A number of Amazon sellers have run out of stock after 20 days of shipping

There are a lot of problems with the last mile in the United States, and these costs are causing great suffering to Amazon sellers.

Currently, the transit time of goods in the United States is slow and problems occur frequently. The time for listing in multiple Amazon warehouses has been extended to more than 20 days, and a number of sellers have been out of stock. In addition, the recent volume of goods on the US route is large, freight rates have risen, and freight forwarders often abandon containers. Some freight forwarders also provide false PODs, and the continuous operations have exacerbated sellers' concerns about the last-mile problems.

It is difficult to put goods on shelves in multiple warehouses, and a group of sellers are out of stock

In recent days, a group of Amazon sellers have been out of stock dramatically. It’s not because of a surge in orders for the products, but because of the delays in the final process. The slow delivery of products from multiple Amazon warehouses is a common pain point for everyone.

One seller couldn't help but question: "The goods have arrived at LGB8, SCK4, and AVP1 warehouses, but why hasn't Amazon put them on the shelves? Did they go on a march?"

Another seller encountered a similar problem. One of their products had more than 100 reserved stocks, but they were not put on sale for a month. As a result, the product had no stock on sale. The backend link showed that it was on sale, but the frontend showed that it was out of stock. By opening a case , I learned that the stock was currently located in the supplementary operation center XJF1 , KRB9 and SAV7, so it was not available for sale. I need to contact the internal team and request to transfer it to the normal operation center so that it can be sold normally.

There are also peers who have reserved hundreds of stocks that have been in transit and cannot be put on the shelves, and the listings are unsaleable . This situation is not an isolated case. Many sellers have given helpless feedback.

“—Transit time can be as long as 20 days or more;

——Damn the shipping, it’s out of stock;

——The listing is not for sale, and it is being forwarded when asked;

——The warehouse’s receiving speed is extremely slow now;

——The freight forwarder has given POD, but the platform has not put it on the shelves for 20 days . We can only prepare more goods and choose the fastest channel to send them out . "

The current situation immediately drove an Amazon seller crazy. A seller who was reserved 100 units of inventory couldn't help but sigh: "Sometimes I really feel that I have to rely on luck for my livelihood. Even if you have made all the preparations, there is still no way to avoid out-of-stock situations, because out-of-stock situations do not depend on us, but entirely on the platform. Facing these, it seems that I can't do anything."

Nowadays , when many goods cannot be put on the shelves , sellers seem to have no good solution. A colleague personally found that it was useless to contact seller support during this period, and all the replies were that there was no authority to urge the warehouse to put the goods on the shelves .

While the platform is slow to transfer and put on the shelves, the POD provided by the freight forwarder has also exacerbated the sellers' concerns. According to many industry insiders, many PODs provided by freight forwarders are P, for example, they sign for the goods before the backend appointment time, pick up the container today, sign for it today, put 2 boxes on the shelves first out of a batch of 10 boxes, and put the remaining 8 boxes on the shelves a week later, and so on.

An industry insider reminded sellers that there are not so many channels in the US, China and the US East, and it is not easy for freight forwarders to get contracts, so it is possible that the goods will be delivered with the warehouse. PODs are sent as soon as the goods are picked up from the US East, which is obviously fake. Some people also said that many PODs without hand signatures are useless .

Another expense, the warehousing defect fee should not be underestimated

The slow transit time at multiple Amazon warehouses not only affects sellers’ ability to sell products on the shelves, but may also bring in a new fee – the warehousing defect fee.

Since Amazon's warehouse configuration fee came into effect on March 1, sellers have become more concerned about the warehouse configuration fee because if the number of warehouses is not greater than four, sellers will have to pay high fees, but they seem to have overlooked the warehouse defect fee.

According to the new rules for warehouse configuration fees, all goods in the branch warehouse must arrive within 30 days, that is, after the first shelf arrives, the last shelf must arrive within 30 days. If the seller uses a fast ship from the West Coast to sell goods quickly and a slow ship from the East Coast to sell goods quickly, it is likely that the goods will not be able to enter the warehouse within 30 days, and the seller will be charged an inventory defect fee again.

There are currently a lot of problems with incoming shipments, and many sellers are indeed charged with warehouse defect fees. If you create a shipment and ship it exactly as it is , you can avoid the charge. However, if the first shipment arrives and the last one has not arrived for more than 30 days, the platform will charge a defect fee.

According to seller Li Dong, the main reason is that the warehouses in the eastern US are slow to enter the warehouse. If the warehouses in the western US arrive but the warehouses in the eastern US do not arrive within 30 days, a fee will be charged. A colleague said that the time efficiency of the eastern and western warehouses is far behind! The time efficiency is uncontrollable, and the platform charges for warehousing defects, which is also a hard sell!

What is fatal is that with the current warehouse transfer efficiency, receiving progress, and interference from freight forwarders or abandonment of goods , many sellers cannot avoid this warehousing defect fee.

"Amazon gives 30 days. This is the platform's evaluation standard. It uses this standard to determine whether the seller has sent all the goods as required, and will not consider some external factors or force majeure brought to the seller by its own warehouse. The platform's 30-day period is actually not reasonable, but this is the rule." Li Dong said

In addition, some sellers have used ERP card bugs to save on warehouse configuration fees, and have recently started to receive warehouse defect fees. The warehouse configuration fee takes effect in March. If the seller's first batch of goods arrives in April, the last batch of goods must arrive in May. If not, they will receive a ticket.

In recent times, some sellers have received the warehousing defect fees they need to pay. The money they previously evaded has to be paid back to Amazon.

Delivery network to achieve faster speed

According to Amazon, the implementation of the new FBA policy and the collection of warehouse configuration fees and warehouse defect fees by sellers are all aimed at achieving faster delivery. It is understood that Amazon's distribution network facilities include the following categories:

Sortable distribution centers : These distribution centers cover about 800,000 square feet and can employ more than 1,500 full-time employees. In these buildings, Amazon employees pick, pack and ship customer orders, such as books, toys and household items. There are many robots in the distribution centers, and employees often work with robots, learn new skills, and help create more efficient processes to meet customer needs.

Non-sorting distribution centers : Non-sorting distribution centers range in size from 600,000 to 1 million square feet and employ more than 1,000 full-time employees. Here, employees pick, pack and ship large or bulky customer items such as patio furniture, outdoor equipment or rugs.

Sorting Centers : At sorting centers, employees sort customer orders according to their final destination and consolidate them onto trucks . Amazon's network of sorting centers offers full-time and part-time jobs and has enhanced capabilities to provide customers with daily delivery services, including the customer-favorite Sunday delivery service.

Receiving Centers : Amazon’s receiving centers support customer fulfillment by receiving large orders for inventory that it wants to sell quickly and distributing it to fulfillment centers within the network . These buildings are approximately 600,000 square feet in size.

Delivery Station : Delivery station buildings are prepared for last mile delivery of customer orders.

Amazon's distribution network has different categories and tasks, and the company has invested a lot of manpower and financial resources in logistics. However, Amazon has countless packages, and during peak periods, there will still be problems such as slow transit and difficulty in listing. These problems will be reflected on sellers, affecting their sales.

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