptable return. Moving forward I'm going to try and take a more scientific approach to it. What that means, TBD.

[Phil B]

Apologies if this is a common question - did check a quick google search but haven't found a specific answer: Received a set back into my FBA inventory marked as "Unfulfillable - Customer Damaged". I assume I need to create a removal order to get the item back to assess the damage. Can someone enlighten me:

1. When is the best time to do this? I figure I need to pay for this removal ...... is there a time when the fees will be low or zero?

2. Once I get the item back, do I get any reimbursement, or do I need to file for reimbursement should the item truly be damaged (e.g. not complete or opened)?

3. Is there an alternative to getting the item back which would give me compensation for the loss? e.g. asking Amazon to sell on Warehouse Deals or something like that?

4. If I choose to remove, how long do I have before I need to place the removal order? Will I pay holiday storage fees over this unfulfillable inventory?

Edited December 18, 2017 by Phil B

[Bold-Arrow]

8 minutes ago, Phil B said:

Apologies if this is a common question - did check a quick google search but haven't found a specific answer: Received a set back into my FBA inventory marked as "Unfulfillable - Customer Damaged". I assume I need to create a removal order to get the item back to assess the damage. Can someone enlighten me:

1. When is the best time to do this? I figure I need to pay for this removal ...... is there a time when the fees will be low or zero? asap, during holiday peak times you might have to wait a few weeks but that is not that common

2. Once I get the item back, do I get any reimbursement, or do I need to file for reimbursement should the item truly be damaged (e.g. not complete or opened)? you will not be automatically reimbursed. depending on the state of the item you will need to open a case and take pics. it is becoming harder and harder to have them approve those even when foul play is involved

3. Is there an alternative to getting the item back which would give me compensation for the loss? e.g. asking Amazon to sell on Warehouse Deals or something like that? no, amazon doesn't eat items marked as customer damaged 

 

[Achilles]

Also, if you use the comingled inventory system, most likely, you won't get back the item you sent in regardless. You'll get any of said item that was marked as damaged.

Fee is $1 per item I believe unless they changed it.

Basically, anything OTHER than Warehouse damaged you do not get reimbursed for.

Just have to chalk it up as "loss" like any retailer would. What you do with it obviously can vary, I've gotten "damaged" items that were completely unopened which I've been able to instantly send right back in, and I've gotten ones that clearly had items taken out, and I've gotten ones that just had crushed boxes. It all varies. I usually just verify my returns are complete, and if they are I list them as collectible and try to sell them again discounted.

[redcell]

Also, if you use the comingled inventory system, most likely, you won't get back the item you sent in regardless. You'll get any of said item that was marked as damaged.
Fee is $1 per item I believe unless they changed it.
Basically, anything OTHER than Warehouse damaged you do not get reimbursed for.
Just have to chalk it up as "loss" like any retailer would. What you do with it obviously can vary, I've gotten "damaged" items that were completely unopened which I've been able to instantly send right back in, and I've gotten ones that clearly had items taken out, and I've gotten ones that just had crushed boxes. It all varies. I usually just verify my returns are complete, and if they are I list them as collectible and try to sell them again discounted.

You can get reimbursed for items marked distributor damaged, but you have to request it before they kick the item back to you through an automated removal.

Sent from my VS995 using Brickpicker Forum mobile app

[chrisynd]

16 hours ago, Phil B said:

Apologies if this is a common question - did check a quick google search but haven't found a specific answer: Received a set back into my FBA inventory marked as "Unfulfillable - Customer Damaged". I assume I need to create a removal order to get the item back to assess the damage. Can someone enlighten me:

1. When is the best time to do this? I figure I need to pay for this removal ...... is there a time when the fees will be low or zero?

2. Once I get the item back, do I get any reimbursement, or do I need to file for reimbursement should the item truly be damaged (e.g. not complete or opened)?

3. Is there an alternative to getting the item back which would give me compensation for the loss? e.g. asking Amazon to sell on Warehouse Deals or something like that?

4. If I choose to remove, how long do I have before I need to place the removal order? Will I pay holiday storage fees over this unfulfillable inventory?

As others have said, "customer damaged" is very common. I think I've got maybe 8 items in Unfulfillable right now as "customer damaged". You'll have to manually request them to be removed and sent to you, pay some minor fees to do so. The status of these items once received really varies. As others said, a good chunk of the time, they're totally fine and they just get re-stickered and sent back in. Other times, well, they look like the attached image -- and you might have some luck getting them reimbursed but it's tough.

 

Generally, I just chalk them up as a loss and hawk opened sets on eBay, sets that no longer have a box and are missing parts go into our own personal parts inventory, or find some other use for them. It sucks, but it's a cost of doing business. Most importantly: if you're going to send them back in, be really sure they haven't been opened, parts replaced with something "similar" and "resealed".

[LegoEdison]

I have 1 item  stuck in customer purchase for over 2 weeks now. is there anything i can do about? 

[chrisynd]

20 hours ago, LegoEdison said:

I have 1 item  stuck in customer purchase for over 2 weeks now. is there anything i can do about? 

Nope. Probably a fail payment which they may retry for a while before finally canceling.

[33Lego]

I really hate this FC transfer thing.

I got a big part of my inventory struck in FC transfer and they should be available on Dec 24.

And this is not the worst problem, if a customer order it and cannot get it Dec 25 (which is not possible at all) he/she might leave a negative feedback.

[Phil B]

1 minute ago, 33Lego said:

I really hate this FC transfer thing.

I got a big part of my inventory struck in FC transfer and they should be available on Dec 24.

And this is not the worst problem, if a customer order it and cannot get it Dec 25 (which is not possible at all) he/she might leave a negative feedback.

I was going to complain about the same, but it sounds like I'm luckier than you are. Inventory arrived yesterday and got checked in in full, only to be fully moved to FC Transfer. My luck is that the availability date is set to Dec 21, so still time for 2 day shipping. Plus, it hasn't stopped customers from ordering, already sold quite a few items even though they show as Backordered.

[belljohn]

2 minutes ago, 33Lego said:

I really hate this FC transfer thing.

I got a big part of my inventory struck in FC transfer and they should be available on Dec 24.

And this is not the worst problem, if a customer order it and cannot get it Dec 25 (which is not possible at all) he/she might leave a negative feedback.

When my items are in transfer, I always adjust the price $10 above the going rate until they actually show for sale.  I never like to win the buyit box with a back ordered item because the just encourages other sellers to undercut and you are less likely to sell an item that is backordered.

[landphieran]

Per Amazon FBA Email - Item fulfillment fee's are going up by 10% in February for Medium to Large items 1 pound and greater. I expected worse.

[asharerin]

1 hour ago, landphieran said:

Per Amazon FBA Email - Item fulfillment fee's are going up by 10% in February for Medium to Large items 1 pound and greater. I expected worse.

Yep not worried about it at all. Still way cheaper than the alternatives. I would gladly pay way more if I had to. Let the good times roll (at least until 2026 lol). 2018 is going to be epic.

[river41]

15 minutes ago, asharerin said:

Yep not worried about it at all. Still way cheaper than the alternatives. I would gladly pay way more if I had to. Let the good times roll (at least until 2026 lol). 2018 is going to be epic.

what is in 2026?

it is about 20 percent higher for oversize items and that is a big 1 year jump.

In addition they are changing the way they calculate dimensional weight and that is i believe a additional 20 percent higher in the weight 

Also their rate of increase of growing.they started with small changes and they are accelerating their rate of increase.In a few years it wouldn't shock me if they were closer to double what they are now. 

Any decent size seller will be paying amazon thousands more per year in fulfillment costs and that comes straight out of your bottom line.

I think at this time with this increase it would probably be cheaper to self ship most oversize items depending on the distance but then you have to deal with the hassle.

 

they are also going to be raising storage fees I suspect a huge jump. They dont want products sitting in their warehouses they just want what will sell quick

 

This should serve to remind you that  amazon is not your business partner they are here to make money off of you if there ever becomes a time that they dont see any profit from you they can just send you packing