When you’re selling online and shipping products to an Amazon fulfillment center, there are a few common mistakes you should strive to avoid. These can cost you time, money, and Amazon customer reviews, jeopardizing your reputation in the highly competitive e-commerce industry.
Fulfillment by Amazon
Many e-commerce entrepreneurs use Fulfilled by Amazon, or FBA, to access a broader target audience and make the most of their Amazon accounts. This allows FBA sellers to delegate the retrieval, packing, handling, and shipping of products to Amazon while reducing shipping costs.
FBA sellers can choose whether their suppliers ship inventory directly to Amazon’s warehouses or a separate location first for inspection. There are also other reasons that FBA sellers may choose to ship their inventory to a different location first, such as storage costs.
Amazon Sellers
As an FBA seller, your online reputation is essential to your success. If you fail to deliver a quality product or deliver the wrong product, this can cost you. Every Amazon seller wants to have a reputation for reliability, and the FBA process is essential to achieving that goal.
Amazon reviews, while important, aren’t the only way for customers to express their like or dislike for your listing and store page. Social media is a powerful tool for driving sales that you should learn to use.
Seller Mistakes
Common Amazon seller mistakes include the following:
Incorrectly labeled products
Inaccurate or poorly worded product listings on Amazon can adversely impact your business as an Amazon seller. Incorrect product descriptions can disrupt order fulfillment and damage your reputation with customers.
Part of your inventory management is applying UPC or Amazon ID stickers correctly, ensuring that Amazon delivers the correct products to the right customers.
Improper packaging
While FBA shipping allows you to bypass the responsibility of packing your products for delivery, you still need to ensure that your inventory items are shipped to Amazon’s warehouses in good condition. Ensuring that your supplier uses the right packing materials is crucial to protect your goods en route to the Amazon fulfillment center. Custom boxes and materials like air pillows and packing peanuts can protect your goods in transit to the Amazon fulfillment center.
When Amazon sends you or your supplier an FBA sticker to apply to the box, ensure that you apply it to the correct place on the box, next to the carrier label on a flat surface of the box and not across any seals. Amazon workers use box cutters to open boxes by cutting through the tape in the center seam. If the worker cuts through the label, it can cause the sticker to become ineligible or interfere with scanning.
Not adhering to Amazon guidelines
Amazon has a list of restrictions regarding the products that you are allowed to sell. There are also requirements regarding inventory, including packaging and labeling. If you fail to adhere to these requirements, Amazon may cancel your listing, terminate your selling privileges, and end your FBA relationship at its discretion. Always ensure that whatever goods you ship and whichever supplier you sell through, Amazon complies with the company’s guidelines and all applicable laws.
Not managing inventory properly
Warehouse space is a valuable resource. Inventory management includes knowing your market and what quantities to supply to Amazon to maximize your returns and minimize costs. Amazon warehouses charge storage fees to FBA sellers, incentivizing you to sell products and ship what you know will sell promptly. The longer your inventory sits unsold in an Amazon warehouse, the more fees you incur.
You should also consider taking advantage of Amazon Prime. To use Amazon Prime for order fulfillment, you need to meet and maintain sufficiently good seller-performance metrics to demonstrate that both you and your products are trustworthy. This includes, for example, having inventory with a low defect rate and complying with the company’s listing and product requirements.
Sending inventory to the wrong warehouse
An essential component of well-organized inventory management is ensuring that the inventory items you sell are sent to the correct warehouses. Amazon has numerous fulfillment centers across the globe. So, whether you’re in charge of shipping to Amazon’s fulfillment centers or you task a supplier with sending inventory items, it is critical to keep track of when and where your inventory is located to ensure that it reaches the correct fulfillment center.
Other Considerations
As an Amazon seller, inspecting your inventory before shipment is important to meeting and exceeding customer expectations and providing excellent customer service. It’s also essential to acquiring and keeping a Prime badge. If you fail to inspect your products and your defect rate increases, your metrics suffer.
Furthermore, if you contract a manufacturer to produce goods for sale via Amazon, ensure the products are not patented. You don’t want to risk receiving a cease and desist order from the patent holder’s attorney after investing in inventory.
Freight Forwarding & Logistics for FBA Sellers
At Asiana USA, we specialize in freight forwarding and other logistical services to help you deliver your products to where they need to be. We facilitate shipping to and from Bangladesh, Vietnam, and mainland China to the United States. This allows U.S.-based customers to realize the benefits of low-cost, high-volume production runs, including those who purchase products through Amazon. If you need logistical support or further information regarding our freight forwarding services, please call us at (855) 500-1808.