NEW- Export for Multi-Channel Fulfilment now available in the EU

Amazon is constantly looking for new ways to help sellers grow and reach new customers.  As we embark on another year, we are pleased to be able to offer delivery of off-Amazon orders to sellers’ customers in all 26 EU member states. With Multi-Channel fulfilment, FBA sellers can choose to use their inventory in Amazon’s fulfilment centres to fulfil part or all of their orders originating from their own website, other third party platforms, catalogue or even in-store sales.  Until now, Multi-Channel Fulfilment was limited to the home country.  Now Amazon Multi-Channel has become an international service and you can offer your customers ordering from outside the UK a smooth and reliable delivery almost anywhere in the EU using Amazon’s performant and extensive supply network.

Once you submit a multi-channel shipment request,  you will see the estimated delivery date which can then be shared with the customer.  Amazon FBA sellers now have the option and flexibility to fulfil domestic on and off Amazon orders as well as international on and off Amazon orders from one single local inventory pool. For more information please click here.

Make It Easy for Millions of Customers to Buy on Your Site

Checkout by Amazon, a service provided by Amazon Payments, is a complete checkout service for ecommerce sellers. Offer Checkout by Amazon to enable millions of Amazon customers to shop securely on your website without reentering their delivery and payment information. Offering a familiar checkout experience backed by the trusted Amazon brand is good for your customers and for your business.

More Sales, Lower Costs

Recent interviews of US Sellers found that up to 90% of customers using Checkout by Amazon are new-to-file and that average order size for orders placed through Checkout by Amazon is 10 to 17 per cent higher than other payment methods.*

In addition to helping you attract and convert valuable Amazon shoppers, Checkout by Amazon can help you reduce bad debt with Amazon’s proven fraud detection capabilities, chargeback controls, and risk management processes. 

Easy and Convenient

Checkout by Amazon makes it easy for Amazon customers to shop on your site using the delivery and payment information stored in their Amazon account. Sven Schoderböck, head of marketing at Thomann, one of Europe’s largest online stores for musical equipment, says, “Our customers can enjoy the trusted and convenient Amazon payment solution right on our site. Customers can simply choose the delivery addresses and bank information from their Amazon account and Thomann will handle the rest. It is actually as easy as it sounds. Plus, Checkout by Amazon is flexible and easy to integrate into our existing payment infrastructure.”

Trusted and Secure

Customers can transact directly on your website without sharing their payment information. In addition, customers will feel more confident making purchases knowing that they have the same protection under the Amazon A-to-Z Guarantee as they have when they shop on Amazon.

“We have offered Checkout by Amazon since June 2011. This option is an attractive alternative for buyers, and one in which they place a great deal of trust. Thanks to the large number of customers who have registered with Amazon, we are also able to acquire new customers. Advantages we have noticed compared to some other solutions include better control, fewer customers giving up during the payment process and easy integration,” says Ralf Schwalbe, Managing Director at www.hardwareversand.de, an electronics and hardware retailer.

“Checkout by Amazon allows us to achieve increased customer satisfaction levels as a result of the speed and security offered. In addition we can offer our customers a larger choice of payment solutions,” says Tim Leichter, director of business development at posterXXL.

Providing a convenient and familiar checkout experience backed by Amazon’s proprietary

fraud detection technology can help you increase revenue and lower costs. In addition to being available in the UK, Checkout by Amazon is also available in Germany and Luxembourg, so if you are selling internationally or plan to do so in the near future, you can use Checkout by Amazon to help your sales in all three marketplaces. To learn more about Checkout by Amazon and to contact us please click at payments.amazon.co.uk.

* US Seller interviews conducted by Amazon Payments. Individual results may vary.

Amazon Payments Europe S.C.A., partnership limited by shares, is a company registered in Luxembourg, Registration Number B 153 265, with its corporate office at 5 Rue Plaetis, L-2338 Luxembourg.

VAT Number LU 24448288. Amazon Payments Europe is authorised by the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier as an Electronic Money Issuer (licence number 36/10).

Christmas Selling Tip: Resolving Issues with Orders, Part III

In this last part of our Christmas selling tip on post-order problems, let's talk about handling returns.

Part III: The buyer has received the order but wants to return it.

Here are the basics of handling returns:

* You have to accept returns within the guidelines stated in the returns policy, even if the item was exactly as described and the buyer simply no longer wants it.  Learn more about the Marketplace Returns Policy.

* Returns of new items are different from returns of damaged, defective, or materially different items.

* Buyer returns should be postmarked within 30 days of the original shipment sent by the seller.

* Returns should be posted to the address included on the outside of each parcel. It's a good idea to include your return address inside the parcel and to confirm it with the buyer before a return is dispatched.

* In cases where there is nothing wrong with an item, buyers should cover the cost of return delivery.

* In cases where an item is damaged or defective, or when it is materially different from the item described on the product detail page, sellers should cover the costs of returning the item. You can do this by issuing a concession to the buyer in advance of the return.

* Sellers can charge restocking fees (up to 20%) for returned items that are not damaged, defective or materially different. These fees are meant to cover the extra handling costs incurred in taking the item back into inventory and relisting it for sale.

For additional information, please see our Handling Orders FAQ.

Christmas Selling Tip: Resolving Issues with Orders, Part II

In part 2 of this Christmas selling tip, let's look at another possible order problem: non-receipt of the order.

Part II:  The buyer hasn't received the item they ordered.

As you might expect, buyers will be  anxious to receive their Christmas orders and may contact you by e-mail to check on the shipment status.

* In many cases, the order isn't late but may not have arrived as early as the buyer hoped. It's possible that the parcel didn't arrive at the earliest estimated date.  In the case of "slow" deliveries, you will often need to explain the delivery timeframes when buyers ask, "Where's my order?" Here is the customer Help page on which we post information about delivery expectations: Marketplace Shipping Times.

* If the maximum delivery date has passed, the best solution is to refund the buyer. Compensating buyers for lost shipments is an unavoidable  cost of doing business.

* In the case of a "lost" item arriving in an empty box, you should contact the carrier to report the issue and ask about the options available to you. For a "late" item that may be lost, you may want to engage your carrier for assistance with locating the parcel and moving it along.

* For an item that never arrives and is truly lost, you may be still able to recover your costs if you purchased insurance cover. You will need to determine your own level of acceptable loss when deciding to insure parcels.

Christmas Selling Tip: Resolving Issues with Orders, Part I

The majority of Christmas transactions on Amazon.co.uk go smoothly, but occasionally you may encounter a problem.  In this three-part Christmas selling tip, we’ll look at some of the most common things that can go wrong with an order and effective ways of handling them.  

Part I:  The buyer has made a mistake with an order and wants to fix it.

Buyers do make mistakes with their orders.  Here are the most common things buyers may ask you to do to fix an order and suggestions for how you can respond:

Cancel the order.

* If you have not yet dispatched the order, you can cancel it.  Buyers only have a 30-minute window to cancel their own orders, but you can cancel them up until the time you dispatch them. If you use Charge When Ship, see these instructions. If you haven't enabled your account for Charge When Ship yet, please use these instructions.

* If you have already dispatched the order, you can ask the buyer to return it for a refund. It's advisable to wait until you have the item in hand again before you initiate a refund to the buyer.

Upgrade the shipping.

* If you have not yet dispatched the order, it is up to you to decide whether to upgrade the shipping method at the buyer’s request.  Sellers aren't obliged to provide a service that a buyer hasn't paid for, or to accept promises of future reimbursement from buyers (sellers can't invoice buyers for extra costs, including postage).

* If you have already dispatched the order, provide the buyer with information about the shipping method you used, give them a realistic timeframe for delivery, and ask them to be patient. Here's the information Amazon provides to buyers about delivery expectations:  Marketplace Shipping Times.

Send the order to a different address.

* If you have not yet dispatched the order, and the buyer says they cannot receive the order at the address they provided originally, you should cancel the order. The buyer can then return to Amazon.co.uk to place a new order using the correct address.  Amazon policy requires sellers to dispatch only to the address provided by the buyer in their seller account.

* If you have already dispatched the order, and the buyer states that they won't receive the parcel at the address they provided, it may still be possible for them to get the parcel re-routed if they know the recipient(s). Undeliverable parcels should be routed back to you and you can then refund the buyer. Since there will be extra routing steps, the best course here is to ask the buyer to be patient.

Coming soon: Resolving Issues with Orders , Part II!