Attention of Stripes.

[mickd1961]

Hi Chap,

I was interested in your message this morning about Amazon.

I’ve had a nightmare with the USA in recent months......this is not due to Amazon at all,it’s due to the protectionist way the retailers act in the USA.

In the sports industry the terms and conditions state that goods we purchase within the EU are only supposed to be sold in our region.

This isn’t a problem on our website and on eBay sales because it’s not visible where sales are going.......with Amazon it’s right in their faces on Amazon.com and you’re openly fighting on the same listings against US sellers.

We had the competition b I t c h I n g to all the big brands about us and we were issued with warnings to remove ourselves from Amazon.com.

It’s hit turnover by £250k a year and this is the tip of the iceberg because our potential out there was probably £3m a year as we’d hardly started scratching the surface!!

All the brands have said that if we open an office in the USA and buy and distribute through US channels then it’s absolutely fine but the logistics involved for us are a nightmare as we’d need to more or less trust unknown staff in the USA and manage it remotely with only occasional visits.

I’m open to any ideas you might have mate?

Maybe we can meet up in Belbroughton at the pub at some point!?

[mickd1961]

I’m bumping this in the hopes Stripes reads it.

[baggieal]

Hi Chap,

I was interested in your message this morning about Amazon.

I’ve had a nightmare with the USA in recent months......this is not due to Amazon at all,it’s due to the protectionist way the retailers act in the USA.

In the sports industry the terms and conditions state that goods we purchase within the EU are only supposed to be sold in our region.

This isn’t a problem on our website and on eBay sales because it’s not visible where sales are going.......with Amazon it’s right in their faces on Amazon.com and you’re openly fighting on the same listings against US sellers.

We had the competition b I t c h I n g to all the big brands about us and we were issued with warnings to remove ourselves from Amazon.com.

It’s hit turnover by £250k a year and this is the tip of the iceberg because our potential out there was probably £3m a year as we’d hardly started scratching the surface!!

All the brands have said that if we open an office in the USA and buy and distribute through US channels then it’s absolutely fine but the logistics involved for us are a nightmare as we’d need to more or less trust unknown staff in the USA and manage it remotely with only occasional visits.

I’m open to any ideas you might have mate?

Maybe we can meet up in Belbroughton at the pub at some point!?

Might be good to meet up with you Mick! We import loads from the USA as everything is consolidated over there in our mailing centre based in Orlando. We have a web site that imports American goods which does really well but also have a shipping company that does all the logistics - mailing centre - consolidation - pick and pack etc. We are also going to target the USA market very soon as our shipping prices would beat any equivalent USA businesses hands down. We also do our own customs clearance so have no issues. Let me know if you need any help!


We get around everything as many USA brands will not ship outside the US which is why we have the mailing centre where we have it legitimately registered in our name so shipping backwards and forwards can never be questioned.

[mickd1961]

Very interested to read this Al.

My biggest problem is that the stuff I sell is coded per region so I can no longer ship to the USA even if I use a logistics company to handle my goods once they’re in the USA.

I have to physically buy in that country to sell in that region.

We are willing to do that though so if you think there’s mileage in this and you could handle our deliveries from USA brands into a facility that could then get them into Amazon’s USA warehouses ( because we use a lot of FBA - Fulfilment By Amazon ) and you could arrange direct shipment to customers of our website etc then we could do business?

Where are you based Al......I can meet up most days as I only do my work from home now,the rest of the team run the operation from our main site?

[baggieal]

Hi Chap,

I was interested in your message this morning about Amazon.

I’ve had a nightmare with the USA in recent months......this is not due to Amazon at all,it’s due to the protectionist way the retailers act in the USA.

In the sports industry the terms and conditions state that goods we purchase within the EU are only supposed to be sold in our region.

This isn’t a problem on our website and on eBay sales because it’s not visible where sales are going.......with Amazon it’s right in their faces on Amazon.com and you’re openly fighting on the same listings against US sellers.

We had the competition b I t c h I n g to all the big brands about us and we were issued with warnings to remove ourselves from Amazon.com.

It’s hit turnover by £250k a year and this is the tip of the iceberg because our potential out there was probably £3m a year as we’d hardly started scratching the surface!!

All the brands have said that if we open an office in the USA and buy and distribute through US channels then it’s absolutely fine but the logistics involved for us are a nightmare as we’d need to more or less trust unknown staff in the USA and manage it remotely with only occasional visits.

I’m open to any ideas you might have mate?

Maybe we can meet up in Belbroughton at the pub at some point!?

Very interested to read this Al.

My biggest problem is that the stuff I sell is coded per region so I can no longer ship to the USA even if I use a logistics company to handle my goods once they’re in the USA.

I have to physically buy in that country to sell in that region.

We are willing to do that though so if you think there’s mileage in this and you could handle our deliveries from USA brands into a facility that could then get them into Amazon’s USA warehouses ( because we use a lot of FBA - Fulfilment By Amazon ) and you could arrange direct shipment to customers of our website etc then we could do business?

Where are you based Al......I can meet up most days as I only do my work from home now,the rest of the team run the operation from our main site?

Morning Mick. Why are goods coded by region? Is this an Amazon requirement and even so - why will they know where they have been shipped? If you say you could buy in that country then presumably goods are from China and you buy from a wholesaler in the UK as you could buy from a wholesaler in the USA - correct?

Need to understand it a bit more with volumes. Interestingly live where you were brought up - told you there were similarities. Message me or we could meet up soon at a match.

[mickd1961]

Morning Mick. Why are goods coded by region? Is this an Amazon requirement and even so - why will they know where they have been shipped? If you say you could buy in that country then presumably goods are from China and you buy from a wholesaler in the UK as you could buy from a wholesaler in the USA - correct?

Need to understand it a bit more with volumes. Interestingly live where you were brought up - told you there were similarities. Message me or we could meet up soon at a match.

It’s the brands themselves that code their product for each region so that they can tell if people are selling outside their trading terms to regions they are not supposed to.

They even do test purchases to catch us out!

The sports business is VERY protectionist so they protect each retailers selling region as much as they can.

This is nothing to do with Amazon,they’ll sell anything we send into them to deliver for us or that we place in their warehouse to do delivery for us.

Can you message my through this platform Al with your email address and I’ll contact you later today with all my details and a full resume of what we do?

Ta.

[stripes39]

Hi Mick, sorry for the late reply.

It seems (to state the obvious) that the key issue here is that you aren't meant to sell sports goods of the same brand outside certain regions? I do know that were you importing sports goods from (say) China or India, and putting your own brand on them then as long as they meet Amazon.Com's criteria, you will not have a problem. Branding 'white box goods' for FBA is one of Amazon's fastest growing markets.

Seems as if your US based competitors are crying foul and citing the breaking of trading rules?

Is it Amazon who has threatened to remove you from selling on .Com or is this competitors making the threats?

I would imagine that your competitors have opened a complaint against your company with Amazon this being the case. I do know that Amazon can be very difficult to deal with as a seller as they have been known to suspend accounts without any prior warning. Someone I know sold computer games and made a genuine mistake of selling one counterfeit copy. Amazon closed his account and the $6000 he had in his account still sits there. If Amazon suspect you are breaching any trading agreement they will act I can assure you. I would definitely straighten things out if you are selling stuff that isn't meant to be sold in that region as Amazon could easily cancel your account with no right of return.

I'm in a situation where I will be buying in the US and clearly I will not be seeing the goods I sell. I'm using a fulfilment centre who will receive the goods, unpack and inspect them, ensure they meet the description on Amazon and then ship them to Amazon's warehouse where they will be listed under FBA. As 70% of all Amazon customers are Prime members, a high % only ever search for FBA which is why FBA commands a much higher price than FBM. I know it all comes down to price but you don't need to employ staff in the US if you are going to sell US goods as a fulfilment and management company can take care of most of your issues.

Let me know if I can offer any advice as I've been looking at the Amazon model for 3 or so years and I've access to several closed forums where I can always ask questions if you need me to.

[mickd1961]

Hi mate,

Could you send me a personal message with your email address etc so I can contact you directly please?

I’ve been chatting to BaggieAl today as he has other expertise which allied to yours could really help us.

I’ll send you a full idea of our situation and hopefully arrange to meet you locally for a beverage and a chat!

Cheers.

[stripes39]

Hi mate,

Could you send me a personal message with your email address etc so I can contact you directly please?

I’ve been chatting to BaggieAl today as he has other expertise which allied to yours could really help us.

I’ll send you a full idea of our situation and hopefully arrange to meet you locally for a beverage and a chat!

Cheers.

Will do Mick. Hopefully I’ll figure it out when I’m at the laptop.

[mickd1961]

Will do Mick. Hopefully I’ll figure it out when I’m at the laptop.

I’ve sent you a personal message Stripes.