We shipped 6 cases of a small product to a FC on Friday; it all fit in one box. But today, I found one case on the workbench, so Amazon thinks they’re getting 6 cases but the box contains 5.
On top of that, I just got dinged two weeks ago for one missing unit in a shipment, which is bullsh*t, of course. But the metrics are going to be ugly.
Is there any way to intercept a shipment purchased through Amazon? I can’t find one but I’m a dope. Seller Support told me to work it out with UPS but I don’t see how that can happen.
I’ve been doing this since 2018. Had no idea that you could be dinged for short shipped. Amazon short receives our stuff all the time by a few units here and there. Don’t recall being dinged for it.
We just ignore their short ship nonsense and write it off with the receipt as the record for uncle sam. Amazon almost always finds the stuff. Win win…
I’ve done this a couple times in the past. I opened a case with seller support and told them what happened. There is nothing that they can do but opening a support case documents that you acknowledge the mistake in advance. I can imaging there are also those that short ship on purpose and ask for reimbursement. I don’t want to be lumped in with those folks. Having the support ticket to reference might help your case if it ever becomes a bigger problem.
It hasn’t bothered my account health metrics – yet, anyway – but they do put threatening messages on my SC screen that they’ll waterboard me and boot me from FBA if it keeps happening. Great idea on the taxes, I never thought of that. Thanks!
Doh! Excellent idea! I take all my FBM to the local UPS Store for dropoff and I know those guys. They remember me because I’m shipping live fish. I’ll see if they can get it turned around. Thanks papy!
I would just let it get received short then worry about it. The metrics dinged are not too bad and even at “elevated” they will simply make you listen to their BS about accuracy and what you will do to correct the problem.
If you get the shipment back you still pay the freight so I would not bother. If its a partnered carrier you are usually out of luck because its on Amazon’s account anyway.
Said product rolls on a belt and is exposed to visual scanners to check in and count the product.
Products that do not get scan on the belt, get pulled and hand scanned.
Regardless of whether they scan by hand or not, a “Shipping Problem” email is sent to the seller.
Upon transfer to a FC, that product is scanned again and counted.
This is what I was told by 2 SAS mangers of ours who both had past lives working in Amazon logistic centers. What I was told, coupled with videos I have seen of the facility / process, I tend to believe them.
Since my items are thin, maybe there is an issue with separating on the belt, like one on top of another?
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and your product Steve? I would guess yours are packed like 144 or 72 to a case.
So they open 20 - 40 boxes off the skid, and dump them all on the belt?
and Not open the box, count, and scan once?
Case packs are 24, when SPD - 144 per shipper - When LTL - 6000.
Every single unit, as dumb as it may sound, is dumped and scanned / counted instead of Amazon using their head and counting case packs and FC transferring case packs.
That would offer a lot more protection. This is where the majority of the wear and tare / damages happen. Dump bins are used for transfers and the process starts all over again until the product reaches a pick location.
I thought that was crazy (double counting), but I confirmed it with SAS managers and we’ve gotten more than 1 “Shipping Problem” from FC’s that did not receive the shipment, it got transferred to them.
It’s all nuts but is designed for Amazon to be as accurate as possible and quite frankly they really are IMO and in our 6 year experience with FBA.
99.7% isn’t bad for a 3PL but it could be better. I think we were at 99.89% in 2023. Don’t remember but it was higher than 99.7. Our stuff is simple case packs. We never create a shipment plan that has more than 1 ASIN on it.
Try and keep it really simple that a 3rd grader could nail it.
We are often short sometimes short one out of every 25-30 shipments. One or two on a 50-80 piece shipment. From time to time we may be over by one or two.
The thing is the items always show up and get sold at some point. We have even had them sell three years after discontinuing a product.
As we all know it is always our fault, never Amazon. Don’t even try to explain it to them any longer.