Fulfillment by Amazon FBA Inventory Management Tool for Amazon Sellers

- Need some help with your inventory? Watch this video!

Amazon FBA Tries to Clear Out Euro Warehouses

By Ina Steiner

Amazon is giving sellers in Europe an incentive to clear out slow-moving inventory from its Fulfilment by Amazon warehouses in preparation for the busy holiday shopping season. An FBA seller from the UK forwarded an email with details of a promotion that kicked off on September 1st.

"Amazon is running a free removals and Long Term Storage Fee refund promotion from 1 September, 2016 to 30 September, 2016. This promotion is applicable to units in U.K., France and Italy fulfilment centres on which Long Term Storage Fees (LTSF) was charged on 15 August 2016."

The promotion applies only to units in the U.K., France and Italy fulfilment centers on which Long Term Storage Fee were charged in August 2016.

Another point to keep in mind: "Units of ASINs removed under this promotion cannot be sent to U.K., France or Italy fulfilment centres till January 1, 2017, unless your inventory level falls below the number of units you have sold of this ASIN in the previous four weeks."

Sellers who qualify have until September 30th to place their removal order.

(SOURCE)

- FYI to anyone who needs it!

The Pros and Cons of Buying a 'Fulfillment by Amazon' Business

By Mark Daoust

What happens when an entrepreneur leverages the power of a big business to create a small one?

For an increasing number of small business owners, the answer can be found in the Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) business model.

The FBA model is exactly what it sounds like: business owners provide products, and Amazon handles packing, shipping and contextual customer support.

FBA businesses have grown in popularity since Amazon launched the service in 2006, but both creation and sales of FBA businesses really began to skyrocket between 2015-16.

With FBA trending hot and heavy, is buying an Amazon-based business right for you? In this post, I'll explain the pros and cons of buying an FBA business, and let you decide.

Five benefits of buying an Amazon FBA business.

The appeal of an FBA business might seem obvious to you.

After all, who wouldn't want to hand off most of the headaches that come with fulfillment to someone else? But that's just the primary benefit of acquiring an FBA business. Consider these five benefits as well.

1. Outsourcing fulfillment frees you up to handle higher-level tasks.

With Amazon handling the - sometimes literal -- heavy lifting, you can focus on growth-oriented tasks such as conversion rate optimization (CRO), targeted marketing and new product development.

2. You and your customers benefit from Amazon's perks.

From free two-day shipping with Prime to greater product visibility in the marketplace and the automatic credibility that comes with selling your wares on the site of an established, trusted retail giant, your FBA business will provide customers with a next-level experience that's hard to replicate via traditional ecommerce. And don't forget, Amazon will also provide top-notch customer service.

3. Scalability is built-in.

Beyond the perks of Prime and processing, Amazon's worldwide reach, massive warehousing and fulfilment capabilities, and well-established infrastructure give you the power to grow your business more effectively as time and demand dictate.

In addition, FBA businesses can act as a nexus for multiple sales channels. Offering your products across the web, and directing those sales through your FBA business, can attract customers, who may not start their search for your goods on Amazon, yet still fill the needs of those customers through its system.

4. You don't need to pound the pavement for customers.

Amazon has already built the world's largest customer base, and you're gaining access to it with an FBA business. This base can be expanded further with multiple channels.

5. Reduced costs mean increased profits.

Without the need for a website or your own shipping and customer service, profits will likely be higher, even with Amazon's service fees.

An FBA business is definitely not "hands-free," but it does leverage the power of Amazon to give you the ability to make the most of your time, effort and resources in building a steady earner in the ecommerce space.

Three challenges of an FBA business.

Of course, it's not all wine and roses. As with most acquisitions, FBA businesses come with their own set of challenges and potential dealbreakers for potential buyers.

1. It's a jungle in there.

Every FBA business is fighting for survival and prominence in a complex ecosystem ruled by Amazon's own Buy Box algorithm. FBA businesses receive greater prominence than non-FBA businesses in Amazon's model, but that's still no guarantee of survivability or even profitability.

The company's main product is, after all, information, and it leverages data - data it does not share -- with ruthless efficiency to decide where, when and how products will appear to consumers. It will also track the popularity and pricing flow of items, and use this information to produce its own competing products in an effort to supplant third-party businesses as sales leaders for those products.

2. You might need to be more hands-on than you think.

You'll need a working knowledge of Amazon's marketplace and the performance metrics it uses to gauge success and failure.

You'll probably also want to keep a close eye on competition, which can wildly surge (as can the performance and profitability of all the items in the business), to have real-time information on your best performers in the short and long term.

3. You'll need a game plan for growth.

In addition to negotiating the perilous waters of Amazon's Darwinist marketplace, you'll need to keep a sharp eye out for growth opportunities at every turn.

The same expanding competition and market saturation that eat into your profits will work against you inside the closed walls of Amazon's ecosystem, so be prepared to pursue multichannel opportunities if you're keen on serious growth.

To FBA or not to FBA - that is the question.

FBA businesses are an exciting, evolving part of the small business marketplace. And as with any other small business, deciding whether or not an FBA business is right for you begins with answering a few simple questions.

• Does this business match my interests and goals?
• Does this business have the current or potential power to achieve my desired profitability, sustainability and growth?
• Do I have the necessary understanding of Amazon's marketplace, the FBA business model and the potentially punishing algorithms that drive success on Amazon?
• Am I prepared to put any work into this business?

If answered "yes" to all of these questions, you're on your way to FBA success.

But if you're not sure about one or more, it's a good idea to sit down with your broker, and discuss whether buying an FBA business is the right for you. A little due diligence, along with taking the time to develop your subject-matter mastery, can help you make an informed - and profitable -- decision.

(SOURCE)

- For our readers who are still on the fence about Amazon FBA here's a great article to help you decide!

Ask Us Anything August 2016 - We answer your questions about Amazon FBA

- If you have a lot of unanswered questions about Amazon FBA, watch this video!

Amazon Restrictions.... How To Move Forward Selling On Amazon FBA In 201...

- More tips regarding the recent Amazon selling restrictions

Top 10 Must Have Tools For Amazon FBA Sellers

by The Selling Family

When it comes to running a business of any kind, there are always tools that can make running that business much easier.  Having an Amazon FBA business is no different. 

When you first get started, I recommend sticking with the very basics to keep costs low.  But as your business becomes profitable, I would start adding in new tools to increase your productivity.

Below is a list of our top tools that we can’t run our business without now.  

Services For Your Amazon Business

Inventory Lab

Inventory Lab is the service that we use for listing products on Amazon.  We like to use them to list because we are able to print our labels individually at the time of adding each item to our inventory.  Rather than waiting until the end of the shipment and printing them out on Avery Labels.

Another benefit of using Inventory Lab is we can keep track of our profitability for each SKU that we send to Amazon.  It’s not a full-on accounting/bookkeeping system.  So, we don’t use it for taxes, just to see how profitable we are as items sell.  

We use 3 tools total for all the “money” stuff in the business, and you can see all of the differences here.

The cost for Inventory Lab is currently $49 a month.

Scoutify

Scoutify is the scanning app that comes with an Inventory Lab subscription.  The reason that we use this as our main scanning tool when doing in-store sourcing is because there are a lot of great integrations built right in.  

For example, we can easily check the camel camel camel history, or the Keepa history of the items that we are scanning.

This app is very easy to navigate when you first install it.

The cost is free for Inventory Lab subscribers (so $49 a month)

Shipping Supplies / Tools

Better Pack 333 Tape Dispenser

The Better Pack Tape Dispenser has made a huge difference when it comes to packing our shipments.  This may seem like a weird thing to be excited over.  But when we use regular packing tape, we usually do 3 pieces of tape across the top seam and the bottom seam.  Just to make sure it stays close.

With this paper tape, we are able to just use 1 piece of tape across the top and bottom seam.  Then we are comfortable with knowing that it will stay closed. 

This is the type of tape that very large companies use.  It’s similar to that black tape that Amazon uses that says “Amazon” across it.  

You can set the dial to the length of tape that you need, and when you pull the lever it will automatically cut that size tape for you.  So just pull the lever, grab the tape and seal the box.  That easy!

The cost is around $400 for the machine and then about $20 for the rolls of tape (they are very large).

Dymo Label Printer

The Dymo Label printer can be used in conjunction with a 3rd party listing service (such as Inventory Lab) so that you can print labels our one at a time, as you add them to a shipment.  

Aside from just printing the Amazon FNSKU labels (the one’s that tell Amazon the product is yours, that you put on the UPC code during the shipping process).  You can also use the Dymo to print out your own “this is a set” stickers, suffocation warnings or even custom expiration date labels.  You do these from within the actual Dymo software.

This one printer prints out 1,000’s of labels for us every month, and has run great for over 5 years!  We’ve never had to replace it or had any problems with it.

The cost is around $100 for the LabelWriter 450 Turbo.  

Scotty Peelers

Scotty Peelers are one of those tools that seem pretty insignificant, but are oh-so-helpful! 

If you sell a lot of products that have price stickers on them, then these are a must have tool for sure.  You use the Scotty Peeler to get underneath the label, and then peel it off of the box.  Almost all of our clearance purchases, Big Lots purchases and Liquidation purchases have price stickers.  That means we are peeling LOTS of stickers!

I personally prefer the metal version.  But be careful because I can guarantee that at some point, you WILL get a Scotty Peeler cut, and it will NOT be fun.  It’s like a “right of passage” amongst sellers.

The cost is less than $10 for a set.

Self Sealing Poly Bags

Self sealing poly bags are a staple for anyone who does multi-packs or bundles on Amazon.  

We used to use shrink wrap film, or open ended poly bags and a sealer.  But these self sealing bags save us SO much time.  We just add the product to the bag, pull the strip and fold over to close.

This has cut down on time spent closing bags significantly.  There are days when we have 50+ packs to get ready.  

Also, any products where there is a part exposed needs to be covered.  So we get these in very large sizes that work for big toys and things like backpacks.  Gotta protect those things in the Amazon warehouse!

The sizes that we keep in stock are: 8×10, 9×12, 11×14 & 14×20.

The cost for a starter pack of 100 is about $25.  This will give you multiple sizes to see which ones you prefer the most.

USB Barcode Scanner

Having a USB scanner on hand for entering the items in your shipment is really helpful.  You plug the scanner into the computer, and then when you scan a barcode it acts like a keyboard.  It will enter the UPC code into the field that you have the cursor in.  It presses “enter” too, so it will move on to the next screen.

This works whether you are using a 3rd party listing service, or listing directly through Amazon.  

This is an item I recommend getting in the beginning of your business.  The cost is low and it definitely saves a lot of time!  I know that entering UPC codes doesn’t seem like a lot.  But when you are entering a lot of items at once, it can really save a significant amount of time.

The cost is around $20

Browser Extensions / Plugins

Ebates

 Using a cash back service like Ebates is a must in my book.  We are already spending so much money when purchasing inventory online, why not get some cash back at the same time?

You can see my full review of Ebates here.  

I use the Ebates browser bar / button so that I can instantly be reminded when I am making an online purchase and need to activate the cash back.  We have earned over $4,000 in cash back from Ebates.  

The cost for Ebates is nothing!  It’s FREE

Cleer Platinum

Cleer Platinum is an add on to the Chrome browser that makes comparing products super simple.  This tool adds buttons onto the pages of many major retailers so that you can easily click to pull that item up on places like Amazon / eBay.  

When you find an item on say Walmart that you want to see if it is selling on Amazon, you just click the Amazon button and it will bring up the search page on Amazon with the product already entered.  

Then, when you are on Amazon, you can easily click to search other sites.  So you can click to compare to Ebay, or check price history in Keepa or Camel Camel Camel.  

This also comes with another tool as a bonus that will show if Amazon is selling and the rank/category…Right from the search page on Amazon.  So you can quickly see which products meet your criteria, or which search result you should dig into further.

The cost is normally around $97 (one time fee).

How Many Extension

The How Many Extension is another chrome tool that makes online sourcing easier.  What this tool does is shows you how much stock the current sellers have on the product you are researching. 

Say you are trying to decide if you should pull the trigger on 50 of a game.  But there is one seller who is really low priced.  Now you can quickly see how many that seller has in stock and make an educated buying decision based on that information.  

This basically replaces the step of adding 999 to your cart to see a sellers quantity   And you can see all of the sellers quantities at once.  

The cost on this one is $8.95 monthly.

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We are currently looking at quite a few new tools and services.  Things are always changing in the Amazon space, so we want to make sure we keep you up to date on the best and most efficient ways to run your business.

Fill us in on your favorite tools in the comments below 

(SOURCE)

- What are your favorite tools that help out with your Amazon business?

Amazon Brand Restrictions – What to Do?

By Jordan Malik

Unless you've been living under a rock, you know that Amazon recently emailed individual sellers telling them they couldn't sell certain brands any more. If you wanted to be approved, you had to provide real invoices from manufacturers - not retail receipts, and (in some instances) pay up to $1500 just to beconsidered.  The rumor is that Amazon did this because there were too many counterfeit products and/or sloppy sellers packaging (passing used off as new, etc.). But all (or most) sellers like you and me were affected anyway.

You probably got the "restriction" email from Amazon if you had in stock a product from a brand you were restricted from. Some sellers (like me) got no email, which (likely) means either a.) I didn't have any restricted brands in stock, or I was 'grandfathered' in to be allowed to sell it. (However, I tried listing a Lego product and Adidas product - I was restricted.) Thus, in short:

Many 3rd party sellers like you and me are restricted - without recourse - from selling products from a couple hundred brands on Amazon. Thousands of brands are notrestricted. 

Let me get the "What you should do from now on?" stuff out of the way, then further down I'll share some recommendations.

1.) What you should do from now on - Part I:  Click through and bookmark these 3 pages (3 selling experts are continuously these lists of 'known' restricted brands. This information comes from the blog owner's information, not Amazon. Instead of favoring one over the other, I'm referencing all 3 below. Note: 'Not all restrictions are created equal'. For some of the brands (e.g., Hasbro and Disney), it appears some sellers like myself were not restricted):

• The Selling Family (Jessica Larrew) list
• 888 Lots' list
• Best from The Nest (Robyn Johnson) list

2.) What you should do from now on - Part II: When in doubt, use the (free) Amazon Seller App for iPhone or Android. This will instantly tell you if you are restricted from selling a product (Note: non-Amazon scouting apps like Scoutify and/or Profit Bandit don't give you these alerts!). If you're already using a scanning app like Scoutify orProfit Bandit, keep using them - they're a lot faster. Use the Amazon app if you're in doubt or you want to double-check the item:

1. Install the Amazon Seller App on your phone/device
2. Ensure you're logged into the App using your Amazon seller credentials
3. Open the App, select 'product search' and touch the 'camera' icon. Then scan the barcode any item (or enter the item name/UPC, or hover the camera over the face of the item as Amazon can 'recognize' what you're scanning). Hint: if you're on (say) Walmart.com and you want to scan an item, pressing the camera icon will work in most cases if you hover your camera lens over the picture of the Walmart item as it appears on your screen.

For instance, I randomly looked up four items (those I had a hunch I'd be restricted from), using my Amazon Seller App, and yep, I was restricted. Screen shot is on the upper right of this page (click to enlarge). Not all restrictions are created equal'. For some of the brands (e.g., Hasbro and Disney), it appears some sellers like myself were not restricted.

Now for some recommendations:

First, sourcing via retail arbitrage or online arbitrage is NOT dead. It's just changing. There will always be opportunities sourcing thousands of other (non-restricted) brands from stores (physical or online). You just have to be more selective and strategic. Let's take heed from some trusted experts:

"Retail arbitrage is still a resounding 'yes' for us right now. Time will tell whether these latest changes will wind up being something whose effect was exaggerated or whether we’ll have a whole new set of guidelines from Amazon. The point is, stay agile! Those of you who are willing to take the news and roll with it are the ones who will rock your businesses in the end!" - Jessica Larrew, The Selling Family

"Retail arbitrage is not dead. It’s just different than it was a few days ago. And in a year or two, it’ll be totally different again. But with any challenge, comes opportunity. It’s what we do as entrepreneurs – Re-frame situations to create profitable businesses"- Duncan McPherson of SmartFBAIncome

"Don’t dwell in the negativity. It can be so easy to get sucked into the negativity online when difficult situations arise in the FBA selling world, especially on Facebook. You could easily spend (waste?) hours reading and participating in the comments on Facebook posts about how fill-in-the-blank change is going to ruin our existence as third party sellers on Amazon. Don’t fall victim to that temptation!" -Stephen Smotherman of Full-Time FBA.

[Move according to your tolerance for risk.] Risk Profiles:Extremely Risk Averse: Immediately remove all inventory that has been sourced via retail and online arbitrage, and stop sourcing any new products via Retail Arbitrage (RA)or Online Arbitrage (OA).Risk Averse: Stop sourcing all new RA / OA and begin to shift to purchasing inventory via other sourcing methods such as wholesale.Calculated Risk: Keep sourcing RA / OA, while monitoring Amazon’s changes. Keep 2 to 3 months inventory in stock at a given point in time to be able to adjust if a change comes through the pipeline. Don’t make any drastic changes to your business at this point in time. Ignore Risk: Keep sourcing RA /OA as you do today, and plan to continue these methods until retirement or you are suspended. Essentially, you’ve picked your path and will not deviate no matter what changes are made by Amazon." - Ryan Grant,Online Selling Experiment

Second: It's time for you to consider diversifying into one or more of: used books, wholesale and private label (it's never been less expensive/less risky to do so) to sell on Amazon. You have to do it the right way though. Learn the basics and more for free (or inexpensively) from my trusted partners:

(FREE) Online Book Arbitrage (you pay $6 S&H) by Peter Valley (one of the foremost experts on the topic)

(FREE) Private Label: Scott Voelker's workshops

(FREE) Private Label: Startup Bros' free workshops (live or replay)

(FREE/$) Private Label: Ryan Reger's Private Label The Easy Way Free webinars (limited run) and mentoring group.

($) Wholesale: Robyn Johnson's Wholesale Workshop (pre-recorded)

($) Wholesale: Proven Wholesale Sourcing (comes free when you buy The Proven Amazon Course)

($) Wholesale: Skip McGrath's Wholesale Buying System for Amazon or eBay

Third - Ensure you have an eBay account up and running (free tutorials here andhere) This is especially true since Christmas is coming (hey let's face it you need a backup). If you're a new eBay seller, start selling random stuff around your house (unwanted DVDs, CDs, t-shirts, broken electronics) now as you may have a 'probationary' period. The service Joelister (I can't vouch for how well it works) will copy your Amazon inventory to eBay, and when an eBay buyer buys your item on eBay, it's automatically removed from your Amazon account. This isn't to panic you into selling on eBay (Don't panic), this is a smart thing for any Amazon seller to have.

That's it for now. I'll have more info coming in an upcoming AskJordan podcast.

Stay well, stay focused!

(Your feedback is welcome - comment below)

-Jordan Malik

(SOURCE)

- So glad there are experts out there to guide us through all this change. How are you and your business doing?