3P

Discover which FBA inventory you can ship to the warehouse

April 9, 2020 Leave a Comment

Amazon won’t let all ASINs be shipped to its warehouses – but you may be able to send in some

By: Lesley Hensell

The deadline for Amazon to accept FBA inventory from 3P sellers has come … and gone. Even though Amazon hasn’t completely opened up shipments for all goods, that doesn’t mean you cannot send at least some of your items!

Hidden in your account is a new screen that shows which items Amazon will accept into FBA warehouses. Follow these simple steps to see which inventory you are able to send in:

Log on to Seller Central
Under the “Inventory” menu, go to “Inventory Planning”
Click on “Restock Inventory” at the top

There you will see a list of all the ASINs you are eligible to send to the FBA warehouse. Here is another option, if you’d like a report format:

Log on to Seller Central
Under the “Reports” menu, go to “Fulfillment”
On the left-hand side of the screen under “Inventory,” choose “Restock Inventory”
Run the report

Keep in mind, just because you can send in some inventory, doesn’t mean that is your best option. We are hearing reports that FBA inbound shipments are being received very slowly – and sometimes sitting for days before they are touched. What does Riverbend recommend?

Restock your FBA inventory if you are in danger of a stock-out
Don’t expect FBA inventory to be received quickly
Keep units on hand for merchant fulfillment
Create both FBA and MFN offers for your items, and fulfill yourself if Amazon is not shipping in a timely manner

The key right now is flexibility. Sellers who are prepared to fulfill via their own orders or leverage a fulfillment house are going to fare better in the long-term than those who are dependent solely on FBA.

If you need help with a new shipping strategy or to find a fulfillment house that will assist, don’t hesitate to contact us. We can help!

Amazon MFN sellers, we are here for you and your business! Let’s talk 877-289-1017 or visit our website.

MFN orders piling up? Go on vacay!

April 7, 2020 Leave a Comment

Whether you’re a new MFN seller or seeing high order volumes, be ready to pause

By: Lesley Hensell

As Amazon struggles to ship out FBA orders quickly enough, Amazon 3P sellers are jumping into merchant fulfillment. It’s important to understand the metrics Amazon expects from MFN sellers – and how to keep out of trouble. This does not just apply to the current situation driven by Covid-19. These concepts can be relevant during any kind of natural disaster or business disruption.

Amazon requires:

A late shipment rate of less than 4 percent
An order cancellation rate of less than 2.5 percent

Follow these tips to ensure you don’t run afoul of Amazon’s rules:

Check your stats every day. Watch them like a hawk.
Get out every order by the promised ship date. Don’t rely on third-party software. Actually look in Seller Central to see which items are not shipped out, and get them out ASAP.
Ensure that you get an origin scan by your carrier. Amazon doesn’t consider the order shipped unless it is scanned.
If you even start to feel behind, go on vacation. You can do this in settings in your account. Temporarily pause accepting new MFN orders until you are caught up.

What happen when you run out of inventory or simply mess up and need to cancel an order? You want to ensure that you don’t get negative feedback.

Try these strategies:

Buyers don’t like when you leave them hanging past the estimated ship date. If you figure out you won’t be able to ship, cancel sooner rather than later. Be timely and apologetic in cancellations. Don’t wait. Explain that you are cancelling the order immediately so that the buyer has time to place a new order with someone else.
When cancelling an order, buyers understand the truth and a valid reason why the order must be cancelled. For example, a tornado shut down our operations. Send a message stating that a weather event happened today in your location. Safety of your employees is paramount, so you are not requiring staff to come in today to prioritize their families.
Buyers don’t like it when sellers confirm orders, only to cancel them and issue a refund. This is technically mail fraud. In addition, buyers become very angry when an order is cancelled, yet they can see that it is still available for sale on Amazon.

What should MFN sellers do long-term? Ensure you have staff redundancy to fill orders even if your regular MFN staff are not available. And be sure that someone can put your store on vacation via mobile if your infrastructure is not functional.

Amazon MFN sellers, we are here for you and your business! Let’s talk 877-289-1017 or visit our website.

10 positive actions Amazon sellers can take during quarantine

March 25, 2020 Leave a Comment

Whether your 3P account is large or small, take action today

By: Lesley Hensell

It’s a tough time for Amazon sellers – or any small business. With the situation changing every day, it’s easy to become paralyzed. Instead, how about choosing one of these 10 small ways to move your account forward – either by driving cash flow or improving listings for the future.

Sling your own boxes. Amazon’s FBA operations will remain unreliable for at least a couple of months, as supply chain issues are smoothed out. This is your chance to gain a competitive advantage by merchant-fulfilling your products (MFN). The process is simpler than most FBA sellers assume it will be. Also, if you’ve got a spouse or kids home from work and school, it’s their time to contribute to the family income!
Find a fulfillment house. If it’s not possible – or attractive – for you to pack and ship boxes, hire a fulfillment house. This is a great long- term strategy as well, since there are times during holidays and crises when MFN listings can out-perform FBA. If you need a referral to a high-quality fulfillment house, contact Riverbend Consulting. We can give you options.
File for reimbursements. If you’re an FBA seller, Amazon likely owes you money. Inventory gets lost, damaged, not received and not returned. When these things happen, Amazon sometimes automatically reimburses your account. But more often, you must file a case to ask for the funds or inventory back. Reimbursement cases can go back 18 months, so starting now can provide a much-needed cash boost for your account. Want help? Call Riverbend Consulting. We will file your cases and only take a fee if we get you money.
Source products for the future. Quarantine creates its own possible revenue streams for the future. For example, is it reasonable to expect a baby boom in 9 months? If you think it may, now is the time to find sources for baby clothing and gifts.
List your death pile. There’s an old eBay reference called the “death pile.” It’s the stuff lurking in closets and spare bedrooms that was sourced – but then never listed. eBay sellers aren’t the only ones with death piles. Amazon sellers have items lurking in warehouses and closets, too. If it’s not listed, it won’t sell! Get those items listed and merchant-fulfill them.
Clean up your catalog. Most sellers have dozens to thousands of inactive listings in their inventory. If you won’t sell these items again – delete them! If not, they become an enforcement magnet for Amazon, which sees any listing as an item you intend to sell again. This makes you susceptible to listing suspensions for restricted products, price gouging and more.
Work your PPC ads. When sales are slow, the strong advertise. Refine your pay-per-click Amazon ad campaigns. Improve your targeting and keywords. If you need help, contact Riverbend Consulting! We can refer you to affordable, high-quality resources for PPC.
Built out A+ content. If you own a brand, now is the ideal time to improve your listings quality. Add video and compelling text to your listings. Explain why your product is superior to the competition. Get creative and build pages that draw in customers.
Re-shoot lousy listing photos. It’s a good time to revisit the images on your listing detail pages. If the primary image doesn’t follow Amazon’s standards (product only, no text, pure white background), shoot a new one. If you don’t have secondary images and “lifestyle” photos, add some. These help pop your listing higher in search results – and improve conversions.
Learn to love another platform. Times are tough on all online platforms right now. But this crisis proves – yet again – that diversification is key. Some sellers are seeing impressive success on eBay. Others are pushing on Poshmark, Mercari, and other “secondary” platforms. Do the research and find another place to roll out your products.

Amazon sellers, we are here for you and your business! Let’s talk 877-289-1017 or visit our website.

Get your Seller Fulfilled Prime up and running – now!

March 24, 2020 Leave a Comment

Amazon has loosened its metrics for Seller Fulfilled Prime (SFP) shippers

By: Lesley Hensell

With Amazon’s FBA shipments falling further behind each day, Seller Fulfilled Prime has become more valuable than ever. Unfortunately, many sellers who once had SFP privileges lost them for a performance misstep. Today, likely in reaction to the Covid-19 panic, Amazon has loosened up the metrics for SFP sellers.

Unlike before, the new metric doesn’t punish sellers for carrier missteps. Now is the time to create a differentiator and win the Buy Box by getting your listings a Prime badge. Start listing your products for SFP shipping, or get your SFP privileges back with a great appeal!

Amazon’s new SFP metrics

Amazon’s basic standards for maintaining SFP eligibility are:

On-time shipment rate of at least 99%
Use of Buy Shipping for at least 99% of orders
A cancellation rate of no more than 0.5%

But recently – probably in reaction to Covid-19 fulfillment issues – their fourth metric was updated to read:

An on-time delivery rate of at least 97% on Prime orders when shipping is purchased outside of Buy Shipping services

In the past, sellers had to maintain a 97% on-time delivery rate no matter what. If their carrier made a mistake and delivered late, Amazon held the seller responsible. It appears that this is no longer the case – at least for now.

Appeal your SFP privileges

If you lost your SFP privileges in the past, now is a great time to appeal. Amazon wants to see a three-part plan of action:

Explain the root cause of your SFP suspension. Put simply, which metrics did you violate and why? Amazon wants to know that you understand the mistakes you made.
Explain what you did to remediate the problem. How did you deal with customers whose deliveries fell outside of their delivery window, for example. This section is focused on immediate actions to address past problems.
Detail your plan for maintaining acceptable metrics in the future. Provide a specific plan that directly addresses the mistakes listed in your “root cause” section. This section of the plan should be proactive – not reactive (like part 2 was).

Be sincere and apologetic, but don’t grovel. Be detailed enough to show you’ve solved the problem, but keep it as brief as possible.

If you need help with your SFP appeal, please don’t hesitate to contact us! Call 877-289-1017 or visit our website.

Four rules to support Amazon merchant-fulfilled (MFN) sales in tough times

March 24, 2020 Leave a Comment

With current Amazon FBA limitations, take shipping into your own hands

By: Cathy Ceely

Sellers are suddenly embracing Amazon merchant-fulfilled (MFN) orders to keep their businesses afloat. Sellers need to handle the details – the right way.

Thanks to Covid-19, and a massive influx of orders for basic household goods, Amazon has taken two major actions:

Limited inbound FBA shipments of non-essential items through April 5 – It’s possible that date may be extended
De-prioritized fulfillment of orders of non-essential items, with some promise dates for delivery now extending into May

We suggest that Amazon sellers who are growing their MFN capabilities, or are new to MFN, follow these strategies to best manage their ability to fulfill orders:

Limit purchase quantities. Customers are buying massive quantities of some items.
Extend handling time. Instead of “usually ships now” or “ships in 24 hours,” change your handle time to 2-3 or 3-5 days.
Cancel orders sooner rather than later, if you must. When stock moves quickly, you may find it necessary to cancel orders. Rather than waiting days or a week to see if you get more stock on hand, we suggest that you cancel the order right away. Buyers may be less angry and less apt to complain or leave negative feedback.
Hit pause, early and often. If you see your metrics are in danger of missing targets, put your store on vacation – immediately. Get your existing orders filled and cleaned up before you change back to an active status. If you ship Seller Fulfilled Prime (SFP), remember you have the ability to set a maximum number of SFP orders per day. Use it.

If you have challenges with your Amazon merchant-fulfilled orders or Account Health metrics, Riverbend Consulting can help! Give us a call at 877-289-1017 for more information. Or follow us on social media for constant updates.

Amazon won’t let all ASINs be shipped to its warehouses – but you may be able to send in some

By: Lesley Hensell

Whether you’re a new MFN seller or seeing high order volumes, be ready to pause

By: Lesley Hensell

Amazon requires:

Follow these tips to ensure you don’t run afoul of Amazon’s rules:

Try these strategies:

Whether your 3P account is large or small, take action today

By: Lesley Hensell

Amazon has loosened its metrics for Seller Fulfilled Prime (SFP) shippers

By: Lesley Hensell

Amazon’s new SFP metrics

Appeal your SFP privileges

With current Amazon FBA limitations, take shipping into your own hands

By: Cathy Ceely

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