Starting this month, we are planning on doing a monthly round up of all the latest Amazon news and happenings. This will be largely Amazon Sellers focused but we'll include any interesting news and topics for anything to do with Amazon.
Video Is Live for Enhanced Brand Content
Earlier in the summer Amazon promised to make Video available for all Enhanced Brand Content (it used to be primarily available only to Vendor Central customers). It is now available for all sellers with Enhanced Brand Content. Video is huge and becoming, umm, huger so you should definitely utilize video if you have EBC. There's good article about the new video requirements here.
Live Chat Now Available Between Customers and Sellers
I'm not sure if this is new or not but when I went to respond to a question through Amazon's “Customer questions & answers” option within a product page I was directed to a Live Chat option with the customer (responses will be made public).
Although it does give a more “chat” like feel, it doesn't really add a lot functionality wise to the Question and Answer experience as customers and sellers could always go back and forth through a series of comments. If anyone has any experiences with this new chat like feature, please comment below.
Amazon FBA Target Dates for the Holidays
If you're not already planning for the holidays this is just a short reminder that you really should be.
Amazon released its target dates for when they want Sellers to get inventory into Amazon to meet Cyber Monday and Christmas cutoffs. Many of us probably have similar dates internalized but the dates below are probably better guidelines as hopefully it means that if you get inventory shipped to Amazon by those dates Amazon will ensure it's checked and placed into inventory in order to sell (as well all know, making it to an Amazon warehouse and actually being placed into stock are two very different things).
Inventory for Black Friday and Cyber Monday should arrive at Amazon fulfillment centers by November 7, 2017.
Inventory for Christmas shopping should arrive at Amazon fulfillment centers by December 1, 2017.
Inventory for 2018 should be sent to Amazon fulfillment centers no earlier than December 17, 2017. Until then, please only ship items to Amazon that will sell in 2017.
Amazon is Looking for a City to Host Its Second Headquarters Outside of Seattle
Amazon is looking at opening a second headquarters to compliment its Seattle headquarters. Amazon says it will employ 50,000 employees (with average salaries over $100k) and invest $5billion into the project. As a former Amazon warehouse employee of 4 days, news of Amazon bringing high-paying jobs (opposed to thousands of near minimum wage warehouse jobs) is welcome news.
If you're a local mayor, leader, or monarch of a city interested in hosting Amazon, send your resumes to jeff@amazon.com. A word of warning though, according to the Washington Post, only 39 cities make Jeff's shortlist.
Sales Tax Amnesty Offered for a Number of States
The news first came out earlier in the summer that a number of states were offering sales tax amnesty aimed primarily at Amazon Sellers. In August it became official with over 20 states offering such “generosity“.
The whole issue of nexus and how it applies to Amazon Sellers is still a bit of an unknown so it's up to you and whether you essentially want to make your identity known to relevant tax authorities. I can't help but to be reminded of a time in Chinese history when Chairman Mao invited the intelligentsia of China, who Mao was always critical of, out of the shadows to be given forgiveness and then proceeded to slaughter them all…
Dave Bryant has been importing from China for over 10 years and has started numerous product brands. He sold his multi-million dollar ecommerce business in 2016 and create another 7-figure business within 18 months. He's also a former Amazon warehouse employee of one week.
“I can’t help but to be reminded of a time in Chinese history when Chairman Mao invited the intelligentsia of China, who Mao was always critical of, out of the shadows to be given forgiveness and then proceeded to slaughter them all…”
Wow, that’s sobering indeed :-) Having only just launched as a private label seller, (non US resident) really at a loss to know what to do about the whole sales tax thing! What’s the view from where you guys sit? One advice I read was just to register for the 3 big states – Ca, TX and Florida.
Thanks for the informative site by the way. Lots of great stuff to digest.
James
IMO, if you’re going to register, you might as well use a service like tax jar and do them all. For larger sellers, sales tax liability is a very serious thing to give very serious consideration as a call from a local sales tax authority could put them out of business. If you’re a smaller seller, however, and incurring a yearly sales tax liability in each state of tens of dollars or even hundreds of dollars, making the decision to report sales tax in forty some odd states may not be the best use of your time.
“I can’t help but to be reminded of a time in Chinese history when Chairman Mao invited the intelligentsia of China, who Mao was always critical of, out of the shadows to be given forgiveness and then proceeded to slaughter them all…”
Wow, that’s sobering indeed :-) Having only just launched as a private label seller, (non US resident) really at a loss to know what to do about the whole sales tax thing! What’s the view from where you guys sit? One advice I read was just to register for the 3 big states – Ca, TX and Florida.
Thanks for the informative site by the way. Lots of great stuff to digest.
James
IMO, if you’re going to register, you might as well use a service like tax jar and do them all. For larger sellers, sales tax liability is a very serious thing to give very serious consideration as a call from a local sales tax authority could put them out of business. If you’re a smaller seller, however, and incurring a yearly sales tax liability in each state of tens of dollars or even hundreds of dollars, making the decision to report sales tax in forty some odd states may not be the best use of your time.