Will these Amazon changes affect you this Christmas?

By Sharon Fussell, October 12, 2012

Don’t forget to start listing items with a Christmas theme if you have any lying around. Also look out for branded products that can be sold on Amazon or eBay, plenty of buyers are very keen to purchase gifts online right now.

If you want to sell toys and games on Amazon they have restrictions for this time of year – do you qualify?

Important Changes to Amazon’s Christmas Selling Rules!

Take a look at Amazon’s Christmas Selling Guidelines for Toys and Games:

With effect from 13 November, 2012, only sellers who meet the following performance criteria will be eligible to sell in the Toys & Games category from 13 November, 2012 up to the first week in January 2013:

1. Your first sale on Amazon.co.uk must be prior to 17 September, 2012 (sale does not need to be specific to the Toy-specific store).

2. You must have processed and shipped at least 25 orders during the 60 consecutive days preceding 1st November, 2012. The orders do not need to be specific to the Toys store.

3. Your pre-fulfilment cancellation rate must be no greater than 1.75% for the 30 days preceding 1 November, 2012.
Your late shipment rate must be no greater than 4% for the 30 days preceding 1 November, 2012.

4. Your order defect rate must be no greater than 1% short term as of 1 November, 2012. An order has a “defect” if it incurs a negative feedback, an A-to-Z Guarantee claim or a service credit card chargeback. Your order defect rate is defined as the number of orders with a defect divided by the number of orders in the time period of interest. Order defect rate is the key measure of your ability to provide a good customer experience.

These changes will not affect FBA sellers (providing your account is ‘in good order’).

Steps to remaining eligible to sell in Toys and Games over Christmas:

• Use Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA) to send products to your customers.
• Minimise order cancellations.
• Despatch orders and confirm despatch in a timely manner.