Amazon will allow third-party merchants to deliver non-essential items to its warehouses starting later this week, CNBC has learned . As soon as the news came out, it caused quite a stir in the cross-border seller circle.
The "unblocking" news issued by Amazon this time means that for millions of Amazon third-party sellers, their business may improve under the epidemic.
Seller Advisors also noted that Amazon is relaxing restrictions on certain non-essential items.
Amazon will allow sellers to resume shipping non-essential items Amazon says it will soon allow third-party merchants to deliver non-essential items to its warehouses.
An Amazon spokesperson said in a statement that the company will begin accepting more products in its warehouses starting later this week , relaxing restrictions they put in place in March , when Amazon told sellers it would "temporarily prioritize" household staples, medical supplies and other essential product categories in response to a surge in demand caused by the coronavirus outbreak. The spokesperson said product quantities will be limited to enable Amazon to continue to prioritize essential products and protect employees, "while also ensuring that the majority of selling partners are able to ship items to our warehouses ." It seems that Amazon will still prioritize the delivery of essential items, but can ship to FBA. For Amazon's millions of third-party sellers, this update should be a welcome change. After Amazon said it would prioritize essential items, many sellers expressed concerns that the decision would exacerbate the severe impact of the health incident on their business.
Sellers selling anything other than essentials like toilet paper and disinfecting wipes said they were forced to furlough or lay off employees and cut advertising spending. While third-party merchants can still sell non-essential items on Amazon, they cannot use Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA). Some Amazon sellers said they noticed that some products classified as non-essential items had been "unblocked", and one seller said that Amazon informed them that those selling non-essential items could now start restocking.
James Thomson, a sales consultant, said he had also noticed Amazon was relaxing restrictions on some non-essential items. Thomson added that delivery times for non-essential items appeared to be improving in certain geographic areas. “As things stand, delivery times for many non-essential items have improved significantly compared to last Friday, ” said Thomson, the former head of Amazon’s delivery service, in an email. Not all sellers can ship non-essential items to Amazon warehouses. Jason Boyce, a former Amazon seller and now a consultant to third-party merchants, said he can’t send his products to Amazon warehouses right now, even though he tries every day. Amazon has faced increased demand from customers on multiple fronts since the pandemic first hit. To meet the increased demand, the company has added more than 100,000 employees and announced Monday that it would hire an additional 75,000 workers across the country. It seems that Amazon is going to make great efforts in logistics. Some sellers said that Amazon is recruiting 75,000 more people to handle the next orders of non-essential goods? This possibility cannot be ruled out, but an Amazon spokesperson said that FBA will start accepting more goods from later this week, so sellers don’t have to worry. The editor will follow up on this matter and inform you in time! Source: SellerGrowth |