Fulfillment by Amazon Seller Newsletter

 

in this issue... FBA News Successful holiday selling Checklist for accurate shipments Seller Success Amazon Services helps a mother of five run a home business and a household Tools & Tips Troubleshoot inventory missing from shipments Product restrictions   reminders Remove unsellable inventory There are now two easy ways to remove your unsellable Units from Amazon fulfillment centers: Use the Recommended Removals report to identify unsellable inventory and submit a removal order. Automate the return or disposal of your unsellable Units by enabling Automated Unfulfillable Removals. Just go to Settings and click Fulfillment by Amazon. Out of stock notifications Keep an eye on your inbox for e-mail notifications about items that are at risk of running out of stock. You can select alert quantities for individual items or groups of items based on your average sales and the time it takes to replenish stock. Learn more about Replenishment Alerts.     useful links Packaging and prep requirements Just in time for the holidays, we've updated the format of our packaging and prep requirements Help content. This new format incorporates lessons learned from the most common mistakes made with packaging and preparation of products that can cause delays when processing inventory at the fulfillment center. Go to FBA Help section 5.8 Packaging and Prep Requirements Calculate your FBA Inventory Storage Fees Take the mystery out of Inventory Storage Fees with this interactive calculator. Just enter the length, width, and height in inches, and it will tell you how many cubic feet and the estimated cost of storage at standard pricing and during peak holiday months. Go to the FBA Inventory Storage Fee Calculator. FBA Updates You can read recent issues of FBA Updates in Seller Central Help. There's also a link to provide feedback. Check them out.	From the editor Greetings from Fulfillment by Amazon, Good timing and good planning can make your holiday sales, and we want you to have your best holiday season ever! Please review this month’s newsletter carefully for important dates, best practices for managing your inventory, guidelines on product restrictions, and more. This is a critical time of year for all of us. Let’s make sure it goes smoothly!   FBA News Successful holiday selling Good timing can make your holiday sales, and we want you to have your best holiday season ever! Ship your inventory to Amazon early to help ensure your inventory is available for the peak shopping days. Dates to watch out for this year: The Monday following Thanksgiving (November 28, 2011) Inventory must be received by: November 19, 2011 The last order date for free standard shipping—customers will place many last minute orders on this date. This day typically falls around the middle of December. Inventory must be received by: December 10, 2011 It is also important to stay IN STOCK during this busy holiday season. Watch for replenishment alerts that will notify you of your products that are at risk of running out of stock if you don't replenish them in three weeks. Checklist for accurate shipments To help avoid shipment-related issues during the holidays, we encourage you to adhere to the following guidelines: General Guidelines Review the Hazardous Materials Identification Guidelines and ensure that you do not send any restricted or Hazmat products to Amazon's fulfillment centers. Make sure your contact information is up to date, especially your e-mail address and phone number. Creating your shipment Enter product information in your shipment accurately. If you are preparing your shipments yourself, make sure the ASINs and quantities you are packing match the SKU Summary in the shipment. Verify with your manufacturer or distributor that the exact products and Unit quantities that you purchased are being shipped to Amazon's fulfillment centers. Make sure your shipment contains the correct Units. Compare your shipment SKU Summary with the Units that you are sending to ensure that you are not missing any Units and do not have any extra Units. Enter the carrier tracking number for your shipment under "Provide Details." Preparing Units for shipment Cover any UPCs on cartons if you are selling single Units. Label Units (unless sending stickerless, commingled inventory) properly with the FNSKU label covering the barcode and the FNSKU listed on the shipment. Always confirm that the physical UPC, EAN, or ISBN label on your product corresponds to the ASIN that you have listed on your shipment. Label Units the way you want them to be received (item pack quantity vs. single Units). If you are sending in a case pack, do not apply a barcode that scans to one Unit on the outside of your package. Instead, clearly mark the outside of the box with the quantity inside and cover any external barcode.   Preparing shipment Apply the FBA shipment label correctly to the exterior of your packaging. Confirm you are providing accurate shipment weights for each shipment. See updated FBA Help section 5.8 Packaging and Prep Requirements   Seller Success Amazon Services helps a mother of five run a home business and a household Nancy Asp and her husband, Kevin, sold garage doors at their family-owned store near their home in Michigan. In 2007, Nancy started selling garage door remotes on Amazon.com—just after Kevin was injured in a car accident. What began as a way to make up lost income turned into a successful company almost overnight. As a featured merchant on Amazon.com, ASPDoors & A Whole Lot More saw sales of nearly one million dollars in its first two years. By adding Amazon WebStore and Fulfillment by Amazon to her Selling on Amazon business, Nancy Asp has been able to run her successful home business while raising a family of five. "I’m able to make money while Amazon Services fulfills large volumes of my product, tracks my inventory and helps me keep a continuous pulse on my business." —Nancy Asp Owner ASPDoors & A Whole Lot More Read the ASP Doors Success Story   Tools & Tips Troubleshoot inventory missing from shipments Please allow 3 to 5 business days for delivered shipments to be fully received and processed in our fulfillment centers. If after that time you still see a discrepancy in your shipment, contact Seller Support and provide the following information. Shipment Information to include: Shipment ID A list of MSKUs and UPCs, with quantities missing A description of the shipping cartons and products (quantity, color, size, unique attributes, and so on) Unit labeling: Were all units labeled, all units stickerless commingled, or some labeled and some unlabeled? For labeled inventory, verify that you applied labels to each Unit and covered any original barcodes Provide the following carrier information The carrier name The tracking number or numbers An invoice number associated with the shipment For LTL shipments Provide a scanned copy of the Bill of Lading (Note: Bill of Lading is a signed receipt from the carrier and will include the weight, number of pallets, and number of boxes in the shipment) Confirm that the carrier scheduled an appointment for the delivery Confirm that the carrier arrived at the Amazon fulfillment center at the scheduled appointment time Product restrictions Items that do not comply with FBA product restrictions and safety requirements cannot be shipped to or from Amazon fulfillment centers. Failure to comply with these requirements may result in immediate disposal of your inventory. Restricted products include, among others: Any product regulated as a hazardous material by the U.S. Department of Transportation, including but not limited to: explosives, compressed gases or aerosols, flammable liquids or solids, oxidizers, poisons and corrosive materials. Foods, beverages, or other items that are sensitive to temperature changes and/or perishable within 90 days. Please be sure your inventory is eligible for FBA before shipping it to us. For full details, review the FBA Product Restrictions and Packaging Requirements.   Regards, The Fulfillment by Amazon Team
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