Is anyone else getting "Shipment Problems" Related to Barcodes For SOME cartons of a multi-carton shipment?

[packetfire]

So, when I send a dozen cartons of a single SKU, and 11 have no issues, yet one carton is claimed to have “ureadable barcode”, and the FIRST excuse is:

“Barcodes damaged or smudged”

and when I push back on this, noting that it would be hard to imagine all 48 units in a single carton all being damaged or smudged, the excuse CHANGES:

“This could be because the labels were placed in a spot we weren’t able to access with the scanner, or because packing material (such as bubble wrap) was covering up the barcode.”

I ask for photos to show the issue, yet they produce none. Are “shipping problems” of this nature something that I need to aggressively debunk, or are they really not an issue to worry about?

[Dogtamer]

@packetfire

…
Are “shipping problems” of this nature something that I need to aggressively debunk, or are they really not an issue to worry about?
…

For my own part, I’ve always ensured that we ourselves have fairly aggressively, in a bullet-pointed “Outline” manner, debunked spurious assertions for FBA Inbound Shipment Events like this, for many, many years, with no miserable modicum of success.

Unless I miss my guess, the broad consensus of opinion amongst our Seller Community’s seasoned & savvy forum veteran cohort is to always push back, in scenarios such as you’ve premised, even if it requires opening yet another Case on the same issue should the lower-two tiers of Amazon’s Seller Support infrastructure - largely both outsourced & off-shored alike - fail to meet minimal muster.

[ASV_Vites]

@packetfire

I ask for photos to show the issue, yet they produce none.

What? You disputed the BS “Shipment Problem” and they didn’t send you a picture? That’s the SOP. No picture / No Proof - they must drop the “charges”

These BS shipment problems have been going on since Nov of 2022 when Amazon moved to visual scanners on the belt which SUCK and Amazon knows it. We dispute every single one of them. We get them retracted ~75% of the time. All of this info is from experience / info shared with me from SAS manager who was a DC lead for Amazon in a past life.

Here’s the receiving process at Amazon:

1. Open Boxes
2. Dump them out aggressively and carelessly
3. Put the products on a belt
4. Products roll past an automated visual scanner (not laser anymore)
5. Whatever doesn’t scanned is pulled aside and “hand scanned”
6. Regardless of the results in step 5, you get hit with a shipment problem
7. If the product truly doesn’t scan, Amazon will slap a really big oversized FNSKU label in probably the worst possible place to really make your stuff ugly.

If you dispute, they are supposed to go to the location in that facility (if it’s still there) and check. If they can’t find it, or it’s been FC transferred somewhere else, or sold, you are off the hook and you will receive this email:

Hello from Fulfillment by Amazon,

Thank you for contacting us about this problem.

Our systems originally surfaced that your unit(s) were labeled by our fulfillment center after being received. We were unable to confirm this and as a result have removed the problem listing from your shipment. You will see this change reflected in your Inbound Performance Report within 24 hours. No further action is required from you.

If you have any questions about FBA label requirements, please review the following resources:

Inbound Performance Report:
Server Busy

Learn more about FBA Product Barcode Requirements:
Server Busy

For details about how we identify and help you avoid product-level preparation and labeling problems, visit the Performance Coaching help page:
أمازون

Thank you for selling with Amazon,

Nandini K.
Amazon.com Merchant Inbound Coaching (MIC) Team

Never ever accept / acknowledge these Shipment Problems. Always dispute. Use the workflow on the shipment performance screen. Never open a case.

[Gandalf]

I always fight those as well, but my success rate hasn’t been as good as @ASV_Vites. I’d say about 30-40%. What’s frustrating is that, if the dispute is denied, reopening the case will never result in a different outcome, no matter what, even when providing bulletproof evidence.

For some reason, the number of instances for these problems has gone through the roof in the last few weeks for us. Will continue to dispute every single one of them.

[VTR]

Yes, we go round and round with Amazon all the time. We get emails of “Shipment Performance Under Review” because the barcode is printed on a reflective surface making it unscannable.

"While receiving one or more of your recent shipments, we discovered problems that are contributing to your problem rate.

For an example of the Barcode cannot be scanned problem, review shipment:

Incorrect label - product related
Barcode cannot be scanned
1 - Shipment ID: FBA17PTY9NRV - FNSKU: X002OKQ5
2 - Shipment ID: FBA17J3G4SQZ - FNSKU: X000RWHH
3 - Shipment ID: FBA17FWLRV3R - FNSKU: X000YMEZ

If there are images attached to this email, please note they are for reference only. Images found and attached showing the barcode was printed on a reflective surface, as well as missing title and condition on barcode label… We took the steps necessary to receive your inventory. Your account and listings remain active at this time.

To view your Inbound Performance Dashboard, go to “Inbound Performance Dashboard”
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/fba/inboundperformancedashboard

For detailed information about the Barcode cannot be scanned in your dashboard, go to:"
NOTE EACH BAR CODE IN THE IMAGES THEY SEND IS SCANNABLE with a phone or handheld reader ON THE PIXELATED SCREEN!!!

They get super annoyed when we reply…
“Thank you for your concern,
Please feel free to reach out to us again, when the problem exceeds the published Acceptable Problem Rate as described in FUAMAOZN.help/hub/reference/GUZFHG4ST4FXH267”
And the attached screenshot.

ALWAYS use the dispute button to make them generate images of the issue.

[ASV_Vites]

@Gandalf

For some reason, the number of instances for these problems has gone through the roof in the last few weeks for us.

They must put sellers on rotation. Our dashboard is completely clean for the first time in 2 almost 2 years.

I tried to get the ASIN that always got hit “whitelisted” through SAS because the one coaching call we were forced to attend was resolved with the person said there’s nothing wrong with the barcode but, alas, this whitelisting program is reserved for high volume sellers.

IDK what Amazon considers high volume. Assuming $10M+ a year per ASIN.

[VTR]

@ASV_Vites

Our dashboard is completely clean for the first time in 2 almost 2 years.

Jinx

[Dogtamer]

@VTR

ALWAYS use the dispute button to make them generate images of the issue.

Nuthin’ could be finah,

From Cali to Carolina,

Than waking up to see that the recently-retitled Inbound Performance Dashboard (link, Seller Central, ‘simplified default’) has NO errors for any of the 26 “Problem Groups” which Amazon tracks.

[packetfire]

@ASV_Vites

What? You disputed the BS “Shipment Problem” and they didn’t send you a picture? That’s the SOP. No picture / No Proof - they must drop the “charges”

Is there an amazon seller central page that says this anywhere? No, I thought not. The lack of any process by which Amazon addresses its own errors should not surprise me.

[VTR]

@ASV_Vites may not be able to cite policy but I can affirm pushing the MIC for proof does work at getting BS stuff removed as noted right here a few weeks ago…

I have at least 10 such “sorry we could not back up our claims” emails/cases closed in our favor. While not as black and white as you or I would like, the experience shared is repeatable for a desired result.

[Gandalf]

Mind you, all my disputed errors in the past 2 weeks have been ruled in my favor. Proof that one should always dispute such erros.

[packetfire]

Hooray! I also got one reversed, but the root problem here seems to be that they are making such decisions in a submarine, which surfaces only to communicate decisions back to shore:

Our systems originally surfaced that your unit(s) were labeled by our fulfillment center after being received. We were unable to confirm this and as a result have removed the problem listing from your shipment.

[VTR]

Well, the button pressed to scan your items was operated by Simple Jack to keep labor costs down.

The button pushing, results in a non English speaker in Kazakhstani getting a message in English stating “Bar code no read” because the person who wrote the code for the button, was using a hacked version of Google Translate from 2003 on a CCP server with the wrong language selected, to keep costs down.

Further reducing costs, the message taker then sends another message to the MIC (Merchant Inbound Coaching) team which is run by Simple Jenny in an impoverished part of the United States, who tells you that despite millions of units sent in the exact same way for years, 3 of your items are “unscannable” and you must be “coached”, despite the images on your screen being completely scannable by every bar code scanning device since George HW Bush used one in 1992, and despite all that, Amazon still didn’t bother to re-label any of the 3 units, and that is also your fault.

Typical Amazon ineptitude.

They are so inept they will say you shorted your shipment when they do negative receipts at locations you didn’t send inventory to.

[ASV_Vites]

@VTR

Jinx

24 of 2760 don’t scan. Right…

[VTR]

And another one gone, and another one gone, another one bites the dust.