Q2 is nearly upon us, but before we tackle it head-on, let’s have a look at some of the latest Amazon news and improvements.
Continue reading to find out what Amazon has in store for us.
1. New Amazon Fulfillment Centers
Amazon has recently added BFI4, a new warehouse, to its North American Fulfillment Center Address List. It’s based in Kent, Washington. Amazon Vendors using EDI 850 to fulfil their orders should remember to add this new location in their system, at which point Amazon will forward them the EDI SAN or FC code.
The fulfillment center list is available for download in your Vendor Central account, under Resource Center > Technical. Because the inventory is intended for resale and not subject to tax, sending invoices with entries in the tax field will cause Amazon to reject your orders. Sellers can Amazon NA Vendor Resale Certificates from the Resource Center > Legal section in Vendor Central.
What’s more, a new fulfillment center is due to open this month in the UK, where 10 fulfillment centers employ 12,000 people already. Another 500 people are expected to staff Amazon’s new fulfillment center in Coalville, Leicestershire this year. The warehouse lies half an hour away from
downtown Leicester, the largest city in the East Midlands.
2. Order Reports are Customizable
For those of you who would like to view or hide several columns at a time in your Order Reports table, Amazon released an Add or Remove Columns feature. Simply select Orders > Order Reports > Change the columns for your reports, and then choose columns at leisure.
Browse the ‘Order Report Field Definitions’ section if any of these fields are unclear to you, and bear in mind that not all columns can be removed. Also, once you hit Save, all future reports will display according to your selection.
3. UPC is Compulsory for Major Brand Jewelry
To manually add a UPC code to your listing, look for the designated field on the ‘Add a Product to Our Catalog’ page. If it’s a pre-existent listing, Amazon will automatically fill in the UPC, and no other action is required. For inventory file feeds, you should enter the UPC in the ‘product-id’ field, and the word ‘UPC’ under ‘product-id-type’.
To check your UPCs, download your listings report from Seller Central under Inventory > Inventory Reports > Category Listings Report > Jewelry > Request Report. Wait 15-45 minutes, until the status changes to Ready, and then click Download. For any corrections you may have to go live, edit your listings or upload a new inventory file using the ‘Upload Multiple Items’ feature.
4. Amazon Custom Rollout
You may have heard of Amazon Custom, and you may even have received an invitation recently. Amazon Custom is a program rolled out to help sellers with customizable products offer a truly bespoke experience. Its functionality is twofold, featuring a text customization and an image customization tool.
Only professional sellers with non-FBA items in new condition and compliant product images are eligible. To apply, they need to provide a description of their products, a link to one of their products listed elsewhere, an estimate of last year’s sales and of the number of products they hope to list on Amazon, and the product category they have in mind.
Amazon will waive the monthly fees for new members for a limited time only. It also encourages sellers who have applied before to try again using the new application form (Sign in required).
Irina H. is our International Business Development Specialist and our company do-all, whose motto is ‘Never give up, never give in, and always give it your best’.