Last month, Amazon announced that it would impose storage restrictions on sellers with an IPI score below 500 in preparation for the peak season. Many sellers have tried their best to improve their IPI scores, such as removing inventory and increasing promotions, but the results have been unsatisfactory.

On August 10, Amazon’s IPI assessment ended. Many sellers with IPI scores below 500 received emails from Amazon regarding excess inventory storage fees, but the high amount of the fees surprised the sellers.

Sellers will face high storage overage fees

Yesterday, many sellers received an email about Amazon's inventory storage overage fee. The email shows that because the seller's inventory performance index IPI score was below 500 four weeks ago and is still below 500 now, we will adjust your storage capacity limit for standard size, large pieces, clothing and footwear storage types. In addition, all products currently have replenishment quantity limits. Please note that depending on the storage type, any inventory usage that exceeds the storage capacity limit is subject to an inventory storage overage fee of $10.00 per cubic foot.

▲ The picture comes from Zhiwubuyan    

In the seller group, sellers who received the email posted screenshots one after another. Some sellers’ inventory storage excess fees reached $400, some exceeded $1000, and some even exceeded $6000 . Many sellers joked: Boss, the storage fee is more than what I earn in a month.

In the email, the excess storage fee is just a few numbers, but for sellers, it means a considerable cost, and it is even more of a burden for small and medium-sized sellers with mediocre performance.

Seller: After seeing this shocking storage fee and then looking at the empty order list in the backend, I sang a song "Liang Liang" for myself.

▲ The picture comes from the seller communication group  

Dual restrictions on shipping and warehousing

Although Amazon has not yet announced the specific date of Prime Day, the application guide for Prime Day activities on relevant sites has been launched, which means that Amazon's peak season is coming. However, sellers are now facing dual restrictions on shipping and warehousing. Can they still replenish inventory to prepare for the peak season?

Currently, most sellers have a negative attitude towards Amazon’s restrictions on shipments and IPI assessment policies, and are confused about their preparations for this year’s peak season.

Some sellers complained: Amazon's IPI assessment now requires a score of 500 to pass, but Amazon's warehouses either refuse to ship or are overwhelmed, causing sellers to be out of stock, so the IPI is naturally low. Some sellers also said that now Amazon will cancel orders if they remove them!

▲ The picture comes from Zhiwubuyan    

Some sellers actively try to improve their IPI scores, but it is difficult to meet the standards regardless of whether their sales volume is high or low, or whether they have sufficient inventory.

At present, the epidemic situation abroad is still tense. The unstable logistics timeliness and the limitation of warehouse space make it difficult for sellers. Now they will also face high excess storage fees. Sellers can be said to be struggling to survive in the cracks.

At the same time, by August 15, if the seller has unsaleable inventory in the inventory for more than 365 days, Amazon will charge additional long-term storage fees ($6.9/cubic foot or $0.15/unit, whichever is higher).

The current situation of sellers is that the number of new products shipped is limited, warehouse space is tight, and storage fees are high. Many sellers lament that they lose money on every order they place. Is it still worth doing business with Amazon?

How to deal with high storage excess fees

Although the situation facing sellers now is not optimistic, it is worth noting that the implementation time of inventory capacity is August 16. Therefore, if there are sellers who exceed the inventory capacity, they should take positive measures as soon as possible to consume the excess inventory to reduce the storage excess fee.

Some sellers said: The easiest way to reduce the fee is to remove inventory and move it within the limit. However, the inventory removed during this period cannot be replenished. Alternatively, the excess inventory can be sold within seven days, but this is unlikely.

So how can sellers improve their IPI scores? To do this, you still need to focus on the four factors that affect the IPI score:

If the seller's IPI score is lower than 500 points at the first assessment point, while trying the above operations to improve the IPI score, it is recommended that the seller also make plans in advance for storage restrictions. For example:

• Calculate the current inventory level to ensure that there is no overstocking and avoid incurring excess storage fees.

• Create a removal order as soon as possible. Removal will incur long-term storage fees, storage excess fees, or unsalable goods, severely unsalable goods, etc.

The above are suggestions for sellers to deal with IPI assessments and high storage fees. Sellers can take appropriate measures based on their own circumstances and prepare inventory reasonably to welcome the peak season.

Text✎ Yi Xin/

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