Here's your " 'mollifying' sop," 3P Sellers affected by the Hurricane Helene delays

Dogtamer · September 30, 2024, 10:44pm

Posted courtesy of the FMT-CMT’sTaylorR to the NSFE less than an hour ago (despite what the ‘hover’ indication implies, 093024 21:55, @ the time I write this it’s 093024 21:45):

https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-forums/discussions/t/494f5a46-4b9e-42d7-9417-527cd7904857

Delivery delay due to Hurricane Helene

by TaylorR_Amazon

41 minutes ago

My condolences to everyone affected by Hurricane Helene.

If you are located in the regions impacted by this natural disaster, there will be disruptions to carriers’ pick-up and delivery of customer orders due to the damage to roadways and other infrastructure. We recommend changing your listing status to inactive if you are unable to ship customer orders.

As the storm’s impact becomes clearer, you have the option to remain active and increase your handling time.

If you have existing orders, we recommend you inform buyers that it will take longer than expected to deliver the order by using buyer-seller messages. To send a message to buyers, go to Communicate with buyers using the Buyer-Seller messaging service.

Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns. Stay safe out there!

You can piss “up” my leg all you want, Amazon - after all, your World-class legal talent ensconced in this or that Golden Tower is engaged primarily to protect the bottom line, as it should be - but the story line is wearing thin.

Pepper_Thine_Angus · September 30, 2024, 10:57pm

But, but, amazon will ignore this change and knock your handling time back down to what you were averaging before the hurricane.

oneida_books · September 30, 2024, 11:30pm

I’m gonna drop this here.

For those that remember Style from the OSFE days and before she left Amazon … She lives along I-40 in western NC. I just messaged her and haven’t heard back yet, but I saw she got power back a couple days ago, so I suspect her and the family are OK.

I hope other sellers in that area are OK.

Rob

Pepper_Thine_Angus · September 30, 2024, 11:40pm

Power is being restored faster then they can get more complicated to repair communication systems back online. There are millions of fiber splices that need to be redone, cell towers that are flat out gone, and coax head ends that are still under water. When people are getting online, it is normally at sat based wifi spots and people are getting on and off as soon as they can. Cell companies are sending temp towers but they only have a few that are sat up linked. This is going to take some time

Dogtamer · October 1, 2024, 12:36am

Anyone who was perusing the ASF back in the last two iterations of the OSFE, methinks, is likely to remember Style’s always-helpful contributions back in those eras (even if they don’t recall her exquisitely-exemplary Jewelry-selling Tutorials, because that wasn’t her only area of expertise).

I second your good wishes for her and hers - and should you find that they’ve weathered the storm, I’m hopeful that our well-missed friend Style gives you leave to proclaim that such is so.

TEXASEXILEBOOKS · October 1, 2024, 1:39am

We were traveling thru Tennessee on Wed evening/Thursday/Friday on the western part of the state, not Knoxville where they had a dam nearly collapse and torrential rain. Even went to a book sale on Thursday in Nashville in what we Arizonans would consider a heavy rain and mentioned naively that we hadn’t expected rain here since not on the coast

The volunteer looked at me pitying, “There’s a hurricane coming this way, honey! That’s why nobody’s here to buy books!”

Though our hotels weren’t effected, saw several utility employees in cherry-pickers dealing w/ electric issues along the highways. Thought weren’t we lucky to have these skilled workers willing to risk their lives in raunchy weather!!

Informed by relatives there were blackouts in the suburban areas of Dayton, OH, Wed night/early Thursday if you can believe it…

oneida_books · October 1, 2024, 1:50pm

So Style responded last night. Good news.

bookwormapril · October 1, 2024, 4:12pm

Let’s see… Handling time in many cases can no longer be adjusted

Most often, after you ship – no more messaging allowed.

Thanks Amazon. But no surprises there.

Dogtamer · October 1, 2024, 4:34pm

Nor here, in a related devlopement:

https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-forums/discussions/t/0b9dd601-0f67-4880-af10-894efee016ca

Hurricane Helene Impacts to Fulfillment Centers

by TaylorR_Amazon

19 hours ago

My thoughts and prayers are with everyone affected by Hurricane Helene.

Due to the severe weather conditions, Amazon is prioritizing the safety and well-being of employees and customers while working urgently to deliver aid and support to the affected communities. As a precaution, Amazon has temporarily closed some of the facilities in the impacted regions.

These temporary closures, along with potential damage to roads and other infrastructure, may impact deliveries to customers in the region. To mitigate this, Amazon is utilizing the national network of storage and delivery to fulfill customer orders from outside the affected area. Customers will see updated delivery estimates for their specific orders as the full impact of the storm becomes clearer.

Sellers’ patience and understanding is greatly appreciated as everyone works to navigate these challenging circumstances. Read more here: What Amazon is doing to help communities impacted by Hurricane Helene in the Southeast US and let us know if you have any questions.

Dogtamer · October 4, 2024, 1:27am

Dogtamer:

Posted courtesy of the FMT-CMT’sTaylorR to the NSFE less than an hour ago (despite what the ‘hover’ indication implies, 093024 21:55, @ the time I write this it’s 093024 21:45):

https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-forums/discussions/t/494f5a46-4b9e-42d7-9417-527cd7904857

Delivery delay due to Hurricane Helene

by TaylorR_Amazon

41 minutes ago

My condolences to everyone affected by Hurricane Helene.

If you are located in the regions impacted by this natural disaster, there will be disruptions to carriers’ pick-up and delivery of customer orders due to the damage to roadways and other infrastructure. We recommend changing your listing status to inactive if you are unable to ship customer orders.

As the storm’s impact becomes clearer, you have the option to remain active and increase your handling time.

If you have existing orders, we recommend you inform buyers that it will take longer than expected to deliver the order by using buyer-seller messages. To send a message to buyers, go to Communicate with buyers using the Buyer-Seller messaging service.

Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns. Stay safe out there!

…

TaylorR has been busily posting updates to that NSFE discussion, providing this feedback that she’s received:

https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-forums/discussions/t/494f5a46-4b9e-42d7-9417-527cd7904857?postId=fdaaed07-1d5b-486d-b179-98b216a41ac7

We’ll see how much water that assurance holds…

GGX · October 4, 2024, 2:20am

Any (FBM) seller with half a brain who’s in or near the hurricane impact zone would’ve vacation moded their store prior to the storm hitting.

You have no idea how much impact the storm will have until it actually hits or how long it’ll take for electricity/internet/UPS service to resume afterwards. Amazon’s promises to protect sellers should also be laughed at. And ODR from negative feedback that you will certainly receive if you’re non-responsive to customers due to lack of connectivity will likely stick as well.

papy · October 4, 2024, 3:21am

Well, normally I’m in full agreement; I even posted about it (more than once) on OSFE. But a lot of Helene landed on folks who had no idea they would get the maximum punch or that flooding would be so severe–so I’m giving them grace at this time because I’ve seen some of the damage firsthand, it is truly cataclysmic.

Buncombe Co NC is still under emergency orders, without power, water, or much in the way of real clean up yet (floodwaters still receding).

A week later, rescue missions still haven’t even gotten on foot or ATV or bicycle (yep) to many homes/warehouses to assess proof of life or damage.

I sincerely hope that all Amazon Sellers are safe and have by now been able to go on vacation or zero their inventory until carriers and roadways are back in any meaningful operation.

Muse · October 4, 2024, 8:02pm

Thanks for posting this!

Do we have notifications / count of:

Affected SaS sellers
Total affected sellers
Amazon FC damage / not currently in operation

Amazon used to cap Seller FC damages reimbursement at $10k per location / incident, curious if that has changed

I searched SaS for a Seller Check-in thread and couldn’t find one

(I refuse to participate with NSFE and am grateful for all the brave sellers that report on it)

papy · October 5, 2024, 8:49pm

Hi @Muse thank you for your good points and concern Information is still very dodgy coming out of the affected areas, and we on SellersAskSellers are not tracking anything or anyone specifically, but some Sellers have been able to report in over here:

Dogtamer · October 11, 2024, 11:25pm

The afore-mentioned story line seems to be wearing a bit-less thin:

https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-forums/discussions/t/9681ca73-e7ae-48e8-b6c8-70b662e34c88

Account health protection for seller-fulfilled orders affected by Hurricanes Milton and Helene

by KJ_Amazon

updated by moderator 3 hours ago

Amazon has determined that Hurricanes Milton and Helene are major fulfillment network disruptions that affect the shipping regions listed below, and we have taken steps to reduce their impact on seller orders and your account health metrics.

For seller-fulfilled orders that are shipped to or from these regions, Amazon is adding promise extensions to the delivery dates customers see to ensure delivery expectations reflect possible delays. Additionally, we will protect your impacted orders from being considered as defects to your On-time Delivery Rate (OTDR), Late Shipment Rate (LSR), and Cancellation Rate (CR).

If any of your orders to or from these shipping regions are shipped late, delivered late or cancelled, these will not be calculated as a defect on your Account Health Dashboard and will not count against you for purposes of determining whether you have met the requirements of our Order Performance program policy.

The zip codes we add promise extensions to are dynamically updated as we get updates from carriers and observe transit lanes impact.

For Hurricane Milton, these exceptions and protections are already in effect as of October 8 and will continue until at least October 25. As of the moment we published this post, the zip codes we are proactively providing account protection are any that start with the following 3 digits: 286, 287, 288, 303, 304, 305, 306, 315, 320, 321, 322, 326, 327, 328, 329, 330, 334, 335, 336, 337, 338, 339, 340, 341, 342, 344, 346, 347, 349.

For Hurricane Helene, these exceptions and protections are already in effect as of September 25 and will continue until at least October 18. As of the moment we published this post, the zip codes we are proactively providing account protection were any that start with the following 3 digits: 242, 243, 246, 266, 268, 270, 273, 275, 278, 279, 280, 281, 282, 283, 285, 286, 287, 288, 289, 290, 291, 293, 294, 295, 296, 297, 298, 299, 301, 304, 305, 306, 307, 308, 309, 310, 312, 313, 314, 315, 316, 317, 318, 319, 320, 323, 324, 325, 326, 329, 330, 338, 339, 342, 349, 359, 368, 376, 377, 378, 398

We may extend these dates and protected zones further based on continued impact to affected regions.

Additionally, we will remove any protected orders from your Account Health metrics reports. To view which of your orders were not protected and currently impact your account health metrics, go to your Account Health dashboard, click on the metric you are interested in viewing, and click ‘download report’. Please reach out to us via Seller support if there are orders which were affected by this event that were not considered for the above account health metric protection, and our investigations team will evaluate if the shipping to or shipping from zones of your orders should be considered under this protection.

Fulfilled by Merchant Team

Dogtamer · October 12, 2024, 2:21am

And again for SFP (‘Amazonese’ for "Seller Fulfilled Prime) Sellers (who’ve long been beholden to unreasonable ‘Page View’ metrics if they don’t have the ability to satisfy those from widely-dispersed, geographically, shipping originations):

https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-forums/discussions/t/3b103d36-2428-4e4f-883d-0cfecb7fef31

SFP eligibility protection for orders affected by Hurricanes Milton and Helene

by KJ_Amazon

updated by moderator 5 hours ago

Amazon has determined that hurricanes Helene and Milton are major fulfillment network disruptions that may have impacted your Seller-Fulfilled Prime orders, and we have taken steps to reduce impact on your SFP eligibility.

For Hurricanes Helene and Milton, any seller-initiated cancellations, late shipments or late deliveries due to impacted regions will not affect your SFP eligibility.

For Hurricane Helene, we are providing this protection for late deliveries from September 22 through at least October 11, however we may extend these dates further based on continued impact to affected regions.

For Hurricane Milton, we are providing this protection for late deliveries from October 4 through today, and we are continuing to monitor the impact to affected regions to determine the duration of this protection.

We are working to improve the SFP dashboard to reflect exemptions from late deliveries resulting from major network disruptions. As a result, even though your SFP prime eligibility will be protected, this is not reflected in the metrics shown in your SFP dashboard.

If you feel that your SFP eligibility was restricted in error, please contact seller support.

Fulfilled by Merchant Team

There’s a reason why I crafted the title of this SAS thread with a mention of the relatively-unknown word “sop” - and it wasn’t because I was trying to expand people’s vocabulary (as is often enough the case, admittedly, because I remain convinced that effective communication goes far in affecting success - #RIF does NOT mean what Google, Bing, et al. first return for a search of the term nowadaze - it will always be an acronym for “Reading Is Fundamental” no matter how ignorant we wee humans manage to become).