Amazon FBA: The Need for Greater Transparency in FC Transfer Inventory
The Send to FBA workflow is well established. Although it can be slow, at least it’s transparent about where your inventory is and when it should become available for Prime sales. However, significant issues arise during Fulfillment Center (FC) transfers:
1. No Warning
- If you’ve planned promotions, they can be derailed when inventory becomes unavailable for Prime sales.
- Customer Support notes that customers can still order items during transfers, but changing from Prime-eligible shipping to a lead time of several weeks defeats the purpose of using FBA and Prime.
2. No Timelines Provided
- There’s no indication of when an FC transfer will be completed nor when your inventory will once again be Prime-eligible.
- The Inventory Ledger only confirms that the items aren’t available for Prime—it doesn’t forecast when they will be.
3. Inefficient Routing
- Recently, after shipping inventory to the FC as instructed, the entire shipment was immediately allocated for FC transfer.
- Support says this places items closer to customers for more efficient sales, yet if that’s true, it’s unclear why the shipment wasn’t directed to the “more efficient” location from the start.
4. Disruption to Existing Inventory
- Even long-standing products can suddenly be moved into FC transfers, losing Prime eligibility for weeks. It’s hard to see how this benefits customers when products are unavailable for Prime for such a long period. Surely smaller quantities can be moved over time, rather than a complete removal of all items at once.
Overall, the lack of transparency around FC transfers makes it difficult for Sellers to make routine business decisions. A thorough review of this process is needed to give Sellers the information they need to plan effectively.
Amazon FBA: The Need for Greater Transparency in FC Transfer Inventory
The Send to FBA workflow is well established. Although it can be slow, at least it’s transparent about where your inventory is and when it should become available for Prime sales. However, significant issues arise during Fulfillment Center (FC) transfers:
1. No Warning
- If you’ve planned promotions, they can be derailed when inventory becomes unavailable for Prime sales.
- Customer Support notes that customers can still order items during transfers, but changing from Prime-eligible shipping to a lead time of several weeks defeats the purpose of using FBA and Prime.
2. No Timelines Provided
- There’s no indication of when an FC transfer will be completed nor when your inventory will once again be Prime-eligible.
- The Inventory Ledger only confirms that the items aren’t available for Prime—it doesn’t forecast when they will be.
3. Inefficient Routing
- Recently, after shipping inventory to the FC as instructed, the entire shipment was immediately allocated for FC transfer.
- Support says this places items closer to customers for more efficient sales, yet if that’s true, it’s unclear why the shipment wasn’t directed to the “more efficient” location from the start.
4. Disruption to Existing Inventory
- Even long-standing products can suddenly be moved into FC transfers, losing Prime eligibility for weeks. It’s hard to see how this benefits customers when products are unavailable for Prime for such a long period. Surely smaller quantities can be moved over time, rather than a complete removal of all items at once.
Overall, the lack of transparency around FC transfers makes it difficult for Sellers to make routine business decisions. A thorough review of this process is needed to give Sellers the information they need to plan effectively.
6 replies
Seller_rI7BZIczK8iAC
Even if you are right, it is like it is and sellers have to live with it. Take it or leave it!
Seller_IlVkdhTORsI1g
@SEAmod (in case you are able to forward to the relevant team..)
Seller_27lQXuZPqUkar
you are absolutely right. FC Transfer transparency is something that is needed for Sellers to effectively plan our sales / promos. Thank you for posting. It is not simply something that should be taken or left. Amazon may not know the impact on sales that FC Transfers taking a long time has. It benefits shoppers, Amazon and us to have our inventory in FC Transfer as little time as possible. Also knowing Estimated Timing for FC Transfers to be complete would be helpful too.
TaylorR_Amazon
Hi @Seller_IlVkdhTORsI1g, thank you for posting! Your feedback is greatly appreciated. I will share this with the team. Do you have any particular shipments that you would like me to look into at this time?