In a blink of an eye, there are only two days left in 2020. Looking back on this year, due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, many cross-border e-commerce sellers have experienced factory shutdowns, forced online work, buyer order cancellations, store performance issues, rising logistics costs, logistics delays, shipping and storage restrictions, store out-of-stocks, and more.

For many sellers, after reviewing 2020, it is time to plan for 2021. For the short-term planning for 2021, the issue is undoubtedly stocking up.

But when it comes to stocking up, sellers must have a headache again. Not long ago, Amazon announced that unlimited inventory does not mean unlimited shipping . If shipping restrictions still exist, it will be difficult for sellers to carry out replenishment and stocking measures.

But now that good news has come, sellers' stocking plans are expected to proceed as planned.

Amazon relaxes shipping restrictions

As early as December 25, some sellers found that after updating the delivery quantity, ASINs with more orders were given an extra month, while ASINs with average orders were given an extra half month. This seems to mean that Amazon has relaxed its delivery restrictions.

After hearing the news, some sellers went to the backstage to check and said that the number of shipments had indeed increased, but for most sellers, the number of shipments had not changed.

And on the evening of December 29, the seller @AM-木子excitedly expressed on Weibo: The goods have been released from the warehouse for shipment!

▲ Screenshot from Weibo @AM-木子

This happiness seemed to come too suddenly, and then a seller responded: We are restocking like crazy!

Some sellers even said angrily: In one go, they replenished a year's supply for one SKU.

▲ Screenshot from Weibo

So I asked in the sellers’ chat group early this morning: Has everyone’s shipment quantity been updated? How is the situation?

Unexpectedly, after checking it out, the sellers also became very excited↓↓↓

Seller A: Oh my god, it suddenly increased by 50%. I am going to cry.

Seller B: The quantity updated this time is much larger than last time~

Seller C: I immediately created 27,000 shipments and shed tears of excitement!

Seller D: I feel like the world is a better place with 60 days of shipping space!

▲ Image source: seller communication group

Of course, there are also sellers who said that their delivery quantities have only increased a little, and some products have not changed at all.

▲ Screenshot from Weibo

In fact, based on the above content, we can conclude that products with better sales have a larger shipment quantity after the update, while products with average sales have a smaller shipment quantity increase. At the same time, this also means that Amazon has adjusted the shipment quantity and gradually relaxed the shipment quantity restrictions.

Now that the number of shipments has increased, sellers can actively create shipments, replenish inventory and prepare goods.

Things to note when preparing for the Spring Festival

When it comes to stocking up before the Spring Festival, what sellers need to pay most attention to is the holiday schedule of logistics carriers and factories .

In the past, the logistics industry usually started to take holidays 10 days before the Spring Festival. Normally, it would be no problem to make the last replenishment before the Spring Festival. But in today's situation, everyone needs to expand the time to two or three months.

When considering logistics, we also need to consider the factory. Regarding the factory holiday time, seller @AMZ-续命冰阔落 asked on Weibo: Many factories stopped production on January 15, and most companies started the Spring Festival holiday on January 31. What about you? Have you heard about it?

▲ Screenshot from Weibo @AMZ-续命冰阔落

The sellers who commented on this Weibo post were skeptical: It’s not very credible~ But now we are doing our best to stock up on goods.

▲ Screenshot from Weibo

In short, sellers need to communicate with logistics companies and factories in a timely manner to understand their specific holiday times and make their own stocking plans accordingly.

So when it comes to stocking planning, how should we prepare stocks before the Spring Festival? Especially for those sellers whose shipping quantity has not been relaxed and who still have inventory restrictions, how should we operate?

How to prepare goods before the Spring Festival

Some sellers who are still restricted from shipping asked: The Spring Festival is in mid-February, and the factories are expected to resume operations in mid-March. Doesn’t this mean that we have to prepare goods for a month or even three months? In addition, with Amazon’s current inventory restrictions, how exactly should we prepare goods?

A seller who also has relevant experience gave a response to this.

The above sellers’ sharing is of certain reference significance to sellers whose delivery quantity has not been relaxed or sellers who still have inventory restrictions. I hope you can learn from it and plan your own stock quantity, delivery time and logistics methods.

Finally, let's do a small survey. Have sellers increased their shipments now? What are their stocking plans? Welcome to discuss in the comments section~