Amazon has acted. Dharmesh Mehta, the Vice President of Customer Trust and Partner Support for Amazon, has announced that some policy changes are going to be made for 3rd party sellers. Amazon has recognized what uncertain and difficult times we are all currently living in. For starters, Amazon plans to hire 75,000 more employees at their fulfillment centers. That's on top of the 100,000 they have already hired.
In addition to supplying more jobs, Amazon is now providing new policy measures for 3rd party sellers that will be in effect during the COVID-19 quarantine. Mehta has stated that for the duration that it takes Amazon to get their fulfillment capabilities back to full strength, “[They will stop] suspension of selling accounts for high order defect, high cancellation, and high late shipment rates. These changes will stay in effect through at least May 15, and we will extend these as appropriate.” This is to protect selling accounts and foster good account health during this time making sure that our current situation does not have any adverse effects.
In a similar vein, there has also been several adjustments to fees and other programs:
Paused repayment of all Amazon Lending loans for sellers in the United States and the United Kingdom until April 30.
Waived two weeks of inventory storage fees for products stored in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Poland, and the Czech Republic.
Waived the April 15 long-term storage fees for inventory stored in those same countries.
Also, as stated in ALGO's previos blog post, Amazon is now accepting shipments of a broader array of products into their warehouses. However, Amazon has stated that some products "may have limits on the quantity you can send to Amazon. You can find the latest on what products you can inbound on the Restock Inventory page in Seller Central." So, be aware of what limitations are set on the products you are buying before purchase from suppliers.
Amazon really is doing a lot to facilitate healthy business growth. They have even set up their own webpage to effectively communicate directly with its 3rd party sellers on what will/might be coming down the pipeline. We suggest actively checking in with this page to be as up to date as possible as to what is coming.
Here is the link to the updates page in Seller Central.
It has been reported that in the coming weeks Amazon “will be launching new ways for experts to share what they have learned and are doing to help businesses manage through this difficult time.” So be on the look out for some great tips and information that should be coming our way.
Keep on selling.
Ready to start building an Amazon Business right now? Enroll in our New 20-hour course that will show you exactly how to start and scale your Amazon business:
Want to learn exactly how to Start and Scale your Amazon business? Our team will be hosting a FREE online workshop within the next 7 days!