The platform took action against the sellers

Recently, the issue of "delivery from a distant warehouse to a nearby warehouse" was exposed by sellers, and the freight forwarding industry was in an uproar. Some freight forwarders chose to compensate sellers to restore their reputation. However, for sellers, compensation cannot fundamentally solve the problem, because the platform has already sent warning letters to a large number of sellers. At the same time, sellers are also wondering whether they will be held accountable later and asked to pay the shipping fee.

Strike hard! Far warehouse and near delivery may be blocked

"I shipped the product from Matsun in October. Now it's December and the big sale is over, but the product is not on the shelves yet," a seller reported.

It is understood that due to concerns about warehouse overflow in the West Coast during the peak season, the seller deliberately sent Christmas goods to the East Coast, preparing to put them on the shelves before Black Friday and Cyber ​​Monday. For this reason, the seller also specially sent a regular ship from Matsun, but he did not expect that the goods would not be registered until December 9, when the big promotion was about to end. After checking the background, the seller found that his goods were actually sent to popular warehouses such as ONT8 and LAX9, and nearly 3,000 goods were wasted.

Soon, more sellers found that their warehouse entry address was different from the warehouse establishment address. The goods that should have been sent to the East Coast of the United States were directly sent to the popular warehouse in the West Coast of the United States by the freight forwarder; the freight charged said that they were sent to the East Coast of the United States, but in fact they were sent to the West Coast warehouse of the United States.

As we all know, there is a price difference between the routes of the East Coast and the West Coast . Relatively speaking, the West Coast is shorter and cheaper. In order to save costs and earn the price difference, some logistics companies will change the goods sent to the East Coast warehouse to the West Coast warehouse. In addition, the dedicated AGL trucks for the West Coast warehouse are also relatively cheap , while a truck in the East Coast costs several thousand dollars.

In this regard, a freight forwarder admitted that "goods enter the warehouse quickly, but are slow to be put on the shelves. Many sellers don't understand why some logistics practitioners do this." In fact, they are thinking more about how to deliver goods to warehouses with relatively low prices while retaining their own profits.

But for sellers, such operations by freight forwarders are likely to cause their goods to be rejected and transshipped by Amazon and other platforms as being sent to warehouses at other locations. At the very least, this may result in the loss of the entire shipment, and at worst, it may lead to the account being suspended, and the seller may even have to pay an additional transshipment fee.

At the same time, due to information mismatch and other reasons, the goods may not be able to enter the warehouse, be slow to be put on the shelves, or even be lost, which will eventually affect the seller's account performance. For sellers, this situation may not be a big problem once or twice, but if it happens too many times, it is very likely that the store will be shut down.

For example, in Amazon's previously updated carrier manual, the accuracy of the reserved manifest is required to be greater than 70% to be eligible to deliver the goods to the Amazon warehouse. If the seller's account has an accuracy of less than 70% four times within 8 weeks, the operator center account will be suspended. This move is also highlighted in Amazon's latest warning letters to a large number of sellers.

Obviously, by further promoting information transparency through policies and system updates, sellers will be able to see the transportation status of goods more clearly, while some dark shadows in the freight forwarding industry will automatically surface.

How to avoid being punished later?

Recently, many sellers have received warning emails. They believe that this incident involves many sellers. According to past practice, they are likely to be "retaliated later" and asked to pay the transfer fee. If the seller needs to pay the fee, the pressure will be on the freight forwarder.

In the seller's view, the incident of "delivery from a distant warehouse to a nearby warehouse" was handled by the freight forwarder, so naturally the related warehouse transfer fees and even the series of fees caused by slow listing need to be paid by the freight forwarder , but not all freight forwarders agree with this statement. It is understood that after the incident of "delivery from a distant warehouse to a nearby warehouse" was exposed, some freight forwarders chose to actively compensate the sellers, but some freight forwarders still flatly refused to pay.

For sellers who are currently in the situation of far warehouses and nearby delivery, industry insiders have given their own suggestions: For goods that have been signed for , that is, many sellers mentioned that they were originally supposed to be sent to warehouses in the East Coast or Central America, but were actually put on the shelves in warehouses in the West Coast of the United States, you can directly apply for compensation for the freight difference; for goods that have been shipped but have not yet arrived , you can warn the freight forwarder: if the goods are not delivered according to the actual warehouse, the relevant transportation costs of the goods will be borne by the freight forwarder.

For sellers, it is not only necessary to solve the incidents that have already occurred, such as far-flung warehouses and nearby deliveries, but also to take preventive measures to avoid such incidents from happening again.

For sellers, when choosing a logistics company, they need to pay attention to the following points: Look for a logistics company with good qualifications and good control over all aspects of logistics, such as the well-known JD Logistics. You can also use channels such as Qichacha to understand the company's establishment time, address, legal person, and operating conditions. Secondly, it is to spread risks and try not to entrust all goods to a freight forwarding company to avoid out-of-stock situations due to delayed listing of goods.

Before signing the contract , define the responsibilities. You can clearly stipulate that if the goods are not sent to the designated warehouse as required, the freight forwarder shall bear the relevant transportation costs; if the goods are delayed in being put on the shelves and incurred costs, or if they are warned for being sent to the wrong warehouse, they must be compensated separately. In terms of price, the market should be the main line. If the price is obviously lower than the market price, try not to touch it. If the price is ridiculously low, the freight forwarder will definitely make the money back through other channels.

In the current market, all sellers are constantly reducing freight costs and trying to choose the freight forwarder with the best price advantage in the market. However, the reality has dealt a heavy blow to sellers: the money saved is not much and the competitiveness of the products has not been improved. Instead, it has become an additional risk. For sellers, it is extremely important to choose a reliable and trustworthy logistics company.

The editor learned that JD Logistics, as one of the logistics companies that industry insiders trust the most, is also delivering perfect answers to customers by continuously improving its logistics network layout. As of June 30, 2022, JD Logistics has deployed nearly 90 bonded warehouses, direct mail warehouses and overseas warehouses around the world, with a total management area of ​​nearly 900,000 square meters, and the total warehouse area of ​​the cross-border network has increased by more than 70% year-on-year.

On June 6 this year, JD Logistics officially opened its first automated warehouse in the United States, "Los Angeles 2", and the total area of ​​its self-operated overseas warehouses in the United States has reached nearly 1 million square feet. These overseas warehouses connect multiple important logistics hubs in the eastern, central and western United States, providing efficient next-day delivery services in major first-tier cities, and 2-3-day delivery services cover 90% of the United States.

In order to better serve customers, JD Logistics has also combined its own advantages to launch the Sino-US Haika product, which is managed by its own team and deployed in its own warehouses. One of the functions of this product is consistent with the demands of many sellers at this stage, that is, the full-link visual system, which allows sellers to check the status of goods anytime and anywhere, and provide customers with more stable and secure services. Interested sellers can add the official WeChat smilingdust for more details!

Far warehouse nearby delivery

Amazon

logistics