Breaking news! Amazon system crashed, some sellers' orders dropped by 70%

In the morning, sellers on the US-Asia and European sites discovered a bad situation: advertising data was abnormal, backend product editing reported errors, and the Amazon system crashed again. The snowstorm in the eastern United States continued, and sellers on the US-Asia said that orders could not be shipped, and more than 1,600 flights had been canceled locally ; and many logistics delivery channels were about to close before the New Year, and sellers who were catching the last train were scrambling for the last batch of New Year shipping dates...

Amazon system crashed, advertising data "0" displayed

Amazon’s system failure has occurred again. Some sellers reported that Amazon’s advertising data was abnormal today, and all the results were “0” when they clicked to view. Many other sellers also said that not only could they not see the advertising data, but they could not edit the products on the backend interface, and the results were directly reported as errors.

Sellers have complained: "Amazon's system has crashed again!" The sites involved in this outage include the US, Asia and Europe. Perhaps because they are more dependent on advertising sales, one seller said that orders have dropped by 70%.

Amid the pandemic, Amazon’s traffic has surged. In the past year, Amazon has experienced several serious system failures, which has caused great concern for sellers.

In September, news of Amazon's outage dominated the screen. Many sellers reported that the outage lasted about 3 hours and affected a wide range of people. Although the shopping links on the front desk could be opened normally and did not go down directly, the store's order volume was still severely affected. Most orders were cut in half, and some even went to zero. One seller lamented: "The number of orders remained at 3 hours ago. I got up at 7 o'clock to check the sales volume and thought my account was down."

In November, Amazon’s backend crashed again, and a large number of sellers said that they had no orders all night. Order data once remained at 8 hours ago. In addition to order delays and advertising errors, there were also problems such as the inability to modify prices. The long period of time when orders were not updated also made many sellers experience "the day with the smallest gap with the big sellers."

Amazon also quickly issued an announcement stating that the problem was affecting access to all or part of the functions of the Seller Center, and engineers were actively resolving the issue. Orders were then gradually resumed and updated.

This system problem has affected many sellers, and Amazon may resolve it as soon as possible.

Orders cannot be shipped, blizzard causes cancellation of more than 1,600 flights in the Eastern U.S.

Sellers without orders are worried, and sellers with orders are also anxious. A sudden snowstorm hit the eastern United States, and the severe weather caused some freight channels to stop, so sellers' orders could not be shipped.

A seller posted that about half of the orders in the northeastern United States could not be shipped due to the snowstorm. Knowing that the orders would be delayed, he wondered if Amazon would remind customers?

Some sellers mentioned that this situation is the same as a hurricane, and Amazon requires sellers to be prepared for such events. Similar problems may require sellers to communicate with customers. However, as a seller, no matter what the situation, if you do not ship before the scheduled shipping date, you will receive a warning related to policy violations.

Some sellers also said, "I have many orders, and it would be very troublesome to notify all of the logistics delays."

Some pessimistic sellers said that if they cannot deliver on time, they may face the risk of having their accounts suspended. Amazon does not care how much snow there is. The snow may reach 2 feet in some places , and all post offices and services will be closed, making it very passive for sellers to deliver orders.

According to foreign media reports, the snow on the East Coast of the United States and densely populated cities along the route has hit snowfall records, with snow accumulation as high as 2 feet in some areas . Airlines have issued travel bans on Monday and Tuesday.

The snow had not stopped yet, causing New York City's LaGuardia Airport to be closed for the day and all more than 200 commercial flights to be canceled on Monday .

Officials at JFK Airport tweeted that the airport had canceled 83% of Monday's flights, or more than 300 flights, and expected that number to climb. The snow also hampered its AirTrain service, forcing the airport to offer shuttle buses between terminals.

Most major airlines, including Delta, American, Southwest and United, announced flight cancellations on Tuesday.

At least 1,640 flights were canceled on Monday, according to FlightAware, while 440 were cancelled on Tuesday.

AccuWeather meteorologist Brett Rosio said some areas in the Northeast may see blizzard conditions, and winds will be so strong that driving will definitely be dangerous and is not recommended.

The National Weather Service also predicted wind gusts could be between 35 and 50 mph, with snow reducing visibility and the risk of downed tree limbs and power lines.

New Jersey has declared a state of emergency and closed all transportation hubs and six vaccine megasites on Monday.

Not only do snowstorms block logistics transportation, car accidents are another factor leading to distribution disruptions.

According to foreign media reports, an SUV crashed into the back of an Amazon Prime semi-truck in Austin on Monday morning , causing both vehicles to catch fire. The driver of the SUV died and all westbound lanes of Interstate 71 near Montopolis Drive were urgently closed.

Police said the SUV was traveling at a high speed and the fire broke out almost instantly.

After the collision, both the SUV and the Amazon Prime semi truck caught fire, and the car and the rear third of the 18-wheeler were damaged by fire. How many sellers' goods were loaded in it? This situation is a headache!

Freight rates soared before the New Year, and the order for the 10th has been closed

In addition to the last-mile delivery issue, many sellers are still rushing to prepare inventory before the New Year, hoping to catch the last batch of shipping schedules to avoid "out of stock in February." However, at this point, the shipping schedule is about to expire and other logistics channels have also increased prices across the board.

This week, the sellers are concerned about the 10th ship, which is the last ship before the New Year. However, according to the freight forwarder, the 10th ship is quickly filled up and some channels have already closed orders for the 10th. A logistics company said: "The 10th ship of Meisen has been sold out, and the next one will have to wait until after the New Year." The shipping schedule is tight, and a seller is helpless. He asked all the freight forwarders he cooperated with, but they said there was no shipping schedule before the New Year and he had to wait until after the New Year. Fortunately, he got a position from a friend.

It is difficult to book a spot, and the price increase is also painful for sellers. "The freight is so expensive, I work hard every day for the freight forwarder, and there is a temporary surcharge for sea freight this week." A Shenzhen seller reported that without the surcharge, the price has risen to 13 yuan.

The main reason for the increase in freight rates is the large volume of shipments. A freight forwarder said: "The market demand is huge. We ordered containers on the 17th before the New Year and loaded them before the New Year."

In addition, some sea freight times have also been affected. According to the freight forwarder, due to the infection of COVID-19 by some workers at the military dock of the original unloading port of the Matson ship, the unloading port was temporarily changed , and the ship could not be unloaded quickly. Recently, all goods transported through Matson will be delayed to varying degrees, and sellers need to make shipping plans in a timely manner.

ASINS quantity limits for UK and EU inventory have been split

In addition, after Brexit, Amazon will split its inventory pools in the UK and the EU.

Recently, Amazon issued an announcement to inform sellers that the ASIN quantity limits (AQL) have now been split to reflect the UK and EU. Now, European sellers have two sets of ASIN quantity limits. One for UK inventory and the other for total EU inventory.

Sellers can log in to the UK site and EU site to view the current number of products that can be warehoused, and visit the replenishment page or download the replenishment report. The UK site can check the UK restrictions, and any EU country /region site can check the total EU restrictions.

In addition, the European FBA inventory storage performance index IPI score has been adjusted to 450 points, and storage restrictions for sellers who do not meet the IPI score have taken effect. Amazon Global Selling has told sellers that unless otherwise notified, the UK and the EU will share the same IPI score.

Currently, "Current Usage" and "Current Storage Limit" are calculated separately for the UK and EU. Sellers can see the storage limit applicable to any site (UK or EU) in the seller platform of any site in the UK or EU.

According to industry sellers, based on past experience, February is the lowest month for orders throughout the year. Due to limited logistics, February this year is also the most troublesome month for stocking and shipping.

Amazon, logistics, flights