The Q4 rush is drawing near, so we’ve prepared a second helping of our Amazon news digest this month. With up-to-date information pivotal to your success as an Amazon FBA seller or merchant, this is a must-read news bulletin for all. Find out the latest on Amazon services, seller programs, listing tools and features, shipping discounts, incentives, Amazon growth prospects and selling restrictions.
1. Amazon Germany goes B2B
Amazon.de Sellers are being invited to register for Business Seller accounts. The free upgrade will enable them to sell to business customers across Germany. They will also be able to continue to use Amazon Services, such as Fulfillment by Amazon, Amazon Home Services, or Amazon Payments.
Amazon claims the U.S. program is growing by 20% per month. Over 30,000 U.S. sellers enjoy the use of features like Quantity Pricing and Exclusive Business Offers to boost sales. To check if you’re eligible to join the Amazon US Business Seller Program, please click here (login required).
2. DPD Prime Shipping for Amazon.de Seller Fulfilled Prime
The Seller Fulfilled Prime program from Amazon Germany now features preferential DPD Prime shipping services. A comprehensive list of the new DPD Prime services and rate cards are available here (login required). Some of the most important preferential features are given below, in a simpler format:
- New DPD Prime volume discounts
- New DPD Prime Standard Rates and Return Fees
3. Early access to Amazon Business
The Amazon’s Subscribe & Save program is now inviting eligible sellers to sign up for access to customers who use Amazon for regular deliveries. FBA sellers can include their FBA offers in the program. Subscribe & Save gives buyers discounts of up to 15% off their order.
Eligible sellers can enable Subscribe & Save participation on the seller account. To enable these Amazon services, go to your Fulfillment by Amazon settings, find Subscription Settings, click Edit, followed by Enable, and then Update.
4. New Merchants No Longer Allowed to Send Amazon FBA Inventory
According to a Seller Central USA forum thread, new Amazon FBA sellers are no longer be able to create inbound shipments this Q4. Until Dec. 19, new-to-FBA sellers will not be allowed to send inventory to Fulfillment Centers in Canada, Mexico, and USA.
Sellers can continue to ship to FBA warehouses if:
- They’re not newly-registered sellers;
- They’ve created at least one inbound shipment by Oct. 10;
- The shipment was received in full;
Shipments to Fulfillment Centers based in China, Germany, Spain, France, India, Italy, Japan, or the UK are not affected. The change is meant to prevent new sellers from overburdening and overcrowding fulfillment centers in the busy days ahead. Established sellers are New sellers can still use the Merchant Fulfilled program to sell their products. Amazon welcomes feedback here.
5. Key 2016 Selling Dates for Amazon FBA Sellers
Amazon US is reminding sellers that they need to deliver their shipments by Nov. 9, if they want them to be listed on Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Also, Christmas Day shipments must arrive at their allocated fulfillment centers by Dec. 2. The key shipping dates are available in this 2016 FBA holiday calendar available here.
6. FBA inventory: Get Paid to Liquidate
The FBA liquidation program is still going strong. Our post from Q2 announced that Amazon was taking steps to free up warehouse space. The measures involved: paying sellers to liquidate their stock, waiving return and disposal fees for removal orders, and reimbursing them retroactively. Then we mentioned it again in the Digest VIII post, but without revealing much about the program.
Amazon’s latest invite to liquidate offers some clarification. According to the email and the Liquidating Your Inventory help page (login required), the value sellers recover for their liquidated inventory is, on average, 10% of the original selling price. Amazon takes a further 10% of this amount. So, in the end, a seller is left with 9% of the item’s selling price. To top it off, it can take up to 60 days since the removal order is submitted for the refund to be processed.
7. Enhancements to Add a Product Feature
It’s now simpler and faster to use the Add a Product feature. You can toggle between the Default and the Advanced View (the one with all the attributes). Also, attribute field sizes now depend on attribute type, there’s less padding between attributes, and extra tool tips can be accessed inline.
8. Rising FBA Chargeback Fees
We mentioned in our last Amazon News Digest edition that box content information is compulsory for all FBA shipments effective Nov. 1. Currently, when a shipment is received at a fulfillment center, an Invalid or Missing Information in ASN chargeback fee of 1% the cost of goods (COGS) is issued.
Amazon Services is kicking it up a notch by claiming a chargeback fee of 3% of COGS from Nov. 4 for any perishable product without an expiration. There is, however, a 10% grace policy. So, sellers with an ASN expiration date coverage of at least 90% for the past month will be spared.
Vendor Central vendors – To review your recent shipments in Vendor Central, go to Orders > Shipments > View shipments created in the last 90 days. Use AMZNCC Labeling to provide expiration dates as you submit advance shipment notifications.
EDI vendors – Double-check that you’re using the EDI 856 5010 version to submit ASNs. To check requirements, go to Vendor Central Resource Center >Technical > EDI Specification for 856 Advanced Shipment Notification 5010 Version zip folder download >AMZ_Procurement_856_MappingGuide_X12_5010 Version.
9. Performance Monitoring Tool for Seller Fulfilled Prime
Sellers can now monitor fulfillment performance on Seller Fulfilled Prime Trial orders. To check your performance, log into your Seller Central account, and go to the “Performance” tab. Also, an order-level report will show the orders that didn’t meet performance requirement. Together they can help you identify performance issues.
10. Amazon Growth Prospects in Europe
According to The Information, Amazon is considering selling home broadband to European customers. The UK may be its launchpad due to its anti-monopoly rules that make wholesale access to the network available to new competitors. As Amazon growth prospects extend to broadband, some other Amazon services may stand to gain. The company will be able to promote its Prime Video streaming service to the much larger ISP customer base.
11. Amazon Launches Certified Refurbished in Europe
Like-new products can now be sold to Amazon customers across Europe via the Certified Refurbished program. This rounds off a service package that had been available to U.S. customers for years.
To qualify, merchants are required to match or surpass Amazon’s return policies. This includes refunding the product cost for returns no older than 30 days. It also involves reimbursing shipping costs for items returned within 14 days (30 days for Shoes, Clothing and Bags), and never charging restocking fees. Also, sellers are not allowed to ask customers to cover international return costs upfront, and then wait for a refund.
Note: EU law awards a 2-year statutory warranty on all goods bought within the EU (including the UK, for now). It trumps most seller return policies, including Amazon’s. Customers can return faulty items up to 2 years after they were bought, provided they report the issues within 2 months of noticing them
Melanie takes an active interest in all things Amazon. She keeps an eye on the latest developments, and keeps Amazon sellers up to speed.