Selling through Amazon FBA

[landphieran]

13 minutes ago, redcell said:

It sounds like you guys really need to grow your business to be much bigger than it currently is.  If you're getting bent out of shape over the kinds of inventory issues that you're describing, FBA may not be the best choice for you.  Losing money or inventory sucks and it shouldn't happen, but it's a cost of doing business with Amazon and you need to factor in a certain amount of loss every year.  

 

11 minutes ago, Bold-Arrow said:

as much as i respect you and your posts my friend, this is a very weak one. 

Accepting loses is part of the business. Having the company you are working with essentially steal your inventory and not follow through on there own business policies is a whole other issue. 

I hate that I am saying this, but similar with the government, Amazon holds an extremely large amount of power regarding our inventory and they need to be held accountable. When people start rolling over and accepting 2K of inventory vanishing we are essentially working for the mafia...

[exciter1]

22 minutes ago, redcell said:

It sounds like you guys really need to grow your business to be much bigger than it currently is.  If you're getting bent out of shape over the kinds of inventory issues that you're describing, FBA may not be the best choice for you.  Losing money or inventory sucks and it shouldn't happen, but it's a cost of doing business with Amazon and you need to factor in a certain amount of loss every year.  

Yep, I think standing up for your rights as a seller shouldn't be something that is questioned, no matter the size of business.

[Sharkeye]

6 minutes ago, Bold-Arrow said:

Retails receipts were usually enough for reimbursement ( haven’t had to do it in a long time), but it might open a can of worms based on some of the threads on seller central . 

I have been selling on Amazon over 10 years, been using FBA from the beginning. Usually send in around a 100 or so shipments during holidays and never been asked to show factory invoices when there is an issue. I could maybe understand if there was a discrepancy in the amount for items received but this is obviously on Amazon. Tracking shows it was delivered to their warehouse where they have since lost it. Very frustrating..

[Bold-Arrow]

5 minutes ago, Sharkeye said:

I have been selling on Amazon over 10 years, been using FBA from the beginning. Usually send in around a 100 or so shipments during holidays and never been asked to show factory invoices when there is an issue. I could maybe understand if there was a discrepancy in the amount for items received but this is obviously on Amazon. Tracking shows it was delivered to their warehouse where they have since lost it. Very frustrating..

Once it is above a certain dollar value they ask for that, it’s been the case for a long time especially when a whole box goes missing , I’ve had to do it twice 

[legopocalypse]

If there's anything we all have learned now, it's this....

 

[Sharkeye]

2 minutes ago, Bold-Arrow said:

Once it is above a certain dollar value they ask for that, it’s been the case for a long time especially when a whole box goes missing , I’ve had to do it twice 

And you sent in retail receipts? It's amazing to me the amount of sellers there are on Amazon selling Lego. Where the heck are all these people getting their Lego? It is nearly impossible to buy directly from Lego these days. Either Amazon is completely ablivious to this or they are aware most sellers selling Lego are not getting their product the approved way.

[Bold-Arrow]

2 minutes ago, Sharkeye said:

And you sent in retail receipts? It's amazing to me the amount of sellers there are on Amazon selling Lego. Where the heck are all these people getting their Lego? It is nearly impossible to buy directly from Lego these days. Either Amazon is completely ablivious to this or they are aware most sellers selling Lego are not getting their product the approved way.

Yes I got fully reimbursed based on retail receipts/ online orders . They don’t necessarily reimburse u what u paid but Atleast u get something . ( u can also dispute the amount but I’m usually ahead or break even so I move on ) 

[redcell]

2 minutes ago, Sharkeye said:

And you sent in retail receipts? It's amazing to me the amount of sellers there are on Amazon selling Lego. Where the heck are all these people getting their Lego? It is nearly impossible to buy directly from Lego these days. Either Amazon is completely ablivious to this or they are aware most sellers selling Lego are not getting their product the approved way.

I think that you are misreading why Amazon put the gates in to begin with.  Amazon doesn't care about where Lego sellers get their product...Amazon just wants to make sure that it is authentic and that people selling Lego on their platform aren't scammers who will erode confidence in their marketplace.  The scam sellers not only hit Amazon's reputation, but they cost Amazon money due to returns.  Amazon put the gate in as one way to ensure that anyone seeking to sell Lego on Amazon is a legit seller and isn't a scammer.  However, Amazon is also smart enough to know that there is no sense in throwing the baby out with the bath water so they grandfathered sellers with established track records of selling Lego.  They did that last year when the gates first went in, but then expanded on their "grandfathering" this year by allowing sellers who meet certain unknown metrics to get automatically ungated for a wide variety of gated products.  At the end of the day, Amazon wants quality sellers on their platform and will allow quality sellers to sell almost any product that the brand manufacturer hasn't instituted strict brand controls over once they have a proven track record.     

[justapilgrim]

Update from 10 or so pages ago: sent in hulkbusters. Been selling around $86-$90 and I’m afraid of the remake. I made shipment specifically for these sets and threw in a few more miscellaneous to fill up the box. everything except the hulk buster sets showed up. There had been issues with main/alt listing at time I sent it in. Now after investigation, still saying they were not in there , I'm out around $400. I'm 100% sure they were there but can't prove it any more than they can prove it wasnt

[Sharkeye]

17 minutes ago, redcell said:

I think that you are misreading why Amazon put the gates in to begin with.  Amazon doesn't care about where Lego sellers get their product...Amazon just wants to make sure that it is authentic and that people selling Lego on their platform aren't scammers who will erode confidence in their marketplace.  The scam sellers not only hit Amazon's reputation, but they cost Amazon money due to returns.  Amazon put the gate in as one way to ensure that anyone seeking to sell Lego on Amazon is a legit seller and isn't a scammer.  However, Amazon is also smart enough to know that there is no sense in throwing the baby out with the bath water so they grandfathered sellers with established track records of selling Lego.  They did that last year when the gates first went in, but then expanded on their "grandfathering" this year by allowing sellers who meet certain unknown metrics to get automatically ungated for a wide variety of gated products.  At the end of the day, Amazon wants quality sellers on their platform and will allow quality sellers to sell almost any product that the brand manufacturer hasn't instituted strict brand controls over once they have a proven track record.     

So is Amazon OK with a grandfathered seller selling Lego with retail receipts then? 

[labfreak7]

Very doubtful

[cobrakai]

I have generally been able to avoid BWI2, but just noticed a shipment delivered there on Dec 5 that just became eligible for reconciliation.  It is short 47 units and 44 of them are saying "Investigation completed-shipment contents counted and confirmed." I'm guessing they lost a whole box of mine also. Those companies peddling the suspension insurance are going to have to start selling lost product by Amazon insurance.

[redcell]

So is Amazon OK with a grandfathered seller selling Lego with retail receipts then? 

The retail receipts won't get you ungated, but they are fine for getting reimbursed for lost/damaged inventory.

Sent from my VS995 using Brickpicker Forum mobile app

[Bold-Arrow]

If we all individually send letters to amazon( Jeff and his goons ) regarding this issue that concerns the same FC it is bound to get some attention . It is a matter of principle at this point . 

[ravenb99]

This thread has helped me come up with my 2018 business resolution. 

Find out which one of my liquidators has the bwi2 facility and buy those loads. 

[Leopard]

Just out of curiousity do you guys pay the extra $2+ fee for signature? I'll assume yes on the big amounts? 

[Sharkeye]

1 hour ago, Leopard said:

Just out of curiousity do you guys pay the extra $2+ fee for signature? I'll assume yes on the big amounts? 

If it's over $100 I do. Not under $100.

[Bold-Arrow]

anyone else seeing sales under "Sales Summary" is going up with no orders pending for the same time period ? been like that for 3 days now 

[Phil B]

5 minutes ago, Bold-Arrow said:

anyone else seeing sales under "Sales Summary" is going up with no orders pending for the same time period ? been like that for 3 days now 

Maybe the staffer at BWI2 who has been stealing your shipments is feeling guilty, and has secretly been covering up his tracks by recording every item as a sale in the backend? ;-)

[Bold-Arrow]

 

1 minute ago, Phil B said:

Maybe the staffer at BWI2 who has been stealing your shipments is feeling guilty, and has secretly been covering up his tracks by recording every item as a sale in the backend? ;-)

looks like a glitch : https://sellercentral.amazon.com/forums/thread.jspa?threadID=382182&ref_=_sf_382182_wsfqs_home&sortBy=helpful

[4cs]

I just had my first A-Z claim, for a package the customer claims  they never received. I checked the tracking, and it shows delivered, but the customer insists they didn't get it. I responded to AMZ with the tracking information and results, and within SECONDS, like 3 SECONDS, I get a response from AMZ telling me I failed to deliver the package so they have already debited my account for the missing order. Is this normal? Do I have any recourse?

[Bold-Arrow]

1 hour ago, 4cs said:

I just had my first A-Z claim, for a package the customer claims  they never received. I checked the tracking, and it shows delivered, but the customer insists they didn't get it. I responded to AMZ with the tracking information and results, and within SECONDS, like 3 SECONDS, I get a response from AMZ telling me I failed to deliver the package so they have already debited my account for the missing order. Is this normal? Do I have any recourse?

Did you purchase shipping via or on your own ? If it wasn’t via amazon then they only recongnize signature delivery as proof of delivery . If it was via amazon , you should be covered via the new policy . 

[river41]

1 hour ago, 4cs said:

I just had my first A-Z claim, for a package the customer claims  they never received. I checked the tracking, and it shows delivered, but the customer insists they didn't get it. I responded to AMZ with the tracking information and results, and within SECONDS, like 3 SECONDS, I get a response from AMZ telling me I failed to deliver the package so they have already debited my account for the missing order. Is this normal? Do I have any recourse?

a bot replied not a person that's why it took 3 seconds

[river41]

On 12/29/2017 at 10:08 PM, exciter1 said:

Yep, I think standing up for your rights as a seller shouldn't be something that is questioned, no matter the size of business.

It clearly seems that it is getting much much harder to get reimbursed for inventory lost in the warehouse if it never got checked in.

It seems that while before if they lost it and never checked it in the would reimburse you they implemented some sort of policy change within the last year and it is extraordinarily difficult to get that reimbursement now.

It does seem that they are working to monetize their 3p sellers more,hence the LARGE fba fulfillment increase coming in feb and now this policy.Can you fathom how much money they are saving(and how much money they are costing sellers  whose inventory they lose)

[joch29]

maybe I'm slow and just notice this...but its getting harder to get the older sets to show up directly searching on amazon site.  You have to google search it to find it on amazon or from your inventory page. like 10240,10228, etc.  I guess this makes it harder for the fake ones to get listed nowadays...but harder for buyers to find too... 

If you have an old set to list, it may also be gated even if you sell ton of lego.

 

Edited January 1, 2018 by joch29