Amazon Marketplace introduces new ship-to-Amazon service Fulfillment by Amazon

[mandy]

Dear Sellers,

Today we started testing “Fulfillment by Amazon” – a new program for Amazon Marketplace sellers. With Fulfillment by Amazon, instead of shipping orders to customers yourself, soon you will be able to ship your new and used products to Amazon, and we’ll handle the order fulfillment and post-order customer service. We'll store your inventory, and as orders are placed, we'll ship your products to your customers. We will even manage post-order customer service and manage customer returns on your behalf.

Amazon customers have been asking for years to be able to order from you – our third-party selling partners – and still use Amazon’s popular shipping offers, including Free Super Saver Shipping and our Amazon Prime program, as well as also choosing Gift Wrap for their purchases.  With fulfillment by Amazon, customers will have access to all of these services for sellers who participate in the program.  We believe this new program will be beneficial to both buyers and sellers at Amazon.com....

Fulfillment by Amazon

Fulfillment by Amazon is a new program for Amazon Marketplace sellers. Now, instead of shipping your orders to customers yourself, you ship your new and used products to Amazon.com. We'll store them for you, and as orders are placed, we'll ship them to your customers. And, as an added benefit, Amazon will handle post-order customer service and manage customer returns on your behalf.

When you use Fulfillment by Amazon, the items you sell will be handled like Amazon.com items are, which means your customers can take advantage of the following features:

·         Free Super Saver Shipping...
·         Gift-wrap...
·         Faster shipping...
·         Access to Amazon.com's customer service...
·         Returns: Should they need to, your customers will be able to return your items directly to Amazon.com using our Returns Center on the Amazon.com website.

Why is Fulfillment by Amazon right for me?
It can increase your sales: From our experience, we know that offers qualifying for Free Super Saver Shipping sell more often than offers that do not.

It's cost-effective: For a price comparable to packaging and shipping via media mail, you can offer your customers quicker delivery and 24-hour customer service.

You can offer your customers a better experience: They can choose next-day delivery and gift-wrap, plus they can change orders that haven't yet shipped, track order status, and track shipments.

By leaving your fulfillment and customer service to Amazon.com, you'll be free to to focus on sourcing your inventory, managing your prices, and expanding your business.

How do I get started?
Right now we are in a limited beta. However, we plan to make the service available to a wider set of merchants soon. For questions about Fulfillment by Amazon, please send us an e-mail at fba-interest@amazon.com. We will respond to each e-mail and also put you on our notification list when the service becomes more widely available.

FAQs
What is Fulfillment by Amazon?

With the Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) program, you turn over all the work of handling orders to Amazon's world-class fulfillment network and customer service operations. Products you place with FBA are eligible for popular features such as Free Super Saver Shipping, and Amazon will handle all your customer messaging and post-order support.

How will FBA help my business?

It's cost-effective for you, and a cost benefit to your customers. The more order-related work you delegate to Amazon, the more time and resources you have to focus on building your business.

Who can participate?

Fulfillment by Amazon is designed for small to medium sized businesses interested in outsourcing some or all of their fulfillment. FBA is currently in its beta testing period. During this time we are supporting media categories--Books, Music, and DVDs--and two selected hardlines categories, Sporting Goods and Electronics. In coming months we will open the program to additional stores.

How are FBA products featured?

Products listed as Fulfilled by Amazon will be easily identifiable to customers. On the Offer Listing Page, your listings will have a "Fulfilled by Amazon" logo. Customers will also see a note that the item may qualify for Free Super Saver Shipping.

(Note: The listings of non-participating sellers will still appear on the Offer Listing Page and we will continue to sort listings by price.)

Do I have to use FBA for all my products?

No. You can continue to offer listings for products you want to fulfill directly. For example, if you have a rare first-edition book title in stock, you may want to keep the item in your personal inventory and provide personalized e-mail support.

How much does this cost?

There is no fee to register for Fulfillment by Amazon. FBA orders have their own distinct fee structure, consisting of a per-item transaction fee and weight-based fees (where applicable). There is also a monthly storage fee for items placed in Amazon fulfillment centers, based on their cubic dimensions.

full details: http://www.amazonsellercommunity.com/forums/thread.jspa?threadID=116548&tstart=0

[iron_chick]

Huh?

So I pay to ship my books to Amazon.
I pay them to store them.
I pay them to ship them.
And I lose the ability to sell them on any other venue.

Am I missing something here??

[Anita]

Is it April Fools?

[bargainbloodhound]

http://www.amazonsellercommunity.com/forums/thread.jspa?threadID=116561&tstart=0 

[bargainbloodhound]

[quote author=iron_chick link=topic=3418.msg12577#msg12577 date=1145362902]
So I pay to ship my books to Amazon. [/quote]

I hate shipping.    Whether I ship it to Amazon or ship directly to a customer I'm still going to have to stick it in a box.

I pay them to store them.

An eBay employee is obviously working undercover at Amazon feeding them bad ideas in an effort to sabotage the site. 

And I lose the ability to sell them on any other venue.

The main reason I have no interest in participating in their fulfillment program.

[bargainbloodhound]

[quote author=bargainbloodhound link=topic=3418.msg12582#msg12582 date=1145370030]
http://www.amazonsellercommunity.com/forums/thread.jspa?threadID=116561&tstart=0  

[/quote]

*snicker*  I just noticed the former owner of Auction Pie (house_of_vhs) has joined that thread and is calling Amazon worse than Wal-Mart.     He's a little bitter because Amazon kicked him off the site as a seller in December...maybe something to do with his 88%, 4.4 rating?  His eBay feedback is 95.2% need I say more... 

[iron_chick]

OK, so I'm not missing anything.

I just can't imagine that there will be many sellers willing to go this route. 

Obviously, it's beyond stupid for lower priced books because after paying AZ to store and ship, you'd lose money.

And how many sellers will be willing to give up their inventory and NOT sell elsewhere?  Don't most media sellers sell on multiple venues these days?

I guess it could work for someone like the remainder book seller who has multiple copies of each book.  Ship some to AZ for those sales.  Keep others at home.

And, I think AZ will be able to attract some newbie sellers who send them their books that don't sell at their garage sale or didn't sell on eBay and don't realize they're losing money . . . but I can't see the majority of AZ sellers doing this?  Or am I just kidding myself?

[iron_chick]

I had to snicker about the comment calling eBay professional.  :o

[bargainbloodhound]

[quote author=iron_chick link=topic=3418.msg12586#msg12586 date=1145374101]
I had to snicker about the comment calling eBay professional.   :o
[/quote]

Read his eBay me page: http://members.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewUserPage&userid=house_of_vhs

His negs are funny too http://toolhaus.org/cgi-bin/negs?User=house_of_vhs&Dirn=Received+by

And how many sellers will be willing to give up their inventory and NOT sell elsewhere?  Don't most media sellers sell on multiple venues these days?

I think it's kind of a necessity unless you only sell the current bestseller list.

I just can't imagine that there will be many sellers willing to go this route.

Either do I, unless Amazon does something to make it "unpleasant" for those who don't sign up.

[iron_chick]

Wow.  95% feedback.  No current listings on eBay.  I'm thinking maybe eBay wasn't the huge wondercure he thought it would be?