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!

6 minutes ago, jmdt said:

Thank you! I will do this now. So shady!

 

I don't know about shady , it is a huge and complicated operation . FBA comes with its own unique set of headaches and can be very frustrating at times , but it does work in terms of margins and not having to deal with individual shipments. 

5 minutes ago, redcell said:

Had Amazon already issued the reimbursement to your account or simply said that they would be reimbursing you?  I've never had them reverse a reimbursement once it was actually issued, but have had them rescind one before it was issued when they found the missing item.

They once reimbursed me for an entire shippment they lost and 4 weeks later they found it and took the money out of my account .

 

I have to lol at the shipping queue screen.  I had to manually click "Track Shipment" button for the Status column to change from SHIPPED to IN-TRANSIT

 

7 minutes ago, Bold-Arrow said:

I don't know about shady , it is a huge and complicated operation . FBA comes with its own unique set of headaches and can be very frustrating at times , but it does work in terms of margins and not having to deal with individual shipments. 

Thank you for the guidance! Because of the status, "Ineligible for investigation – units received for this item have been counted at least twice for accuracy," I can't seem to generate a case for it. Suggestions on how to proceed?

 

4 minutes ago, jmdt said:

Thank you for the guidance! Because of the status, "Ineligible for investigation – units received for this item have been counted at least twice for accuracy," I can't seem to generate a case for it. Suggestions on how to proceed?

 

Don't do it from the shipment queue. Open a case and put it under other issues . 

9 minutes ago, Bold-Arrow said:

Don't do it from the shipment queue. Open a case and put it under other issues . 

Done! Thank you for your guidance.

Just a sidenote, sending in polybags is somewhat of an art. If they aren't bundled they will lose them, and even in a ziplock sometimes they mistake them for packing material. I put them in a ziplock and put them on the very top where its impossible to miss. If there is an item that I can tape to without damaging, I will tape the ziplock of polybags to it with a 2 inch piece of packing tape to insure they have to consciously look at it and cant just leave it in the box assuming it's packing material.  

3 hours ago, redcell said:

Had Amazon already issued the reimbursement to your account or simply said that they would be reimbursing you?  I've never had them reverse a reimbursement once it was actually issued, but have had them rescind one before it was issued when they found the missing item.

I had already received the reimbursement in my distribution last week.  The reversal they just made decreased my scheduled distribution for next week by that same amount.

Anyone have experience with fulfilling an order on Amazon and buyer indicated they did not receive the item? I sold an item without signature confirmation. Item shows delivered. Local Post Office indicates item shows delivered. Buyer indicated there are a lot of thefts going on in their area. Am I SOL since there was no signature confirmation?

Thanks

21 minutes ago, anon33 said:

Anyone have experience with fulfilling an order on Amazon and buyer indicated they did not receive the item? I sold an item without signature confirmation. Item shows delivered. Local Post Office indicates item shows delivered. Buyer indicated there are a lot of thefts going on in their area. Am I SOL since there was no signature confirmation?

Thanks

Sometimes items indicate delivery before delivery actually happens, since the update can happen as soon as the parcel hits the destination post office. Occasionally a package gets misdelivered and the problem resolves itself in a couple of days. And sometimes the carrier left a slip for pickup at the post office that got blown away / thrown away. Asking questions like "is there someone else living with you who could have received the package and forgotten to tell you about it?" can get results. You can also call their local post office and ask the supervisor to check with the carrier. Document this and follow up with the buyer whenever you get new information.

And: I don't want to be cynical, and YMMV, but a surprising amount of the time, telling the customer that you're going to file a request for an investigation into the theft with USPIS and asking for their cooperation in said investigation results in a miraculous discovery of the package. Just make sure you phrase it in a way that makes it clear that you're proactively trying to solve a mutual problem, rather than implying that you suspect them of lying to obtain free product.

Lastly, issuing a refund or sending a replacement is better than getting an A-to-Z claim, as far as your metrics are concerned. The occasional refund is the cost of doing business (and you're "insured" via the 10-20% price bump you get from selling on Amazon vs other marketplaces).

I would agree with all of the above aside from sending a replacement . If costumer opens an A-Z claim after the replacement is sent and win they will keep the replacement and the money ( as well as  the original item as well IF they are scamming ) . 

6 minutes ago, Bold-Arrow said:

I would agree with all of the above aside from sending a replacement . If costumer opens an A-Z claim after the replacement is sent and win they will keep the replacement and the money ( as well as  the original item as well IF they are scamming ) . 

I should have said, and NEVER send a replacement. "Apparently you suck at getting mail, so why don't I send you something else through the mail?"

I just contacted UPS and they started an investigation for my stuff that is stuck in Ontario, CA.  I hope this will get some attention there.  If not, I'll have a sizeable claim.

Forgive me for my stupid questions, but where do you ship your product for the FBA program.  Could you drop them off at a local Amazon warehouse?   

Forgive me for my stupid questions, but where do you ship your product for the FBA program.  Could you drop them off at a local Amazon warehouse?   

I have no idea if you can do direct drop-offs? I'm sure my local warehouse is 500 miles away.

55 minutes ago, Ed Mack said:

Forgive me for my stupid questions, but where do you ship your product for the FBA program.  Could you drop them off at a local Amazon warehouse?   

You cannot drop them off. You will ship your product where Amazon chooses you to ship them. After a while you will notice a pattern for the shipping plan destination based on number of units, time of day, time of year and a few other settings so you can more easily get a fulfillment center close by and not a distribution center. Some distribution centers you will want to avoid at all cost. Good news is you can always delete a shipping plan before approving it if you don't like what warehouses they are giving you. After approving a shipment you will want to make sure not to cancel as more than a few of those will get you suspended.

1 hour ago, Ed Mack said:

Forgive me for my stupid questions, but where do you ship your product for the FBA program.  Could you drop them off at a local Amazon warehouse?   

They get distributed all over the country unless you sign up for their placement service ( additional fees included ). And no, you can't just drop it off at your local warehouse . 

53 minutes ago, Ed Mack said:

Forgive me for my stupid questions, but where do you ship your product for the FBA program.  Could you drop them off at a local Amazon warehouse?   

Pretty sure no direct drop-offs. There are special requirements the carriers have to follow to deliver to them. You ship wherever they tell you to, basically, which means that a shipment of 5 SKUs could be sent to five different warehouses, or if you're sending multiple copies of a set it could be one to Tennessee, one to Wisconsin, two to Maryland, and so on. Standard-size and oversize packages will go in different shipments. It's generally best to get a lot of stuff together to ship and generate one large "plan" - usually I end up with two shipments, three at the most when I'm sending 40-80 items in at one time.

You do get access to Amazon's insanely low UPS Ground rates for shipments to the warehouses. I've sent a 40-pound, 24"x24"x24" box to the other side of the country for $17. When you consider Amazon's low fulfillment charges and the price premium you can extract as a Prime shipper, you're ultimately shipping your stuff for less and charging more.

I just prepped my first FBA shipment and used the inventory placement service. Was that a mistake? I tried to find the rates they charge for that but couldn't find them in their labyrinthine help center. Also, they wanted me to ship from CA to Jersey so I'm pretty sure I'm going to completely miss the holiday window. I'm such a noob at this.

Inventory placement service is going to increase your per-item fulfillment cost by whatever the rate is - $.50, maybe? It's something you can turn on and off once you know where the setting is; it might be worth using inventory placement if you want to send them 80 of one set in a single box.

CA to Jersey might make it for the last little bit of the holiday window. Ship Monday, could arrive Friday (and if it doesn't maybe get backorder status with Prime shipping just in time for Christmas). I wouldn't count on it but you could get lucky. And while sales drop precipitously right after the Christmas deadline, in my experience they don't absolutely crater until after the new year.

Thanks for the responses. I have heard nightmare stories about Amazon losing deliveries and "refinding" them. It would have been cool to just drop off a box at a local warehouse and have it checked in person.

2 hours ago, Ed Mack said:

Thanks for the responses. I have heard nightmare stories about Amazon losing deliveries and "refinding" them. It would have been cool to just drop off a box at a local warehouse and have it checked in person.

Anecdatally, I've shipped about 800 items to AMZ since mid-November and they have lost zero (though, knock on wood, many of those are still in transit).

Thanks for the responses. I have heard nightmare stories about Amazon losing deliveries and "refinding" them. It would have been cool to just drop off a box at a local warehouse and have it checked in person.

Anecdatally, I've shipped about 800 items to AMZ since mid-November and they have lost zero (though, knock on wood, many of those are still in transit).

So it's taken them a month to get there and inventoried??

2 hours ago, Ed Mack said:

Thanks for the responses. I have heard nightmare stories about Amazon losing deliveries and "refinding" them. It would have been cool to just drop off a box at a local warehouse and have it checked in person.

Shipments are rarely lost enroute to Amazon's warehouses . They go missing after delivery , so in theory even a drop off won't do any good . 

6 minutes ago, Brickbuilder.g said:

So it's taken them a month to get there and inventoried??

Usually few days 

Anyone sold minifigures this way? What's the best way to ship them? I assume one per bag and then all can be one one larger bag and then do each bag need a label or can you put one label on the big bag? Might be sending in 10-20 of one fig....

3 hours ago, Brickbuilder.g said:

Anyone sold minifigures this way? What's the best way to ship them? I assume one per bag and then all can be one one larger bag and then do each bag need a label or can you put one label on the big bag? Might be sending in 10-20 of one fig....

There are a number of sellers that do this.  I have an associate that has 1000's of figs in FBA.  You need to package and label each individual item.  I worry that the loss/error rate would be much higher for a tiny figure in the AMZ warehouses, but he seems to do okay with it.  Like everything though, its supply availability and margin tolerance.  The guys that are sending hundreds of figures in are willing to take smaller margins to win the buy box.