🍭 Treacle Thursdays from Seller Candy (6/1/22 issue) 🍬

Dear Buddy,

Happy New Year, one and all! I hope you had a great break and got to spend tonnes of time with family and friends.

Given my last foray in newsletter writing mentioning I've been in the UK, coupled with the current Omicron situation plaguing the country, it's hardly surprising that I was struck down. I come to you today freshly recovered and ready to write some news.

Let's get in to it.

"The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge."

- Stephen Hawking

Clarity on dropshipping rules

Not all of our readers are dropshippers, but I'm sure some of you are. There's been some clarification recently of the rules around how it works and what you're going to be immediately banned for. I thought dropshipping from Amazon had been banned entirely - apparently I was wrong.Amazon have given us some clarity on what's allowed and what isn't. Here's what you aren't allowed to do:

• You may not purchase products from another retailer and have that retailer ship directly to customers, if:
  • the shipment does not identify you as the seller of record
  • anyone other than you appears on packing slips, invoices, or external packaging
    Note: This means that the name, logo, or any other identifying information from the other retailer may not appear on what the customer receives.
• You may not ship orders with packing slips, invoices, external packaging, or other information indicating a seller name or contact information other than your own

Basically if you're meeting those requirements then you should be fine.

Be-warehouse

More bad news for staff at the packing centres. It seems Jeff and various high-level cronies are continuing to damage their reputation with the public by exploiting staff who pick up injuries in their warehouses in order to bludgeon their way to ever more obscene profits.

There has been talk of malfunctioning machinery, injuries on the job which aren't compensated due to technicalities and constantly deteriorating working conditions despite the number of locations increasing all the time.

While we do have to take this with a pinch of salt as they're hardly wanting for staff, it does seem insane not to treat their workers well with the amount of worldwide exposure they have.

Link Up Leaders

It's always this time of year when we re-evaluate our goals and priorities and think about what we want to achieve by the end of the year (even if we only last a week or two at the gym!).

For many of us the first step will be to get things back on track after they've been derailed by the holidays. As Amazon sellers, that's not always the easiest thing to do but we can start by fixing the issues, big or small, that have popped up over the last weeks.

The best way to do it? Don't even talk to Amazon.

John joined Link Up Leaders and talked through the four steps we take here at Seller Candy to fix almost any problem that can rear it's head.

IPI worries could be fading...hopefully

It's been a tough, long road for many of us since Amazon made it almost impossible for us to keep our products at a decent stock level - especially new sellers or sellers with stock that doesn't move as quickly.

Good news may well be working its way on to the scene. As of now, the IPI limits are being eased. There are 'expanded storage benefits' for new sellers. Everything is looking good on the face of it.

Make sure you check this out, check your limit updates and make sure you're contacting Amazon if you haven't seen a change to your limits - hopefully this will help us all move in the right direction. According to Amazon, PL sellers were responsible for over 50% of the sales over Black Friday and Cyber Monday - they need you too.

That's it for this week. I hope you're having a smashing start to the year and that it continues that way throughout. I know we normally have a partner section with some cool offers for you, but there was so much stuff I needed to include this week there just wasn't space.

Look out for some recommendations next week that will really get your business pumping for 2022.

May your sales be high and your returns low!

Rich

Partnership Manager and viral newsletter writer at Seller Candy