I glanced through the prior topics, but didn't see anything specific to Amazon FBA (Fullfillment By Amazon).  If there was and I missed it, I apologize.

 

I'm looking to sell some Lego sets using the Amazon FBA service and was wondering if anybody has had any experience good or bad selling through FBA.  My concerns are that I have to put an FBA label over the barcode on the box.  Not sure how a collector would feel about having to remove it and potentially damage the box. 

 

Also, a little concerned that the boxes that I send which are in mint condition, may not be received by the customer in mint condition, if you know what I mean.  Just checking to see what others have experienced.  

 

If anybody has any experience buying through an FBA seller, I would appreciate any comments on the buying side too.

 

Thanks!

^ my understanding is that grocery is very hard to get into unless u have a track record of selling such items for a while and in different skus and quantities . Is that no longer the case? 

5 minutes ago, Bold-Arrow said:

^ my understanding is that grocery is very hard to get into unless u have a track record of selling such items for a while and in different skus and quantities . Is that no longer the case? 

No if you have been selling for 12-18 months or longer with excellent metrics it is very easy to get ungated right now. Same for Health and Personal Care and Beauty. If you are new or have poor metrics they will not ungate you. Most large cities will have plenty of wholesalers who you can start with a small quantity order to get the necessary invoices. You will need these invoices otherwise they will not ungate you.

As they are not ungating new sellers at all and Amazon is very popular for replenishables for shoppers if you are established and have excellent metrics there are alot of great opportunities to sell these low risk and very fast moving products. Alot of brands will still gated even after you are ungated in the categories but there are thousands of ungated brands and once you sell those you will be grandfathered in once they become gated.

Thanks for the tip . Got ungated for beauty back when receipts were more than enough ( thank you Walmart Frozen makeup ) .

I'm moving his thread over to the 10179 thread.

29 minutes ago, Bold-Arrow said:

Thanks for the tip . Got ungated for beauty back when receipts were more than enough ( thank you Walmart Frozen makeup ) .

So you may be grandfathered into Topicals. That is worth $3k these days (but well worth it for the money these bring).

28 minutes ago, exciter1 said:

I'm moving his thread over to the 10179 thread.

How about the eBay Fanboys thread, ouch!

Health and Beauty is where it's at. 

How about the eBay Fanboys thread, ouch!
Health and Beauty is where it's at. 

Yep, the make your own bubble bath combo.

25 minutes ago, Pseudoty said:

Health and Beauty is where it's at. 

Don't forget about shoes (especially if you were grandfathered into Nike).

quick question: sent in a small shipment (cleaning up a bit). recieved message thay everything was received. quicky sold one of the items. all the rest still show quantity available as zero. i have checked and I dont have anything pending. i usually wait a few days anf they flip over to the correct quantity, but im going on day 3 or 4. its odd since one thing sold but the rest are not available

6 hours ago, justapilgrim said:

quick question: sent in a small shipment (cleaning up a bit). recieved message thay everything was received. quicky sold one of the items. all the rest still show quantity available as zero. i have checked and I dont have anything pending. i usually wait a few days anf they flip over to the correct quantity, but im going on day 3 or 4. its odd since one thing sold but the rest are not available

They should show under reserved 

How do I find that? Active or inactive? Doesn't show "out of stock inactive". Just active with quantity of zero. Are the transiting them to a different warehouse? I choose the one warehouse option

6 minutes ago, justapilgrim said:

How do I find that? Active or inactive? Doesn't show "out of stock inactive". Just active with quantity of zero. Are the transiting them to a different warehouse? I choose the one warehouse option

Go to Reports/Fulfillment/Inventory/Reserved Inventory

4 minutes ago, exciter1 said:

Go to Reports/Fulfillment/Inventory/Reserved Inventory

Or:

inventory : manage fba inventory : sort reserved column from largest to smallest . 

10 minutes ago, justapilgrim said:

How do I find that? Active or inactive? Doesn't show "out of stock inactive". Just active with quantity of zero. Are the transiting them to a different warehouse? I choose the one warehouse option

You can also click on your product and find your listing on the Amazon item sales page.  If it has been received and is transferring to another warehouse you item will show "backordered" with a due date.

Love selling FBA and here are a few of my fave free tools:

*** Keepa extension for Chrome:

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/keepa-amazon-price-tracke/neebplgakaahbhdphmkckjjcegoiijjo?hl=en

Keepa will show you the sales history and historic price, as well as Amazon's history on a listing, right on the product page automatically. Read the chart and find out that average sales rank which is far more useful than the current sales rank.

*** How Many? extension for Chrome:

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/how-many/fifaampimdjablpkjapdjehjcfloecjp?hl=en

How Many? will display how much of each item your competitors have instock quickly and easily. 5 free uses per day. Want more? Purchase or simply re-install. Want to hide this info from your competitors using this app? Change the Max Order Quantity to the amount you want to show.

*** Jungle Scout Sales Estimator:

https://www.junglescout.com/estimator/

Very accurate and useful estimator to see how many units per month an item will sell for a given rank and category. Plug that average sales rank found from Keepa in and bingo. It is extremely accurate and they update it monthly to account for the changing traffic throughout the year.

These are free tools we use ALOT. Have any others that you find useful then please reply and add them!

 

 

Love selling FBA and here are a few of my fave free tools:
*** Keepa extension for Chrome:
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/keepa-amazon-price-tracke/neebplgakaahbhdphmkckjjcegoiijjo?hl=en
Keepa will show you the sales history and historic price, as well as Amazon's history on a listing, right on the product page automatically. Read the chart and find out that average sales rank which is far more useful than the current sales rank.
*** How Many? extension for Chrome:
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/how-many/fifaampimdjablpkjapdjehjcfloecjp?hl=en
How Many? will display how much of each item your competitors have instock quickly and easily. 5 free uses per day. Want more? Purchase or simply re-install. Want to hide this info from your competitors using this app? Change the Max Order Quantity to the amount you want to show.
*** Jungle Scout Sales Estimator:
https://www.junglescout.com/estimator/
Very accurate and useful estimator to see how many units per month an item will sell for a given rank and category. Plug that average sales rank found from Keepa in and bingo. It is extremely accurate and they update it monthly to account for the changing traffic throughout the year.
These are free tools we use ALOT. Have any others that you find useful then please reply and add them!
 
 

Any tools for Netscape?

8 minutes ago, exciter1 said:

Any tools for Netscape?

Marc, is that you?

1 hour ago, belljohn said:

You can also click on your product and find your listing on the Amazon item sales page.  If it has been received and is transferring to another warehouse you item will show "backordered" with a due date.

this worked thanks, I havent had it last that long since I have started. "in stock March xxx"

1 hour ago, asharerin said:

Love selling FBA and here are a few of my fave free tools:

I appreciate what you contribute to FBA discussions @asharerin.

Apparently back in 2015, I had applied and got accepted to sell in some of the restricted categories. Yesterday, I applied to the rest and was automatically accepted based on metrics. Still trying to figure out how to get accepted into the food category/if i want to, but its important to note that these metric based approval may not always exist. For some, who's metrics aren't good, its not as easy as clicking "request approval". My ex who started her own small thing on ebay tried to apply on Amazon and got rejected requiring a bunch of documentation.

19 minutes ago, landphieran said:

I appreciate what you contribute to FBA discussions @asharerin.

Apparently back in 2015, I had applied and got accepted to sell in some of the restricted categories. Yesterday, I applied to the rest and was automatically accepted based on metrics. Still trying to figure out how to get accepted into the food category/if i want to, but its important to note that these metric based approval may not always exist. For some, who's metrics aren't good, its not as easy as clicking "request approval". My ex who started her own small thing on ebay tried to apply on Amazon and got rejected requiring a bunch of documentation.

Grocery you will need documentation. If you have been selling a while, have good metrics, AND have the documentation it is very easy to get ungated. Miss any of those 3 and it is impossible. Documentation for grocery will be 3 wholesale invoices from a food supplier. Easiest way to get this is to contact local food wholesalers (many in every large city) and place orders if they will sell to you. My advice buy food that you would eat yourself or just donate it if you can't use it for the tax deduction. Grocery is great for low margin replenishables. Some food is gated at the brand level but not much. If your city has a local food item that isn't available everywhere that tourists love to buy it will sell like hotcakes on Amazon. Scan Costco there is a ton of profit available. Lots of grocery items are quite heavy so get yourself a sturdy second had  pallet jack off craigslist and learn how to build pallets. $$$.

Guys just to refresh my memory. When shipping your lego to Amazon do you take full responsibility on cost to ship the lego to them or do they reimburse you?

And again, what fees do you all pay when selling a product?

The shipping charges come out of your seller balance when you buy it. It is not reimbursed but is very discounted. The fees are determined by fba and vary. They usually range from 20-30% but that includes fulfillment to the buyer.

Fulfillment to the buyer meaning it includes shipping on top of their fees.

I ve always wanted to try Amazon but shipping my stock accross the pacific would just totally be unacceptable as all profits won't be realized as it will all go to shipping.

8 minutes ago, jaylay said:

Fulfillment to the buyer meaning it includes shipping on top of their fees.

I ve always wanted to try Amazon but shipping my stock accross the pacific would just totally be unacceptable as all profits won't be realized as it will all go to shipping.

you need to ship it across the ocean either way unless buyer is in local? 

1 hour ago, jaylay said:

Fulfillment to the buyer meaning it includes shipping on top of their fees.

I ve always wanted to try Amazon but shipping my stock accross the pacific would just totally be unacceptable as all profits won't be realized as it will all go to shipping.

Have you priced it out?  I was completely floored by how cheap it is to ship using Amazon's negotiated price.  My last FBA shipment to California from Wisconsin was for two 24x16X16 boxes weighing 29 and 25 lbs.  The dimensional weight was way more and I had to pay extra for a large box.  Total for both boxes UPS was $22.59.  The sale value of the Lego sets was close to $3,000.  I know you are shipping from Hawaii and you can't choose the warehouse you want to ship to, but it might be worth it.