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How to Handle Amazon Returns When the Buyer is at Fault

By Erik Mathes

When you sell on Amazon, returns are just part of the game. Sometimes, the blame falls on you for Amazon returns: You shipped the wrong size, color, or SKU. Oops!

Amazon returns can also stem from:

→ You being out of stock when an order is placed

→ A buyer not receiving an order due to delivery issues

But in many cases, Amazon returns are not your fault at all; it’s the buyer who’s to blame.

And guess what:

Amazon requires sellers to accept returns — even if the buyer is at fault.

For most products, the return window is 30 days from the purchase date. But,Amazon has specific return specs if you sell BMVD items, software, electronics, or baby products.

Here’s what Amazon says about how sellers must handle returns and inquiries:

This means that there’s inherent risk built into doing business on Amazon.

The tradeoff, of course, is that Amazon provides the best online arena for selling success. That’s why you should expect to eventually have to take a dose of bad with all the good on Amazon.

Here’s how to best prepare for those times.

When Amazon buyers “change their mind” about a purchase

Buyers on Amazon can return items just because, and this can lead to seller frustration and financial loss.

This is what Amazon says to do when buyers change their minds about an item that you shipped:

So, in these (hopefully) rare instances, you’re at least protected from having to refund shipping costs.

And, in some cases, you can charge restocking fees to partially make up for losses.

On the flipside, if you ship something defective, Amazon encourages issuing concessions to ease negative buyer feelings. This isn’t required, but it’s something you may want to consider for damage control in certain situations.

Amazon returns for merchant-fulfilled (MFN) sellers vs FBA sellers

Here’s a peek at Amazon’s third-party seller (non-FBA) return policy:

Of course, if you use FBA, returns and customer service will be handled by Amazon.

During and after the holidays when returns are rampant, this FBA perk can prove to be very valuable.

FBA sellers should follow these steps for Amazon returns to protect their feedback score and ensure they collect all reimbursements.

What to do before you issue a refund

When buyers request refunds for Amazon returns, here’s what Amazon advises you do prior to making any refunds:

The following links provide more details about issuing partial refunds and Amazon’s A-to-z Guarantee.

When Amazon buyers have bad intentions

The bad side of selling on Amazon is that some buyers are looking to take advantage of you.

Sometimes, they’re the last people you’d ever expect, as is often the case with a practice called “wardrobing.” That’s when people order clothes with the intention of wearing them and then returning them. Sadly, wardrobing is more popular than you might think.

On top of that, Amazon has very buyer-friendly policies, as you saw above.

So, how can you protect yourself from buyers trying to scam you on Amazon returns?

The best safety measure is to take specific steps before you list, sell, and ship to ensure you’re best protected.

One best practice is taking note (or, better, taking photos) of product serial numbers. That way, if buyers make returns, you can prove they scammed you if the serial numbers don’t match.

You may think this is a big to-do. But, there are bad buyers who order products with the intention of returning similar, but inferior, items in their place.

Even worse, there are buyers who will receive a perfectly packaged product and then claim they never received anything.

When this happens, it could be a double blow to sellers, as you lose out on moneyand product.

So, what can you do?

How to protect yourself from Amazon returns scammers

To combat this, some sellers take photos or videos of themselves packing pricier products before they ship. That gives them evidence that proves they shipped items in case buyers claim they didn’t receive an order.

Obviously, these safeguards add more steps to your already heavy workload. But, having these protections in place can save you money and keep your reputation intact if buyers try to scam you.

Here are a few other safety measures you can take to avoid run-ins with Amazon returns scammers:

→ Use tracked delivery

→ Require signature on all packages

→ Get insurance on packages containing high-cost items

On top of these practices, here’s what Amazon advises third-party sellers to do to protect themselves from shady buyers:

Dealing with Amazon returns will be much easier if you take these precautions before shipping.

But, in the end, it’s hard to stop buyers on a mission to game the Amazon returns system and rip you off.

What happens to FBA items that customers return to Amazon?

FBA sellers should stay on top of any returns issued to their accounts. If Amazon deems the products returned as “unfulfillable,” they could wind up sitting in inventory and costing you money.

Submit a removal order if this occurs. You’ll be responsible for FBA removal order fees, but at least you won’t be paying inventory fees for unmovable items.

How automated repricing can indirectly help you deal with Amazon returns

While automated repricing doesn’t directly handle Amazon returns, it does help by freeing up your time in other areas.

If you currently spend hours each week on manual repricing, an automated repricer can eliminate that workload.

By outsourcing repricing to strategic automation software, you’ll have more time to input processes that minimize Amazon returns and scams. Time to setup your product listings and shipping properly, and to shoot “before” videos to prove you shipped products if a buyer ever returns an empty box and claims you shipped it that way.

At this point in time, you can’t automate safety measures for Amazon returns with software. So, any other tasks that automation can handle more effectively and efficiently will help you find time to improve your safeguards.

(SOURCE)

Retail Arbitrage haul for reselling on Amazon FBA 11-21-16

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Distributed Inventory Placement vs Inventory Placement Service for Amazon FBA Sellers

By Erik Matthes

Did you know that Amazon has the right to move your FBA inventory between its fulfillment centers without alerting you? And, that Amazon can split up your FBA shipments between up to three different fulfillment centers? No, we’re not making this up. And, yes, this has probably happened to you already. It has to do with something called “distributed inventory placement,” a standard setting on all FBA accounts.

If you haven’t edited the “Inbound Settings” in your Amazon account, you’ve likely had your products shipped to multiple fulfillment centers instead of just one.

“Why on earth would Amazon do this?” is what you must be thinking to yourself.

The good news is that several logical reasons exist for Amazon Distributed Inventory Placement and fulfillment center transfers.

According to Amazon:

“By default, when you create a shipping plan, your shipment may be divided into multiple shipments, each directed to a different fulfillment center. This division is called distributed inventory placement.

“Units of an ASIN will be sent to a maximum of three destination fulfillment centers in the U.S. The destination fulfillment centers are selected based on the products you’re shipping and where you are shipping from.

“By having your inventory spread across multiple fulfillment centers across the country, the person who buys your product will receive it faster than they would if your inventory was in a single fulfillment center farther away from the buyer.”

We’ve had many customers ask us about this, and we’ve seen questions about this in Amazon’s Seller Forums. So, we decided to help sellers understand Amazon’s rationale behind the process.

Read on to learn more about Amazon Distributed Inventory Placement, how you can work around it, and how Appeagle is helping Amazon sellers make the most of it with our enhanced “Get the Buy Box” algorithm.

Amazon Distributed Inventory Placement explained in a story

The best way to understand why Amazon does Distributed Inventory Placement is the story of Amazon seller Andrea G.

Based in Maine, Andrea uses FBA to fulfill orders on a variety of outdoor products, including several for warm weather. These include some of her best-selling charcoal grills, typically used for summer cookouts.

When Andrea signed up for FBA, Amazon gained the right to make executive decisions on where to ship her inventory. The “Distributed Inventory Placement” setting is the default on every FBA account, allowing Amazon to split shipments into up to three destination fulfillment centers.

Once winter arrives, most of the U.S. is not looking to buy Andrea’s grills. But, thereare some regions that stay warm enough for outdoor grilling year-round. So, if Andrea sends a shipment of grills to FBA before the winter, Amazon will likely split that shipment across multiple fulfillment centers instead of just storing it in the one nearest to Andrea.

Unfortunately, Amazon passes this cost back to Andrea, who must pay for shipping to up to three fulfillment centers instead of just one. Clearly, this can have a severe impact on costs and margins.

And, if Andrea has grills already in FBA inventory in a fulfillment center close to her home in Maine, Amazon has the right to transfer them to fulfillment centers closer to the areas where more people are likely to purchase them during the winter, like Florida and Southern California. So, when customers in Miami or L.A. go to purchase a grill on Amazon in January, they’ll receive it super fast because Amazon transferred it to a closer fulfillment center.

For these transfers between fulfillment centers that occur after her initial FBA shipment, Amazon (thankfully) covers the cost.

Why Amazon splits FBA shipments and transfers products to different fulfillment centers

There are three main reasons why Amazon will split FBA shipments and/or transfer your items to different fulfillment centers:

• Seasonality

• Demand

• Demographics

In the example of Andrea G., you see how seasonality can play a part in this process. The grilling season ends in most of America after September. But, Amazon understands that certain parts of the country will see people barbecuing year-round, and it adjusts the inventory at its fulfillment centers to reflect this.

Amazon also understands that demand may differ from region to region. So, Amazon may transfer products from a NY-based seller to fulfillment centers near the west coast if it finds that those products sell better in California.

Lastly, demographics may also lead Amazon to transfer your products to another fulfillment center. For example, if more people are purchasing your winter coats in Minnesota than New Jersey, Amazon may shift some of your inventory from a Northeast fulfillment center to one in the Midwest.

The common thread between these examples is that Amazon thinks shifting your inventory will result in you making more sales.

How Amazon sellers avoid extra shipping costs from Distributed Inventory Placement

Sellers who want to avoid the cost of shipping to multiple fulfillment centers do have a workaround called “Inventory Placement Service,” but it’s limited. With Inventory Placement Service, you’ll only have to ship each ASIN to one fulfillment center. 

To switch your settings to Inventory Placement Service, follow the steps below:

Doing this switches your account settings from Distributed Inventory Placement to “Inventory Placement Service.” As Amazon puts it:

“If you sign up for the Inventory Placement Service, we will assign you a single Amazon fulfillment center to which you can send all units of a specific ASIN in a shipment. A per-item service fee applies.

“When you use the Inventory Placement Service, the destination fulfillment center is determined by Amazon. You cannot choose the fulfillment center to which you send your shipment. The destination fulfillment center may vary from shipment to shipment. When your shipment arrives at the fulfillment center, it may be split and sent to different fulfillment centers for you.”

So, even if you opt for this change of service, Amazon will still select the fulfillment center at which your shipment will arrive.

And, with the way Amazon constructed its Inventory Placement Service policy, it will likely split your shipment up upon arrival anyway and ship portions to different fulfillment centers.

Amazon also only guarantees that they won’t separate individual SKUs, which is different from everything going to one fulfillment center.

Lastly, Amazon charges fees for Inventory Placement Service.

Here’s the breakdown of the fee structure:

It all boils down to this:

→ With Distributed Inventory Placement, you may have to pay added shipping costs upfront.

→ With Inventory Placement Service, you’ll only have to ship each ASIN to onefulfillment center. But, you incur a per-item fee on each shipment.

To determine if you should use Distributed Inventory Placement or Inventory Placement Service, figure out the costs of each.

If the per-item cost of Inventory Placement Service fees is less than the shipping costs you typically pay to ship your FBA products to multiple fulfillment centers with Distributed Inventory Placement, then you should probably make the switch.

How inventory transfers between fulfillment centers affect Amazon sellers

At this point, you must be wondering how these transfers between fulfillment centers after your initial shipment affect you. After all, Amazon doesn’t have to alert you, so these product movements can feel like they’re happening behind your back.

While these inventory transfer won’t directly affect your finances, they will affect your inventory levels. 

Unless you constantly check them, you may think you have a certain amount of units in one fulfillment center when, in fact, you have less than you thought in that fulfillment center and you’re holding inventory in other fulfillment centers that you didn’t even know about.

Amazon will then hit your listings with “Backordered” status, although they’ll include an “expected restock” date. Unfortunately, you may miss out on sales in the near-term when this occurs.

How Appeagle’s “Get the Buy Box” algorithmic repricing strategy distinguishes between these two “Backordered” statuses

Appeagle’s Get the Buy Box algorithm strategically reprices your listings relative to the Buy Box price until you win the Buy Box yourself.

But, suppose you’re using this strategy on a listing that becomes Backordered due to Amazon transferring inventory between fulfillment centers.

In that event, Appeagle’s algorithm will recognize that your price should stay put until that listing reaches its final destination.

Your price will remain frozen until the item becomes shippable so that it doesn’t get priced down to its min while it was out of stock.

This price freeze helps you win the Buy Box at a higher selling price once you’re back in stock.

And for Amazon sellers, winning the Buy Box at a higher selling price is about as good as it gets.

(SOURCE)

Amazon FBA UK How to prepare Amazon inventory shipments tutorial

- Here's part 2 of the step-by-step tutorial video for Amazon UK inventory shipment

Tools For Amazon Sellers Ready To Scale

Tools For Amazon Sellers Ready To Scale

Doctors need stethoscopes, carpenters need hammers and startup founders need pretty, overpriced MacBooks. The best practitioners in any trade, from plumbing to brain surgery, make sure they have the tools they need to succeed. Amazon provides some great free tools for new sellers … but that’s not enough to make it in the big leagues.

That’s why there are literally thousands of tools for Amazon sellers, spread across dozens of categories. Finding the right areas to focus on, let alone the right tools, can seem impossible, with solutions available for, for instance, (deep breath) inventory scouting, listing optimization, UPC barcoding, review sourcing, FBA Prep, inventory and order management, warehousing, multi-channel selling, returns and reverse logistics management, tax, accounting, customer management, and marketing.

What types of tools do private label sellers really need? Well, we’ve rounded up some recommendations on core categories for the rapidly growing seller.

Product Research

Amazon sells over 200 million products. So what’s one more? Product research tools leverage science to find the perfect product when you are looking to branch out, cutting through a plenitude of possibilities, bearing in mind customer demand, competition and margin opportunity.

Of the many tools to choose from, Jungle Scout has some big supporters, like Steve Chou of MyWifeQuitHerJob.com. Their spin? Huge databases of Amazon products, together with anticipated monthly sales, seller rank and more, all exportable to CSV for even more data crunching. Together with tools for coming up with new products and competition monitoring, it’s easy to see why they’re ahead of the crowd.

Also highly recommended is Amasuite 4, that uses powerful filtering to trawl through Amazon product sub-categories. As a bonus, it also helps find both reviewers and product reviews, to improve product rankings.

Product Sourcing

Found the perfect niche and now looking to source international? Most Amazon FBA sellers use Alibaba to connect with agents, suppliers and manufacturers, and probably also use Aliexpress for sourcing products. Aliexpress should be used as a stepping stone to try out a new product, making a small order to test the market.

But another great option (in superior English) is Global Sources, who juggle hosting huge sourcing trade shows in Hong Kong for specific categories (fashion, electronics, home goods) , and running a large-scale website for online sourcing. Depending on the product, it may make more sense to try sourcing in India, in which case TradeIndia should do the trick.

International Freight and Shipping

One of the biggest obstacles to finding new sources is having to work out how to get the goods from overseas ready for sales fulfilment in America. This scares away many sellers … but as the British SAS say, “who dares, wins”.

Freight companies can be backwards so it can take days to get quotes from forwarders, making it hard to compare prices. Our company Freightos launched an online freight marketplace to help you compare and book air and ocean quotes from multiple freight providers. Additionally, we recently released a freight calculator for Amazon FBA sellers in order to get freight estimates from anywhere in the world directly to FBA warehouses.

When it comes to sales fulfilment, the UPS Savings Program for Amazon Sellers is a great program. For the Amazon seller that’s graduated beyond, there are literally hundreds of trucking carriers to choose from, and their rates can vary dramatically. Finding the best fit, and negotiating a discount for bulk shipping, could mean a lot of research. Shippo is a highly recommended shipping platform (API and app) that connects with leading freight forwarders at discounted parcel rates and bulk discounts. It is clearly a winning proposition, and the company has recently raised $7 million to further its goal of becoming “Twilio for shipping”.

Presentation

This is probably more applicable for arbitrage sellers, who regularly need images. Expanding businesses lose the time that’s needed to get images to up to Amazon’s requirements. Fortunately there are many cheap speedy services to that can help out. Upgraded Images is a highly recommended service. They know what Amazon is looking for in their product images, and provide high quality images at a reasonable price.

Those on a budget, should check out Upwork, to connect with photographers. Similarly, those on a tight budget, looking for artwork for packaging or promotional activity, should check out Fiverr to connect with freelance graphic artists. One tip though – Fiverr sellers tend to nickle and dime on licensing images, while some have a propensity to copy material from other designers. Buyer beware.

Competitive Analysis

What seller doesn’t want to know where their competitor is sourcing from? Perhaps the competitor’s edge comes from better sourcing. Sellers branching out to a new product can save themselves the cost of a trip to China to vet suppliers if they knew where their new competitor’s product source.

It is actually possible, but cumbersome, to access public import records for free, by using the US Customs Import Data tool. Fortunately there are a stack of companies that republish or repackage this information. Two that are highly recommended are Panjiva and Import Genius. Panjiva users can very quickly find and evaluate legitimate businesses and spot trends. Import Genius users quickly evaluate suppliers, find sales prospects and monitor competitors. Import Genius even keeps its users up with the play, sending product-relevant email alerts.

Pricing

Camelcamelcamel has to be the most recommended pricing tool in this category. It returns the price of most Amazon listings, shows how that price has changed, and shows the extent to which price movements have been influenced by Amazon Retail or by Amazon sellers. It also provides best seller rankings. What’s more, even users on a free account can sign up for email alerts (for when the price drops below a certain amount). But if you’re looking for automated pricing management with algorithmic bidding, look into options like Appeagle or Feedvisor – both highly recommended services for intelligent algo-pricing.

Amazon has opened up a world of opportunity for entrepreneurs. For astute sellers, tools like these expand those opportunities even further. No knight goes to battle without a sword; no seller should battle without the right outsourced services, plug ins and SaaS platforms.

(SOURCE)

Amazon UK Training: How to List inventory on Amazon UK FBA Tutorial

- Watch this step by step tutorial video on how to list inventory on Amazon UK

5 Critical Amazon Mistakes: What They

5 Critical Amazon Mistakes: What They 

Are and How to Avoid Them

By 888Lots

Is it possible to get ahead in a giant retail center that is Amazon? Many novice sellers think that it takes years to build up their Amazon profile and start generating bigger bucks. Here’s the good scoop: you don’t have to wait for years to make good money through Amazon!

Both new and veteran sellers alike can get ahead of the curve if they know what selling practices compromise their business and how to avoid these practices.

Here are the top 5 critical mistakes Amazon users make and how you can avoid them:

Mistake #1: Not Providing Enough Photos

A picture illustrates a thousand words, and it also boosts your chances of making a sale. Consumers today prefer fast and easy information. An average customer will most likely skip paragraphs of product description, and would rather browse through a photo gallery of an item they want to buy.

How You Can Avoid This Mistake:

Provide sufficient and good-quality photos of your products. It is also wise to post pictures of the item from different angles. Your prospective buyers will decide faster if they have seen the item from different perspectives.

Providing a short but relevant caption for each photo is also helpful. Customers will no longer need to research or message you if you have already provided details of the product.

Posting clear photos also prove that you are a trustworthy seller with quality merchandise.

Mistake #2: Complicated Buying Process

Although the shopping process in Amazon is straightforward, you would be surprised that some merchants still have a way of complicating it. A difficult buying process may include vague product descriptions, low-quality photos, and posting the product in the wrong category.

If customers get confused about what they are getting, chances are they will just skip your page and look elsewhere.

How You Can Avoid This Mistake:

Put yourself in the customer’s shoes. What information would you like to see on your page? What will make the buying process most convenient for you?

It is also smart to take a look at what your competitors do to make the shopping process work to their advantage. Test out the process if it will work for you as a merchant and your prospective buyers.

Mistake #3: Poor Customer Service

Do not make the mistake of thinking that you no longer have to entertain customers just because your products are posted on Amazon. Some sellers think that Amazon’s credibility as a marketplace will already cover their business. As a result, they no longer feel the urgency of replying to customer inquiries or responding to bad reviews.

Amazon gives sellers 24 hours to reply to customer inquiries. Failure to do so may result in account suspension.

How You Can Avoid This Mistake:

Reply to customers as soon as you read their questions. Putting off this task will only make the questions pile up.

There are tools to help you manage inquiries such as ReplyManager.Aside from helping you receive and send messages, this tool also helps you organize your messages based on urgency following Amazon guidelines.

Mistake #4: Failure to Utilize Social Media

Facebook and Twitter make millions from companies who advertise on their networks. These social media giants customize the news feed of users according to their online activities. That is why business owners who fail to use social media to their advantage are missing out on reaching their target market.

Buyers are more likely to buy from merchants with active social profiles and skip over the ones who don’t.

How You Can Avoid This Mistake:

Create a Facebook page or Twitter profile for your business. You can link your Amazon page here and advertise for free. Share engaging posts and make sure to respond to comments and messages.

Users are also likely to visit your Amazon page if they see activity on your social accounts. This proves your credibility as a seller and extends your audience in the social platform.

Mistake #5: Bad Writing

Wrong grammar, spelling mistakes, and punctuation errors – these are red flags to look out for if you are a customer.

Shabby descriptions or insufficient content gives an impression that the owner does not care enough to give prospective buyers a good customer experience.

How You Can Avoid This Mistake:

Be concise in describing your products, but don’t make customers feel like they are missing out. Invest on relevant content that is easy on the eyes.

Another option would be to hire virtual assistants. They can take on all these tasks as well as provide customer service, refund management and other daily Amazon selling tasks. Now that you know the critical mistakes to avoid in Amazon, what business improvements are you making today?

(SOURCE)