Amazon manipulating data unlawfully to profit from FBA capacity
Hi,
So, it is highly likely this post will be deleted by Amazon as it clearly shows they are manipulating their data to unlawfully profit from sellers by forcing them into a bidding war for FBA capacity space.
I'm sure many of you using FBA have seen the new policy from Amazon asking you to bid on space requirements for your FBA stock. This was introduced during COVID-19 due to the high volume of incoming shipments.
Amazon states in their policy that this is based on metrics from seasonal trends and customer demand; however, a pattern has emerged that clearly shows this is not the case.
We have been selling on Amazon for over 13 years and have designed our own analytical system for stock prediction and demand. This shows that Amazon is clearly manipulating the data provided to sellers to extort higher capacity storage rates.
A simple example is from our sales in Dec 2022 to Dec 2023, in this senario the required space was allocated to us in Jan 2023 instead of Nov 2023 when required (due to shipping time).
The peak of our sales occurs in the months of Dec; however, in Amazon's case, they are applied the following cubic feet:
Dec 2023: 352 Cubic Feet
Jan 2024: 683 Cubic Feet
We have experienced similar sales peaks over the last 2-3 years in this scenario, this data shows that they do not account for seasonal trends, therefore forcing sellers to request capacity limit increases on their inventory, forcing them into a bidding war.
I have decided to report this to the UK and Irish Ombudsman, and I would appreciate it if any other sellers who have had a similar experience come forward.
Regards
Ronan Kelleher
Amazon manipulating data unlawfully to profit from FBA capacity
Hi,
So, it is highly likely this post will be deleted by Amazon as it clearly shows they are manipulating their data to unlawfully profit from sellers by forcing them into a bidding war for FBA capacity space.
I'm sure many of you using FBA have seen the new policy from Amazon asking you to bid on space requirements for your FBA stock. This was introduced during COVID-19 due to the high volume of incoming shipments.
Amazon states in their policy that this is based on metrics from seasonal trends and customer demand; however, a pattern has emerged that clearly shows this is not the case.
We have been selling on Amazon for over 13 years and have designed our own analytical system for stock prediction and demand. This shows that Amazon is clearly manipulating the data provided to sellers to extort higher capacity storage rates.
A simple example is from our sales in Dec 2022 to Dec 2023, in this senario the required space was allocated to us in Jan 2023 instead of Nov 2023 when required (due to shipping time).
The peak of our sales occurs in the months of Dec; however, in Amazon's case, they are applied the following cubic feet:
Dec 2023: 352 Cubic Feet
Jan 2024: 683 Cubic Feet
We have experienced similar sales peaks over the last 2-3 years in this scenario, this data shows that they do not account for seasonal trends, therefore forcing sellers to request capacity limit increases on their inventory, forcing them into a bidding war.
I have decided to report this to the UK and Irish Ombudsman, and I would appreciate it if any other sellers who have had a similar experience come forward.
Regards
Ronan Kelleher
0 yanıt
Seller_V6DKYyRKqyUtD
Its good you have formulate a system to provide you with data to launch a challenge. unlike us we don't invest in that capacity because we cant fight an internal war with amazon and win with their robotic responses. One has to take them to court where necessary. We hope you are successful in your attempt, someone has to take the initiative to challenge the unfair and unethical business practices of there monopoly.
Seller_fj3M54GkuGQyT
I don't agree that this is 'manipulation' as such, and the allocation of space does not cause you to 'pay' for that space...you only pay for what you use. You only need to 'bid' on space if you need more space than you've been allocated.
Amazon expect sellers to send all of their Christmas stock into FBA during October/November so typically give higher storage limits during those months vs December. I can only assume the higher limit in January is to allow you to restock any SKU's that have sold out over the Christmas period, which seems fairly logical to me.
I actually find this new system (which has only been put in place this year and not during covid-19) a bit more generous. For example, our limit for December is 1,760.32 Cubic Feet and we are only currently using 300 Cubic Feet... in January, our limit increases to 3,216.30 Cubic Feet and then goes down to 2,042.85 Cubic Feet in February.
