Selling Lego on Amazon.com

[Serejai]

29 minutes ago, cobrakai said:

I wonder why some people were gated. Did you guys do the MF orders to qualify for merchant fulfilled toy sales? Unless it based on metrics, volume, time selling on platform? Or how long you've been selling Lego on Amazon. I'm a large seller,  but I know sellers larger than me who are gated in random toy brands that I'm grandfathered in. Seems like the sets restricted last holiday season were restricted for everyone. 

I only sell FBA and I actually have a note on my account from TLG stating that I'm an authorized reseller. I've had other random products go Restricted during the holidays before, but this is the first time I've ever seen it with LEGO. As far as I can tell, out of the 100+ LEGO ASINs I've listed/sold this year there are only about a dozen that are Restricted and all have happened in the past few weeks or so.

[cobrakai]

5 minutes ago, Serejai said:

I only sell FBA and I actually have a note on my account from TLG stating that I'm an authorized reseller. I've had other random products go Restricted during the holidays before, but this is the first time I've ever seen it with LEGO. As far as I can tell, out of the 100+ LEGO ASINs I've listed/sold this year there are only about a dozen that are Restricted and all have happened in the past few weeks or so.

I'm 99.9% FBA, but usually jump through the hoops and do the 25 MF orders just in case I feel like merchant fufilling anything that gets hot last minute.  I saw a post on the seller forums where seller support told someone that this is part of the holiday toys & games restrictions.  

[Serejai]

So apparently a lot of other items are suddenly popping up as Restricted for me; Xbox, Playstation, and Switch consoles, various board games, and some other random products like kitchen appliances and stuff. None of these were restricted 12 hours ago as I just sent out a shipment of some of these this morning. Something's messed up with their holiday selling permissions.

[redcell]

9 hours ago, Serejai said:

So apparently a lot of other items are suddenly popping up as Restricted for me; Xbox, Playstation, and Switch consoles, various board games, and some other random products like kitchen appliances and stuff. None of these were restricted 12 hours ago as I just sent out a shipment of some of these this morning. Something's messed up with their holiday selling permissions.

Amazon always seems to come up with one or two nerve-wracking surprises each holiday season.

[skinsfan0521]

Did anyone else notice a new inventory disposition/status? There is now a "Researching" status. Apparently new since 11/15 and it has something to do with missing inventory. It automatically goes into this status and won't last longer than 30 days and then they will reimburse you. Supposedly meant to prevent you from having to enter your own cases about missing inventory that needs to be reimbursed.

I'm not sure that I understand it 100%, but that's what I got out of it so far. Does anyone else have any more information?

[cory730]

I called Amazon CS which is always a mistake. They said Amazon is putting restrictions on Lego and asked if I was approved.  I said I have been for 5 years. Basically saying all Lego will  be restricted. I said I can sell and list 300 other sets. Then she wanted the ASINs i can currently sell so she can restrict me from those. Hang up phone. Good luck. Hope this passes. 

[marcandre]

I have Newts listed with no issue. I had it there inactive previously, threw one in stock this morning and it's there. 

 

edit - I am FBM, met the xmas quota. Have not had any issues listing anything. 

Edited November 19, 2019 by marcandre

[Serejai]

I sent an email to support last night and, as expected, got a completely irrelevant response back.

"I have reviewed your email and understand that you would like to check the restrictions for selling toys and games as FBA seller. I will certainly check and assist you in this regard.

Q: I am an FBA-only seller and as of today my account has been hit with holiday toys and games selling restrictions. These restrictions are not supposed to apply to FBA sellers and I am trying to find out why a lot of my products are suddenly being affected.

Yes, there is no restriction for selling holiday toys and games as FBA sellers. I've checked the ASIN details and found the listing has been removed due to potential misuse of intellectual property on the product detail page."

That's it. That was the entire reply. I never provided any ASIN in the ticket and I have no idea what this support rep is even talking about. I remember a time when Seller Support was actually decent enough to resolve problems before they outsourced everything a year or two ago. Guess the $18k shipment I just sent in is going to sit idle until after the holidays.

[crayxlp]

- and all the more reasons, why you (US based sellers) "cherished a snake in your bosom" .. its been undoubtebly great in the beginning, throughout the year.. but in my view you just got kind of "lazy and comfortable" relying on a single channel of your profits. Amazon provided EVERYTHING - from storing, to shipping to maybe handling claims. And it was so good.. And not to forget the attendance. But every single business that went with AMZ and put more effort into selling via its platform than to supporting its own private channels (like ebay sales, own e-shop platform etc..) just contributed to this.. Actually I see the very same in Poland - its like looking into a mirror, so to speak.. everybody was so obsessed with Allegro paltform that they forgot that given its enormous size (Behemot like Amazon, its said to have around 70 prct of the Polish e-market) started two yrs ago pushing and blackmailing the sellers to unimaginable restraints. And now these sellers wonder what they have done wrong.. - nothing, except going with the flow at first and forgetting the vital rule of the "family business" - at the end its all about you and not the others (platforms).

[donbee]

“Lazy and comfortable” you know me so well. Like reading my obituary.
You certainly nailed it on the head. All our fault. Thanks for pointing it out without rubbing it in. I’m sure we all feel better now.

[landphieran]

Friendly reminder to make sure all your sets listed on Amazon have a maximum order-able quantity set.

Edited November 20, 2019 by landphieran

[brickology101]

2 hours ago, landphieran said:

Friendly reminder to make sure all your sets listed on Amazon have a maximum order-able quantity set.

Ours. Good point. Fixed this. Thank you for the reminder.

[crayxlp]

13 hours ago, donbee said:

“Lazy and comfortable” you know me so well. Like reading my obituary.
You certainly nailed it on the head. All our fault. Thanks for pointing it out without rubbing it in. I’m sure we all feel better now.

Glad that you agree

[river41]

3 hours ago, landphieran said:

Friendly reminder to make sure all your sets listed on Amazon have a maximum order-able quantity set.

is there a easy way to do this or do you have to go into each set individually?

[cobrakai]

3 hours ago, landphieran said:

Friendly reminder to make sure all your sets listed on Amazon have a maximum order-able quantity set.

Is this to hide your quantity? Prevent bulk purchasers?  I have had a couple $2k+ orders in the past that I never had an issue with.

[landphieran]

23 minutes ago, cobrakai said:

Is this to hide your quantity? Prevent bulk purchasers?  I have had a couple $2k+ orders in the past that I never had an issue with.

Yes to both.

Say you send in 100 units of Product A. Competitor "Baddy" sends in 300 units. Baddy sees that you are the only major competition in this listing and decides to buy all your stock. Baddy then jacks up the price and reaps benefits of being the major sole provider. End of the holiday season rolls around and Baddy wants their money back. Claims your 100 units are Broken. Fake. Damaged. Kicks them all a bit for good measure and returns them to you.

[Bold-Arrow]

for the sake of clarity, say @BrickLegacy wants to run a shady scheme  . Unlike Amazon's hard limits, @BrickLegacy can place as many orders as he want back to back limited only by said quantity limit. Also there are a lot of software that can easily bypass the max quantity smoke screen and see the true inventory levels of 3P sellers. 

I realize there is more work involved, but some losers got the time , so just wanted to add more clarity . 

[landphieran]

15 minutes ago, Bold-Arrow said:

for the sake of clarity, say @BrickLegacy wants to run a shady scheme  . Unlike Amazon's hard limits, @BrickLegacy can place as many orders as he want back to back limited only by said quantity limit. Also there are a lot of software that can easily bypass the max quantity smoke screen and see the true inventory levels of 3P sellers. 

I realize there is more work involved, but some losers got the time , so just wanted to add more clarity . 

It's easier to prove shady business practices when a competitor places 40 orders and returns all of them. 

I mainly use it to mask my quantities from small sellers who won't hesitate to undercut you significantly if you are showing large quantities.

[ravenb99]

1 hour ago, Bold-Arrow said:

for the sake of clarity, say @BrickLegacy wants to run a shady scheme  . Unlike Amazon's hard limits, @BrickLegacy can place as many orders as he want back to back limited only by said quantity limit. Also there are a lot of software that can easily bypass the max quantity smoke screen and see the true inventory levels of 3P sellers. 

I realize there is more work involved, but some losers got the time , so just wanted to add more clarity . 

gonna start calling you bold-tabby or tabby-arrow,  geesh

[Bold-Arrow]

2 hours ago, ravenb99 said:

gonna start calling you bold-tabby or tabby-arrow,  geesh

I’ve been called worse .. keep this up and I won’t be to share the yet to be filmed Fantastic Beasts movie plot with you .. I’ve seen it and it is great . Just gotta take my word for it  

[Furious_george]

2 hours ago, Bold-Arrow said:

I’ve been called worse .. keep this up and I won’t be to share the yet to be filmed Fantastic Beasts movie plot with you .. I’ve seen it and it is great . Just gotta take my word for it  

Did you go with your neighbour too?

[Darth_Raichu]

As of today I am gated from selling LEGO Frozen sets, old or new, with FBA or FBM. 

Looks like the whole Frozen brand is gated as it did not let me list Elsa singing doll either. 

Yes folks, those singing dolls are baaaacckk!!!!

[Achilles]

Apparently this has to do with the Frozen 2 movie coming out. I wonder if they will release these restrictions after the holiday.

 

Also, for an annoying and some weird reason, 75112 Star Was General Greivous Constraction figure is Restricted.

[LegoBro]

Apparently this has to do with the Frozen 2 movie coming out. I wonder if they will release these restrictions after the holiday.

 

Also, for an annoying and some weird reason, 75112 Star Was General Greivous Constraction figure is Restricted.

I am not restricted on the general nor most of the frozen sets. In fact...the ucs Sandcrawler which i was once restricted on..I'm no longer restricted. Not that it matters..I've sold through most of the stash on all those sets. The amazon algorithm on gates continues to mistify though. I've been branching out into other toys trying not to depend on lego so much.

 

[HappyHawkeye]

Return policy inquiry from a FBA sale: "There is a problem,... product is very damaged. What now?"