[Crew Review] Elite Seller ceases operations

Farewells

Elite Seller has announced that it will cease to operate beginning today, after efforts to get Amazon to reinstate its MWS credentials have failed.



It’s one of the most popular software suite among Amazon FBA sellers, and it likely won’t be the last to be shut down by the ecommerce giant.

Here’s the full scoop.

Amazon Top Terms

Let’s wind the clock back a little to find out which Amazon terms had a drastic increase in searches from February 13th to February 26th.

March 3 is World Book Day, which means that children will be dressing up in costumes to transform into their favorite characters. This means that each year, parents are on the hunt for the perfect costume in time for the celebrations.

Dr. Seuss's birthday was also yesterday, and the keywords “dr. seuss shirts for kids,” “thing 1 and thing 2,” and “dr. seuss shirts for women” are among the top movers this week, taking our 1st, 8th and 9th spot respectively. Products related to these terms have already sold 2118, 712, and 1512 units in the past two weeks.

Dr. Seuss believes that “Things” are better together, and so do some Amazon products. Product bundling is a common selling practice among sellers, so get started with Product Bundling to steadily increase your profits.

Amazon Deactivates Ukraine-Based Sellers

Amazon has deactivated a number of Ukraine-based sellers to prevent them from incurring unnecessary penalties over potential shipping delays that may be caused by the war.

The ecommerce giant said this is a standard precautionary measure to “protect” sellers from unforeseen events, such as natural calamities. In an email sent out to sellers who were deactivated, Amazon encouraged them to focus on their personal safety, as the company protects their accounts by placing them on inactive status. The company also included a link in the email to immediately restore the account for sellers willing to keep their businesses open.

Other tech giants have also recently responded to the Russian invasion in Ukraine—for instance, companies like Apple have halted product sales in Russia following the attacks.

Sellers Can Now Bid For More FBA Space

EcommerceBytes reports that Amazon has come out with a pilot program offering sellers who have FBA storage limits to bid for more space, and will only incur costs if the inventory does not move quickly.

According to the report, Amazon’s new Storage Limit Manager is a response to those sellers who require more storage space because of their unique knowledge about their products, planned launches or promos, and other factors. Under the program, sellers can indicate how much space they want for the second quarter (April 1 to June 30) and specify a reservation fee they’re willing to pay.

Amazon first introduced FBA storage limitations back in 2018, as it does not want its fulfillment centers to act as mere long-term storage warehouses for sellers. This new feature follows the earlier announcement that sellers who hit an IPI of 400 will benefit from unlimited storage (volume) space.

Speaking of FBA Changes…

Amazon has recently announced more benefits to its FBA New Selection Program, which launched back in January 2021.

According to the post, beginning March 1, 2022, Amazon will be providing a monthly rebate of 5% on your sales of eligible new-to-FBA parent ASINs for brand owners who complete Brand Registry. The rebate will be applied against fulfillment fees for the following branded new selection:

• For eligible oversize items, the rebate will apply on up to 30 units per parent ASIN for up to 90 days.
• For eligible standard-size items, the rebate will apply on up to 50 units per parent ASIN for up to 90 days.
• For eligible items in the Apparel and Shoes categories, the rebate will apply on up to 100 units per parent ASIN for up to 120 days.

The announcement also says that sellers no longer have to enroll in the program separately for each store where they want to sell—New Selection benefits will apply automatically to each store where you have an active account and have sent eligible new products to fulfillment centers.

Lastly, free liquidations for new selection will be available for the first 100 units of each eligible apparel and shoes ASIN, the first 50 units of each eligible standard-size ASIN, and the first 30 units of each eligible oversize ASIN within 180 days after the date that inventory was first received.

Amazon Opens FC for Large Items

The ecommerce giant is planning to open a one-million-square-foot nonsortable fulfillment center in Augusta County, VA in Spring of next year. The facility will generate an estimated 500 jobs and will be tailored to bulky items, such as outdoor equipment and patio furniture.

This will be a new addition to Amazon’s slew of fulfillment facilities in the State of Virginia. Other 2022 projects include an inbound cross-dock fulfillment center in Chesapeake and a robotics fulfillment center in Suffolk, both to open in Spring.

Under the Hood

Under the Hood is our ongoing podcast series where we look at some of our Premium members’ ecommerce businesses to address pain points and identify opportunities for growth. In an hour-long coaching call, Mike takes a deep dive into these businesses and gives some valuable and actionable advice tailored to each business.

Our community is replete with success stories about how our Under the Hood alumni have grown their businesses all the way to seven figures, with some having secured that graceful exit and sold their brands for top dollar.

If you want to jump on a free coaching call with Mike and be featured on the EcomCrew Podcast, head over to ecomcrew.com/underthehood to sign up!

Etc.

State of the Seller. Our friends over on Jungle Scout have just come out with their annual State of the Amazon Seller Report, featuring some valuable insights that could help you rake in more profits this year.

Asap. Amazon CEO and former AWS head honcho Andy Jassy is using customer complaint emails to learn more about parts of the business he’s unfamiliar with. Here’s how he swiftly resolved a Visa exec’s personal complaint.

Remorse. Comixology, one of the largest digital comics publishers, recently integrated directly into Amazon’s marketplace. This wasn’t very well-received, and the publisher has promised changes in a lengthy email thread.