Sending successful shipments to FBA

Carefully preparing your shipments for Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA) can significantly reduce receiving time by eliminating problems that cause delays.

There are a number of ways you can increase the chances that your shipments will be received and processed quickly and without problems. The following shipment checklist can make a real difference:

Are the exact items in the shipment?
Make sure the items you are shipping match the items you have listed. There can often be a number of similar items in our catalogue, so when you add a listing, make sure you match the exact listing based on the EAN of the product you have in front of you.

Did all items on the PO make it into the box?
The number of items sent to Amazon should be the same as the number on the PO. Substituting other items, adding additional items, or not including all items can increase receiving time.

Are only the actual products scannable?
When you package your items, make sure only the actual products have EANs on them. Make sure to cover all scannable barcodes on any boxes that are not part of the actual product packaging.

Are unit labels scannable?
Make sure all units have a legible EAN or sticker that can be scanned, and that they do not have multiple codes which could cause them to be incorrectly received.

Is the shipment free of hazardous items?
FBA cannot ship items which are classified as hazardous (Seller Central login required).

Certain products require special preparation prior to their being shipped to Amazon fulfilment centres. Watch the following videos to learn how to prepare specific products such as apparel and textiles, baby toys, breakable items, liquids and other products that require extra preparation for shipment and storage:

Don't miss our upcoming Amazon webinars!

Attend our free upcoming "Selling on Amazon" webinars in April on the following topics:

• How to increase your sales on Amazon

    Tuesday, 9th April 2013: 10AM-11AM UK time
    Level: Intermediate / Topic: Business Expansion
    

• How to maintain a good customer service performance on Amazon

                Tuesday, 16th April 2013: 4PM-5PM UK time
                Level: Intermediate / Topic: Seller Performance
              

• View all upcoming webinars for Europe

 

You can also subscribe to our webinar invitation mailing list.

In case you missed or could not attend a session, all past webinar presentations and recordings are available on the Amazon Services website.

We are looking forward to seeing you in our webinars!

Expand your offers internationally with the European Marketplaces Account

Amazon has unified its European marketplaces, allowing you to create and manage product offers on any and all of our marketplaces in the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain. You control what you sell where, and you manage your business from a single seller account interface.

Take advantage of the European Marketplaces Account to list your products on other Amazon European Marketplaces by using Amazon’s Expand Offers Internationally tool (Seller Central login required) This tool identifies a list of ASINs which are already localized for your target marketplace. Go to the Expand Offers Internationally tool (Seller Central login required), select your source (meaning the marketplace where you want to list from) and your target marketplace (meaning the marketplace where you want to list on) and request the ASINs in your inventory, which already exist for your target marketplace. Your inventory will be managed as a single pool available to all the marketplaces on which you choose to offer your products for sale.

To be able to sell on Amazon outside the UK, you will need to satisfy the Amazon seller rules (Seller Central login required) applicable to that country. These are basic rules to ensure Amazon’s customers enjoy the best possible shopping experience, thereby improving the chances that they’ll buy your products. You need to provide a bank account in one of the countries supported by Amazon (Seller Central login required). You should be aware of the local and EU legal and regulatory requirements, and it is your responsibility to ensure that you comply with those that apply. Please read and understand the EU Import & Cross-Border Sales information before registering with Amazon as an international seller.

Finally, let Fulfilment by Amazon take care of your deliveries to other Amazon EU Marketplaces from your local inventory pool using Amazon’s fast and reliable European Fulfilment Network (Seller Central login required).

Watch our webinar: Expand your offers internationally with the European Marketplaces Account

Ideas to boost your sales in spring

 

With the dark winter days drawing to a close, Amazon shoppers are looking forward to the arrival of spring and the Easter holidays. Cast an imaginative eye over your selection to ensure you can offer what your customers are looking for at this optimistic time of year. Think about chocolate* and decorations for the Easter celebrations, sports and cold-weather gear* for last-minute winter getaways and all those garden and outdoor products for family weekends and holidays.

*The following stores require prior approval to start selling in: Apparel, Grocery, Beauty, Health & Personal Care, Jewellery and Watches.

The Right Product at the Right Time

The business reports section (Seller Central login required) can give you valuable sales and traffic insight to help you fine-tune your range to accommodate the seasonal shoppers.

• Look at what you were selling this time last year – have you got sufficient inventory of the key sellers and could you look at bringing in any similar products to drive additional sales?

• Can you take advantage of the seasonal demand to clear out relevant slow-movers or aged inventory?

• Take a look at the Page Views metrics for your best-selling seasonal lines - perhaps there is more you can do to increase the view-to-order conversion rate for your offers, such as a slight price adjustment or adding more product information to the detail page.

Promote your products

Remember how attractive promotions can be for shoppers browsing on Amazon; a promotion could lead to a spontaneous buying decision by highlighting your offer over those of your competitors. There is a variety of promotional options available for you to choose from. More information on:

• Creating promotions (Seller Central login required)
• Various promotion types (Seller Central login required)
• Managing promotions (Seller Central login required)

Please note: Software and Video Games products orders are excluded from free-shipping promotions. BMVD Products are excluded from all promotions.

Share your success story with Amazon!

From disappointment to international entrepreneur, Callum Bush started selling online after spotting a gap in the market. Selling on Amazon helped the young entrepreneur build MediaDevil, an international and award winning company specialising in accessories for mobile devices. >> Read the full story
 

*seller success story on Amazon.co.uk

 

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