This is a guest post by James Cecil.  James is an Amazon employee that is working hard to accept our books into a fulfillment center so the magic of Amazon FBA can do it’s work.  This is a detailed, step by step account of exactly what happens to our boxes as they arrive at Amazon.  Let me know your thoughts on this post in the comments section or by “liking” it via the Facebook Like button.

- Adam

Ever wonder what the whole process is that your FBA shipment to Amazon goes through? I knew you’d say yes. When your shipment arrives at one the many fulfillment centers in the Amazon network your shipment is processed from the carrier, be it USPS, UPS, or Fedex, that you have chosen to ship your merchandise. Amazon scans in the shipping label from the carrier. The shipping label has the ISD number attached to it which contains all of your shipment’s inventory.

Your shipment is then placed on the receive conveyor line, along with the sheet that has the ISD number on it, of which your shipment rolls down the receive line to a receiver to be processed. The receiver scans in the ISD page and places it back on the line for the next receiver. The receiver that has your shipment will the scan the shipping label, open the case that has your shipment in it, take out any packing material and then start to receive your inventory onto a library cart. Once the shelf of the library cart is filled the receiver scans the shelf to close it and counts out how many units are on the shelf and inputs that count into their receive station. This is repeated again for the remaining shelves. Once all the shelves are full the library cart is then pushed out into the holding buffer of the receive line.

From the receive line the library cart is moved into a stowing buffer. From this buffer a stower* comes and takes the cart from the stow buffer to an area where they will be stowing in. In that area the stower scans a floor location barcode. This floor location barcode allows Amazon to track where their associates are within the fulfillment center. After scanning in the floor location, the stower will then scan in each shelf and then the ID badge.  They will then scan any shelf they wish to start off with. Once they have a shelf opened they can start placing your inventory onto the shelves of the fulfillment center that they work in.

So now what happens when the stower comes across one of your pieces of inventory that will not scan? The stower will place your item back on to the shelf that it came from and take the entire cart to a problem solver** who will then check out to see what the problem is and make the necessary correction. In this case since the item will not scan the problem solver will simply print out a new FBA label for the item and hand it back to the stower to be placed into the shelf.

If this happens, the problem solver will move the item from the library cart into a tote and take the tote to their ISS Representative***. Who will then do some extensive research on the problem and may even submit a ticket on it to get the issue resolved so that Amazon can get the correct title, binding, and FBA label placed onto the item. Once this is done your item will then get placed into a bin in the fulfillment center.

*A stower is the person who takes a libaray cart full of books, CDs, DVDs, or a mixture of both and scans a location area barcode then the each self that has product on it. He or she then scans their badge. This places their name to each shelf that they have scanned. They then scan a shelf and their badge and finally an item they pick from the library cart they work from. They’ll then find a shelf in the warehouse to put the item they have chosen and scan the barcode of the item to check for damage or for the correct title and binding of the item. They then place it into a bin and scan that bin. This process is repeated over and over throughout their shift.

**A problem solver is someone who helps resolve issues that a stower comes across. For example, the stower scans an item who’s barcode is not being read by the hand-held scanner (Wal-mart type), the item itself is damaged or it just doesn’t match the title and binding that the scan information says. To address an unreadable barcode, the problem solver looks up the correct barcode either by scanning the shelf the item came from or by researching the Amazon web site. Once that is done a label is printed for the item. For a case of the item having the wrong tittle and binding the problem solver will place a problem ticket on the item and send it to the ISS Rep.

***The ISS Rep is someone who checks on the inventory that has been received in the fulfillment center. He or she checks on reports generated from problem solvers of items that have incorrect title and bindings as well as customer complaints of items that they have received that are damaged. I know of one case at the fulfillment center I work at our ISS Rep had to check some DVDs out due to a customer complaint that disc 3 of a 4 disc set wouldn’t play. The ISS Rep from the cooperate offices in Seattle had to go through the warehouse and collect up all the DVDs and inspect each one for the defect. At the time, I believe that was like 1400 or more of the same DVD this guy had to watch. Besides checking on what I’ve just mentioned the ISS Rep also goes out in the warehouse and checks for inventory that is missing and take care of problems that arise on the receiving line such as inventory coming in without any shipping information or an entire shipment sent to the wrong FC.

Here’s your takeaway from this post.  James has told me that the biggest problem they see with incoming FBA shipments is either barcodes that aren’t scannable, books that are in the boxes but not in the shipment and finally mislabeled books.  Pay attention when processing your shipments!  It only helps you and Amazon make more money!

- Adam

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"Um..this book smells like cat urine"

Condition is important. This is a fact. If you saw two books side by side with very similar prices would you choose Acceptable or Like New? Would you be willing to take the risk on used book sellers with a lower feedback score to get the Like New copy? Probably. Listing books with better conditions can greatly increase the likelihood of getting that sale.<

When sourcing books, don’t settle for Acceptable books unless the market demand and price justifies it. Pass up the ex-library book with no dust jacket even though you can buy it for a quarter and your PDA tells you $5. I’ve analyzed thousands of my own orders and only 20% of my sales comes from books in acceptable condition.

I hope that you are thoroughly looking over each book prior to listing. If the book looks brand new that doesn’t mean that it had a previous owner that took care of it but highlighted 80% of the pages. List the book’s condition properly every time. If in doubt, always lean toward listing it in worse condition than it actually is.

"Just buy the book and shut up"

Customer service is important for used book sellers but not as important as other topics. Typically, you won’t have a lot of customers asking questions prior to the sale. However, if you’re able to answer their question quickly and with courtesy they’re probably going to buy the book. Although it may be tempting to ignore a potential eBay customer asking a long question about a $3 book just do it. It may be only $3 now but how many other books do you have that they might like to combine shipping on?

"18 cents for delivery confirmation?!? Hell no!"

I’m cheap. I admit it. I’m sure this has hindered me in operating a business. For a long time I refused delivery confirmation on all packages just because it was 18 cents. If you like it or not, this is beginning to be required and expected from customers. It will also save you if something goes awry in shipping. I also refused to purchase Monsoon because it was nearly 10x more expensive than my previous service. It wasn’t until I bit the bullet that I realized what it could do for me.

Being cheap is fine when you’re brand new and refuse to take out any debt. However, if you’re looking to pursue book selling full time you have to spend money to make money. To be one of many used book sellers take that leap into using Amazon FBA even though you’re going to pay a little more or put a few hundred bucks up for that bulk lot of books that you’ve looked at and have a good feeling about. Think long term. What’s the use of money sitting idle in the bank? Spend it to build your business!

"Call 911. I can’t breathe."

Have you seen pictures of those bookstores that have no room to walk? They’ve been out of space for a long time but refuse to admit it. As an online seller you don’t have to worry about lawsuits from customers but your inventory system goes caput. You have no clue where to find an order. Books are falling on top of you and customers are screaming they need their order NOW.

Nip the problem in the bud when sourcing books. Refuse to buy books for pennies even though the Amazon low price is $20. Pay attention to sales rank as well. My minimum for a sales rank of 5 million+ is $20. Trust me. I’ve ran the numbers on thousands of orders and less than 2% of my sales come from very high sales rank books.

Cull books regularly. Are you running out of shelf space? Many used booksellers are.  Run reports of your inventory to regularly remove books that have priced at your price floor and with a high sales rank. Regularly purging books is a routine of mine that pays off every time. I get more space and remove books that have had their time to shine but no one is buying.

"This is what you want. I promise"

Never expect a potential customer to read your mind. They may see the title of a book but this ain’t snowflakes where every one is unique. Your copy could smell like cat urine while the competitors may be shrink-wrapped still. Condition, itself, is a good indicator but don’t announce the obvious "money back guarantee!" or "100% buyer satisfaction!" in your description. Make an obvious effort to describe the book’s general condition.

Get in a habit of taking pictures of every book you list. I had not done this for a very long time. It is something I have recently started and I am noticing a considerable increase in high sales rank book sales because of it. To begin, I pulled all books with a listing price over $20, took a picture of each and attached the picture to the listing.  People appreciate seeing the book they’re buying.  This is something I believe all used book sellers should do.

"My sales are fine. I’m doing pretty good on Amazon"

You’re either lazy, refuse to grow or are overwhelmed if you don’t expand to multiple sales channels. For used book sellers, Amazon is the best place to go. You’re on the money there but eBay, Alibris, Abebooks and Half combined are also good places to sell as well. Combined they only make up 20% of my sales but if you buy the right service (Monsoon, Fillz, AOB, ChannelMax, Indaba, etc) they do all the work for you. It’s just a matter of opening up an account and releasing your inventory.

"Eh…screw the books today. I’m watching TV"

We all work hard. I know this. However, putting off regular day to day tasks and pursuing new ideas for your business can kill it. Make a priority list of everything you need to get done with your business and stick to it. Don’t put off expanding to a new market, skipping a library sale, creating a FBA shipment or regularly tweaking your pricing strategy. If your goal is to expand your business, perhaps replace a full time income or simply make $1000/month do it. Stick to your goals and don’t relent. You can succeed and the rewards will come if you put effort into it.

"I don’t have time right now. I’ll list those books tomorrow"

This goes with #7. Making listing new inventory a priority every, single day. The best way to increase or at least maintain a sales level is to list new inventory constantly. For used book sellers, you’ll find that 10% of your new inventory will sell quickly and the rest will go slowly. Customers tend to "skim the cream off the top". If you can maintain a level of new inventory that’s in demand you will continue this lucrative phase. Eventually you’ll find that that other 90% that doesn’t sell quickly will become a huge quantity of your inventory. By that time, numbers will be on your side and your huge quantity of less desirable books will seem to sell more because you’ll have many more.

Don’t get caught up on tasks that may be of interest but do not make money. I’m guilty of this. Sometimes, if creating a FBA shipment doesn’t sound like much fun I’ll choose to cull books from my shelves. Stupid. Man up and prioritize tasks that are money makers. The other tasks may need to be done but if you’ve got hundreds of dollars just waiting to be made why would you procrastinate? If you don’t prioritize based on potential profit then what is your business about?

"50 cents for a $150 book?!? What’s this sales rank thing? Who cares?!"

This is another bad habit I got into when I first started and is a very slippery slope. You have to be careful here and this expertise comes with time. I had a minimum price that I’d list a book for at $2. I could buy books for pennies and make 50 cents or so if the book sold. I was happy because I was making money. Why would I pass on these books if it was guaranteed money? The reason is your time is limited and you’ve got to put a minimum hourly wage on your time. Why spend 2 hours shipping 20 mass market paperbacks and profit $50 when you could spend 5 minutes shipping 2 books?

I say that this is a slippery slope because I don’t want you to pass up books just because of the sales rank. I’ve sold books with 8 million+ sales ranks before for $50+. Used book sellers would be ecstatic with this. I’m not saying that the Amazon sales rank is everything but you’ll find that it is very accurate in determining market demand. With time and experience you’ll soon find that it’s not worth your time messing with very low end books. Eventually, think about hiring someone to list them via FBA or sell them in bulk to bookstores, flea market vendors, etc. Put a dollar figure on your time and stick to it. You’ll find that total orders will go down but average sale price will go up.

Now, why do you your sales suck  and what could YOU do to increase revenue?

9 Reaons Your Sales Suck [ 10:26 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (168)

I finally found reports within my Amazon seller account (actually Amazon Seller Central) that I never knew existed (because they are hidden) which has proven to be immensely valuable to me. The reports contain information about all of my listings such how many times an Amazon customer has viewed the listing, how many times my listing was awarded the Amazon Buy Box among a lot of other useful stats. From what I can gather these reports are typically reserved for sellers on the Amazon Seller Central platform but we used booksellers can also use this information to our advantage!

To be completely honest I’m unsure of Amazon Seller Central vs. the marketplace. There was some buzz awhile back about sellers getting moved over to Amazon Seller Central from another platform but no one was really sure what was going on. From the Googling that I did I can’t seem to make heads or tails on if my seller account is actually on Amazon Seller Central or another Amazon platform. What’s the difference anyway? Are all sellers on Seller Central? Let me know your thoughts in the comments section.

I’ve recorded a short video on how I got to these reports along with a few ways I am using this information to tweak my listings and make strategic business decisions. To get to the point where the video begins log into your Amazon seller account and click on View all suggestions under the Amazon Selling Coach box as displayed below.

I have no idea why Amazon seller support denied these reports existence to me. They are really handy for telling how popular a particular book you have is and a slew of other information. Sound off in the comments section about this. Is this just an Amazon Seller Central thing? Do sellers other than Amazon Seller Central accounts have access to these reports?

Today is the Cyber Monday and that means the biggest online shopping day of the year.  Amazon which is the giant we all know and love is one of the biggest online retailers out there.  In this CNBC video shot inside an Amazon Fulfillment Center in Phoenix, AZ (the smallest fulfillment center at 600,000 sq ft) shows how Amazon is handling the huge rush in orders.

Kudos go to the Channel Advisor blog and their RSS feed for this.

This is another guest post from a reader, Mike.  Mike is a budding online bookseller that is slowly beginning to see how selling books he once loved is turning into a thriving online business.  Ain’t online bookselling, great?

- Adam

Today will close out my first week as an online book-seller. All in all, I think I should be pretty happy with how things went.

To date, I have had 29 orders and once the three envelopes sitting on my kitchen table are dropped off at the mailbox, all 29 will have been shipped. Today, I received my first feedback from a customer. The feedback wasn’t much, but what it lacked in verbosity, it more than made up for in sentiment. The comment was simply, “Great!” The funny thing is, that’s exactly how I feel.

I find myself brainstorming for different ideas on how to get books. I’m constantly working through profit margins and revenue calculations in my head. I spend a lot of time trying to figure out what my magic numbers are. For me, magic numbers are the number of books I want to sell each month, the total amount of money I want to make in a month, and the number of books I need in my inventory to reach those goals. I still haven’t recouped my costs yet, and it could be some time yet before that happens, but the upside is that I’m having so much fun. I find myself checking my email more frequently than ever looking for book orders. I’m excited to walk to the post office every morning and drop off my orders.

Continue Reading…

A Personal Story: Graduating From a Book Lover to a Bookseller [ 8:21 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (142)