Amazon's new rules will be implemented, sellers: Determined not to use small freight forwarders

Starting May 1, Amazon will implement new rules for FBA warehouse entry reservations. As a result, terminal reservations and delivery have been disrupted. Six warehouses including LAX9 continue to be overwhelmed. Many warehouses require reservations 2-3 weeks in advance, which is comparable to the peak season. Due to the inability to enter the warehouse in time, some freight forwarding companies have announced the cancellation of time-limited delivery compensation.

According to Amazon's new policy, the same shipment can no longer be shipped twice or more, and the practice of shipping goods without prior agreement has also been stopped. Once a violation is found, it may affect the carrier's booking account, and the seller will receive a warning at best, or even have their FBA shipping function shut down . This has alarmed some sellers, who said they dare not choose small freight forwarders anymore, because they have limited ability to get contracts and will have more shady operations.

Cross-border logistics rules are becoming increasingly stringent. One freight forwarder lamented: “It feels like the logistics industry has never been so difficult. Several companies around me are almost unable to hold on.” After the new regulations are implemented, Amazon sellers will prefer large logistics companies, which may be the last straw that breaks the camel’s back for some small companies.

Amazon's new rules will be implemented next week, and sellers will abandon small freight forwarders

Not long ago, Amazon's carrier center released a new policy with several requirements: PO information cannot be changed within 24 hours of the appointment, and the appointment cannot be changed or cancelled within 72 hours, otherwise it will be counted as a defect. The attendance defect rate is recommended to be below 5% and not higher than 10%. The PO accuracy rate is recommended to be above 95% and not lower than 85%. Starting May 1, the new policy will take effect for all carriers.

The new regulations will affect delivery and will also affect third-party sellers. Shenzhen seller Yang Bin received an analysis from the freight forwarder. According to the regulations, the end-of-line card delivery PO appointment delivery will be directly affected in three ways:

1. The same shipment cannot be shipped twice or even three times. After the first card delivery reservation, the second and subsequent reservations will not be available for delivery;

2. It will not be possible to enter the warehouse without prior arrangement. In serious cases, the carrier's reservation account will be invalidated. The seller will receive an email warning at the least, and the FBA delivery function will be closed at the worst.

3. Mixed delivery is not allowed. For example, if a shipment weighs less than 100kg, and you want to send two shipments to one warehouse in one ticket , this is no longer feasible after the new regulations are released. In addition, please avoid sending a batch of goods by multiple logistics providers.

In order to avoid risks, some sellers would take the initiative to send one shipment to two freight forwarders, and some sellers were maliciously split into two shipments by freight forwarders. In any case, this operation will no longer work according to the new regulations.

For the same FBA shipment, if the seller sends it in batches to multiple agents, the logistics company's appointment will show that the PO is invalid. Freight forwarder Jack Chen said: "Recently, many people have been divided into warehouses, so they find service providers to create shipments in batches to one warehouse, but sellers cannot send so many goods at a time and still have to send them in batches. This will lead to a problem - there is only one PO, but we have to make multiple appointments, then Amazon's backend will prompt a message like 'your PO has been used'."

In Yang Bin’s opinion, Amazon’s introduction of so many strict restrictions will not only affect sellers, but will also deal a heavy blow to the freight forwarding industry.

"The last-minute appointment may even affect the account, which has a big impact on the seller. We will not dare to choose small freight forwarders in the future. They have more tricks in getting the appointment. I will definitely choose a freight forwarder with a big reputation or a good reputation."

Some of the freight forwarders he worked with crossed the red line of the new regulations.

"The freight forwarder collected two boxes of goods and sent them to the regular ship of Matson, and the rest of the goods were all sent to the ordinary ship. You saw that the goods had been put into the warehouse on Amazon, but why did it take so long to be put into the warehouse? In fact, the freight forwarder divided your goods into two halves and let you see the warehouse number first. Now Amazon has restricted this. If you do this again, you will receive a warning or will not be able to put the goods into the warehouse. The outrageous operations of these freight forwarders were exposed at once.

From now on, I will definitely not leave the small freight forwarder, and I will also have a clear discussion with the big freight forwarder to make sure there are no problems with the contract. "

"In the past, most small freight forwarders would buy contracts from companies with more accounts or combine shipments. Later, Amazon's assessment became stricter, and buying contracts was unlikely to work. Other companies also did not have many appointments, so it was impossible to sell their appointment numbers to others," said Jack Chen. Small freight forwarders will indeed face challenges in the final appointment link.

Right now, affected by the implementation of the new regulations, Amazon's terminal reservations and deliveries have been disrupted.

Multiple warehouses are overwhelmed, and some freight forwarders cancel time-limited delivery compensation

Previously, truck companies mainly guaranteed timeliness by stockpiling a large number of appointments, so that the goods could be delivered quickly after arrival. However, the new regulations have raised the minimum PO accuracy rate from 70% to 85%. Pooling of goods and temporary changes of appointments are no longer feasible. The large number of previously stockpiled appointments can only be canceled, which has led to the recent widespread warehouse overflows and difficulty in getting appointments.

Jack Chen told the editor that as far as pallet contracts (container unpacking and delivery) are concerned, LAX9, SBD1, ONT8, LAS1, SCK4, and SMF3 are still experiencing warehouse overflows, making it difficult to release contracts. Among them, the four warehouses LGB8, LAX9, ONT8, and SBD1 will no longer automatically release contracts from April 25, and will instead require manual review after application. The overall unpacking and delivery time is expected to be delayed by about a week.

GYR2 and GYR3 require reservations 3 weeks in advance, SJC7, SMF6, FAT2, MCE1, and SCK1 also require reservations 2 weeks in advance, CLT2 has a margin call, and the reservation time limit for FTW1 is gradually being restored.

Regarding floor appointments (direct delivery) , due to warehouse overflow, appointments at LAX9 and SBD1 have been postponed, and some are pending. Amazon needs to manually approve the appointments, and the earliest appointments are scheduled to May; LAS1 is difficult to approve, and the earliest appointment is scheduled to May; LGB4 and LAS1 have few appointments, as they are large-size cargo warehouses, and small boxes are easily rejected; GYR2, GYR3, and SCK4 are approved after 3 weeks, SNA4 almost never approves appointments, OLM1 does not approve appointments, and XLX7 does not accept floor appointments. Other warehouses need to be booked about 2 weeks in advance.

Due to the delay in delivery time, many sellers need to adjust their stocking plans. One seller received a notice from the freight forwarder, but was unable to make it in time, so he could only send a wave of air freight first.

Due to the concentrated explosion of warehouses and the difficulty in obtaining contracts, some logistics companies have cancelled the time-limited claim settlement service. A company said that in response to this situation, the company will suspend the time-limited claim settlement service of the two channels of Meisen Time-limited Dhaka Delivery and EXX Express Time-limited Dhaka Delivery, and the specific resumption time is to be determined.

There are more than one or two companies that operate in this way, but the sellers are not willing to buy into it. One seller decisively refused: "Today, the logistics company suddenly told me that it was difficult to get an appointment for the two time-limited delivery orders, so the time-limited delivery cancelled the compensation and gave me a discount of 0.5 yuan per kilogram. I was really speechless." After his argument, the freight forwarding company maintained the agreed compensation service.

Many freight forwarders said: "No one has the courage to make time-limited compensation. Maybe the profit is not enough to compensate."

At present, the compensation standard for time-limited delivery in the market is 0.5 yuan or 1 yuan per kilogram per day, with a maximum of 3 yuan. Some companies do not set a maximum limit. Previously, the freight forwarder made an appointment in advance and the delivery time was guaranteed; but according to the current situation , the delivery time of many companies has been affected to varying degrees, which has led to the embarrassing situation that many time-limited delivery companies have been cancelled.

In the future , sellers will pay more attention to the timeliness and safety of delivery, and will be more likely to cross out small freight forwarders from their options, making it more difficult for the latter to find goods. Small freight forwarders that previously loaded their own containers may pool goods with other companies at the front end after the new policy comes out, or switch to the sales company model.

From the double-clearance tax package explosion last year to Amazon's crackdown on long-distance and short-distance delivery, industry rules have been gradually improved, and some freight forwarding companies that exploit loopholes have reduced their maneuverability and their living space has been gradually compressed. The new regulations in May may accelerate their decline.

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