Amazon FBA is just too risky for seasonal goods. They let me down so badly
I sent a mother’s day gift product to Amazon well in advance of the date but the product was in “waiting a collection” status until the Friday before Mother’s Day
Because the stock was loaded onto my Amazon inventory so late, of course it didn’t sell. An absolute disaster for me as I purchased all this stock. Now I’m faced with having to wait a year for it to sell and pay storage fees or remove it from Amazon which will be a further charge.
Amazon may have a policy in place that they can’t guarantee any dates for receiving goods but that is just a further testament that they aren’t a reliable business partner. This is all kids play. Businesses don’t want to buy goods to leave them in a warehouse for twelve months - that’s terrible retail.
All the terms and conditions are always in Amazon’s favour. It’s not a real partnership.
Furthermore, there’s little room to capitalise on seasonal products that are very popular that sell out and need to be stocked at short notice. It’s a real missed opportunity.
I’m not sending anymore seasonal products to Amazon. It’s too much of a risk that they won’t receive them in time. You don’t have to worry about that with products that sell all year round.
Seller_esvgLzKXw2YAl
Just what do you call well in advance? They do tend to give out last sending in dates for these kind of occasions and I know for Christmas, it’s pretty much 2 months before to guarantee stock will be available.
Of course you can capitalise on this kind of thing. At the end of the day, you don’t have to use FBA and can have a listing active within a few minutes. You could even use SFP, so that you get the prime badge.
Seller_qZO3ZCjoBXEeL
Have you worked in general retail before?
We will usually begin stock for Christmas around April - May. We have to work with limited production capacities and ensuring we have enough on the shelf ready for the beginning of the rush in late October onwards.
You need to predict your ‘seasons’ and ship goods well in advance.
I think the phrase is
Poor planning on your part does not necessitate an emergency on mine.
Seller_DTufFoxJuMU0M
I would always allow 2-3 weeks delivery and 1 week transfer, better safe than sorry (and even more for Christmas!)
So I would be sending in my Mothers Day stuff no later than mid Feb. Ideally around mid Jan or even before
You say you sent it in well in advance, but never actually put a date on that. What is well in advance to you?
Seller_s3TaCE833CEqc
You almost have to be prepared for every eventuality. Mother’s Day should start going in in January. Sometimes I’ll gamble and do something nearer the time, but I know it’s on me.
I just had an Easter product that ended up in the wrong category, then when I tried to manually sort it it ended up in stranded inventory, then I resolved that and it ended up losing its browse node. I’ve finally sorted but am trying to get it to the sales levels it should be at.
Seasonal products can be tough to get right on Amazon.
Seller_RSaktJ3KqN82w
To give you some idea, I’m working on some new Christmas cards and things NOW. Gives me plenty of time to get listings etc. ready for September. From September, I’ll be working on Mother’s Day/Valentines’.
Seller_3di7P6gi1JyqG
FBA is a fee milking strategy, FBM is the way to go
Seller_lljyzgTxr5fgI
You’ve been repeatedly asked what was “well in advance” and you’ve repeatedly failed to answer. How long was “well in advance”? In my experience, FBA is a very rapid turnaround; even during the busiest times like Christmas and Black Friday. Our goods are usually fully processed within 2 or 3 days from collection by UPS, sometimes within 24 hours.
As others have said, when sending in seasonal stock it needs to be done weeks if not months ahead of the seasonal event in question. Cadbury makes selection boxes in the summer and easter eggs in the autumn, months in advance. That is the view to take. Mothers Day stock should have been at FC’s in January.
No it isn’t; FBA is no worse or no better than any other selling platform. The fees here are comparable to other platforms and FBA has lots of advantages over FBM.
Seller_MKi6wqe68YZuu
FBA is entirely in Amazon’s favour. They’re essentially getting stock from you, only paying you if it sells but charging you to store it and dispose of it. Would anyone work with a high street store on such terms?
The fact that some people make money from it doesn’t change the essential assymetry bordering on exploitation.
Seller_3u63TG7fpfnG6
leave them there it’s amazing how many people want seasonal stuff all year round
Seller_5FDXsxtR9c2zC
I wish I could see some of that, our average turnaround is normally between 3-5 weeks and I don’t mean at busy times. For example, we sent a shipment picked up on the 3rd and have only just started to receive the “FBA Inbound Shipment Received In-Full” yesterday the 24th and that was only 3 out of 20 boxes
