Managing your inventory is an important part of selling on Amazon or whatever platform you sell on.
If you use FBA(fulfillment by amazon) especially because of aged inventory fees. FBM(Fulfillment by merchant) you store
your own inventory so it is a different issue all together. I currently am incurring fees for items that have not sold
and I need to sell them quick, have them returned, or donate/destroy them. The best case is that it sells even if at a
low or zero gain. I will be contacting them to see what my options are and researching more to find the best immediate
solution and going forward.
Quality Fast Selling Inventory for all FBA Offers
The one inevitable solution is to send quality inventory that sells quickly. When I first began selling it was acceptable
to send books with a 1 million BSR(Best seller rank). Now it is more like a 300,000 BSR. There are other metrics like
availble inventory and of course price. So I do not limit myself to just BSR. However with a 6 month time limit it changes
the game. The time limit was a year before the surcharges but now the surcharges are after 6 months. However some of
the better profits come from rare but less popular items so a big part of my game plan going forward will be FBM.
Automatic removals
A long term solution I am considering is automatic removals. This will cause AMZ to automatically return my books if
they do not sell withing the 180 day window. Or I could have them automatically donated/destroyed. However I need to
ease into it so that I don't get all the removal fees at once.
High profit slower selling items FBM
While my original attraction to AMZ was the FBA model, FBM is now looking far more attractive.
For one, as long as I have space on my book shelf I can store books indefinetly. Second I can sell the rarer higher profit
titles which do not always sell quickly. Another good feature is being to able to sell the same item on ebay. However this
complicates managing the listings as if it sells on one platform it will need to be removed from the other.
AMZ Looking Forward
Are the glory days of selling used books and media on AMZ behind us? I hope not. But it seems they are making it harder
and harder. I am glad I jumped in when I did as it got me excited about selling online. What does the future hold? Will
there be an exodus to other platforms like ebay and bonanza? Will stand alone websites be the next craze? I am not sure but
whatever the strategy we have to always keep refining our game. Keep your inventory tuned up and ready to move, whether its
back to your own shelves, AMZ FBA, FBM, ebay or the dumpster.
