Hi,
I’ve been receiving email complaints from buyers that the item was damaged but the Amazon shipping box had no damaged in the last 12 months. Originally I thought that the damage originated from the Chinese factory. So I changed the QC process to visual check 100%. No damaged was found. However I still receive complaints (about 1% of the unit sold) about the exact same damage. Finally I figured it out (from reviewing many photos from the complainers) that the damage happened while in Amazon warehouse. Too much weight was put on top of the item causing the crack on the item. It’s hard for Amazon pick packers to see because of the item is inside the color box. However once the buyers open the color box, they could see the crack and let me know. This is a very thin margin item. Every time, I have to give them a full refund, I need to sell almost 30 units of this item to breakeven for the 1 refund item
Something must have changed in Amazon warehouse in the last 12 months to cause this problem. I wonder if contacting Seller Support would be any help… I’m also considering making the item stronger by adding another 2 screws for the next production. Not sure how much it would help.
How would you guys solve this problem if you were me? Please share your thoughts.
I don’t know what you sell so I have no idea if more screws is the answer.
It sounds like you need better packaging that can withstand Amazon warehouse abuse. Packaging that can withstand handling by apathetic, overworked warehouse workers who are pressed for speed over other considerations including care has always been part of FBA considerations.
That is a very slim margin indeed.
Not every item is suited to FBA. I have items in my warehouse that would sell better FBA that I don’t send for various reasons, but a razor margin is one of them. If 1% defects are causing you so much of a loss, this item might not be the best fit for FBA.
As a side not, if the item can be broken by warehouse workers stacking too much stuff on it, can’t the same thing happen during shipping?
Unfortunately Amazon is not going to change its process for your items, and the quickest and best solution will be better packaging for your item so that Amazon can’t damage it. We used to have to pack things to survive the 6’ drop test, now we have to pack things to survive Amazon (non)logic.
How you go about this will depend on the item, it’s current box, it’s current internal packing material, etc so that I can’t answer easily.
If the box is not being crushed by the excessive weight being placed on top, then the item inside is supporting that weight and must have been packaged with the item directly touching the packaging.
Definitely sounds like a packaging problem that isn’t surviving the normal abuse of a Amazon warehouse.
Adjust your pricing or sell FBM but definitely correct your packaging (if you sell FBM, your shipping service could cause the same issue without a change).
You’ve got a good point! Hmm I should re-design the packaging avoid the item inside supporting the weight.
Thanks. I’m slowly increasing the price to improve margin.
I don’t have manpower to do FBM. If it can’t be profitable through FBA, it’s on the chopping block.
Hi @HumbleWarrior can you please clarify if the damage is happening when things are stacked on the shipping box in which you shipped multiple items to the warehouse, or when stacked on top of the individual product box itself?
My thought is that your fellow Sellers might have some low cost/low effort suggestions, depending on whether the issue is with product packaging or ship-to-warehouse packaging.
FBA treats inventory like crap. In Q4, it’s especially bad. I would venture to think that these emails from buyers will be greatly reduced until Q4 2025. There might be an uptick during Prime Day events.
When Amazon’s volume is up, the care level drops exponentially. It’s sub par always but incredibly careless when Amazon is busy.
Beefing up your outer packaging is the only way to help as long as it doesn’t add a lot of cost OR move your item into the next FBA pricing tier due to size or weight.
Papi, thanks for requesting for more info. The product got damaged from items being stacked on top of the individual color box which has the item inside. The shipping smiley brown box doesn’t get damage. I learned this from photos of the damages color boxes from the buyers. The color box has a long crease which is the sign of damage from having something heavy placed on top of it. As Lost_My_Marbles suggested, it’s the item that supports the weight. That’s why it damages the item inside the color box. It has to be a very heavy weight to make a wood product crack where the 2 crews (on each side) are located. I would say at least over 50 pounds of weight on top to cause this damage. Or it could be a fast impact when the item moves on the belt/robots in the warehouse.
The reality is you could put your product in an 1/8th inch thick hardened steel box and Amazon would still figure out how to damage what’s inside.
So you need to run with the percentages and see if it’s even worth it. What % are coming back as damaged via buyer communication? The issue is for every 1 that reports it, there are probably many more that don’t.
Depending on the type of wood and the tightness of the screws, a drop from 4 to 6 feet could cause wood to crack (and especially if the wood has dried out some).
Again, this would be packaging that protects the product which would most likely be some form of Styrofoam structure around the product inside the box.
Thank you for this very good point. I just pull all the info. The percentage of this damage return is 3.7% (from buyers who contact me directly + Amazon returns) of total order. That’s quite a bit. I need to further calculate (with the PPC and storage costs in the picture) to make sure that this product is still making profit with this 3.7% damage return.
Thanks for suggestion. I’m sure it’s not a drop because the damage on the product is 100% identical. Hence it has to be the way that Amazon warehouse workers handle the item. BTW the bamboo wood is 1cm thick (that’s between 1/4 and 1/2 inch thick). Screw size and length is similar to a regular drywall screw that we use in the US. It’s a strong construction IMO. Yet, Amazon warehouse could crack it 3.7% of the total order
I’m considering adding 2 more screws to increase strength. My guess is that it would be stronger than styrofoam.
If it really does take 30 orders to make up for 1 loss, 3.7% eats up more than your entire sales of this item.
It really sounds like your margins for this item are just too low.
I’m trying to slowly increase the price