Amazon Sellers warning - Holiday selling guidelines for the Toys & Games store (i.e. no new sellers)

[grackleflint]

Just received the following email from Amazon.

 

Seems to basically mean that if you aren't already an established seller (and not using their FBA service) from before Sept 19th (a month ago), you won't be able to sell Toys & Games during the holiday season (until after the first week of Jan 2014), so if you were thinking of just selling sets for the holiday rush, you are essentially SOL. Seems like something to cut down on purely seasonal sellers (like Minecraft only last year) and/or scammers, etc. who don't have any actual stock. They don't want to piss off customers who order stuff which will never arrive.

 

From a seller point of view, could cut down your competition, either from them not being allowed to sell or forcing them to pay for FBA service. 8-)

 

Hello from Amazon Services,

To maintain buyer confidence in Amazon this holiday season, we are implementing holiday selling guidelines for the Toys & Games store.

Effective November 19, 2013, only sellers who meet the following performance criteria will be eligible to sell in the Toys & Games category from November 19, 2013 through the first week in January 2014. Webstore 1.0 sellers are also subject to these guidelines. (In your seller account, if you are a Webstore 2.0 seller, you will have a drop down box with your Webstore name in it at the top right of the page.)

• Your first sale on Amazon.com must be prior to September 19, 2013. The sale does not need to be specific to the Toys store.
• You must have processed and shipped at least 25 orders from September 1 through October 31, 2013. The orders do not need to be specific to the Toys store.
• Your pre-fulfillment cancel rate must be no greater than 1.75% from October 1 through October 31, 2013
   
  .
• Your late shipment rate must be no greater than 4% from October 1 through October 31, 2013.
• Your order defect rate must be no greater than 1% short term as of November 1, 2013.

 
Your orders that use Fulfillment by Amazon will not be subject to the holiday season restrictions provided your account is in good standing. 

You can find your customer metrics in the Performance section of your seller account. If your performance does not meet the above criteria, we encourage you to take corrective action.

Eligibility for selling in the Toys & Games store is determined separately for each country.  If you sell in multiple marketplaces, your performance metrics will be evaluated for each country. 

We will provide final notification about your eligibility to sell in the Toys & Games store by the middle of November 2013.  Beginning November 19, 2013, we will monitor the performance and listings of sellers who are approved to sell in Toys & Games during the holiday season. Amazon Services reserves the right to cancel listings, remove selling privileges, and prohibit the sale of specific products to maintain a marketplace that is safe for buyers.

Here are some steps you can take to remain eligible to sell in Toys & Games throughout the holiday season:

• Monitor your customer metrics and take corrective action when necessary.
• Utilize Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) to ship products to your customers.
• Check your orders frequently in the Manage Orders section of your account.
• Minimize order cancellations; don

[segreto]

I think you hit the reason right on the head.  I don't sell on Amazon yet, but I do agree with the philosophy you pointed out.  There is a huge evil in not getting toys on time for Christmas, and Amazon does not want to dance with the Devil.

[Achilles]

They actually did this last year too. This isn't new for this year.

[Pirate]

They've been doing this for many years. And that email has been sent out every 2 weeks since August.

[Anakinisvader]

My wife has been burned ordering stuff from 3rd party sellers on Amazon before Christmas.  They never seem to "ship on time" or "have in stock" even though they let you pay for it.  I only order from Amazon itself and NEVER 3rd party sellers.

[sadowsk1]

Sounds good to me.  I like that Amazon has strict selling guidelines, but then again, if you had someone selling a product and using your name as a front you would want the same wouldn't you?