Amazon place regular restrictions on sellers of Toys and Games in the run up to Christmas. The reason they give is “To maintain buyer confidence in Amazon”.
Basically (without being too blunt) Amazon don’t want a novice seller either being flooded with orders and shipping late, or overselling and having disappointed children and parents on Christmas day.
This year Amazon’s selling guidelines will apply from the 17th of November 2015 through the first week in January 2016. To sell Toys and Games between these date you must have made your first sale on Amazon before the 18th of September 2015 (in any category, the sale does not need to be specific to the Toys store) and…
- You must have processed and shipped at least 25 orders from the 1st of September through 31st October 2015. The orders do not need to be specific to the Toys store.
- Your pre-fulfillment cancel rate must be no greater than 1.75% from the 1st October through 31st October 2015.
- Your late shipment rate must be no greater than 4% from the 1st October through 31st October 2015.
- Your order defect rate must be no greater than 1% short term as of the 1st November 2015.
FBA avoids the Christmas Toys & Games seller requirements
If you use Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA), orders sold using FBA will not be subject to the holiday season restrictions provided your account is in good standing.
If you’re a brand new seller to Amazon and can’t meet the requirements to sell in Toys and Games over the holiday period, you can still take advantage of the Christmas peak sales period simply by sending your products to Amazon and letting them take care of the fulfilment.
Of course using FBA will give you other advantages too, such as the ability to appeal to Amazon Prime customers who can then use Amazon’s shipping promotions. If you wish you can allow buyers from across Europe to buy from your Amazon UK stock (at no additional charge to you) and of course using FBA can give a boost to your chances of winning the Amazon Buy Box.
