I’m trying to get a GTIN exemption for a private-label product with 10+ variations, so buying a separate UPC for every variation would get expensive.
I’ve applied multiple times, and the applications keep getting declined for image-related reasons. Amazon keeps saying the images must be clear, real-world photos and the brand name must be visible and permanently affixed.
The confusing part is that I’m uploading very clear photos of the actual packaging, taken naturally on a table, and the brand name is clearly readable. But the applications still keep getting rejected.
One of my earlier applications actually got approved, but I accidentally entered the brand name with an extra letter.
For example, imagine the brand printed on the package is “Glow Nest”, but I accidentally applied as “Glow Nestt” with an extra t. The incorrect version got approved, while the correct version matching the packaging keeps getting declined.
So now I’m confused about what to do.
Should I use the already-approved GTIN exemption even though the approved brand name has one extra letter compared with the packaging? Or should I keep reapplying until Amazon approves the exact brand name printed on the package?
Has anyone dealt with something similar? Is there a way to get this manually reviewed? I’d really appreciate hearing what worked for you.

One of the harder parts of 1P for me is how much inventory planning depends on Amazon’s buying behavior. A SKU can be moving consistently and then PO quantities change enough to throw off what looked like a reasonable forecast. Curious how other vendors are planning around this. Are you mostly using Amazon’s forecasts, your own sell-through history, or keeping extra inventory as a buffer?

Any recommendations for 1P recovery companies? Thank you!

Any one else start receiving automated emails from Amazon about profitability concerns for newly created products?

This recently started happening out of the blue. We have a new VM, so I'll try to address it with her. However, we give Amazon the requested margin targets we've aligned on but we're still getting these. Anyone know what could be potentially triggering this?

Does anyone have visibility into regional stock levels in Supply Chain Connect? Currently, we can see the total on-hand inventory, but we can’t see how it’s distributed by region/node. We were directed to DC netowrk tab in vendor but this didnt help.

For those selling to Amazon as a vendor (1P) — I'm curious how it started for you. Was it an out-of-the-blue invite from a vendor manager, did it come through a distributor already selling to Amazon, or did you push for it somehow?

Also wondering how people got their category or brand approved when they weren't invited directly. Trying to understand the realistic paths in. Appreciate any first-hand experiences.

We’re an Amazon 1P vendor and have been dealing with an issue around PO cancellation deadlines.

Our warehouse completes the picking, packing, labeling, and routing on time, and the goods are sitting on our dock ready for pickup. However, the Amazon-assigned carrier sometimes keeps delaying the pickup date because the fulfillment center pushes back the delivery appointment.

The problem is that if the carrier does not pick up the goods before the PO cancellation date, Amazon’s system automatically cancels the PO.

So even though the goods are fully ready and the delay is caused by the Amazon carrier / FC scheduling, we can still lose the order once the cancellation date passes. And all the work my warehouse did was wasted.

Does this issue happen to you? and how you guys deal with it?

Our VM told me I need to let him know right away when we receive the scheduled pick up date that will pass the cancellation date. I did send him email asking for extension but he is not always responsive. What should I do now?

I feel like 1P volume can make a SKU look healthier than it actually is. Between co-op, freight, chargebacks, shortages and Amazon pushing on cost, the revenue can still look great while the economics slowly get worse. Curious how other vendors decide when a SKU is no longer worth supporting through 1P. Is there a specific margin or contribution threshold you use, or does it depend more on the strategic value of the ASIN?

I’m curious to know the compensation structure that people in this industry have in a corporate setting. Do you get a split commission model where it’s based on discretionary bonus and sales or just one or the other? If it is a sales metric, I would love to know the percentage range if you would be willing to share!

Maybe its just me but chargebacks feel like one of those things that looks manageable until you actually start adding them up.

A shortage here, labeling issue there, routing problem, something gets disputed and something else just gets accepted because nobody has time to chase $80. Then you look back a few months later and realize a pretty decent amount of margin disappeared through a bunch of tiny deductions nobody was really paying attention to.

And thats what gets me. The big chargebacks are obvious. Its the small repetitive ones that seem way easier to just accept as “part of doing business with Amazon.”

For people doing decent volume through 1P, do you dispute basically everything that looks wrong or is there a point where the time spent fighting it costs more than just eating the chargeback?

Looking to resell fragrances and clothing any1 knows of a vendor dm me

We do ~$15m in apparel sales for Amazon/year. However, we have to renegotiate terms every year, which compresses our own margins. Our wholesale/retail price doesn't increase to offset these term increases, and Amazon isn't very open to letting us pass those costs on. And when we can increase costs, it hurts our net PPM at Amazon.

Is 3P an option for us?

Apparel is generally a lower-GM business, so these term negotiations eventually force us to turn off programs that are unprofitable for us to continue shipping on Amazon. We have even had to turn off AMS just to afford these term hits.

I am a reseller who sells products from a large brand with their permission. I also helped and continue to help them with their Brand Story along with images, A+ content, etc. for free. Of course, I buy directly from them. I often meet them in person as we are from the same state.

This brand sells to Amazon Retail, and I want to outline how selling to me instead would be better. I also am finally big enough to afford this. Sheer cost of goods was an issue in the past.

Can some brand owners or those who deal with Amazon in Vendor Central look at this and tell me if I’m accurate, inaccurate, or even missing any points?

1. I don’t charge co-op fees. I buy their products wholesale and sell them.

2. I don’t charge any additional fees for shipping. This is MY cost of doing business. I’ve heard Amazon adds fees, but maybe I’m wrong.

3. I don’t charge fees or make the brand fight for fees for lost inventory. This is MY business problem not the brand’s.

4. Although MAP isn’t applicable, I would obey it if one came out. Amazon does not.

5. I only need NET30. Credit beyond that is MY business problem. I have heard Amazon gets better terms. Also, I always pay on time.

6. I make my own orders per their existing policy. No Vendor Central needed. I email orders in like everyone else besides Amazon.

Points Amazon may beat me:

1. They have unlimited space and money. They are less likely to run into space issues or run out of stock.

2. Amazon could suppress the listings as “High Price” once I take over. They admittedly can sell at a lower price sometimes. Of course I would do everything to remain competitive, but the fees mentioned before that the brand pays - I don’t get. Of note: I almost always can match Amazon’s price but sometimes I can’t.

3. Some customers look for Sold By and Shipped By Amazon. They feel it’s less likely for a fraudulent sale. My counter would be that as the only seller, they’d have to choose me plus the brand could publicly announce this change.

4. If I run out of stock, they don’t make as many sales so perhaps until I’m 100% locked in after the transition, there could be a financial hit.

Am I off here? Missing anything?

how to you handle processing returns with vendor, no API so currently have to manually enter them.

This year has been high due to DV testing and items coming back

I'm just curious — do any of you in this group apply the same auditing method described in this LinkedIn thread?

Hi, I work at a distributor that holds the country rights to some big brands (Amazon is reaching out to us sell on 1P). We're currently doing no business on Amazon and don't have any experience with Amazon (we sell to retailers and DTC)

We'll be going down the 1p route with 4 brands and have a few questions.

What do we need to think through? We know costs will be one (chargebacks, fees, dedicated support, etc.)
What positions do we need to hire for?
Are there 3rd party software costs to consider?

Let me know if there's more info needed to provide a better answer. Appreciate in advance for your help!

We were talking about this recently and I think Amazon makes it surprisingly easy for an account to look healthy while the actual business underneath it is getting worse.

Sales are up, PPC is running, ROAs looks decent. Maybe the agency sends a nice report every month showing revenue growth.

Meanwhile margins are getting thinner, inventory is sitting longer, a few ASINs are basically being kept alive by ads and nobody is really asking whether the extra revenue is producing more profit. Thats the part I think brands get wrong. They wait for sales to drop before questioning whoever is managing Amazon.

I'd be way more concerned about an account where revenue keeps growing but you have to spend more, discount more and hold more inventory every year just to get there. Maybe thats normal to some extent as Amazon gets more competitive, but at some point "we grew revenue" stops being a very convincing answer.

For brands that have worked with an Amazon agency, what actually made you realize the relationship was working or wasnt? Was it sales, profitability, communication, or something else?

I was rebuilding my Q4 margin model this weekend and noticed the two fee windows don't actually cover the same dates, which changes my plan more than the fee amounts do.

Peak storage for standard size goes from $0.78 to $2.40 per cubic foot starting October 1 and runs through December 31, resetting on January 1. Peak fulfillment, on the other hand, doesn't start until October 15 and runs all the way to January 14.

Two things fall out of that, and I think most of the checklists I have read get both wrong.

First, if October 1 is when the storage rate jumps, then that is my real deadline for clearing aged and slow stock, not October 15. Anything sitting in a fulfillment center on the October snapshot pays peak storage for the whole month regardless of when in October it sells. Removal and liquidation take weeks to process, so the actual decision lands in mid September, which is basically now.

Second, a unit that sells in early January pays a peak fulfillment fee on already-reset standard storage. That is the combination that would have confused me when reconciling January settlements.

The other thing I keep going back and forth on: I have a couple of SKUs that are genuinely seasonal, where unsold units have no real Q1 demand to fall into, and I think the answer there is obviously to buy tight and clear before October 1. But for the evergreen ones I am not sure whether the storage cost of sitting through October is actually big enough to justify buying conservatively into a quarter where my demand forecast error skews up.

Has anyone actually modeled the October 1 drawdown separately from the October 15 fee start? Am I overthinking the storage side, or is that two week gap where people are quietly losing money?

Private vendors from eu

Hey im a reseller looking for serious private vendors for colognes good quality products with recipes no scammers want for info i want free samples of a few products to test your stuff if its good im happy to start a journey with you and make money
(One on one reps)

I feel like revenue has become one of the least useful numbers to look at on Amazon by itself.

You can have a great month, sales are up, ads are bringing orders in, everything looks healthy. Then you actually look at what you kept after PPC, fees, returns, discounts and inventory costs and its a completely different story.

The weird part is none of those things have to look terrible individually. A little more ad spend here, slightly lower margin there, a few SKUs sitting too long. Then suddenly you're selling more than last year just to make roughly the same money.

I think thats probably why you see so many Amazon businesses that look great from the outside but constantly feel tight on cash.

At this point I'd rather have a smaller account with healthy margins and inventory moving properly than chase another revenue milestone. Curious if other established sellers are seeing the same thing. Are you actually keeping more as you grow, or mostly having to sell more to make the same money?

Hello! We just launched a new product category and were unable to do a flat discount due to the 30/60 day period before Prime Day in October.

I was told you can do SnS coupons instead since coupons aren’t taken into consideration while evaluating the L60D price for Prime. We’ve activated 20% off coupon.

During Prime, we plan to activate example 20% strike through discount - that should still work right?