EFN Problem
Serious problem with EFN, can anyone help? We are a UK own brand seller. We enrolled in the EFN program in the EU some time ago, and our products are stored in FBA warehousing in Spain. Because we are only VAT registered in Spain (not any other EU country), Amazon's rule is that products can only be stored in Spain. They are then distributed to customers both within Spain and in other EU countries. This works fine. However, the problem we are having is that when a customer returns a product that they bought in Germany (for example), this product is then sent back to FBA Germany. So far, also fine, because to abide by their own rules you would think Amazon would then forward the product back to FBA Spain (these are products in sellable condition). But they don't! Not only do they keep them in Germany (and other EU countries), they charge for storage there even though these products are not for sale because they are not in Spain. Also, because they are not in Spain when you go to Manage All Inventory and FBA Inventory, only the products in Spain FBA are listed. So we don't get proper visibility on those and these products outside Spain increase each time there is a return. And we are charged storage fees each month and now long term storage fees too, which are adding up. We have found out that only by doing a full Inventory Ledger report can these products be seen. We have contacted Seller Support and asked them these questions:
1. How do we stop returns being sent to non-Spain EU FBA warehouses?
2. How can we get the products that are already in non-Spain EU warehouse sent back to FBA Spain warehouses?
For number 1 we were initially told that the returns settings had been set up incorrectly but they were correct now, and that this would not happen again. However, it keeps happening.
For number 2 we were told that this is not possible, that they can only be sent to a third party address within the EU. We don't have such an address as we are UK based and rely on Amazon for warehousing.
We then contacted Seller Support again, and asked these questions:
A. Again, how do we stop returns being sent to non-Spain EU FBA warehouses?
B. As we did not request these products to be returned to non-Spain EU FBA warehouses (and this seems to be against Amazon's own policies), please can we be refunded the monies paid for non-Spain EU FBA storage fees?
C. As we don't have any address within the EU, if they cannot be sent back to Spain FBA our only option is to have these products destroyed (even though they are in sellable condition).
For A and B we received no response about this. For C we were sent information about how to send the products to a 3rd party address within the EU (which we don't have), and the question about destroying the products was ignored.
At this point we gave up with Seller Support and I contacted a third party Amazon service provider and asked them for a quote to get these products destroyed. They have now been looking into this for a week and they cannot yet find out how to do this.
Has anyone experienced a similar situation? Or if someone from Amazon would respond and help, even better. In all fairness we should really have the storage costs refunded, and be provided with a way to stop this happening again, otherwise it is a drain on our business and undermines the viability of the EFN program.
@Sakura_Amazon_
@Sarah_Amzn
@Winston_Amazon
@Simon_Amazon
@Julia_Amzn
@Ezra_Amazon
EFN Problem
Serious problem with EFN, can anyone help? We are a UK own brand seller. We enrolled in the EFN program in the EU some time ago, and our products are stored in FBA warehousing in Spain. Because we are only VAT registered in Spain (not any other EU country), Amazon's rule is that products can only be stored in Spain. They are then distributed to customers both within Spain and in other EU countries. This works fine. However, the problem we are having is that when a customer returns a product that they bought in Germany (for example), this product is then sent back to FBA Germany. So far, also fine, because to abide by their own rules you would think Amazon would then forward the product back to FBA Spain (these are products in sellable condition). But they don't! Not only do they keep them in Germany (and other EU countries), they charge for storage there even though these products are not for sale because they are not in Spain. Also, because they are not in Spain when you go to Manage All Inventory and FBA Inventory, only the products in Spain FBA are listed. So we don't get proper visibility on those and these products outside Spain increase each time there is a return. And we are charged storage fees each month and now long term storage fees too, which are adding up. We have found out that only by doing a full Inventory Ledger report can these products be seen. We have contacted Seller Support and asked them these questions:
1. How do we stop returns being sent to non-Spain EU FBA warehouses?
2. How can we get the products that are already in non-Spain EU warehouse sent back to FBA Spain warehouses?
For number 1 we were initially told that the returns settings had been set up incorrectly but they were correct now, and that this would not happen again. However, it keeps happening.
For number 2 we were told that this is not possible, that they can only be sent to a third party address within the EU. We don't have such an address as we are UK based and rely on Amazon for warehousing.
We then contacted Seller Support again, and asked these questions:
A. Again, how do we stop returns being sent to non-Spain EU FBA warehouses?
B. As we did not request these products to be returned to non-Spain EU FBA warehouses (and this seems to be against Amazon's own policies), please can we be refunded the monies paid for non-Spain EU FBA storage fees?
C. As we don't have any address within the EU, if they cannot be sent back to Spain FBA our only option is to have these products destroyed (even though they are in sellable condition).
For A and B we received no response about this. For C we were sent information about how to send the products to a 3rd party address within the EU (which we don't have), and the question about destroying the products was ignored.
At this point we gave up with Seller Support and I contacted a third party Amazon service provider and asked them for a quote to get these products destroyed. They have now been looking into this for a week and they cannot yet find out how to do this.
Has anyone experienced a similar situation? Or if someone from Amazon would respond and help, even better. In all fairness we should really have the storage costs refunded, and be provided with a way to stop this happening again, otherwise it is a drain on our business and undermines the viability of the EFN program.
@Sakura_Amazon_
@Sarah_Amzn
@Winston_Amazon
@Simon_Amazon
@Julia_Amzn
@Ezra_Amazon
Spencer_Amazon
Hello @Seller_DJqWlEby6fi8n,
What a situation, I am going to set up a meeting with my contact to find out exactly what is going on and how we can solve it.
I will let you know.
Regards, Spencer
135 replies
Spencer_Amazon
Hello @Seller_DJqWlEby6fi8n,
I am Spencer with Amazon.
Have you had a chance to contact seller support on this issue?
Let me know if you need additional help.
Regards, Spencer
Seller_DJqWlEby6fi8n
Hi Spencer, thanks for your reply.
Yes, I have contacted seller support previously but they have never been able to resolve the issue. I have now contacted them again, the case number is 9973071602. Below is what I sent to them.
I will post their response here, but meanwhile please could you follow up with them internally so that together we can get this sorted out?
Copy of my message to seller support:
"We're having a serious problem with EFN program.
I've opened cases here about this previously but nothing has been resolved. Please can this case be escalated to a supervisor so that we can finally get a resolution to this. Thank you.
This is the issue we are facing:
We are enrolled in the EFN program and our products are stored in FBA warehousing in Spain (because we are only VAT registered in Spain, not any other EU country).
The problem we are having is that when a customer returns a product that they bought in Germany (for example), this product is then sent back to FBA Germany. When I go to Manage All Inventory and FBA Inventory this product is not visible because Manage All Inventory and FBA Inventory only show ASINs that are in FBA Spain.
I have found that only by doing a full Inventory Ledger report can I see that these products are being stored in other EU FBA warehouses outside Spain. The products that have been sent back to Germany (for example) and other EU FBA warehouses outside Spain are not available for purchase by Amazon customers because customers can only purchase the products that are in FBA Spain. I have attached a spreadsheet here of the EU FBA warehouses where each of these products are currently and their condition.
To make things worse, for these products in EU FBA warehouses outside Spain we are charged storage fees each month and now long term storage fees too, which are adding up. This really needs to be resolved now otherwise it is a drain on our business and undermines the viability of the EFN program.
So please can you answer these questions clearly:
1. How do we stop returns being sent to non-Spain EU FBA warehouses?
2. As we did not request these products to be returned to non-Spain EU FBA warehouses, please can we be refunded the monies paid for non-Spain EU FBA storage fees?
3. Can these products that are in sellable condition be sent back to Spain FBA warehouses so that customers can purchase them? As we don't have any address within the EU, if they cannot be sent back to Spain FBA our only option is to have these products destroyed (even though they are in sellable condition). If destroying them is our only option, how do we do that, and can we be recompensed for the products destroyed that are in sellable condition?"
Seller_DJqWlEby6fi8n
Hi again Spencer,
I've received a reply from seller central for this case. As with their previous replies it does not solve the issue. A copy of their reply is below.
Can you take up this case and see it through until a solution is found please?
Seller support included these 2 links in their reply:
1. https://sellercentral-europe.amazon.com/fba/settings/index.html/ref=xx_fbasettings_dnav_xx?ref_=xx_swlang_head_xx&mons_sel_locale=en_ES&languageSwitched=1#/ - when logged in to seller central this link leads to a page that says:
"Invalid request URL from client. The requested URL is not well formed."
However, yesterday I spent half an hour in a Zoom call solely about this issue with a 3rd party Amazon consultancy agency, and they checked all the shipping programmes and export settings, and still could not find a resolution to this particular issue. So even if that page worked it is not going to resolve the issue.
2. https://sellercentral-europe.amazon.com/help/hub/reference/G201606080?mons_sel_mkid=amzn1.mp.o.A1RKKUPIHCS9HS&mons_sel_mcid=amzn1.merchant.o.A3QPTZ4ETOIRFZ&mons_sel_persist=true&mons_sel_dc=AAAAmNTDRxY%3D - this link is valid but just provides general information about the EFN program which does not include the issue we are facing.
Copy of reply from seller support:
"Hello from Amazon Seller Partner Support,
My name is Maynor from Amazon.es Seller Support.
We understand that you are having problems with additional storage fees charged with the EFN program.
Given the circumstances explained on your email we would suggest to check and make sure your Shipping programmes and export settings are properly check. Please refer to the following link:
https://sellercentral-europe.amazon.com/fba/settings/index.html/ref=xx_fbasettings_dnav_xx?ref_=xx_swlang_head_xx&mons_sel_locale=en_ES&languageSwitched=1#/
As a side we also leave you, the following help page that has important information related to EFN program:
https://sellercentral-europe.amazon.com/help/hub/reference/G201606080?mons_sel_mkid=amzn1.mp.o.A1RKKUPIHCS9HS&mons_sel_mcid=amzn1.merchant.o.A3QPTZ4ETOIRFZ&mons_sel_persist=true&mons_sel_dc=AAAAmNTDRxY%3D
Thank you for contacting us."
Spencer_Amazon
Hello @Seller_DJqWlEby6fi8n,
I see this case was just transferred to another team.
I will keep an eye out and keep you updated.
Regards, Spencer
Seller_DJqWlEby6fi8n
Thanks Spencer.
I'll update if I hear anything too. Really hope this can get sorted.
Seller_DJqWlEby6fi8n
Hi again Spencer, it's definitely looking more positive now.
From their answers now they are saying that we can request reimbursement of the storage fees (and hopefully long term storage fees too). And that they will send products that are returned to EU FBA warehouses outside Spain (Unauthorized Countries) to FBA warehouses in Spain (authorized Country). I hope this turns out to be correct and that they actually do this, hopefully they will.
Their latest reply:
"About your questions:
1. How do we stop returns being sent to non-Spain EU FBA warehouses?
- Amazon can't stop buyer from returning item to his local FCs.
2. As we did not request these products to be returned to non-Spain EU FBA warehouses, please can we be refunded the monies paid for non-Spain EU FBA storage fees?
- Yes, seller may request an reimbursement for the storage fees.
3. Can these products that are in sellable condition be sent back to Spain FBA warehouses so that customers can purchase them? As we don't have any address within the EU, if they cannot be sent back to Spain FBA our only option is to have these products destroyed (even though they are in sellable condition). If destroying them is our only option, how do we do that, and can we be recompensed for the products destroyed that are in sellable condition?
- Yes, stock in an Unauthorized Country must be transshipped to an Authorized country.
Let me inform you, that the team in charge has been notified and is evaluating your request. As soon as we have its resolution, you will be notified."
Spencer_Amazon
This is indeed good news @Seller_DJqWlEby6fi8n,
Please keep me posted on the progress and I will keep chasing this case.
Have a nice weekend.
Regards, Spencer
Seller_DJqWlEby6fi8n
Hi Spencer,
I have heard from Sunnie at Amazon that the affected ASINs are now being moved to a Fulfilment Center in Spain. I've not heard anything from Seller Support that confirms this yet though, I will update here when I do. She also asks me to continue to monitor the case (ID 9973071602), so I can follow up on the request for reimbursement.
So, about the request for reimbursement. I have now looked at the charges for both storage fees and long term storage fees for the EU FBA warehouses outside Spain (ie, the warehouses that would be covered by the reimbursement), and I find this this issue has been going on much longer than I realised.
For Germany, for example (which I believe also covers the charges for FBA storage in Poland and Czechia, but I'm not sure), there are long term storage fees already being charged for this back as far as 18/07/2022 and storage fees for 08/07/2022 (same for Italy).
It won't allow me to run reports further than 2 years back, but as there are long term storage fees being charged on 18/07/2022 the charges must go back at least several months before that.
These charges are for relatively small amounts, but over the 2 years they add up to £720 for Germany, £232.44 for Italy, and £16.71 for France.
Is it possible could you advise on how I can find what non-Spain EU FBA storage charges were applied more than 2 years ago, so that these amounts can also be included when the reimbursement request is made? Thanks.
Spencer_Amazon
Hello @Seller_DJqWlEby6fi8n,
I have contacted our partner team to look into the storage fees across Europe for the whole time they were charged.
I will keep you posted.
Regards, Spencer
Seller_DJqWlEby6fi8n
Thanks Spencer, I look forward to your further post about this
Seller_DJqWlEby6fi8n
Hi Spencer,
I've requested an urgent update on the situation from the new person at seller support. I will update here when I receive a reply.
You're tagged, so I guess you are still following this, yes?