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“Sellers on Amazon say the company’s new cap on products they can send to its warehouses is cutting into their holiday sales: ‘It’s killing us’” (Source: Business Insider )
While Amazon remains under scrutiny over its treatment of third-party sellers, they emphasized the success that sellers have seen, saying third-party sales surpassed $3.5 billion during its Prime Day event this year and record-breaking figures during Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
However, Third-party sellers are saying Amazon’s holiday inventory restrictions are making it difficult for them to replenish supply and keep up with demand during this busy holiday shopping season.
Amazon originally capped the number of items that sellers can ship to its warehouses in an effort to conserve space, but sellers say that these new rules are cutting into their holiday sales.
Back in August, Amazon said that third-party sellers would be able to send in more stock as they sell products, but sellers are having issues with their shipments to Amazon warehouses being delayed.
Although sellers do expect this year’s sales to exceed those from last year, the shipment limitations are still cutting into potentially higher sales and they’re worried about their listings getting bumped down by Amazon’s algorithms if they run out of supply.
“Amazon sales surge during a record-breaking holiday shopping season” (Source: CNN Business)
Amazon was already having a blowout year while shoppers stuck at home have been increasingly relying on the company to deliver goods to their doorsteps during the pandemic.
Now, Amazon says that this year’s holiday shopping season, which kicked off in mid-October with a delayed Prime Day, has been its largest (and longest) ever.
Amazon said the record sales had a halo effect on small- and medium-sized businesses that use the platform. Those online sellers brought in nearly $5 billion between Black Friday and Cyber Monday on Amazon — a 60% increase from last year.
Self-care and home goods are very popular this year as more people are confined to their homes during the outbreak.
Amazon is expected to be one of the biggest winners this holiday season, with one Wall Street firm estimating it could capture 42 cents of every dollar spent during this shopping period.
“Sellers Object to Amazon Policing of Prices” (Source: eCommerce Bytes)
Many sellers voiced their dissatisfaction with Amazon’s enforcement of pricing policies, including its Marketplace Fair Pricing Policy and the Featured Offer price.
This topic came up in Amazon’s November 27th post where the company stated, “When we identify these potential errors, we will notify you. In more serious cases, we might deactivate the affected listings to avoid a potentially negative customer experience.”
It went on to say, “You can review your offers that have been deactivated because of potential pricing errors in Pricing Health. Reconsidering your price inputs in Pricing Health may resolve this pricing issue and reactivate your offer. We have also provided reference prices to help you identify any potential pricing errors.”
But sellers say Amazon’s pricing policy hampers repricing, a practice many sellers rely on to keep up with changing conditions on the marketplace.
One seller objected to having a bot determine a “fair price” and said they believed it would lead to unscrupulous actors figuring out how to weaponize the algorithm against competitors.
Many sellers believe the market should decide the price, not Amazon. If the seller has a higher price their item won’t sell. The customer has a choice.
One seller said: “This is a good customer experience, not bad. The customer can choose on other factors than price if they so choose.”
“Amazon and YETI sue third-party sellers, alleging they sold counterfeit tumblers, as the retail giant cracks down on fake goods” (Source: Business Insider)
Amazon and YETI filed a lawsuit Thursday alleging that third-party sellers imported fake YETI tumblers from China and sold them on Amazon.
YETI is known for its luxury coolers and other tailgate-ready accessories. A 20 oz YETI tumbler retails for about $30 and a large cooler clocks in at $350.
In March, US Customs and Border Protection seized a shipment of cup lids, branded with the YETI logo, under the suspicion that the shipment contained counterfeit products.
When US Customs sent 500 of the lids to YETI to be checked, the company found that the goods were counterfeit.
The shipment from China listed a seller called “The Cyber Bargain Portal” as the recipient. Another account, doing business as “Gadsen Flags USA,” was also registered to the same address and purported to sell YETI brand tumblers on Amazon, the suit alleged.
The case is part of a larger effort by Amazon to crack down on counterfeit products on its platform in recent years after brands like Birkenstock complained that fake goods proliferated on the platform.
In November, Amazon sued two influencers, alleging that they sold fake luxury products like Gucci wallets and disguised their Amazon listing to fool the platform’s knockoff detectors.
