A story we have covered several times in previous episodes, a number of companies are adding interactive shopping support through various platforms.

The most recent addition, since their holiday livestream was successful beyond expectations, Wal-Mart recently held its second TikTok livestream sale.

Other social media platforms and entertainment sites are also jumping on board the consumer train

Instagram launched "Shopping in Reels" in December, allowing users to purchase products tagged within the Reels. Google released Shoploop where consumers can shop products being demonstrated by brands and influencers through 90 second videos. And now Mashable has partnered with eBay to add shopping tag icons in articles and images for readers to buy the items.

🔗 https://www.retaildive.com/news/walmart-returns-to-tiktok-for-beauty-focused-shoppable-livestream/596458/

🔗 https://www.retaildive.com/news/mashable-launches-shoppable-virtual-home-featuring-walmart-products/596375/

📌 2021 Spring Canton Fair is online and it is Freeeeeeeee!

The Canton Fair is usually held in Guangzhou China, between 4 event halls covering 12,174,000 sq. ft. Due to COVID travel restrictions, the event will be held April 15-24th and it will be 100% online.

The Canton Fair has set up messaging with suppliers as well as needed translations. There will be 16 main categories with a wide range of products and manufacturers, and they’ve even got Virtual Reality set up so you can get up close and personal with exhibits, some products as well as the manufacturer’s home office.

🔗 https://www.cantonfair.org.cn/en/

📌 Walmart tackles automated fulfillment putting Amazon in their cross hairs

Fabric robotics is showing retailers that a micro-fulfillment center can be established almost anywhere. As an example, Israel’s largest supermarket has a working fulfillment center set up in a 15,000 sq ft space manned by just 6 employees and dozens of robots… in the parking garage of a Tel Aviv skyscraper.

Walmart is looking to use this “half man, half machine” micro-fulfillment center to better compete with Amazon’s massive fulfillment network.

This is a format others are sure to follow and very soon. Grocery stores and big box stores are rethinking their delivery options to keep up with consumer demands and online competition. COVID has accelerated the growth of online retail and innovative ways in which they connect with customers.

This could give Walmart the needed edge to stay competitive with Amazon.

Definitely something to keep an eye on.

🔗 https://www.forbes.com/sites/joanverdon/2021/02/28/why-amazon-should-be-worried-about-walmarts-micro-fulfillment-centers/?sh=575fbcf35870

📌 Amazon to close inactive accounts

Emails are being sent out alerting Sellers that inactive accounts will be closed. What is an inactive account? If you don’t log into your SellerCentral account in the next 9 months, it will be deleted. So if you aren’t going to use that old account, now is the time to sell it or at least log in if you don’t want it deleted!

4 March 2021 Email from Amazon:

Hello,

To protect our customers, we close accounts that have been inactive for extended periods of time.

In the next 10 months, please log into Seller Central to continue using Sell on Amazon and to avoid having your account terminated. You can access Seller Central via the link below:

🔗 https://sellercentral-europe.amazon.com/gp/on-board/configuration/index.html

If you do not log into Seller Central in the given time, your account will be considered inactive.

Sincerely,

The Amazon Payments Team

📌 Amazon is piloting a program to liquidate inventory

As you well know, sellers have two costly ways to handle customer returns & stranded or excess inventory: 1. send it back to you or 2. Amazon disposes of it (and possibly sells it on your listing). A new program is being piloted that gives more options.

One of the new programs is called “FBA Grade and Resell as Used”. This program is for customer-opened returns and Amazon will have employees grade the returned items as one of the following: dispose, acceptable, good, very good or like new.

The other new program is called “FBA Liquidations” and is for excess stock. Amazon works as the go between to broker a deal selling the stock you want to liquidate to a third party. You can recoup some cash for those cell phone cases you/we bombed out on. Danan: Yeah, that’s right, I’m looking at you… me...

🔗 https://www.webretailer.com/b/amazon-fba-grade-resell-liquidation/

📌 Amazon Prime Day Is On for 2021

Amazon recently began informing sellers about Prime Day, including a post on the Amazon UK Seller Central board.

While Amazon keeps the exact date a secret until much closer to the event, it must inform sellers of deadlines for submitting deals. In the UK, the deadline for submitting Prime Day Lighting Deals is April 23rd, and May 28, 2021 for Prime Member Voucher. It’s time to get stocked up and submit for deals!

For the first time in the past 4 years, Prime memberships are up  by 3%. This may sound like small potatoes, but this equates to an estimated 30 million new Prime memberships. Which means more customers for you!

http://on.mktw.net/3cDvZBx

Amazon has a new Payment Service Provider policy

As of March 1st, sellers adding a new payment service must ensure their provider is on a pre approved list.

If you're using a standard bank account, or a provider who is on the pre approved list, such as LianLian Pay, Payoneer, PingPong and WorldFirst, then no action is needed.

If you're not using an approved provider or a bank account, by July 15th 2021, you’re not getting your payouts.

More data:

https://amzn.to/3cFT9Y6

Payment Service Providers participating in the program: 

http://amzn.to/30LVwmu

Getting paid on eBay has changed.

If you are selling on eBay, you may have noticed that they have taken a page from Amazon in how they handle funds. eBay is cutting out PayPal and will deposit your profits directly to your account. No more PayPal fees and no more deposits and then selling fees being withdrawn by eBay. This also means your customers have different options to pay.

http://ebay.to/38LnnHY

Liability insurance is now a must on Amazon

If you’re a professional seller, you’ve read the Amazon Services Business Solutions Agreement right? Of course you have! Just to refresh your memory though,  Amazon requires sellers to carry $1 million coverage per incident if you’re making $10k or more in sales a month for three consecutive months, which hopefully you are.

Pro Merchant Insurance Requirements:

https://amzn.to/3toxkCO

Amazon Services Business Solutions Agreement, search for “threshold” for the requirements

https://amzn.to/3cy8auW

Are you selling hygiene or topical products in Europe?

April 5th 2021 a factory seal will be required on all hygienic and topical products. The seal comes with a slew of requirements to deter forgeries. Amazon wants returns to be pristine for resale so they are looking for an intact factory seal. The seal will prove that a product was never opened or used by a customer who returns it. 

Products not fitted with a qualifying seal by 5 April or returned products with a damaged or missing seal will be marked unsellable and will be disposed of at the seller’s discretion.

https://amzn.to/3bPwhWP

Move your Meltables!

Summer is coming and with it Amazon asks that you please remove anything they will have to mop up in the heat. Heat sensitive inventory that cannot withstand temperatures ranging from 75 to 155 degrees Fahrenheit will not be fulfilled or accepted by Amazon fulfillment centers starting April 15, 2021. This can include but is not limited to chocolate, gummies, snowmen, wicked witches of the West, lipstick, wax items and more.

If you don’t remove your inventory by then, Amazon will kindly dispose of it for you and charge for doing so. My bet is that they’re going to EAT IT ALL. Meltable inventory will be accepted again starting October 16, 2021.

For more information, visit Meltable FBA inventory.

https://amzn.to/3rQyEyf

If you have access to the Manage Your Experiments, or MYE, feature, it now includes A/B testing of product images. For the first time, you can test alternate versions of your main product image and see what images may drive higher conversions with customers. 

With MYE, you can run A/B experiments on three areas of your brand registered detail page: A+ Content, product titles, and images. Experiments are easy to start and the results are simple to understand. It takes less than five minutes to create an experiment with weekly results.

Manage Your Experiments tool in Seller Central.

https://amzn.to/3cywv3D

Fakeish News

We’ve heard from an anonymous source that Alexa has just purchased a controlling interest in Paramount Pictures prior to the release of Paramount plus. Though we’ve been unable to confirm this, it appears that the reason for this investment is alexas newfound interest in film production and getting in touch with her more artistic side. You may find subtle changes to the cast of certain films in IMDB, but don’t worry, this is normal… Additionally the soon to be released film Without Remorse starring Micahel B Jordan (and by the way, this is being produced in conjunction with Amazon Studios) is said to have a sudden cast change… lauren London due to inexplicable health concerns has suddenly been removed from the production to be replaced by none other than… Alexa.

Talk about making a grand entrance! 

Yeah! We’ve sure got some exciting times in our upcoming movies.

Exciting indeed! Until next time, keep selling well! 

That is all for this episode, cheerio!

Amazon has been doing major interface changes again. The latest is how you switch between synced seller accounts and countries. They streamlined the process, so instead of changing merchants on a separate page, you can now choose your store right in the drop down.

📌 Does your listing feel crowded?

All Offers Display (AOD) is a new display Amazon added so customers can see all the sellers on a product, new or used, in one panel without leaving the product page. The Buy Box is still there but this provides easy access to other sellers on the listing. This comes on the heels of Amazon adding more advertising space below the key features.

🔗 https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/help/help.html?itemID=GYZNTFDKYWU75VZ8&

📌 Amazon quietly changed the customer review interface...

Neither Sellers nor customers can comment on customer reviews. Last year, the downvote button was removed from reviews and you are left with “helpful” or “report abuse” buttons. Before that, a customer’s ability to leave reviews on the phone became more complicated as they are easily given the option to leave a star review, which now does not show the reviewer’s name. This widens the gap between customer and seller again. Selling on Amazon means playing by their rules and not communicating with customers outside of very specific parameters.

📌 FBA New Selection Program:

In our next story: Amazon has made it easier to bring new products to market. The FBA New Selection program offers free storage, free removals, and free return processing for a limited time for eligible new-to-FBA ASINs. Sellers enrolled in the program can use these benefits for up to 500 new ASINs per year, which will be reassessed every January 1st. In addition, you can qualify to get a $100 discount on Amazon partnered carrier shipping if you're new to FBA.

🔗 https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gc/fulfillment-by-amazon/new-selection?

📌 New Ungating updates for the Dietary & Supplements Category

Amazon cares a lot about our customers, well... their customers. This story is about our personal all time favorite problem-child listing, the Dietary and Supplements Category. This change could be for the entire category or just one ASIN, it varies depending on what you are listing. The best way to circumvent denial is to have the requirements ready before you list!

What ARE the requirements I hear you ask?! You need a Certificate of Analysis from an accredited laboratory for each supplement you are listing. Product Images have very specific criteria including views of the entire label. The label also has its own requirements, and lastly, you need a letter of guarantee from the manufacturer of the product that meets certain criteria.

🔗 https://tinuiti.com/blog/amazon/amazon-releases-new-category-changes-to-dietary-supplements-category/

📌 Our voices have FINALLY been heard!

For those of you who have had your account suspended in error, there is a new link at the bottom of the page to reactivate your account. I just used this yesterday with one of our accounts that was suspended 6 months ago and it was live in an hour!

🔗 https://managebystats.com/blog.quickly-fix-your-suspended-amazon-account

Amazon has begun testing a new feature on the iPhone that lets you text Alexa instead of speaking to her. You can ask questions, order products, call people and more. Now when your angry wife is sleeping next to you, you can order her chocolate and flowers without having to yell out “Alexa!” in the dead of night.

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/12/03/how-to-text-amazon-alexa-from-your-iphone.html?&qsearchterm=amazon

https://www.imore.com/ios-11-will-let-you-type-queries-siri

-----------------

Amazon is changing the rules and interface for inventory in Seller Central again

A Beta for inventory replenishment called “Send to Amazon” has been implemented in Seller Central. There is more information to fill out upfront but over all, it is a much more streamlined process. However, you will be bound by Amazon’s inventory planning numbers which FBA sellers have been complaining about due to throttled inventory.

In addition to this, Amazon has lowered the Inventory Performance Index threshold, also known as IPI, to help mitigate storage volume. The IPI score is basically a number telling you and Amazon how well your products are moving. The better your products sell, the more you can have in storage.

https://sellercentral.amazon.com/forums/t/inventory-performance-index-threshold-will-change-to-450/755699

https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/help/external/G6925SDD66GDLXJW?language=en_US&ref=efph_G6925SDD66GDLXJW_cont_201074410 

-----------------

As of January 1st, Amazon is responsible for collecting VAT on the following sales of goods delivered to customers in the UK:

1. Goods delivered from inventory stored outside the UK with a parcel value of up to £135; and
2. Goods delivered from inventory stored in the UK, irrespective of value, where you, the seller, are not established in the UK

Please note that the current VAT exemption for sales of goods under £15, where goods are delivered to UK customers from inventory stored outside of the UK, has also been removed.

https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/headlines.html?id=GWV6MZJ7MXL5Z6P2&ref=nslp_at_0_GWV6MZJ7MXL5Z6P2_ttl_rf_recent_news_1

Amazon postpones annual fee increases this year until June

Normally Amazon increases storage and handling fees at the beginning of the year. Last year we saw some of the highest increases since the tradition began. This year though, Jeff Wilke (Chief of Consumer Business aka Jeff numero dos), announced that this is to help sellers recover from Covid.

Of the sellers who replied to his post, more than half were not happy. In digging into why, sellers on the forums are bringing up the same concerns our ManageByStats users have been complaining about recently. (And us over the last five) Amazon’s lack of effective seller support and their tendency to shut down seller’s without warning, and many times, without a legitimate reason.

Most sellers would rather the money that is being spent on building new warehouses and hiring new employees be spent on handling the ineffective seller support. Many sellers are reporting having accounts shut down, cases open for several months or cases “resolved” with no actual resolution, sometimes no reply. We experienced exactly this for 4 months on one brand and 2 months on another, and our third

Sellers report restricted inventory levels at warehouses, even if sales warrant higher numbers of stock. 

This has caused some sellers to send in stock almost weekly to keep up with demand. But with the holiday shipping and check-in delays, this is causing sellers to run out of stock. Planning ahead for next year and sending holiday stock in September or October could help circumvent this.

Despite Technical difficulties over Black Friday and Cyber Monday, Amazon boasts continued record breaking sales. Amazon reported sellers saw over $4.8 billion in sales worldwide this past holiday shopping weekend. This is an increase of 60% over last year. 

I’m sure that didn’t stop you from stressing over not being able to see your orders live, but hopefully the increased sales soothed your stressed out soul.

https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-usa-holidayshopping-amazon/amazon-says-sellers-racked-up-4-8-billion-in-global-sales-over-holiday-weekend-idUKKBN28B47Y

https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/headlines.html?id=GUZXESFXHK3P73VX&ref=nslp_at_8_GUZXESFXHK3P73VX_ttl_rf_recent_news_9

Marketplace Tax Collection is now available in more locations.

11 more states and Puerto Rico were added to the 32 states and District of Columbia already serviced. Taxes are collected and remitted by Amazon on the seller's behalf in the designated territories.

https://sellercentral.amazon.com/forums/t/marketplace-tax-collection-now-available-in-more-locations/747255

Keeping you up to date on Amazon Brexit, UK is set to leave the EU’s Single Market and Customs Union on the first of January and a new customs border will be established. 

Cross-border trans-shipment was discontinued on the 18th of December. Amazon and the UK government have advised sellers to be prepared for new customs compliance and delayed shipments to mainland Europe.

https://sellercentral-europe.amazon.com/forums/t/brexit-update-changes-to-cross-border-shipping-with-amazon-partnered-carrier/374681

In addition to video purchasing, covered in our previous stories, voice commerce is now picking up steam.

What is voice commerce? It’s the use of voice commands to search for and purchase products online like Siri, Alexa, Google Assistant and Microsoft’s Cortana. 

Amazon and Walmart are making it easier for customers to fulfill their shopping lists with voice search. Using Wal-mart voice and AmazonFresh, you can order items straight to your cart and check out.

In China, Starbucks has teamed up with Alibaba for voice orders delivered right to your door. https://www.business2community.com/ecommerce/a-guide-to-voice-commerce-the-future-of-ecommerce-02368071

We are still receiving complaints from our users that accounts and listings continue to be shut down by Amazon. They’re being told the violation is for accessing more than one account without permission. 

While we are unaware of anything in the terms of service forbidding access to multiple accounts, it clearly doesn’t prevent Amazon from automatic closure. 

In many cases, all of the offender’s accounts AND the account accessed are being deactivated without warning. 

One seller commented that Amazon stated to him that the crackdowns are in response to fraud.

ALIBABA

Alibaba has taken a cue from Amazon’s Prime Day...sss and extended their single’s day to two weeks. 

It’s named Single’s day, having evolved from Chinese bachelor’s day which is a big shopping holiday. Single’s day is typically held on November 11

Which is eleven eleven… as in 4 ones… see what they did there?

According to Alibaba, the gross sales were $74 Billion. That’s $6 billion,736 million, 363 thousand, 636 dollars and .36 cents per day. Which kind of puts my paycheck into perspective. 

For Prime Day, Amazon grossed $10.4 Billion in two days, which is $1.5 Billion dollars less per day for anyone keeping score.

https://www.roirevolution.com/blog/2020/10/amazon-prime-day-2020-stats-recap-results/

https://www.scmp.com/tech/e-commerce/article/3109290/singles-day-chinese-consumers-spend-us56-billion-10-days-during

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singles%27_Day

AMAZON LIVE

Amazon Live, similar to QVC or home shopping network, had a boost over Prime Day. Influencers were informed of Prime Exclusive Deals, allowing them to create live videos of featured products.

Hosts talk about and demonstrate products available for sale in the live shows. Beneath the video, shoppers have access to the listings where they can browse product details and make purchases.

JUSTIN: I want to be live, I think I’d be great on camera, but I guess my life is just too busy to be a film star...

https://www.amazon.com/live

https://www.forbes.com/sites/kirimasters/2020/11/16/amazon-live-video-shows-us-the-future-of-ecommerce/?sh=178dab006adc

TIDBITS

An interesting tidbit here:

Viewers of Telemundo, a division of NBC Universal, have combined shopping with their online viewing. In October, the company launched Shop Telemundo. An interactive shopping experience that spans the company’s TV, digital, editorial and social platforms.

https://nrf.com/blog/shop-telemundo-brings-commerce-viewers

Shop Telemundo

MACYS

The Macy’s day parade may signify a new era for department stores and malls. This year due to COVID, the parade will only be viewable online. 

This is a prevailing trend of the year as over 50% of department stores in malls are projected to close by 2021. While some are declaring bankruptcy, many are stepping up their online presence and moving to more strategic brick and mortar locations.

https://www.nbcnewyork.com/entertainment/holidays/macys-thanksgiving-day-parade-2020-all-you-need-to-know/2717253/

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/29/50percent-of-all-these-malls-forecast-to-close-by-2021-green-street-advisors-says.html

https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/help/external/G201637520?language=en_US

• If you wanted inventory for black Friday but haven’t sent it, you’ve missed your window… It needed to be there by the 6th of November
• Inventory for Christmas shopping should arrive at Amazon fulfillment centers by December 1, 2020.
• Inventory for 2021 should be sent to Amazon fulfillment centers no earlier than December 17, 2020.

Amazon Sweden

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/technology/2020/oct/29/amazon-hits-trouble-with-sweden-launch-over-lewd-pussy-translation

https://www.thelocal.se/20201028/translation-fails-on-amazons-new-swedish-site

Amazon.se (Sweden) had an interesting launch in more ways than one on 28 October 

The first faux pas, Amazon displayed the wrong flag, having an Argentinian flag on the Swedish site. If that wasn’t exciting enough,  there were a copious number of mistranslated listings, most of them lewd in nature. Apparently they hired Justin to do the translations.

Amazon expands

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/amazon-1-million-employees/

https://www.geekwire.com/2020/amazon-crushes-q3-expectations-sets-record-96-1b-revenue-6-3b-profits/

Amazon crushes Q3 expectations, sets record with $96.1B in revenue and $6.3B in profits

Growing despite Covid and anticipating even more growth through the holidays, Amazon now employs 1 million people after hiring 250,000 employees in the third quarter of this year. But I still can’t get my cases answered and friends have complained of random problems and store or listing shut downs

Shopify and TickTock

https://news.shopify.com/dancing-to-a-new-beat-shopify-brings-commerce-to-tiktok

Big news from Tiktok and Shopify as they team up and test new e commerce features over the coming months. They are including shoppable video ads just like YouTube ads which we covered in our last news episode. They are also introducing shoppable hashtags.

Amazon taking sales from you?

In addition to sponsored ads on your page, Amazon is now displaying Amazon’s Choice products just under your key features. We’ve been unable to find any data on this besides complaints in the forums, but a quick search turned up several listings where Amazon is doing this.

https://sellercentral.amazon.com/forums/t/consider-this-amazons-choice-product-that-delivers-quickly/683803

For people looking to sell on Amazon, they have been piloting and implementing doing video verification of new sellers since May

1. We’ve been seeing articles about Africa and the massive amount of growth there.  New internet users are being added at double the rate of anywhere else in the world, and the UN stated that Africa is expected to have a population growth of 1.3 billion in the next 30 years.  It might not be a big investment time right now, but it’s worth keeping an eye on.  

https://www.webretailer.com/b/online-marketplaces-africa/

Selling In Canada & Mexico Just Got Easier

To simplify cross-border selling, Amazon has created a program that lets you fulfill orders in Canada and Mexico with your US based FBA inventory. It’s called Remote Fulfillment with FBA, and this saves you the trouble of managing multi-country inventory and customs. So sign up for that if you’re not already.

https://sellercentral.amazon.com/forums/t/selling-in-canada-and-mexico-just-got-easier/706693

Google

Google is playing catch-up in the E-commerce arena. A few months ago, they revamped the “Buy on Google” service and have made it free to list and sell your products through Google Shopping Actions and even easier to sell there. This is great news for you if you’re looking to boost exposure and sales.

• Google stated, “Today, we’re taking another important step to make it easier for retailers to sell on Google. Soon, sellers who participate in our Buy on Google checkout experience will no longer have to pay us a commission fee. And, we’re giving retailers more choice by opening our platform to third-party providers—starting with PayPal and Shopify.”

I know many of you have Shopify sites, so this is great news for you!

https://support.google.com/merchants/answer/9977875

Youtube

YouTube launched a new ad format to drive traffic to businesses. YouTube is working to hone its conversions. A couple new versions of note are

• These new features include capture contact information in video
• Allowing purchases directly inside the video ad 
• This simplifies the customer purchase and subscriber process for advertisers
• https://www.blog.google/products/ads/new-ways-to-drive-action/?utm_source=sendinblue&utm_campaign=Cruxfinder_Weekly_Newsletter_Tuesday_20200818&utm_medium=email

As an additional note, a number of YouTubers are testing using these features in regular videos.

Now, the people who make millions from your kids watching them unbox and play with toys will make more millions selling those toys to you and your kids straight from the video. 

People whose advertisments show up in that video will also be able to sell directly from their advertisement. 

And if all these people use Buy on Google, they don’t have to pay selling fees for now. 

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-10-09/google-tries-to-turn-youtube-into-a-major-shopping-destination

Amazon

AMAZON dumps support of Internet Explorer for seller central 31 Jan 2021 (the most commonly used browser to download new browsers) Supported web browsers include Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, and Microsoft Edge.

Prime Day 2020

 was record breaking event for Amazon sellers, with $3.5 billion sales in just two days. Top-selling product categories for third-party sellers included bedding, wireless accessories, nutrition and wellness, arts, crafts and sewing, and health care. Aboutamazon.com

Brexit

Brexit negotiations are ongoing (including determining what tariffs, if any, will apply). 

Important Dates: 

Starting 1 January 2021 there will be a customs border between the UK and EU. 

Saturday 14 November: Inventory removal orders for cross-border inventory will stop i.e. removing inventory from UK fulfillment centers to EU addresses and from EU fulfillment centers to UK addresses. Any removal orders created before this date will continue to be processed until 31 December 2020. Local removal requests will continue to be accepted as usual 

Friday 18 December: Pan-European FBA inventory transfers will stop between the UK and EU. From this point forward, you will need to send inventory to fulfillment centers in the UK and the EU in order to maintain your stock levels 

Monday 21 December: Cross-Border Fulfillment via European Fulfillment Network and Pan-European FBA will start winding down, stopping in full on Monday 28 December. To maintain your European sales, you will need to send products to fulfillment centers in the UK and the EU.

Starting January 1, 2021, as part of Brexit, a new set of VAT rules will apply in the UK. Please read this email as it contains potentially important information for your business.

If you are delivering goods to UK customers from outside of the UK:

o    The current VAT exemption for sales of goods under £15 will be removed. All of your sales of goods will now be subject to VAT. 

o    If the shipment value of these goods does not exceed £135, Amazon will be required to collect and remit the applicable VAT. 

o    If the shipment value exceeds £135, you will still have to remit VAT and any import duties yourself, as you are currently doing.

If you are delivering goods to UK customers from inventory stored in the UK, and your place of establishment is outside of the UK, Amazon will be required to collect and remit the applicable VAT. This will affect both sellers who use FBA in the UK and those who use third-party fulfillment methods. 

If you are delivering goods to UK customers from outside the UK, and the customer is VAT-registered in the UK (B2B customer), Amazon will not be required to collect and remit VAT.  The VAT-registered customer will self-report UK VAT through their VAT return

https://sellercentral-europe.amazon.com/gc/sell-online/brexit?ref_=brexfe&#prbr

FAKE NEWS

Alexa has been named and already won the vice presidency. This comes as something of a shock to Mike Pence and Kamala Harris as they were both pretty certain of their being the Vice President themselves.

Still no comment from Jeff Bezos regarding our request, rumours have been circulating that he’s been absorbed by the Alexa Collective, commonly being referred to as the Alexative.

REF MATERIAL

MBS News - Episode 2

Point of interest item, marketplaces in China, their volume (they exceed Amazon), etc.

https://www.webretailer.com/b/online-marketplaces-china/

Still need to edit as these are not my words

• Have you seen the latest updates to Amazon's Buyer-Seller Messaging guidelines? Find out what you need to know to communicate with buyers without jeopardizing your seller account. https://www.ecomengine.com/blog/amazon-buyer-seller-messages?utm_campaign=updated-communication-guidelines&utm_source=crux-newsletter&utm_medium=partner
• Amazon requires sellers to have business liability insurance for pro merchants, this is in TOS, but I doubt it’s widely known: https://www.junglescout.com/blog/amazon-seller-insurance/?utm_source=sendinblue&utm_campaign=Cruxfinder_Weekly_Newsletter_Tuesday_20200818&utm_medium=email
• Google has made some significant changes in advertising and e-commerce opportunities this year. In June YouTube launched a new ad format to drive traffic to business owners desired platform. YouTube is working to hone its conversions, with tools to allow purchases right in your video ad, a lead generation tool to capture contact data in video, and improved traffic tracking by marrying up YouTube and Google Ads attribution reports. https://www.blog.google/products/ads/new-ways-to-drive-action/?utm_source=sendinblue&utm_campaign=Cruxfinder_Weekly_Newsletter_Tuesday_20200818&utm_medium=email
• Also from Google, in June, is Buy on Google, commission free if the customer buys directly on Google: https://blog.google/products/shopping/buy-on-google-is-zero-commission/?utm_source=cruxfinderdotcom&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=weekly118.         A Google blog states, “Today, we’re taking another important step to make it easier for retailers to sell on Google. Soon, sellers who participate in our Buy on Google checkout experience will no longer have to pay us a commission fee. And, we’re giving retailers more choice by opening our platform to third-party providers—starting with PayPal and Shopify.” This is great news for e-commerce sellers looking to boost their exposure and therefore their sales. The blog goes on to say, “While retailers have several options for driving traffic to their website with free listings or with Shopping ads, many also use Buy on Google to give shoppers a convenient way to purchase something right when they discover it. By removing our commission fees, we’re lowering the cost of doing business and making it even easier for retailers of all sizes to sell directly on Google, starting with a pilot that we’ll expand to all eligible sellers in the U.S. over the coming months.” Find our how to take advantage of this service here https://support.google.com/merchants/answer/9977875
• Walmart has the new seller platform, similar to Amazon, should we cover this?

1. Amazon will be making changes to their Buyer-Seller Messaging guidelines on November 3rd. As a summary, here are a some of the permitted messages and forbidden: 

So to stay off Amazon’s naughty list this holiday season, you can do the following within 30 days of order completion: 

• Request a product review & seller feedback
• Resolve an order fulfillment issue
• Request information needed to complete the order
• Send an invoice
• Schedule delivery for a heavy or bulky item
• Verify a custom design
• Ask a question related to a return
• And schedule an Amazon Home Services appointment

The following message types are not permitted:

• Order/shipping confirmations
• Emails that only say “Thank you”
• Emails that offer your assistance if buyers have any issues
• Marketing or promotional messaging, including coupons
• Language encouraging positive product reviews or seller feedback ratings
• Requests for removal or an update of an existing product review
• A request for a review only if the buyer had a positive experience with the item
• A repeat request (per order) for a product review or seller feedback

1. Amazon is stepping up efforts to shut down sellers with multiple accounts. Over the last month, a number of sellers have reported account suspensions due to connections to other seller accounts. And Amazon is not making it easy to reinstate the seller account. This comes on the heels of Amazon changing the rules in the health and safety arena. Some sellers of health supplies, including supplements, masks, gloves, etc. ran into listing closures as Amazon required certain data to be changed in accordance to CDC and FDA guidelines. Amazon is also now requiring vitamin and supplement sellers to ungate every new listing, not just the category. 

1. Amazon project zero launched in 2019 to help sellers control highjackers or counterfeits through product serialization and giving power to brand owners to remove listings. Recently, Amazon made this service available to 7 new countries, bringing the total up to 17 countries. 

1. In terms of important Amazon dates: Amazon has extended the return window during holiday season. New policy requires that most orders delivered between October 1 and December 31 be returnable through January 31, 2021. This policy includes orders that are shipped by you and orders that are shipped by Amazon. This is an interesting set of dates since they also just announced Prime Day...ssss as the 13th and 14th of October.  

Target will also be competing with Prime day by having Target deal days… also on the 13th and 14th… They’ll be having double the deals that they had last year… very political of them since they don’t actually say what they’re going to do… just that theyre better than their competition. 

1. MBS NEWS 

• We have just released a new service that we are extremely excited about. It’s called PPC Logic and it mixes artificial intelligence and a biological manager with your Amazon PPC campaigns. 
• MBS has launched a new podcast called AMZ Seller Real Talk. Since you're already on YouTube you can find it here

• Buyer Seller Messaging Link: 

https://www.ecomengine.com/blog/amazon-buyer-seller-messages?utm_campaign=updated-communication-guidelines&utm_source=crux-newsletter&utm_medium=partner

• Amazon Zero Link: https://blog.aboutamazon.com/company-news/amazon-project-zero-launches-in-7-new-countries