My brother-in-law is causing trouble again! He not only does not allow shipments but also limits inventory. Here are some ways for sellers to save themselves!

  Japan FBA sets an inventory storage limit

Recently, some buyers reported receiving email notifications about changes to the upper limit of Amazon Japan’s logistics inventory storage.

The email content is as follows:

According to feedback from sellers, the upper limit for each seller is different, and Amazon will allocate the upper limit based on the seller's store situation. In theory, it is a comprehensive measure of factors such as backend sales volume and inventory turnover rate.

In any case, such storage capacity restrictions are really unfriendly to sellers, and Amazon sends out email notifications when the policy takes effect. Sellers are caught off guard and passively receive notifications, and have no time to respond. For example, if a seller's account has a product that sells very well and needs to add more inventory, but other products have redundant inventory due to previous decision-making errors, then the capacity is bound to be insufficient. The seller can either not increase the inventory of the product, or can only reduce the inventory by selling it at a low price, changing warehouses, labeling, or abandoning it. In any case, it is a loss.

Fortunately, Amazon said that it will relax the restrictions as soon as the warehouse inventory space is relieved. However, we can only wait for Amazon's notification on when the restrictions will be relaxed.

Coincidentally, this kind of thing happened not only on the Japanese site, but it broke out even more violently on the American site a few days ago!

US FBA stops accepting shipments during Christmas

A few days ago, the sellers’ group was discussing this notice: Christmas season delivery will stop on December 3, and replenishment should start from January.

Many sellers are angry. Amazon only emailed sellers on December 9 to inform them of the suspension of delivery on December 3. Not only did you act without authorization, but you also dragged it out for so many days. What should the sellers who need to replenish their goods do?

In response to this issue, the seller kept opening cases to ask Amazon customer service, and then the investment manager came out to answer. The reply was roughly: Products that are already in transit will not be affected, and sellers can continue to ship if they can create a shipping plan in the background. However, the speed of product listing will be extended, and the listing time cannot be guaranteed. Therefore, it is recommended to replenish stocks from January if there is no rush.

Regarding the reason for restricting sellers from shipping, a customer service representative said:

To put it bluntly, the orders exploded, and the warehouse staff were busy shipping the goods, so they had no time to put the products on the shelves. After all, it was more important for my brother-in-law to make money!

It seems that there are many things happening during the peak season, and sellers are also worried about it. However, when it comes to inventory restrictions, I have to mention Amazon’s inventory performance indicators.

Inventory Performance Indicators

The Inventory Performance Index is an inventory index set by Amazon to enable sellers to better manage their inventory, further promote sellers to optimize their inventory management, and reduce the backlog of products in the warehouse. On the other hand, the plan can also ease the pressure on Amazon warehouses, save manpower and warehouse space.

Previously, Amazon announced that starting from January 1, 2020, the US site will increase the IPI compliance value for warehouse restrictions to 400 (previously 350).

Whether sellers can have unlimited inventory capacity in the first quarter of 2020 is determined by the IPI score in the fourth quarter of 2019. Therefore, inventory performance at the end of the year is very important, as it affects the inventory capacity for the coming year.

According to the chart below, there will be a second review during the week of December 23rd, and if the seller’s IPI score is still below 400, Amazon will impose storage restrictions in the first quarter of 2020.

So, how can you improve your IPI score? A seller’s IPI score is related to these three factors:

Therefore, the best way to improve the IPI score is to reduce redundant or slow-moving inventory and increase inventory turnover. Sellers can improve their IPI scores by conducting promotional activities, creating removal orders, advertising products, improving search keywords, and optimizing product information.

I think the Japanese site’s stock keeping limit is based on the IPI score. Judging from my brother-in-law’s recent operations, sellers should also pay attention to the issue of inventory turnover in the future. After all, as Amazon continues to grow, warehouse management will become more and more refined. It is a general trend to limit sellers through inventory capacity and transfer pressure from Amazon warehouses.

(Some of the materials and screenshots in this article are from Amazon Global Selling)