Month: September 2019

Amazon FBA mistakenly flagging incoming boxes as “overweight”

September 19, 2019 Leave a Comment

Amazon sellers should take precautions to protect themselves from the penalties of overweight boxes

By: Lesley Hensell

Amazon FBA must have its scales out of balance. Over the last few weeks, a growing number of Amazon sellers are receiving warnings for sending allegedly overweight boxes to the FBA fulfillment center.

The rules are clear. Amazon has several requirements for boxes sent via small parcel delivery:

Units must be prepped according to Amazon’s packaging and prep requirements
Boxes must have both an FBA shipment label and carrier label
FBA boxes must not weigh more than 50 pounds each, unless they contain a single oversize item that weighs more than 50 pounds
Boxes must not exceed 25 inches on any side
Boxes must be packed properly, so they arrive at the fulfillment center intact

The sticking point lately revolves around the 50-pound weight limit. In some cases, Amazon is marking inbound shipments for breaking the overweight boxes rule – even if the weight is as low as 44 pounds.

Therefore, this begs the question – how can sellers protect themselves?

There are a few steps that you can take, to avoid penalties for overweight boxes:

Take pictures. After you print and apply the stickers to the outside of the box, snap a photo. The picture should include both the number on the scale and the weight on the carrier’s sticker, as well as the tracking number.
Get a receipt. If you drop off your boxes at a UPS location, they most likely weigh each carton. Get the shipping receipt and keep it on file. It includes the weight of the box, and it can be tied directly to the box via tracking information.

Certainly these precautions may be overkill for the average seller, or for any shipping boxes that weigh less than 40 pounds. However, they become more important if an account already has a warning. In conclusion, cover your behind. Nobody wants inbound shipping privileges suspended as we head into Q4.

For other Q4 warnings look at back at this popular blog, Q4 Headaches: the wrong way to drop ship.

Riverbend Consulting navigates online retail. Get your Amazon account reinstated, sell with confidence, and increase your bottom line. Contact us.

Lesley Hensell is Partner at Riverbend Consulting, she offers practical know-how to improve retail performance. Lesley’s experience with Amazon compliance gets accounts back up fast.

California legislation de-fanged, gives no relief to Amazon sellers

September 17, 2019 Leave a Comment

As predicted, the California legislation will not make Seller Performance any friendlier

By: Lesley Hensell

This summer, optimistic Amazon sellers believed there was change in the air. Amazon made changes to its Business Solutions Agreement (see our previous blog post), and the California legislature began work on a bill that purported to protect sellers from abusive online marketplaces.

Over the last few weeks, as the updated Business Solutions Agreement (BSA) has come into force, it’s unfortunate that my predictions have come true. As I suspected, nothing has really changed in Seller Performance and its actions toward sellers – at least not that anyone on the outside can see. It’s not kinder, it’s not gentler, it’s not more responsive, and there are no 30-day cure notices, as the BSA said there would be.

Also as predicted, the California legislature’s AB-1790 has been watered down to a point that it means almost nothing. The most recent version of the bill strikes out the few provisions that I truly believed would have a positive impact for sellers. At the same time, it’s clear that someone (an Amazon lobbyist?) explained “risk management” to the legislature, as there are now provisos to protect every step of the investigation and enforcement processes in Seller Performance.

Striking out the good

One provision originally in the bill said it would “prohibit a marketplace from destroying products in its possession that are the property of a marketplace seller without offering the marketplace seller a reasonable opportunity to retrieve the marketplace seller’s property.”

That language was struck out completely, however, from the most recent version of the bill.

Why? I’m speculating. But I believe this was far too broad, as it would allow bad actors to place removal orders for counterfeit or stolen goods. The legislation refused to wade further into the devilish details by saying something like, “a reasonable opportunity to retrieve authentic, legitimate goods.” I suppose they believed it would take too much work to define “authentic” or “legitimate,” so they just abandoned the hard work altogether.

Unfortunately, I’ve seen far too many deactivated sellers have their inventory seized and destroyed – even when they attempted to place removal orders and were selling legitimate goods. This will continue to be an uphill battle.

Embracing risk management

The legislature added many provisos to the bill, essentially giving Amazon and other marketplaces complete power to implement their current risk management structure. For example, a section initially said when a marketplace suspended a seller, it then had to provide a “written statement of reasons” including “the specific facts and circumstances that led to the decision.”

Check out the revised version. It now says the written statement of reasons must do this: “Without disclosing information that would result in the disclosure of any proprietary, confidential or trade secret information, or disclosing information that would hinder any investigation or prevention of deceptive, fraudulent, or illegal activity, describe the facts and circumstances that led to the decision unless the marketplace reasonably believes that giving a written statement of reasons could negatively impact the safety or property of another user or the marketplace itself.”

In other words, Amazon doesn’t have to tell you anything. And the word “specific” was removed. So your suspension notice will be generic, just like they always have been.

Another section has Amazon’s fingerprints all over it. The past language stated that the marketplace must “identify the terms or conditions that permit the suspension or termination.” That has been changed to “identify the term, condition, or policy that serves as the basis for the suspension or termination.” This is the same-old same-old, but now California’s legislature is adopting specific language that recognizes what has always been – Amazon’s policies have the force of contract law with sellers. In other words, third-party sellers will see no improvement or relief.

What does it all mean?

Just as the changes to the BSA made very little positive difference to Amazons sellers, the California legislation will have little to no positive effects. The only question I have at this point is what it means for those sellers whose accounts are frauded. Let me explain. Sometimes, Amazon designates an account as “frauded” because Amazon suspects one of a wide range of fraudulent activities has occurred. This can be anything from money laundering to buying/selling fake gift cards to violating laws about overseas ownership, and more.

In these rare cases, the account is closed with no notice whatsoever. The seller cannot login, and there is no appeals process in place. Sometimes, we can get these accounts reinstated if the fraud designation was made in error (yes, it happens – twice in the last month at Riverbend, in fact!). But it is an extremely tough uphill battle.

Under the new legislation, Amazon would have to provided frauded California sellers with a reason for their account’s deactivation. Don’t be surprised if this provision disappears down the memory hole by the time the next version of the bill is considered.

Have more concerns about the California legislation? Riverbend Consulting navigates online retail. Get your Amazon account reinstated, sell with confidence, and increase your bottom line. Contact us.

Lesley Hensell is Partner at Riverbend Consulting, she offers practical know-how to improve retail performance. Lesley’s experience with Amazon compliance gets accounts back up fast.

Amazon’s repackaging service now mandatory for FBA returns

September 9, 2019 1 Comment

Sellers cannot turn off repackaging, but should turn off new “refurbishment” setting ASAP

By: Lesley Hensell

Amazon has recently (and quietly) eliminated third-party sellers’ ability to turn off the horrific “repackaging” settings for FBA returns. This means, Amazon’s repackaging service is now mandatory for FBA returns. In addition, the company has added an optional “refurbishment” service – which fortunately does include an opt- out for Amazon sellers.

Unfortunately, this terrible decision is likely to lead to additional complaints for good sellers, who will see customers complaint about:

Inauthentic
Counterfeit
Used sold as new/condition

Why will there be more complaints? Easy. FBA returns grading and repackaging are of extremely poor quality, and sellers will suffer as a result.

What are repackaging services?

Repackaging services apply to FBA returns. When a customer returns an item, the unit is evaluated by fulfillment center staff. These team members determine whether the item can be repackaged and resold, or if it should instead go into a seller’s unfulfillable inventory.

According to Seller Central, repackaging can include replacing a polybag, bubble-wrapping, or re-boxing. It can also include repackaging of branded and unbranded boxes and poly bags.

Why is this a problem? Let us count the ways:

Used sold as new/condition. Amazon fulfillment center personnel do a flat-out terrible job at returns grading. They decide to re-sell items that should never be sent to customers. Examples from our clients include selling curling irons with hair in them, mouthwash without lids, multipacks of toothbrushes that were clearly opened, and supplements with broken safety seals. All of these mistakes can lead to complaints for used sold as new. In categories like grocery, or health and personal care, sellers can see their ASINs blocked for safety.
Inauthentic. When customers receive merchandise in less-than-optimal condition, they sometimes complain that the item was “inauthentic.” This can lead to nightmares for sellers, from ASIN suspensions to full-out account deactivation. But who could blame a customer for making an inauthentic claim if the item comes in unfamiliar or obviously generic packaging?
Counterfeit. Ask any shoe or mobile phone seller about their worst FBA scammers. They will put swap their old, used, nasty shoes for new ones, returning the soiled footwear for a refund. They use metal bars as precisely weighed substitutes for expensive mobile phones and return them for big bucks. Then, when Amazon carelessly re-sells the metal bar or the nasty shoes, the seller is hit with a return – and likely a complaint for counterfeit.

What are refurbishment services?

Amazon’s new refurbishment services carry an even higher level of risk than repackaging, so thank goodness that sellers can disable this feature. (Go under Settings to Fulfillment by Amazon. Under “refurbishment settings,” click “disable.”)

Here’s the shocking part. Amazon’s refurbishment services include behaviors that sellers should never, ever undertake – at the risk of being suspended by Amazon for selling used goods as new. (And they would deserve it!) Refurbishment services can include:

Re-taping, re-gluing and re-stapling boxes
Removing excessive tape, non-product labels and stickers
Re-boxing branded and unbranded corrugated boxes
For shoes and apparel, steaming and removing stains and odors

OK, my seller friends. Seriously? Did you read that last bullet? Did it make you shudder?

If you want to risk your account, go ahead and opt-in to refurbishment services. But assuming that you aren’t crazy and don’t relish angry customers, please disable this terrible feature.

What is our takeaway?

Here at Riverbend Consulting, we have had some rousing discussions since uncovering this horrific change at Amazon FBA. Our team includes former Seller Performance investigators and managers, as well as long-time Amazon third-party sellers. To a man, we believe this is a disastrous change for sellers.

Why did Amazon make this change? Without going through a lot of boring inside-baseball talk, I can distill our conclusion to the following. Because of the way Amazon accumulates data, and because of the methods Amazon’s managers use to report that data about their own teams up the chain, Amazon has a skewed view of its success at grading and repackaging returns. In other words, mangers like to make themselves look good. So they have convinced the higher-ups at Amazon that returns grading is impeccable at the FC, and that they are ready to expand the returns repackaging program.

They could not be more wrong.

Riverbend Consulting navigates online retail. Get your Amazon account reinstated, sell with confidence, and increase your bottom line. Contact us.

Lesley Hensell is Partner at Riverbend Consulting, she offers practical know-how to improve retail performance. Lesley’s experience with Amazon compliance gets accounts back up fast.

Amazon sellers should take precautions to protect themselves from the penalties of overweight boxes

By: Lesley Hensell

The rules are clear. Amazon has several requirements for boxes sent via small parcel delivery:

There are a few steps that you can take, to avoid penalties for overweight boxes:

As predicted, the California legislation will not make Seller Performance any friendlier

By: Lesley Hensell

Striking out the good

Embracing risk management

What does it all mean?

Sellers cannot turn off repackaging, but should turn off new “refurbishment” setting ASAP

By: Lesley Hensell

What are repackaging services?

What are refurbishment services?

What is our takeaway?

Categories We Serve