Our First Friday News Roundup!
In these articles we will be looking at what’s happened in Amazon in the week. We’ll be breaking down industry jargon into real world terms and what any changes could mean for you and your business. We’ll also be sharing any new “under the radar” hacks and tips that have surfaced during the week to help keep you ahead of the curve.
This week we have seen referral fee changes, Amazon admitting that they listen to customers conversations with Alexa, as well as using targeted horoscopes to market to them, and on Thursday, Seller Central stopped displaying order data again, sending sellers into a wild panic.
Deep breath… all was okay.
At We Prep FBA we’ve had a record week of new sellers joining our service, and we’re really happy about that! We can’t wait to help grow with you guys!
Not everything is golden though, I’m still battling with a competitor over a false infringement claim they keep reporting me for, I’ve proven that my private label product doesn’t infringe on their design over 8 times, but for some reason Amazon keeps accepting their report. Update to follow and once completely fixed, I will make a tutorial with the solution for anyone who may need it in the future.
A Quick Tip
A lot of the time when changing browse nodes, to try and get the best seller badge, you’ll have to send a message to Seller Support because it won’t update from the back end of the listing. They’ll often ask for the browse node again and the quickest way to get it is from the URL of the category.
Now this is something I have know for as long as I can remember, but, I was asked by someone this week how to find it quickly. So I thought if one person has asked me maybe others didn’t know!
Here is a screenshot of where to find it:
Referral Fees Have Changed, Do These Alterations Impact Your Business?
Everyone with a pro selling account should have received an email this week from Amazon HQ detailing their referral fee changes. There have been shifts both up and down in cost, depending on your item and its sale price.
Here is the email:
Dear seller,
Each year we reassess our referral fees to reflect changing costs, and industry dynamics, and incorporate your feedback to consider ways to grow your business. This year, we are lowering our referral fee rates across multiple categories to help you increase your selection of products. However, we are also introducing a per-item minimum referral fee in several categories in response to changing costs.
Starting June 5, 2019, we will implement the following changes to our referral fees:
• We will reduce the referral fee percentage for Grocery (excluding Beer, Wine & Spirits), Beauty, Health & Personal Care, and Baby products (excluding Baby Clothing) from 15% to 8% on items with a total sales price* of €10/£10 or less. We will continue to charge a fee of 15% on items with a total sales price greater than €10/£10.
• We will reduce the referral fee percentage for Furniture items from 15% to 10% on any portion of the total sales price greater than €200/£175. This does not apply to mattresses. The fee for mattresses will remain at 15%.
• We will reduce the referral fee percentage for Jewellery items from 20% (United Kingdom 25%) to 5% on any portion of the total sales price greater than €250/£225.
• We will reduce the referral fee percentage for Watches from 15% to 5% on any portion of the total sales price greater than €250/£225.
• We will introduce a per-item minimum referral fee of €0.30/£0.25 across all categories, except Grocery and Media categories, which includes Books, Music, Video, Video Games, DVD and Software.
• We will increase the referral fee percentage for TVs, Laptops and Computers in France from 5% to 7%.
*Total sales price includes the item price plus any shipping and gift wrap charges.
So looking at the figures, as an example: if your selling Grocery items at £10 or less you will see your referral fee drop to 8% and you skip the £0.25 minimum fee as the category is exempt. All in all fees are generally coming down or staying the same, which is great! That is, unless you’re selling items under £3.00, and get hit with the £0.25 minimum fee, or you’re selling TV’s Laptops or computers in France, where you’ll see an increase from 5% to 7%.
Another great “Working Week” done and time for the weekend. I’ll be kicking back and relaxing, watching some films and having a lie-in…
Jokes… I’ll be hustling looking for new opportunities. (No judgement if you’d rather do the former though!)
