Peek Inside an Amazon Warehouse

Image courtesy of the ABC Broadcasting Network

With the holiday season upon us, we are in a unique situation. We are able to be a part of the retail market that seems to be booming this year. We are able to connect buyers with the items they want and some of us are fortunate enough to make a living do it!

If you sell on Amazon, I am sure you have wondered what happened after your carrier dropped off your boxes and they were checked into the designated warehouse. If you are like me, at some point you have probably wondered what an Amazon fulfillment center looks like. If you have, then you have to see this.

As Cyber Monday rolled around this year, the press seemed to be looking to Amazon to show just how busy Cyber Monday was. From news stories to photo galleries online, nearly every network was talking about Amazon.

Here are a few fun facts about Amazon that were revealed during news stories by Bloomberg TV, ABC News, CBS News, and NBC News:

• Currently, Amazon has about 80 fulfillment centers worldwide. About half of them are in the US.
• Items are not stored in categories. They go into a free space and are scanned to document its location in the warehouse.
• Amazon’s largest warehouse in Phoenix is the size of 28 football fields (1.2 million square feet).
• On Cyber Monday 2011, Amazon processed 200 orders per second.
• For the 2012 Holiday season, Amazon plans to hire 50,000 seasonal workers.
• Amazon employs 20,000 full-time fulfillment center employees.
• Amazon was the most visited retail site Thanksgiving weekend.
• Amazon uses people instead of robots to pick orders.
• Amazon order pickers walk miles each shift.
• The order picks may also use tricycles to pick orders that contain items that are not warehoused close together.

Online, many sites shared videos and photos from inside the fulfillment centers. To see what happens when an item is ordered by an Amazon customer, click here for the NBC News story or here for the ABC News story. To view pictures from inside an Amazon warehouse, click here. (Photos courtesy of Coed Magazine)

FBA Sellers, did you spot any items you sell or were you looking for new items to source in the pictures? Were you surprised by the setup shown?

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eBay Seller Success Story – 1970 Tony the Tiger Promotional Plush

(image courtesy of VintageDollCollector.com)

Guest Contributor Carolyn Pritchett of the Treasure Hunter’s Cove submitted today’s eBay Seller Success Story:

This is the first version of Tony the Tiger, offered by Kellogg's Sugar Frosted Flakes in 1970. He is 14" tall with a fabric head and furry body.

He has some yellow age spots on his face - I used a baby wipe and have erased many of them, I believe that what is left can be removed, I will defer to the collector to properly clean his face to remove the rest - I did this to see if in fact he would clean up and yes he will. I just gave him a lick and a promise that someone more knowledgeable than me would take care of him. I paid 50 cents for him and he sold to a buyer in Japan for $49.99!

Carolyn has a family history in the antiques business and has some great yard sale and thrift store flips to share. You can visit Carolyn’s Country Kitchen eBay store here, and her membership website, Treasure Hunter’s Cove here.

Do you have a great sale or an interesting eBay item to share? Send your find to eBaycoach@yahoo.com for consideration.

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Selling Toys on Amazon this Holiday Season

Today’s post is contributed by my colleague, Kim Tarrant, who co-wrote our book, Amazon FBA Recipe for Success. Kim has sold on Amazon for several holiday seasons.

If you’re selling on Amazon there’s no doubt you’ve received the “Holiday Selling in Toys and Games” email from Amazon. These guidelines are implemented to maintain buyer confidence in Amazon during the holiday season. If you do not meet the performance criteria you will not be eligible to sell in the toys and games category from November 15, 2011 through the first week in January 2012. These guidelines are only applicable for merchant fulfilled items, they do not apply to items fulfilled by Amazon as long as your account is in good standing.

In order to sell in the toys and games category from November 15, 2011 and the first week in January 2012 you will need to meet these guidelines:

- Seller’s first sale on Amazon.com must be prior to 09/19/2011 (sale does not need to be Toy-specific).

- Seller must have processed and shipped at least 25 orders (do not need to be Toy-specific) during the 60 consecutive days preceding 11/1/2011.

- No greater than 1% short term order defect rate as of 11/1/2011.

- No greater than 2.5% pre-fulfillment cancel rate for the trailing 30-days preceding 11/1/2011.

- No greater than 5% late shipment rate for the trailing 30-days preceding 11/1/2011.

This email can seem intimidating at first but it’s really quite simple to achieve all the requirements. Amazon will periodically send emails to let you know where you stand on meeting the criteria. On or around September 21, Amazon sent an email to all sellers letting them know where they stand on meeting the criteria for the holiday season. Amazon will send several more notices out before the deadline of November 1, 2011. In my experience, these notifications will come around the end of September, the middle of October, the end of October and a few days before November 15, 2011. If you haven’t met the guidelines yet, don’t panic as there is still time. The sales quota guidelines (first sale prior to September 19 and at least 25 orders during the 60 days preceding November 1, 2011) can be met through merchant fulfilled orders OR orders fulfilled by Amazon.

If you’ve sold during the holidays in the past, you know it can be a wild a crazy ride. If you haven’t, relax, don’t get overwhelmed and take it one sale at a time.

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