Selling through Amazon FBA

[joch29]

4 hours ago, landphieran said:

I may have missed this, but why are most of the new Lego listings on Amazon duplicated?

most likely different regional version. if you have one of those european version it has a different code compared to US upc code.   It's showing up a lot more maybe because of the supply issue.

[FM]

I may have missed this, but why are most of the new Lego listings on Amazon duplicated?

A month ago I sent in a set that had two listings and it went to the "wrong" (higher ranking) listing. I submitted a request to have the listings combined. I was told that due to the pandemic they were not putting any effort into combining duplicate listings. So it could be that this just plain isn't being policed like it was on the past.

[river41]

had a return from fba of a expensive set and it was full of garbage (literally)   I checked the address it was shipped too (there are ways to find out the ship to  fba address if you know where to look) and it was shipped to a self service storage unit. I know someone else that had the same thing happen to them a month ago and i contacted him .He looked up his order and also same person same storage unit.  Clearly a thief who steals the lego inside (sells it on ebay without a box??)  I wonder how many other people he did this too.If this happened to anybody on here i would be curious to know.  I imagine even if amazon would shut him down for too many returns or fraud he can just rent a new storage unit and do it all over again.  It's frustrating to be scammed like this but I don't really know what to do. 

[$20 on joe vs dan]

7 minutes ago, river41 said:

had a return from fba of a expensive set and it was full of garbage (literally)   I checked the address it was shipped too (there are ways to find out the ship to  fba address if you know where to look) and it was shipped to a self service storage unit. I know someone else that had the same thing happen to them a month ago and i contacted him .He looked up his order and also same person same storage unit.  Clearly a thief who steals the lego inside (sells it on ebay without a box??)  I wonder how many other people he did this too.If this happened to anybody on here i would be curious to know.  I imagine even if amazon would shut him down for too many returns or fraud he can just rent a new storage unit and do it all over again.  It's frustrating to be scammed like this but I don't really know what to do. 

if you have his address then send him something "Ebay Executive" style.

Doesn't have to be something dangerous...but I get that getting scammed is highly frustrating and there is a strong desire to do something...so even a note in an empty (but weighted LEgo set box) indicating that he just opened a box containing...or just a warning that it could just as easily been real and next time he scams someone it will be...

[river41]

17 minutes ago, $20 on joe vs dan said:

if you have his address then send him something "Ebay Executive" style.

Doesn't have to be something dangerous...but I get that getting scammed is highly frustrating and there is a strong desire to do something...so even a note in an empty (but weighted LEgo set box) indicating that he just opened a box containing...or just a warning that it could just as easily been real and next time he scams someone it will be...

like i said the address is to a self storage unit not a house which leads me to believe he must be scamming alot of people and trying to hide his identity. 

I don't think i will accomplish much by sending a empty box etc. I will just be out postage.

If it was a home a person can be scared of being discovered but in such a case he can just pick up and go to the next storage unit.

There is no option on amazon to ban a buyer so any fba item that anyone sent in can conceivably be scammed by this person

The odds of one specific seller being scammed by this person are low probably but the overall odds of someone else being scammed seem to be quite high

Edited July 24, 2020 by river41

[Serejai]

Amazon has become full of people like that recently, mainly because Amazon no longer seems to care about the integrity of their marketplace. There's a large company called Quiverr that sells a bunch of products on there. 100,000+ orders, something like 13,000 reviews in the past year. I had ordered some things from them a while back and got expired/used items three times in a row. So I decided to do an experiment and ordered about a dozen food items. 90% of them were past the expiration date and as expected nothing ever came of reporting it to Amazon.

Sometimes I feel like I'm stuck in the middle. I'm trying to run a legitimate business, following the rules, while all these larger sellers seemingly do whatever they want with no consequences. And as a buyer I'm always hesitant to return things even if I deserve to because I try my best to make it work (ie if I buy something and the package is all beat up but the item itself is still perfectly functional), but I am getting so many returns lately from customers that use something for a week and then don't need it anymore, or people outright scamming by sending back empty boxes.

I feel like I would be more successful as both a seller and a buyer if I were a less honest person, and that's just depressing.

[joch29]

49 minutes ago, river41 said:

had a return from fba of a expensive set and it was full of garbage (literally)   I checked the address it was shipped too (there are ways to find out the ship to  fba address if you know where to look) and it was shipped to a self service storage unit. I know someone else that had the same thing happen to them a month ago and i contacted him .He looked up his order and also same person same storage unit.  Clearly a thief who steals the lego inside (sells it on ebay without a box??)  I wonder how many other people he did this too.If this happened to anybody on here i would be curious to know.  I imagine even if amazon would shut him down for too many returns or fraud he can just rent a new storage unit and do it all over again.  It's frustrating to be scammed like this but I don't really know what to do. 

Best thing to do is take pictures and report to Amazon.  Include copy of small receipt that amazon send with the returns. They will most likley ask you for invoice/ receipt of your original purchase. Amazon will most likely not hold you responsible if you have good track record at least in my experience. But you have to be proactive and report it to Amazon otherwise this guy gets away with it.

[donbee]

So I took up Amazon on their offer of free removal. I had a set that kept getting flagged for high price.
Two of them arrived yesterday, shipped separately in plastic bags. One is not sellable for sure, the other is pushing it. 26 more on the way.
Do I have any options? Can I get amazon to take responsibility for the damage?

[Serejai]

I mean you can certainly try but... well, good luck.

[Serejai]

Sent in six Apocalypsburgs. Amazon claims they never got the packages, despite them signing for them and marking them as delivered three months ago. Then I just randomly checked the tracking numbers for them today when I was looking up some other stuff and noticed they had all been forwarded about a month ago and re-delivered to Amazon's FC in Kentucky. Now why would Amazon pay to forward packages they never received? Hmm...

[brickology101]

Sent in six Apocalypsburgs. Amazon claims they never got the packages, despite them signing for them and marking them as delivered three months ago. Then I just randomly checked the tracking numbers for them today when I was looking up some other stuff and noticed they had all been forwarded about a month ago and re-delivered to Amazon's FC in Kentucky. Now why would Amazon pay to forward packages they never received? Hmm...

Same here. Three boxes sent to FC in NJ in May. All three marked delivered by Fedex. Content of one box made it to my inventory. Other two boxes disappeared. Shipment closed by AMZ, everything received, no possibility to reconcile. Opened case and reopened twice thereafter. Spoke to customer support several times. Each time Rep on the phone agrees there is a problem but every time the team that investigates FBA shipments comes back stating that everything is received and no reimbursement possible. Ok, so if received where are my products ? Sending in invoices & receipts did not help. Third time I reopened case I sent a print screen of how the FBA shipment was split between the boxes which shows that only the content of box #2 made it to my inventory. My case has remained “open pending amazon action” since then, June 15.

[cobrakai]

45 minutes ago, brickology101 said:

Same here. Three boxes sent to FC in NJ in May. All three marked delivered by Fedex. Content of one box made it to my inventory. Other two boxes disappeared. Shipment closed by AMZ, everything received, no possibility to reconcile. Opened case and reopened twice thereafter. Spoke to customer support several times. Each time Rep on the phone agrees there is a problem but every time the team that investigates FBA shipments comes back stating that everything is received and no reimbursement possible. Ok, so if received where are my products ? Sending in invoices & receipts did not help. Third time I reopened case I sent a print screen of how the FBA shipment was split between the boxes which shows that only the content of box #2 made it to my inventory. My case has remained “open pending amazon action” since then, June 15.

I have had this happen 2 or 3 times in the past.  The inventory has always been found eventually in my case.  Took 4 or 5 months for it to show up one time a few years ago.  Don't close the case, keep reopening it.  You'll probably just notice the stuff will be there one day and they won't even tell you they found it.

[brickology101]

I have had this happen 2 or 3 times in the past.  The inventory has always been found eventually in my case.  Took 4 or 5 months for it to show up one time a few years ago.  Don't close the case, keep reopening it.  You'll probably just notice the stuff will be there one day and they won't even tell you they found it.

Ok. Thanks for the feedback.

I have had this happen 2 or 3 times in the past.  The inventory has always been found eventually in my case.  Took 4 or 5 months for it to show up one time a few years ago.  Don't close the case, keep reopening it.  You'll probably just notice the stuff will be there one day and they won't even tell you they found it.

Ok. Thanks for the feedback.

[33Lego]

3 hours ago, brickology101 said:

Same here. Three boxes sent to FC in NJ in May. All three marked delivered by Fedex. Content of one box made it to my inventory. Other two boxes disappeared. Shipment closed by AMZ, everything received, no possibility to reconcile. Opened case and reopened twice thereafter. Spoke to customer support several times. Each time Rep on the phone agrees there is a problem but every time the team that investigates FBA shipments comes back stating that everything is received and no reimbursement possible. Ok, so if received where are my products ? Sending in invoices & receipts did not help. Third time I reopened case I sent a print screen of how the FBA shipment was split between the boxes which shows that only the content of box #2 made it to my inventory. My case has remained “open pending amazon action” since then, June 15.

When you say 'Content of one box made it to my inventory. Other two boxes disappeared' and 'Shipment closed by AMZ, everything received, no possibility to reconcile.'
Do you mean under 'FBA-Shipping Queue' page shipped = received but they didn't show up in your inventory?

[brickology101]

On 7/25/2020 at 4:49 PM, 33Lego said:

When you say 'Content of one box made it to my inventory. Other two boxes disappeared' and 'Shipment closed by AMZ, everything received, no possibility to reconcile.'
Do you mean under 'FBA-Shipping Queue' page shipped = received but they didn't show up in your inventory?

Only content of box #2 was received.

[brickolodon]

For all FBM sellers

[marcandre]

Big shock lol 

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos said he couldn’t promise that the company hasn’t violated its own policies on fair competition with third-party sellers.

https://gizmodo.com/jeff-bezos-tells-congress-he-cant-guarantee-amazon-isnt-1844552849

[Darth_Raichu]

4 minutes ago, marcandre said:

Big shock lol 

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos said he couldn’t promise that the company hasn’t violated its own policies on fair competition with third-party sellers.

https://gizmodo.com/jeff-bezos-tells-congress-he-cant-guarantee-amazon-isnt-1844552849

The article needed an editor.  Even I can see their grammatical errors

[Phil B]

*SIGH* ... This is for 75198 SW Tatooine Battle Pack:

Quote

Hello from Amazon Selling Partner Support,

Thank you for your interest in selling B075SCRBQ6 on Amazon. This product is restricted under Amazon's PCRP restricted product policy.

This product is under review for being a potentially prohibited product against the policy: electroniccigarette_Policy:151245. The review period generally takes 2-4 business days but it may take longer depending on the type of product. Once a product is determined to be permitted, it will be immediately made available for sale. Although Amazon is undertaking this review, sellers are responsible for ensuring that the products they list on Amazon.com comply with all applicable laws.

For more information on our policies, search “Restricted Products” in Seller Central.

 

[biking_tiger]

It's those damn Jawas and their glowing eyes. 

[Serejai]

I once had a box of coffee flagged for being potentially explosive or some garbage. I'm pretty sure Amazon just has a room full of monkeys somewhere that fling poo at a wall of products and whichever ones get hit end up having random actions taken against their listings.

[Darth_Raichu]

Another case of F***ed by Amazon.  I got another one of those phantom buyer refund without any associated return case. 

Spent my morning arguing by email with Amazon rep who said the refund was not issued by Amazon.  I said if I did not authorize it and Amazon did not either, then Amazon has a security breach in their hand.  I am still waiting for their respond.

Never had I spent so much time to get $5 back to my pocket.  And yes, Amazon refused to budge on $5 they took from my account.

[Serejai]

I'm currently fighting a return myself. Someone bought an item from me for $480 and paid $30 for some kind of expedited shipping (guess they weren't a Prime member or something?). So the buyer paid $510 total, but I only got $405 out of it after fees because Amazon just pocketed the $30 shipping charge. So, buyer decides to return the item. Amazon deducts $490 from my account for it, which was higher than my original listing price. I understand not getting back some of the fees, but turns out they refunded that shipping charge to the buyer as well and decided to take that out of my account even though I never originally saw that money in the first place.

Of course they refuse to admit anything is wrong and just keep sending copy/paste responses. They've actually just outright left my last case open for almost two weeks now. The worst part is that this return was three months ago and the buyer still hasn't sent back the item yet. So much for that "if the buyer hasn't returned the item in 45 days we will automatically credit your account" garbage. Also it's pretty comical that if you call phone support these days all they ever do is say "we aren't allowed to handle that over the phone anymore so I'm creating an email case for you". I honestly don't know what their phone support is even for anymore.

[Darth_Raichu]

So Amazon double down on refusing to release my $5 stating the reimbursement was not issued by Amazon.  Any ideas on what to do next?

Also, does anyone know how I can contact FBA security team?  If i never authorized the refund and amzn said they did not either, then somebody must have hacked to their system and refunded the amount

[Serejai]

I know I'm not the biggest seller in the world... but I easily do six figures a year on there and no matter who I contact I always just end up getting sent to email. I've even gone to my local FC in person to speak with someone when they lost a shipment and was sent back to email. It used to be that you could potentially contact the Seller Performance team for really serious issues and they would at the very least forward your issue to someone that could help. But even they don't seem to do anything these days.

I never in my life thought I would be rooting for Walmart but damn if I don't hope their 3P fulfillment takes off and beats Amazon. Best you can probably do is send an email to Jeff about it and hope his team deems yours worthy enough to pass along. It used to actually work but I figure everyone and their mother is emailing him these days since you can't get customer service from the normal methods anymore, so... goodluck lol.