Amazon warehouse is out of stock again! Some goods have not been received for 50 days

Problems occur frequently, and Amazon sellers have too much to do before the New Year!

In order to ensure that warehouses have sufficient inventory and are not out of stock during the Spring Festival, Amazon sellers often prepare goods before the New Year. However, the problem of FBA warehouse explosion has reappeared, especially in several popular warehouses in the western United States, which have become the hardest hit areas. Many sellers have reported that their inventory has turned red, but the goods have not been put on the shelves. Some people have waited for 50 days but have not been able to successfully receive the goods.

Affected by Amazon's storage capacity limitations, many sellers have placed their hopes on AWD (Amazon's warehousing and distribution network). However, they are unaware that AWD has also been severely overwhelmed recently and is not as easy to use as imagined, causing novice sellers to fall into the trap.

At the same time, problems such as warehouse division have also increased. One seller’s new store sent out two boxes of goods, which were also "separated", which means that costs were increased and another profit was silently lost.

Many Amazon warehouses are overwhelmed and sellers cannot receive and put goods on the shelves in time!

As the Spring Festival holiday approaches, many cross-border sellers are busy preparing for the new year so that they can have a peaceful New Year. However, the period before the holidays is also a time when many problems occur. The problem of Amazon warehouse overflow is plaguing a large number of sellers.

" The goods in SDF8 warehouse have not been received yet . " Many Amazon sellers said that the SDF8 warehouse was overwhelmed. Some people's goods have been delivered for half a month but have not been registered into the warehouse . Some people have waited too long to conduct a shipment investigation, but the conditions for the investigation were clearly met but the investigation was delayed again and again, and the problem has not been solved.

The same is true for the QXY9 warehouse. Many people reported that the warehouse did not make appointments, and some sellers had not started receiving goods 50 days after the goods arrived at the warehouse! As early as early December 2022 , there were voices saying that QXY9 's warehouse explosion problem was already very serious , and that all appointments for February this year had been fully booked.

The editor summarized the feedback from many industry insiders and found that warehouses such as SMF3, ONT8, LAS1, GYR3, GYR2, LAX9, SDF8, and QXY9 are seriously overstocked, especially in several popular warehouses in the western United States, where many goods cannot be received and put on the shelves normally.

A freight forwarder told me that the rush to stock up before the holidays is still going on. Many logistics companies are about to take holidays and many routes will also be suspended. Sellers are worried that the goods will be thrown out of the last ship, so they are collectively replenishing goods within a limited time. However, Amazon warehouses are now short-staffed, and the overall logistics efficiency in the United States and other markets is worrying. Because it is very difficult to get an appointment, some warehouses need to make an appointment for several days before the goods can be delivered. What's worse, some warehouses cannot get an appointment. Some remote warehouses need to collect goods from overseas warehouses for delivery.

The slow receipt and listing of goods has brought great inconvenience to the sellers' work, especially for those sellers whose goods are about to be out of stock or have already been out of stock. The impact is huge. The link ranking and order volume will be affected. However, they are often helpless at this time and it is useless to urge them. "Two parcels have been delivered for a month but have not been listed yet. During this period, multiple cases have been opened, and the replies have all been of no substantive help." One of the sellers said helplessly that he was already tortured to death.

It is worth noting that in addition to the problem of warehouse overflow, split warehouses are also particularly common recently. Sellers clearly feel that there is no limit on the split warehouses when goods enter the warehouse. Whether it is as few as two boxes of goods or as many as dozens of boxes of products, they will almost always be forced to be ruthlessly "separated" by Amazon.

" The new version of Amazon shipments are easily divided into warehouses. Several boxes of Matsushita Shipping were divided into four warehouses. A lot of money was deducted for each warehouse merger. Not only were they divided into warehouses, but they were also divided into remote warehouses, which wasted time and increased costs." An Amazon seller complained helplessly.

AWD also did not let go, and the liquidation situation was even more serious

In fact, Amazon’s warehouse overflows and product out-of-stocks are old topics. To address the problems facing sellers, Amazon is vigorously promoting AWD, which has “many advantages.” However, faced with the rush to stock up before the holidays, AWD is no longer effective, and the situation of not releasing orders is particularly serious.

According to Amazon, AWD provides a pay-as-you-go warehousing solution for US sellers, which can help sellers send and store inventory to Amazon AWD warehouses (near FBA warehouses) through third-party cross-border logistics and Amazon cross-border logistics services (AGL). It can automatically replenish inventory in a timely manner based on the inventory status of the FBA warehouse. Sellers can also replenish inventory manually, so that the FBA warehouse is not out of stock and is not limited by storage capacity!

Sellers can think of it as an upgraded version of the satellite warehouse. Unfortunately, AWD still cannot solve the "urgent needs" of sellers.

An Amazon seller said, "The goods have arrived at AWD's KRB7 warehouse and have been waiting to be received. It has been 10 days and there is still no movement."

The above situation is not uncommon. Because AWD does not make appointments at all, many sellers' goods are piled up in overseas warehouses and cannot be delivered. Some freight forwarders even said that their appointment time is scheduled until March.

Now that sellers have too many shipments, it is understandable that AWD has a problem. However, sellers need to be aware that AWD itself does have many inherent disadvantages.

First of all, there is the issue of fees. Experienced people think that AWD may have an advantage for small and heavy products , but if the product is large , it is not cost-effective because of the additional processing fees , transportation fees and storage fees . From the perspective of storage fees, it is indeed cheaper, but the processing fees and transportation fees are also a large expense.

The second issue is efficiency. More than one seller has found that the arrival , listing and automatic replenishment of AWD are not as fast as expected. Some sellers even need up to 2 months for the whole process. Moreover, in many cases, automatic replenishment is not as accurate and intelligent as the platform claims . There are many cases where " the goods that are not in short supply have been replenished, and the goods that are in short supply are still in the AWD warehouse."

Regarding AWD, the editor found that many sellers have misunderstandings about it. They only see the benefits of using AWD and start shipping blindly without understanding the conditions of use. This will inevitably lead to mistakes. In response to the doubts of sellers, the editor combined Amazon's global store and what industry insiders said, and sorted out the following content:

1. Small and medium-sized sellers can use third-party logistics to enter the warehouse without the need for a full container.

2. AWD is not suitable for the following products: unclassifiable, heavy and bulky, dangerous goods, temperature controlled, perishable goods with shelf life, shoes and jewelry, and boxes with multiple ASINs.

3. For sortable inventory, the maximum carton size is 25 x 25 x 36 inches. A single ASIN within a carton cannot be larger than 18.00 inches x 14.00 inches x 8.00 or weigh more than 20.00 pounds. Each box contains a unique SKU, not mixed SKUs .

4. AWD is not limited by storage capacity or quantity. Automatic replenishment from AWD to FBA is not limited by storage capacity. After AWD has stock, the front end will become in stock, and a replenishment PO will be triggered.

Amazon sellers need to pay close attention to the latest logistics trends and then adjust their operations based on actual conditions.