In direct dialogue – The most frequently asked questions from Amazon sellers
In recent months, we have gained valuable insights from conversations with customers and partners at many events. Whether at our booth at OMR with a relaxed glass of beer or in the discussion rounds following our speaker appearance at the Amazon Seller Day in Berlin – face-to-face interactions remain more inspiring than over the phone or in a video call. We also remember with gratitude the webinars we were able to host together with our partners. These not only provided valuable insights but also plenty of food for thought for the future.
Exactly these ideas will be addressed and discussed in this blog post.
Questions about FBA refunds
There is no doubt that those who use FBA have a clear advantage over other non-FBA sellers on Amazon. However, especially in light of the constantly rising FBA costs, one should keep a vigilant eye on the processes within the warehouses and reports from Amazon. In particular, errors must be identified and reported in order to claim the associated refunds.
FBA errors remain undetected for up to 10 months
“I first heard about FBA errors through my friends.”
When asked how sellers are informed about errors in Amazon FBA warehouses, 60% indicated that they had to find out on their own. This occurred either through discrepancies in their records, for example, when fewer items were logged in the warehouse than were originally shipped, or through tips from other sellers. Additionally, it was found that it could take up to ten months for sellers to realize that they had a claim for a refund, in some cases even involving very large refund amounts.
The next step: Refund, but how?
First of all, the seller must be able to prove that the damage was caused by Amazon. For many sellers, retrieving the necessary reports is already too time-consuming. Especially for refunds of minor amounts, they are reluctant to invest the time to sift through the many available reports to find those that are relevant for their own refund.
Once this is done, the next step is to convince Seller Support, which often requires a lot of persistence from the sellers. As if that weren’t enough, it may be necessary to escalate the situation to the account manager or other channels if progress cannot be made with Seller Support.
In our webinars, we noticed that many sellers have not yet heard of the software solutions that specialize in exactly this process, and therefore always claimed their refunds manually – provided the refund amount was worth it to them. This led to many small amounts accumulating that were not reclaimed due to time constraints. There was a lack of awareness of companies like SELLERLOGIC, which offer an automated solution like Lost & Found, with which these processes can be carried out in no time.
Error identification up to 18 months in the past
A question that has come up in every previous webinar concerns the time range of Lost & Found in uncovering FBA errors – depending on the case type, it can go back up to 18 months; only for the case type “FBA Fees” is the range three months, and for the case type “Inbound Shipments,” it is six months. Given that most sellers only learn about FBA errors and the possibility of refunds after about ten months, this is an extremely important question. In fact, a lot can accumulate in 18 months. It is not uncommon for the first refund for new SELLERLOGIC customers to reach five-figure amounts, especially for companies with a high return rate, such as in the clothing sector.
Questions about price optimization
Price remains the most important metric for winning the Buy Box on Amazon. Therefore, it is even more relevant to keep your pricing strategy competitive, which, however, requires a lot of time and energy, especially when selling professionally and managing more than 10 to 20 SKUs. The SELLERLOGIC Repricer is a great help in this regard. Nevertheless, some questions still arise here and there.
What happens when two SELLERLOGIC Repricers meet?
More and more often, we encounter the question of what would happen if two people sell the same product at the same time using the same repricer. Does the repricer stop working? Do both lose the Buy Box? Does the repricer take a screenshot?
The answer is simpler than one might think: The Buy Box is awarded to the person with the best – price-independent – metrics.
These metrics refer to those that Amazon considers relevant for winning the Buy Box. Price remains the most relevant metric of all. However, if both sellers have optimized for the best price, the algorithm focuses on other metrics. These include customer service, seller ranking, order defect rate, the number and quality of product reviews, delivery time, and leniency towards customers regarding the refund policy. Which metrics are decisive in each case depends entirely on the specific situation. Often, the location of the product is also a determining factor. For example, if two people are competing for the Buy Box for a product that is primarily sold in Italy, the person whose product can be delivered to Italy faster will win the Buy Box, because it is stored in Munich rather than Berlin.
Another option is the splitting of the Buy Box among sellers. If this happens, it will also be displayed in our software.
A repricer is more than just a “Buy Box machine.”
Merchants want only one thing: a high Buy Box share for all their products. We understand that. That’s why we built the repricer that ensures many of our customers achieve a Buy Box share of 90% along with increased sales performance and visibility.
“What was the push strategy again?”
Because most of our customers and partners feel that their needs are met simply by using the Buy Box strategy, they often do not realize that the repricer can do more than just win the Buy Box. For example, using the heatmap allows sellers to see exactly when the most sales were made and when they should accordingly raise the price. Additionally, the repricer can automate relevant pricing strategies, such as increasing or decreasing the price after a certain period or after selling a specific quantity of products. Overall, the SELLERLOGIC repricer offers seven strategies that Amazon sellers can use to make their pricing strategies more dynamic than those of the competition. Here is a selection:
The influence of the Amazon threshold price
“What exactly is the Amazon threshold price and is it displayed in your solution?”
The threshold price on Amazon is the price specified by Amazon that indicates the maximum price a product can have to still qualify for the Buy Box. How Amazon determines this price is difficult to define, as many factors come into play. For example, Amazon is said to check and compare prices on other marketplaces, and the price range of various offers on Amazon itself is also believed to influence the threshold price.
Often, the threshold price is below the average price of other marketplaces. At first glance, this may seem suboptimal for sellers – however, the lower prices lead to higher customer numbers on the Amazon platform and thus more sales, ultimately providing an advantage for Amazon and Amazon sellers.
The threshold price is displayed in the SELLERLOGIC repricer dashboard. Amazon sellers can see how many and which of their products are currently above this threshold price set by Amazon. This information is crucial because these products can no longer win the Buy Box or can only do so with difficulty.
Conclusion
It is undeniable that Amazon as a platform is becoming increasingly successful, thus offering Amazon sellers more opportunities to achieve high margins. At the same time, however, the growing competition cannot be overlooked, which continues to rise year after year. All of this does not necessarily make life easier for Amazon sellers, especially considering that Amazon itself tends to focus more on buyers, advertising, and general expansion into new marketplaces, rather than on sellers.
Those who sell professionally on Amazon will therefore need to invest more time in overcoming the competition in the future – for example, through better pricing strategies and leveraging all financial options. For this reason, it makes sense to take a closer look at solutions that can handle time-consuming, repetitive, yet very important tasks. The SELLERLOGIC Repricer and Lost & Found are two such solutions, developed by a company that puts you as an Amazon seller first.
Image credits in the order of the images: © Dilok – stock.adobe.com, © Suriya – stock.adobe.com, © Michael Traitov – stock.adobe.com
