3 Common Problems with Fulfillment By Amazon

Maybe you’re an established Amazon seller. Or maybe you’re just starting as a home-based Amazon seller. You could be a growing eCommerce force-to-be-reckoned-with. You might even be a standard business with an online store presence. Whatever the case, FBA has likely crossed your radar. Yes it has benefits. But you’ll also find a few problems with Fulfillment By Amazon.

Issues like fees on custom-sized merchandise and added cost to post-holiday warehousing come up often when talking to frustrated Amazon sellers. No it’s not all bad … there are just a few issues to be aware of when considering all your options.

One Issue: Co-Mingled SKUs

When it comes to co-mingled SKUs, you’ll face a few frustrations. First, let’s look at the use of co-mingled “stickerless” SKUs.

Sellers have the option of sending their product into FBA without providing SKU-level stickers on each unit. That may sound great that you don’t have to sticker each item. However, this stickerless inventory could potentially get mixed in with inventory of other FBA sellers of the same SKU. Not good!

As you can imagine, when a customer places their order from one FBA seller, Amazon pulls the most convenient inventory. It doesn’t matter if that inventory isn’t actually the inventory that the seller sent into FBA itself. Automation isn’t always perfect.

Plus, if another seller sends in a counterfeit product or used-condition product, trying to pawn off as a new-condition product, the new seller (you) may face trouble with Amazon for selling a problematic product to a customer. And it wasn’t even technically your product.

Amazon responds when customers complain about product quality – and the heavy lifting falls on the individual sale-level brand.

A Second Issue: Repackaging Unsellable Customer Returns

Amazon defaults every FBA seller’s account to enabled for “Repackage Unsellable Customer Returns.” When a customer returns an FBA order and the packaging is damaged, Amazon may apply its own packaging so they can sell it again.

Some buyers then see this Amazon repackaging as a potential indicator of counterfeit or used product. Then this can lead to a customer complaint or even an infringement against the seller for selling used-condition product as new-condition product.

So unless you sell your products in a generic package with no logos or identifiers, you may want to turn off this repackaging feature immediately. Then you can handle all repackaging yourself. Control ensures only the highest-quality product (with proper packaging) is presented to Amazon customers. Customer experience is critical.

A Final Issue: Stickered vs. Stickerless Inventory

Finally in this list of problems with Fulfillment By Amazon, let’s explore stickerless vs. stickered FBA inventory.

By default, each new FBA account starts off as stickerless.

When a seller creates a shipment of product to send to Amazon’s fulfillment centers, Amazon applies that stickerless designation to the seller’s SKUs. This designation is permanent for that SKU.

If you want Amazon to sticker that FBA product, you need to change the default setting before creating their first shipment to FBA. If you don’t, you will have to create a duplicate stickered offer on the same product listing.

To be safe and ensure you’re on the right track for your FBA experience, keep these two tips in mind:

• If you’re not sure, turn everything to stickered (not co-mingled) immediately and before creating the first FBA shipment.
• Still not sure? Contact Amazon Seller Support to get clarification if any SKUs in your catalog are unknowingly stickerless.

It only costs you about $0.20/unit for Amazon to sticker items. That’s a minimal cost of stickering FBA units. It’s much better than the implied cost of having your seller account suspended for allegedly selling a counterfeit co-mingled product to a customer.

Ready to run your eCommerce outreach campaign? Our guide will help you solidify your thoughts and plot your course.

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