Do slow selling FBM listings do any harm?
Hi All,
We have recenty added a few more FBM listings. If these listings aren’t selling quickly does that affect anything? For example I know if FBA listings are slow to move stock there are storage fees and it can effect your visibility etc.
Just wondering if there are any downsides to adding mre FBM that we don’t neccessarily need to sell quickly?
Thanks
0 replies
Seller_R8W4ooA3yVAgO
I have 1.7 million listings, so quite a lot don’t sell very often or at all.
It doesn’t seem to cause any problems with the growth of the business, so in my experience you should be fine.
Seller_KKcTTZzy6Jd6Q
There aren’t any direct down-sides.
If a listing is not selling at all it’s best to remove it from your inventory to prevent any potential infringements cause by other sellers modifying the listing, changes in Amazon rules, etc.
It also helps to keep your inventory tidy and more manageable.
With FBA, besides the issues you already mentioned it can also impact your IPI score, which directly affects your inventory limits if it’s below 500.
As an aside, slow-selling listings tend to have less visibility, which causes them to sell even slower. (but this doesn’t affect your other listings)
Seller_R8W4ooA3yVAgO
A lot is print on demand, but I do have a lot of pre-printed stock at FBA too.
It’s a struggle yes, especially when ‘minor’ changes are required and then hundreds of thousands of updates are needed.
I’ve got quite good with spreadsheets of course, and have them ready for bulk changes for most of the items.
Seller_ZW46lC4HyNuBG
@MyHeadHurts exactly what @COTSWOLD_PAPER_UK said… if you’re ever selling the speadsheet, I’m in the queue
Seller_R8W4ooA3yVAgO
It’s just the Amazon uploader spreadsheet, I just have it prefilled with the ASIN, Title etc… and then you can add the information in the box you need to update and do a ‘Partial Update’… it’s just a case of having it ready to go when you need it and doing a test on one item first if you aren’t sure, but after a while you get more confident with bulk changes.
Turnover, £2 million on Amazon give or take, and half again on *Bay and websites. Although this was impacted with 3 months of not being able to send to FBA.
I honestly don’t know what percentage sells, but like most sellers I have popular lines and definitely more obscure items that only sell now and again.
I work a lot of hours 
Seller_R8W4ooA3yVAgO
I’ve ranged from 8-12 staff over the last few years, but have somewhat streamlined a little due to the FBA issues and when staff naturally left for Uni, graduate jobs etc, I’ve not replaced them and have increased my prices instead.
I actually now have 5 full time staff, plus myself and an administrator who is located abroad that does a lot of the technical stuff for me now. I’ve had various staff issues over the years and I’m not too keen on hiring again anytime soon. I’m envious Neil, I used to work on my own and miss it a lot.
You’d be surprised how we aren’t a huge company from a first glance, but being a manufacturer has huge benefits in print on demand and the machinery to develop new products quickly.
One thing I’ve always done is to re-invest in the business, new machines, printers and products… and more and more listings of course 
But that is also a huge cost in time and money.
Seller_R8W4ooA3yVAgO
That’s my happy manic Christmas smile 
