Introduction

Welcome to the E Business Online blog! In this post, we will be discussing the new Amazon FBA low inventory level fees and how they could potentially impact your business. As an agency specializing in helping businesses sell their products online, we understand the challenges and frustrations that can arise when dealing with fees and policies set by e-commerce giants like Amazon. In this article, we will break down the details of the low inventory level fees, explain how they are calculated, and provide some tips on how to navigate this new policy. So, let’s dive in!

Understanding the Low Inventory Level Fees

The low inventory level fee is a charge implemented by Amazon for sellers who do not have enough inventory of their products in the Amazon FBA warehouse. FBA stands for “fulfillment by Amazon,” which means that Amazon handles the storage, packaging, and shipping of the products for sellers. If a seller’s inventory falls below a certain threshold, Amazon will apply a fee on each unit sold until the inventory is replenished to an acceptable level.

Many sellers have expressed their frustration with this fee, as Amazon already charges fees for storing excess inventory. Now, they are adding an additional charge for low inventory levels. Additionally, Amazon has increased the cost of sending inventory to their warehouses by requiring sellers to send products to multiple locations.

However, there is some good news for sellers. Amazon has decided to listen to the feedback and outrage from sellers and has made a rare move to backtrack on this fee. For the month of April, Amazon will charge the low inventory level fees as planned, but they will rebate these fees back to sellers in May. This gives sellers a 30-day test period to understand how the fee works and adjust their inventory management accordingly.

How the Low Inventory Level Fees are Calculated

To determine if a seller will be charged the low inventory level fee, Amazon calculates the sales velocity of a product and estimates the necessary inventory based on two time segments: a running 30-day period and a running 90-day period. Amazon wants the inventory to cover 28 days, or four weeks, for both time frames.

If a seller’s inventory can cover more than 28 days based on the 30-day and 90-day averages, no low inventory level fees will be charged. However, if the inventory falls below the 28-day coverage threshold on both time frames, the low inventory level fee will be applied.

It’s important to note that the fee is calculated at the parent level, not the individual child level. This means that if a product has variations, such as different colors, Amazon will aggregate the sales and inventory data for all variations under the parent product. This can sometimes lead to inaccurate calculations and fees being charged even when there is enough inventory of certain variations.

Checking Your Inventory Status

To check if your inventory is at risk of incurring the low inventory level fee, you can navigate to your FBA inventory page on Amazon. There, you will find a filter for low inventory level fee, which allows you to see which products are exempted or will have the fee applied. By reviewing this information, you can identify which products may require additional inventory to avoid the fee.

Understanding the details of the low inventory level fee is crucial for sellers to effectively manage their inventory and avoid unnecessary fees. By regularly monitoring your inventory status and taking action to replenish low stock, you can minimize the impact of these fees on your business.

Ways to Mitigate the Impact

While the low inventory level fees may seem burdensome, there are some strategies you can employ to mitigate their impact on your business. Here are a few tips:

1. Utilize Amazon Warehousing and Distribution (AWD)

If you are utilizing Amazon’s warehousing and distribution service, where your products are shipped in bulk storage to Amazon, you may be exempt from the low inventory level fee. This can be a helpful solution for sellers who regularly replenish their inventory and have automatic replenishment set up.

2. Take Advantage of the “New to FBA” Program

For sellers who are introducing a new product to fulfillment by Amazon for the first time, there is a temporary exemption from the low inventory level fees. This can provide some relief for sellers who are just starting out or adding new products to their catalog.

3. Stay Proactive with Inventory Management

Keeping a close eye on your inventory levels and regularly replenishing stock can help you avoid falling into the low inventory threshold. By staying proactive and anticipating the demand for your products, you can ensure that you have enough inventory to meet customer orders and avoid incurring additional fees.

Conclusion

The new Amazon FBA low inventory level fees may initially seem like a burden for sellers, but with careful inventory management and proactive strategies, you can navigate this policy change effectively. By understanding how these fees are calculated, utilizing Amazon’s warehousing and distribution services, and staying on top of your inventory levels, you can minimize the impact of these fees on your business. Remember, it’s important to regularly monitor your inventory status and make adjustments accordingly to avoid unnecessary charges. As always, our team at E Business Online is here to support you in selling your products online, whether you need assistance with inventory management, optimization, or scaling up your sales. Feel free to reach out to us for any further guidance or support. Happy selling!

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One of the most exciting parts of running an e-commerce agency is getting new clients.   New business is life, it’s exciting, and launching a brand on Amazon (or scaling an existing one) and other e-commerce channels is a huge rush of activity for both the agency and the brand.

Nothing is worse, however, than a failed launch and the disappointment that surrounds it.   No brand wants to waste their time and money on a failed launch and any agency worth their cost will be really disappointed as well.

Here are a few things that an agency should be asking brand owners as well as some reasonable expectations that can prevent the disheartening sound of …

“3-2-1- Abort”!!!

#1: Are you committed to utilizing your brand’s email list, marketing, social media, and other resources to drive traffic and awareness to your Amazon listings?

I’ve worked with many brands who want to succeed on Amazon, but don’t want to give up the “margin” they have on their Shopify (or other D2C) platform by sending their customers to Amazon.   In their mind, they’d rather those customers buy off their website and save the Amazon commission.  What they don’t realize is that their customer list is the easiest (and cheapest) way to successfully launch their brand and rank their products quickly.

#2: Do you have enough inventory to sustain a focused launch?

It’s very difficult to launch with a very small quantity.   A dozen units isn’t enough.   The absolute worst thing you can do is run out of stock during your launch.  That’s like your rocket running out of fuel before the secondary boosters kick in.   You’ll not make it into orbit and you’ll plummet back to earth, crash, and burn.  

You need to make sure that the brand owners have sufficient inventory to offer discounts, Vine reviews (you can allocate up to 30 units for Vine users, and I recommend offering the max), and other inventory that will sell quickly when you use your warm market list.   (see #1).   These sales will get you ranked quickly during Amazon’s honeymoon phase and selling out of inventory will sabotage all of that.

#3: What are your margins?

Part of almost any successful launch that gets you off the pad, through the atmosphere, and into a sustained orbit (keywords ranked and crushing organic sales) is PPC.   There are plenty of gurus out there boasting crazy low PPC ACOS but on average, your ACOS (Advertising Cost of Sales) will be around 25-35%.   During launch, with no organic ranking it could be much higher.   If you are coming into Amazon with a product that nets you 15% profit after Amazon fees (commission, FBA fees, etc), you aren’t going to pull it off without some significant losses.    Sure, there are always outliers, but good margins are critical.

#4: Are you prepared to invest into this for at least 6-months without seeing a significant return?

I tell my clients that I want to see them profitable within 6 months.  I’d like to see that happening much sooner and in most cases, it does happen sooner.  However, depending on market share, competition, PPC costs, and other external factors, it could take as much as 6 months before you really start to see profits.   

Launching a brand on Amazon is a marathon, not a sprint.   It’s best that brand owners and potential clients understand this before they get 3 months into your agreement and want out because they are “spending too much money”.

#5: Will you, or a member of your team, be able to be focused on the launch process and provide any materials needed within 1-2 business days?

Brand owners who choose to work with an agency need to understand that this is a two-way relationship.   Even with a full-service agency, there are always going to be assets needed, photography, brand information, background details, weights, dimensions, special restriction information, etc.   Brand managers don’t magically know this information and rely on a timely, quick response from brand owners to keep the launch process moving.   

#6: Are you able to divorce yourself from the emotional attachment to your brand?

This is huge.  Far too many times, brand owners are so emotionally attached to their brand and products that they are not able to see the flaws that others see.   If your product constantly gets 1-star reviews, you cannot blame it on the “dumb Amazon customer”.   You have to listen, change, and adapt.   Are you able to be humble and listen to outside advice?    Are you able to hear feedback from people who are not emotionally attached to your brand and embrace it?

#7: Do you have the assets needed?   

This includes inventory but also includes things like high resolution images of your product, high resolution images of your brand’s logo.   Is your brand trademarked?  If not, are you prepared to invest $1-2K into that process?   Are you able to sustain the costs of PPC marketing for a few months until those ads are making your product profitable?   Every brand owner should have a reasonable expectation of what the PPC/Marketing budget should be before committing to an agency or a launch.   Not having these things in place causes delays, and delays wreak havoc on the flywheel effect of a successful launch.

Conclusion:

In summary, these are questions that I think every agency should be asking their clients prior to asking them for a check. It’s far better to have them decide they aren’t quite ready yet than to take their money and hit delays and roadblocks. As a full service agency, it’s great to offer as many solutions to some of these friction points as possible but setting some realistic expectations will save everyone some frustration in the future.

I’d love to hear your thoughts. What are we missing here?

The post Failure to Launch – 7 Things Brands Should Consider Before Selling on Amazon appeared first on E-BusinessOnline | E-Commerce Solutions.

Amazon Sellers worldwide reacted with panic and disbelief on Tuesday, March 17, as they were awakened to the news that they could no longer ship their products into Amazon Fulfillment (FBA, Fulfilled by Amazon) warehouses effective immediately.

As the outbreak of the Corona Virus COVID-19 pandemic sweeps across the globe, Amazon warehouses have been overwhelmed with a surge of orders and products.

We are seeing increased online shopping and as a result some products such as household staples and medical supplies are out of stock. With this in mind, we are temporarily prioritizing household staples, medical supplies and other high-demand products coming into our fulfillment centers so that we can more quickly receive, restock, and ship these products to customers.

For products other than these, we have temporarily disabled shipment creation. We are taking a similar approach with retail vendors.

This will be in effect today through April 5, 2020, and we will let you know once we resume regular operations. Shipments created before today will be received at fulfillment centers.

Amazon Seller Support Help

As of 6:00 AM EST, there was widespread reports of sellers having the inability to create inbound shipments or even get into the settings as Amazon’s Seller platform was overwhelmed by sellers trying to see if this was true.

Some sellers have reported the ability to create shipments but having some of the items in their shipments removed with an error that the item was not a priority item and “had been removed from their shipping plan”.

What products am I able to ship to FBA?

Amazon’s Help Center answers this question as follows:

We are prioritizing household staples, medical supplies, and other high-demand products coming into our fulfillment centers so that we can more quickly receive, restock, and deliver these products to customers. Most of the products we are accepting at this time are in the below categories.

1. Baby Products
2. Health & Household
3. Beauty & Personal Care (including personal care appliances)
4. Grocery
5. Industrial & Scientific
6. Pet Supplies

Listing products in an inaccurate category is a violation of our listing policies and may result in account suspension.

Options for Sellers of Non-Priority Items

First, shipments to Amazon that were created prior to March 17 will still be processed. If you are selling items that are not part of the priority categories listed, you have a few choices:

• Continue to sell with “Merchant Fulfilled” settings, meaning the Seller has the inventory on hand and will ship directly to the customer. This is the way Sellers operated for many years prior to the creation of Amazon’s FBA “Fulfilled by Amazon” program.
• Utilize a 3PL (3rd Party Logistics) partner. Many logistics partners are able to distribute your products across numerous warehouses in the country, giving you the ability to ship ground to any location within 2 business days. This allows you the ability to utilize Amazon’s “Seller Fulfilled Prime” program.

The Good News

The good news is that for now, this restriction is scheduled to only operate through April 5, 2020. That’s only a few weeks and although a few weeks of lost revenue can cripple any business, it could be far worse.

It feels as if these are unprecedented times and the radical changes being implemented in our nation are overwhelming. Take courage, try to keep your head up, and stay positive. Show an extra layer of love and compassion to those around you.

As always, we are here to lead and consult you in your e-commerce business. If you need assistance forming a merchant-fulfilled shipping strategy or finding a 3PL provider, contact us.

We are all in this together.

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With the enormous response of panic and reactions related to the Corona Virus Pandemic here in the United States and globally, price gouging has become a serious issue. As an e-commerce seller and consultant/brand manager for other sellers, we are seeing large increases in sales on Amazon. There are reports of price gouging and some sellers are already being threatened by frustrated buyers about reporting them to Amazon.

What You May Not Understand About Amazon Pricing

Before you choose to report an Amazon or online seller for price gouging please keep this in mind. It may cost as much as 5-10x or more for a seller to fulfill an item themselves versus Amazon fulfilling it. We are 100% against price gouging and I’m consulting all of my clients to keep their pricing normal. At the same time, it’s important for consumers to understand that something that Amazon can ship and fulfill for $5 may cost another seller $14 to ship.

You simply cannot compare a 3rd party seller’s current selling price to “what Amazon was selling it for last week”. Amazon often sells products 10-20% lower than our WHOLESALE COST. 3rd Party Marketplace Sellers often cannot compete with Amazon’s pricing when they are buying truckloads of merchandise directly from manufacturers. When Amazon sells out and the only offers remaining are from 3rd party sellers, you can expect a price increase.

We don’t want to see honest, legit sellers having their accounts suspended because frustrated buyers see that an in-demand item is was twice as high as it was last week. There are so many factors that go into pricing. Amazon is aggressively suspending accounts that are reported for price gouging – and in some cases (all cases) they suspend first, and ask questions later. Casually reporting a seller that you think is price gouging can be catastrophic to that seller’s business and future. Think twice before reacting in anger or frustration.

Understanding the Fees an Amazon Seller Pays when Amazon is Shipping.

See this example of a small-oversize item sold on Amazon for $24.95.

In this example, a Seller who is utilizing Amazon’s fulfillment network (FBA – Fulfilled by Amazon) is paying Amazon $9.95 for their warehouse employees to pick, pack, and ship this to any customer in the country within 1-2 business days. This item is about 4 pounds.

As you can see, at a $24.95 selling price, after subtracting Amazon’s sales commission, fulfillment fees, and the COGS (Costs of Goods Sold) of the item, the seller is left with $3.36 – only 13% of the original selling price.

Amazon is a master at logistics and has placed this inventory in hundreds of warehouses all across the country making it possible for them to ship to you at prices you would not believe. (and we’ve seen those rates, you truly wouldn’t believe them!).

The Additional Expenses for a Seller to Ship

For the seller to fulfill the item themselves, they could lose as much as $16+ on this same order. Amazon’s commission (15%) is unchanged but the fulfillment costs can be incredibly higher. In this case, the seller is shipping from Georgia and because the customer is in Washington state, the only way the seller can get it to the customer within the Amazon Prime 2-Day shipping window is to ship 2nd Day Air. The box is oversized, so even though it’s only 5 pounds with packing materials, the dimensions of the box (24x14x4) give it a much higher dimensional weight. Now, this seller is paying for the box, the labor to pick and pack, and a 2nd day air fee that totals up to $30 dollars or more.

Sure, there will be instances when the seller can fulfill the item cheaper. The purpose of this example is to educate and show that for a 3rd party seller to even break even on this, they would have to nearly double the price. Yet, to the uneducated shopper this may look like price gouging.

Our Philosophy

We are not trying to protect rogue sellers. Don’t even think that. But we are trying to educate people in the difference between Amazon selling a product, a 3rd party seller utilizing Amazon’s warehouses and logistics, and then finally, a 3rd party seller who is shipping from their own warehouse. (which is becoming the case as sellers who had inventory at Amazon have sold out).

What percentage increase is price gouging? That’s almost impossible to know. One can only hope that if higher pricing is legitimate, a seller has the opportunity to appeal their case and prove the math. In those instances where it’s woefully obvious that a rogue seller is taking advantage of the nation – report them, and report them quickly.

I’m happy to answer questions you may have. Please share this and educate your friends. My intention is not to diminish the horrible practice of price gouging, but to bring much-needed perspective to shoppers everywhere.

Stay safe, stay healthy, and keep the peace.

Fred McKinnon, Founder
E-BusinessOnline | E-BusinessOnline.Com
E-Commerce Consulting & Brand Management

The post Before You Report that Amazon Seller for Price Gouging … appeared first on E-BusinessOnline | E-Commerce Solutions.

Chinese Sellers Invade Amazon

For a few years now, Amazon sellers and e-commerce trackers have been on a similar virtual journey. “The Chinese are coming” is something we’ve been hearing for many years. Most e-commerce sellers have already seen a large influx of Chinese sellers. Many are selling identical products on separate listings and some even hijack or takeover existing listings.

Based on a new story published by Marketplace Pulse, the number of top Amazon.Com sellers is now claimed by our manufacturing partners in China. The story reveals that 49% of all top sellers on Amazon are from China, compared to 47% from the United States. This is an amazing 11% increase from last year.

Make no mistake about this. Amazon.Com is no longer a US-based marketplace. It’s a global marketplace and the land of manufacturing is taking their share of the market at an alarming rate.

Amazon.Com’s “top sellers” are taken from the top 10,000 sellers (all with GMV of over one million in sales). The next level, the Top 50,000 sellers has the Chinese at a 58% marketshare.

Amazon has not hidden their aggressive courtship with Chinese manufacturers. At the annual seller summit in December 2019 hundreds of sellers attended to be wooed by Amazon.

What does this mean for US-based sellers?

It’s really important for US-based sellers to understand that we exist in a competitive, global economy. There is little doubt that they will continue to see increased market erosion as Amazon brings more and more products to their platform directly from overseas manufacturers.

Does that mean it’s time to give up? Absolutely not! It does require innovation and creativity. It’s time to ask yourself the hard questions, such as:

• how can my product stand out from lower cost competitors?
• what value can I bring to the customer that overseas competitors cannot provide?
• what IP protections to I have, and how can I strengthen them?

These are only a few of the lingering questions to consider.

Have you been impacted by Chinese sellers on Amazon? What changes have you made and will you continue to make in order to survive?

The post US Sellers Continue to Lose to China on Amazon appeared first on E-BusinessOnline | E-Commerce Solutions.

While the world has been spinning, something spectacular has been happening. E-Commerce has vaulted into a huge business and more and more business owners are realizing that it’s time to wake up and discover their e-commerce strategy.

In a story by Business Wire, Amazon Stores Helping Build the Future of Business: More than 50,000 Small and Medium-sized Businesses Exceeded $500,000 in Sales in Amazon’s Stores in 2018, we learn some staggering statistics. For example, according to the article:

• Third-party sales are growing at a faster rate than first-party sales in Amazon’s stores
• More than half of units sold in Amazon’s stores are from small and medium-sized businesses
• Small and medium-sized businesses selling in Amazon’s stores are estimated to have created more than 900,000 jobs worldwide

These are incredible statistics about e-commerce, and specifically, about the Amazon platform for sellers.

What Is Your Strategy?

In our consulting and brand management work, we talk to businesses all the time about selling on Amazon. Some are already selling and are crushing it. Others have an online presence but struggle to get any momentum. One potential client recently said:

“I signed up as a seller but got overwhelmed with all of the lingo and just gave up”.

Whether you are an experienced online seller of one of those who have resisted bringing your brand to e-commerce, there are multiple ways and strategies that can be put to work for you. It never has to be “all or none”. It doesn’t even have to be Amazon. But in most cases, you should have your business online – because it’s here to stay.

We’d be happy to discuss your strategy and help you at any time. Reach out to us or book one of our consulting slots.

Happy Selling!

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The threat of a labor strike by the CUPW was enough to get Amazon’s attention.   Yesterday evening, an email was sent to all sellers who participate in the Amazon.Ca Canadian marketplace:

On October 16, 2018, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) submitted a 72-hour advance notice to Canada Post of a labour strike that will impact shipments to, from, and within Canada. 

To minimize this event’s impact on your seller performance ratings, you may consider the following actions for orders you fulfill yourself:

1. Use alternative carriers for Canada shipments, when possible.
2. For Canada Post shipments, consider updating your Shipping Settings in Seller Central to increase Handling Time to allow for possible delays. Learn more about changing your Shipping Settings here: https://sellercentral.amazon.ca/gp/help/G201834090. 
3. Contact buyers if a work disruption affects their order. Learn more about contacting buyers here: https://sellercentral.amazon.ca/gp/help/200495790. 
4. If you cannot fulfill customer orders, consider updating your Vacation Settings to set listings to inactive temporarily, rather than cancelling orders. Learn more about updating these settings here: https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/help/200135620.

Fulfilment by Amazon orders will continue to be processed, but please consider alternate carriers for your shipments to Amazon fulfilment centres in Canada.

We encourage you to visit canadapost.ca/update for the latest updates on the situation.

How does this impact me?

As described by Amazon, this primarily impacts Sellers in two ways:

1. shipping method chosen for merchant-fulfilled orders going to Canadian customers
2. shipping method chosen when sending product to Amazon fulfillment centers in Canada

We’re hopeful to see this dispute resolved.   If you are a seller in Canada, what plans are you considering to mitigate any negative issues as a result of this strike?

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Earlier today a major story was published on the New York Times entitled “Trump Opens New Front in His Battle With China: International Shipping”.    The overall summary is that as part of the ongoing trade war with China, the Trump Administration is terminating the subsidized, cheap shipping of Chinese goods to the United States.  This is something that the President has mentioned numerous times.

An excerpt from the articles reads:

President Trump plans to withdraw from a 144-year-old postal treaty that has allowed Chinese companies to ship small packages to the United States at a steeply discounted rate, undercutting American competitors and flooding the market with cheap consumer goods.

Some E-Commerce Sellers Are in Panic Mode

Across various e-commerce forums many sellers are in panic mode.    There are entire marketplaces and business models that thrive off of the cheap, inexpensive Chinese shipping, such as their e-packet delivery that allows a Chinese shipper to send a product to the United States cheaper than a person in the USA can mail it to themselves.   Wish.Com is a major marketplace that thrives off of this business model and often advertises extremely low pricing and shipping with a disclaimer that it takes 2-3 weeks to arrive.   Their advertising often starts with “if you can wait 2 weeks for delivery you can get 60-80% off”.   That is because the goods sourced from China are extremely cheap and price to dropship an order to you from China is also extremely cheap with the e-packet delivery method.

Another huge slice of e-commerce businesses are sellers who have built entire stores on the Shopify platform utilizing dropship catalogs such as Oberlo.  Oberlo (and other similar platforms) allow you to search a massive online catalog of products from Chinese sellers that you can easily add to your online store.  When a customer purchases the item, the order is electronically transmitted to the manufacturer in China who then ships is to the customer.   It’s nothing more than international dropshipping; however, it was only possible due to the extremely low shipping rates.

Some E-Commerce Sellers are Celebrating The Move

Then there are US-sellers who are celebrating.   This has been a “long-time coming” said one US-seller.   We have often looked at smaller products and wondered how eBay sellers were selling profitably.   For example, we recently viewed a listing where an eBay seller was selling THOUSANDS of units of a headphone for only $4.95.   That headphone would cost around $4.00 in USPS First Class postage alone if you shipped that in the United States.  But it was shipping from China via e-Packet for less than $1.00.   No wonder these sellers had the edge on the competition.

Although there has not been an official start date for this new policy, the article made it sound as if it would be starting soon:

State Department officials were expected on Wednesday to inform officials at the Universal Postal Union in Bern, Switzerland, a branch of the United Nations that administers the treaty, of their intention to pull out of the system and “self-declare” new, higher rates on China, a United States official said

How do you feel about this?   Is this a WIN for sellers in the United States or is this a DEFEAT?   

Sound off below in the comments, or visit our Facebook Group for E-Commerce Sellers.

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When selling your product on Amazon, all 3rd party sellers know that one of the most important things you should do is collect Amazon Product Reviews from verified customers.    Product reviews from customers and shoppers on Amazon provide the much-needed social proof to potential customers that your product is loved!   Research has shown that potential shoppers are much more likely to purchase a product that has favorable reviews over those that have either no reviews or unfavorable reviews.

Over the past years, many unscrupulous sellers (and some well-intended, but informed ones) have taken advantage of this by gaming the system at Amazon and flooding their listings with fake or incentivized reviews.   This is a direct violation of the Amazon Marketplace’s Terms of Service and can result in the suspension of a seller’s privileges.

Potential Abuses of Amazon Customer Product Reviews

• offering a discount on the product in exchange for a review
• tracking a customer’s purchase to verify if they leave a review
• redirecting negative reviews to other locations (ie. linking a negative product review to seller feedback which can be removed)
• reimbursing customers that leave a review
• utilizing family members, sub accounts, or employees to leave reviews
• writing product reviews on competitor products

This is not an exhaustive list of ways that some sellers have abused the reviews platform.   Amazon has been taking aggressive action against fake reviews and recently issued an updated copy of their review guidelines:

Customer product reviews policies

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Amazon Announced 2018 Prime Day Event

Well folks it’s finally official.   The date of Amazon.Com’s epic selling event has been announced.   Amazon’s Prime Day for 2018 will start on July 16, 2018 at 3:00 EST.   Dubbed by Amazon.Com as “an epic day and a half of our best deals and promotions”, Prime Day promises to be host to some amazing deals.   According to Amazon, the event will run from July 16th at 3:00 PM EST through July 17th.   The sale is exclusively for Amazon Prime members – another way that Amazon boosts their Prime membership by record numbers each year.

What Prime Day Means for Marketplace Sellers

Amazon has always kept the date of Prime Day a secret until weeks prior.   For Amazon’s 3rd party marketplace sellers, this is typically one of the biggest days of sales of the year.   With only two weeks to prepare, sellers should have their inventory going into Amazon’s FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon) warehouses ASAP.  Because Prime Day is targeted exclusively to Prime members, it’s imperative that you have your products in the FBA program.  This gives you the exposure and the Prime badge that you’ll desperately need to attract all of those Prime Day shoppers.

Typically, two weeks is plenty of time to get your inventory shipped into Amazon and distributed across their network.  However, with the surge of inbound shipments there is certainly going to be delays so we strongly recommend that you begin your final inbound shipments immediately.

It’s our hope that as a shopper, you can find some incredible deals on Amazon’s Prime Day and as a Seller, we hope you blow up your sales numbers with the best day ever!

Questions?  Comment below or visit our free Seller Support forum on Facebook!

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