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!

1 hour ago, Kenxxx said:

Despite my troubles with Amazon FBM (... in fact... because of my troubles with FBM...) I'm now preparing a shipment to FBA. One concern: due to recent A-to-z claims, my Order Defect Rate (ODR) is almost 2%. I have not received any warning from Amazon... but of course, I am concerned.  Question: what if I send a couple thousand dollars worth of merch into FBA, and then my account gets suspended 2 days later? Are my FBA offers deleted & inventory stranded...? or does this type of suspension only affect FBM sales?

I would not send anything of value to FBA until you get your ODR below 1%. Find some cheap items with a very good sales rank and send them in first. Should sell thru quickly with a good rank and will get our ODR below suspension territory. Do it quick. Amazon is thinning the herd and seller performance could easily start an inauthentic/IP case once they manually review your account after the bots flag it for ODR. Once they see one issue they will want proof of everything that is restricted. If you don't have invoices from Lego then they can keep your funds and your "inauthentic" products. Get that ODR down ASAP (will cost some money depending on the numbers you need), lay low for the next month and see if you got the bots off your back, and only then would I send anything of value to FBA.

A complaint about FBA before I start my day

Gotta love Amzn reimbursement for my lost items.  $30 per item for a listing that was selling around low $50s throuhgout December

28 minutes ago, Darth_Raichu said:

A complaint about FBA before I start my day

Gotta love Amzn reimbursement for my lost items.  $30 per item for a listing that was selling around low $50s throuhgout December

Yep, they lost a dozen AT-DPs of mine in December.  I probably got $50 each for them.

U should be able to recoup some of your money if not all of it . Open a case ** in case u didn't know **

That's really scummy. The buyer returned it like that?

2 hours ago, asharerin said:

... lay low for the next month and see if you got the bots off your back, ...

I feel like I'm hiding from sentinels in The Matrix

One thing we must all keep in mind: Amazon doesn't need us to survive, we need Amazon. That should be built into everyone's business model. The seller forums have countless stories of established accounts being suspended. eBay has been doing this for years, too.

And if there are no other retailers to source discounted inventory from, who becomes dispensable?

39 minutes ago, Kenxxx said:

I feel like I'm hiding from sentinels in The Matrix

Yep you don't want to attract their attention. Get that ODR down below 1% ASAP. Go to any store today and find a cheap high ranking item and start merchant fulfilling it on fire sale. Hopefully you can avoid a suspension.  If it was my account I would also delete all of your Lego listings or any other restricted brand. Once seller performance looks at your appeal for the ODR they will also see what else you have active and if it is restricted they will ask for invoices. Without those invoices it is very likely going to be a lifetime ban.

1 hour ago, asharerin said:

... Go to any store today and find a cheap high ranking item and start merchant fulfilling it on fire sale. Hopefully you can avoid a suspension. ...

I appreciate the advice - I really do - but I'm not sure I can make this work. I've tried a little research to find top selling + cheap items on Amazon, and not finding any viable candidates. For example, there are some paper plates going for about $16... seems like a possibility... cheap to buy, cheap to ship... but if I go to Walmart to buy these plates, they're going to cost me $26.  Seems like a lot of top selling items are top sellers because Amazon is the cheapest place to buy them.

My ODR is at 1.9% because I shipped about 100 items last month and got (wrongful) A-to-z claims on 2 of them.  To get back below 1% now, I'll need to ship another 100 items complaint-free, won't I?  That's gonna be tough. 100 items is a Christmas season for a small seller like me. And if it means taking a loss and sending a $5 bill out with each one, well, that's just not going to work.  If you have any more specific suggestions (even if you'd rather send them in a PM) I'd be glad to hear them.

I do on the other hand have a big box of cheap polybags and Mixels I've been picking up over the years... could probably do better selling them on eBay, but ... if it's gonna save my Amazon account I'll give it a try.  I'm just not sure they are such fast sellers - even at a discount - to get my score back up quickly. But this is the path I have to take for now. Thanks again for your advice @asharerin .

16 minutes ago, Kenxxx said:

I appreciate the advice - I really do - but I'm not sure I can make this work. I've tried a little research to find top selling + cheap items on Amazon, and not finding any viable candidates. For example, there are some paper plates going for about $16... seems like a possibility... cheap to buy, cheap to ship... but if I go to Walmart to buy these plates, they're going to cost me $26.  Seems like a lot of top selling items are top sellers because Amazon is the cheapest place to buy them.

My ODR is at 1.9% because I shipped about 100 items last month and got (wrongful) A-to-z claims on 2 of them.  To get back below 1% now, I'll need to ship another 100 items complaint-free, won't I?  That's gonna be tough. 100 items is a Christmas season for a small seller like me. And if it means taking a loss and sending a $5 bill out with each one, well, that's just not going to work.  If you have any more specific suggestions (even if you'd rather send them in a PM) I'd be glad to hear them.

I do on the other hand have a big box of cheap polybags and Mixels I've been picking up over the years... could probably do better selling them on eBay, but ... if it's gonna save my Amazon account I'll give it a try.  I'm just not sure they are such fast sellers - even at a discount - to get my score back up quickly. But this is the path I have to take for now. Thanks again for your advice @asharerin .

Someone call me out it this is bad advice, but I would buy a couple cases of Batman minifigures and ship them all to FBA.  The FBA listings get a huge buy it box advantage.  It looks like the FBA total fees are $4-5 per figure and the cheapest are selling at $9.  It is a few dollars for small clear bags.   You might earn money, or your loss should be minimal.  The main drawback is the time it takes.  You should be able to sell through 2 cases of minifigures in a week.

I would also FBA or FBM your polybags too if they are at least a year old.  Chances are their growth has peaked.

I have dabbled is products I don't understand for a quick sell and been burned many times.  If you are looking for a high volume quick seller, I would stick to something you know.

1 hour ago, Kenxxx said:

My ODR is at 1.9% because I shipped about 100 items last month and got (wrongful) A-to-z claims on 2 of them.  To get back below 1% now, I'll need to ship another 100 items complaint-free, won't I?  That's gonna be tough. 100 items is a Christmas season for a small seller like me. And if it means taking a loss and sending a $5 bill out with each one, well, that's just not going to work.  If you have any more specific suggestions (even if you'd rather send them in a PM) I'd be glad to hear them.

It is going to be alot of work and you will have to take a loss to get your ODR down below 1%. Only you can decide what kind of investment of time and money you are willing to make to get your ODR down. You can always take your chances with an appeal and hope you are successful and that they don't come asking for proof of authenticity for your Lego items or any other restricted brands you have in your inventory. FBM is perilous for low volume sellers as a few hiccups and you are done. A tough call that only you can make. With the numbers you quoted it is going to be a $1k investment to get that large amount of sales quickly (you will have to take a loss on each one) plus the labor. You still have ebay, facebook, bricklink etc if things don't work out.

5 hours ago, asharerin said:

It is going to be alot of work and you will have to take a loss to get your ODR down below 1%. Only you can decide what kind of investment of time and money you are willing to make to get your ODR down. You can always take your chances with an appeal and hope you are successful and that they don't come asking for proof of authenticity for your Lego items or any other restricted brands you have in your inventory. FBM is perilous for low volume sellers as a few hiccups and you are done. A tough call that only you can make. With the numbers you quoted it is going to be a $1k investment to get that large amount of sales quickly (you will have to take a loss on each one) plus the labor. You still have ebay, facebook, bricklink etc if things don't work out.

is it  a possibility of being suspended if you go over 1 percent odr or a guarantee? 

a guarantee it is not, a shining light it is not, a hole dug so deep it is not,

8 minutes ago, river41 said:

is it  a possibility of being suspended if you go over 1 percent odr or a guarantee? 

 

6 hours ago, Kenxxx said:

I appreciate the advice - I really do - but I'm not sure I can make this work. I've tried a little research to find top selling + cheap items on Amazon, and not finding any viable candidates. For example, there are some paper plates going for about $16... seems like a possibility... cheap to buy, cheap to ship... but if I go to Walmart to buy these plates, they're going to cost me $26.  Seems like a lot of top selling items are top sellers because Amazon is the cheapest place to buy them.

My ODR is at 1.9% because I shipped about 100 items last month and got (wrongful) A-to-z claims on 2 of them.  To get back below 1% now, I'll need to ship another 100 items complaint-free, won't I?  That's gonna be tough. 100 items is a Christmas season for a small seller like me. And if it means taking a loss and sending a $5 bill out with each one, well, that's just not going to work.  If you have any more specific suggestions (even if you'd rather send them in a PM) I'd be glad to hear them.

I do on the other hand have a big box of cheap polybags and Mixels I've been picking up over the years... could probably do better selling them on eBay, but ... if it's gonna save my Amazon account I'll give it a try.  I'm just not sure they are such fast sellers - even at a discount - to get my score back up quickly. But this is the path I have to take for now. Thanks again for your advice @asharerin .

Polybags are always an easy way to drive metrics on Amazon...even if you sell them at a loss, it tends to be a very small loss.

Polybags are always an easy way to drive metrics on Amazon...even if you sell them at a loss, it tends to be a very small loss.

Agreed. I used these to hit the holiday selling quota in the Fall. Safe sale, easy to ship, and move fairly quickly.

So I received the expected "A-Z" claim from Amazon today for an Ewok Village I sent last week:

"counterfeit item - shipping seller NOT the one listed on the item at ordering time - THIS IS A SCAMMER"

The "buyer" name was not the same as the delivery address. I should have known better and cancelled the transaction. I'm not selling a damn thing on FBM anymore because of dropship scams like this. If anyone wants to know the "buyer" name, please PM. Moderators, if that is taboo, please let me know, but I feel that we, as a community, need to help protect each other. 

My A-Z "defense" is as follows:

On Friday, January 20th, I (XXXX), received FBM order 113-6750470-7108240 for a LEGO Ewok Village set # 10236. I quickly noticed that the 'buyer' (XXXX) was not the same as the shipping address (XXXX). I was concerned, but made sure to follow Amazon's policy and ship the item in a timely fashion. I included insurance for the item and delivery with signature confirmation as it is a high dollar item. I purchased postage through Amazon on Saturday, January 21st.

On Monday, the 'buyer' (XXXX) contacted me (through Amazon) to ask if the item had been shipped. I indicated that it had. The item was marked as delivered on January 25th. Today, February 1st, I received an A-Z claim with the comment: 'counterfeit item - shipping seller NOT the one listed on the item at ordering time - THIS IS A SCAMMER' The item was genuine LEGO, but at this point I have nothing but my word against that of 'XXXX.' Since the buyer's name was not the same as the delivery name, it is my opinion that 'XXXX' is abusing Amazon's system and taking advantage of A-Z claims to drop ship, claim 'counterfeit' items, and receive refund for the item while the actual buyer keeps the item.

I am a small seller but have a track record of excellent service and am happy to make my customers happy. I will not be taken advantage of, however. I (XXX) am happy to issue a refund upon receipt of the item back. If XXXX cannot return the alleged 'counterfeit' item, I consider the case closed. Thank you for your time. 

This is a bad reply and you are letting your emotions show .. prepaid return label stat

1 minute ago, Bold-Arrow said:

This is a bad reply .. prepaid return label stat

Okay. But I wasn't given a "prepaid return label" option--only refund. How do I do this? 

Edited February 1, 20178 yr by biking_tiger

Buyer name and shipping name being different aren't a cause for alarm. You would do more damage to your account by cancelling every order where buy/ship to don't match. 

More of a telltail sign of a stolen credit card is getting an order where buy/ship to are different, they paid over going market rate, and used expedited shipping. Still no reason to cancel those either as Amazon generally defends these claims properly. 

Your defense is poor as well but they will cover it. Just stick to facts, no opinions, and keep it short.

Edited February 1, 20178 yr by amtrak23

11 minutes ago, biking_tiger said:

Okay. But I wasn't given a "prepaid return label" option--only refund. How do I do this? 

Send it as an attachment via Amazon email system to buyer that way they see it . 

New means new again (starting 3/8/17 anyway):

Condition notes are no longer accepted for new products
Feb 2, 2017

 

Effective March 8, 2017, the Condition Note attribute will be disabled for all new products. If you do have new products listed with condition notes, the condition notes will be removed from the All Offers Page. You can still continue to use the Condition Note attribute for all other product conditions.

In other news Amazon reporting earnings today, and Bezos getting close to signing a 50 year lease at Kentucky air hub with plans to build $1.5 billion sorting center. 

1 hour ago, asharerin said:

New means new again (starting 3/8/17 anyway):

Condition notes are no longer accepted for new products
Feb 2, 2017

 

Effective March 8, 2017, the Condition Note attribute will be disabled for all new products. If you do have new products listed with condition notes, the condition notes will be removed from the All Offers Page. You can still continue to use the Condition Note attribute for all other product conditions.

Hmmmm that sucks ... 

Amazon didn't start collecting sales tax in my state until just now, so I never looked into getting an Amazon business account. Does the business account offer tax exemption for items purchased for resale?

Just now, Jackson said:

Amazon didn't start collecting sales tax in my state until just now, so I never looked into getting an Amazon business account. Does the business account offer tax exemption for items purchased for resale?

Yes 

9 hours ago, Jackson said:

Amazon didn't start collecting sales tax in my state until just now, so I never looked into getting an Amazon business account. Does the business account offer tax exemption for items purchased for resale?

you can get tax exemption even without a business account you just need the right paperwork from your state

If you haven't already great time to be diversifying when selling on Amazon FBA. Plenty of excellent opportunities in the gated categories so if you are an established seller with great metrics get those invoices from some local wholesalers and get ungated in grocery, health and beauty as soon as possible.

Alot less competition in these gated categories on lots of items with plenty ranked 300 or less with only 2 or 3 FBA sellers who all price match. Margins are smaller at 30-40% but when you are selling 30-40 units per day 365 days per year those $5 - $10 profits on each unit add up to a very good income. These replenishables are easily found online or in any retail store and are quick and easy to process because you know exactly what size polybag u need and what size box to fill with how many units.

These items are great to smooth your cashflow the first 9 months of the year and don't take much time or effort at all. Instead of dreading the $300-$400 trips to Costco you will now love them