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
133 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
Spencer_Amazon
Hello @Seller_DJqWlEby6fi8n,
I have found a different partner team and shared everything with them.
Bear with me please, we are working hard to sort this out.
Regards, Spencer
Seller_DJqWlEby6fi8n
Hi Spencer,
I have now had a case opened by James from Selling Partner Relations regarding both the reimbursement for the storage fees and returning the products to FBA Spain and have replied to that. I'm more hopeful that this will be resolved now. Thank you.
Spencer_Amazon
Hello @Seller_DJqWlEby6fi8n,
Yes, I have spoken with him and he is taking care of this.
Hopefully this will be solved soon, I will keep chasing it.
Regards, Spencer
Seller_DJqWlEby6fi8n
Things are beginning to move along now. The 2 smaller reimbursements (Italy and France) have now been received. I'm more hopefully that everything will finally be resolved now, thanks.
Spencer_Amazon
That is good news @Seller_DJqWlEby6fi8n,
Thank you for letting me know, I will continue working with the team.
Regards, Spencer
Seller_DJqWlEby6fi8n
Hi Spencer,
Well it seemed to be going well. But now in our orders section it says that some of the products that were to be moved to Spain FBA have instead been destroyed. I'm not sure what is going to happen to the others that are still in the unauthorised EU warehouses (so far, apart from the destroyed ones, the others are all still there, exactly the same as when we started trying to resolve this 10 weeks or so ago).
Not had the reimbursement from Germany yet either.
On a positive note, it is the same person each time that I'm in contact with at Seller Support, and he is always coherent and proactive. This is a massive improvement on the replies I was getting earlier when trying to resolve this. I just hope everything can be resolved properly soon, and if our products are now being destroyed that we are properly recompensed for those too.
Spencer_Amazon
Hello @Seller_DJqWlEby6fi8n,
Thanks for letting me know. And yes, I know the person you have been working with and he is indeed wonderful. I am keeping a close eye on the case and will continue working with him and hopefully this will be solved soon.
Regards, Spencer
Seller_DJqWlEby6fi8n
Hi Spencer,
I have now received the reimbursement for the inventory charges for Germany for the 2 year period. So things are definitely moving along now (we have not been reimbursed for charges prior to the 2 years though....).
However, some of the products that were supposed to be transshipped to Spain FBA have instead been disposed of, and the others are still in non-authorised EU FBA centres. So we could do with the reimbursement for the ones that have been disposed of, and the remaining ones moving to Spain FBA.
It's taken a very long time but as the reimbursements for the 2 years have now finally been received I'm hopefully that everything else can be resolved too. Anything you can do to move this along further much appreciated.
Spencer_Amazon
Hello @Seller_DJqWlEby6fi8n,
Glad to hear things are moving in the right direction. Keep communicating with your wonderful contact in Seller Support and I will keep supporting from my end.
Regards, Spencer
Seller_DJqWlEby6fi8n
Hi Spencer,
No so good now. Although I did receive the reimbursements, I've now been told that Amazon no longer provides transhipments from Non-Spain EU warehouse back to Spain, that we need to create our own removal orders, and the case has been closed as if that resolves everything....
I have reopened the case and sent the reply below, now waiting for a response.
Copy of reply to Amazon:
"Thanks for your reply, but unfortunately this puts us right back at the beginning to when I first opened this case.
Besides the reimbursements (now resolved), the main issue was that it is not possible to create removal orders that are in the non-Spain EU FCs.
To resolve this issue Amazon told me that they would create transshipments for these products from non-Spain FCs back to Spain. I accepted that this is what was going to happen and this is what we have been trying to achieve for the past couple of months or so. Now I'm told that this is no longer possible. Ok, I have to accept this too as this is Amazon's decision. But this in no way resolves the issue at hand, it just means the issue at hand cannot be resolved in the way Amazon initially thought it could (ie, by transshipment).
So we are now back to the initial issue of, how do we create removal orders that are in the non-Spain EU FCs? As it stands now things are the same as when this case was first opened, ie, it is not possible to create these removal orders because within the Manage Inventory section of Seller Central (where the removal orders can be created) the products in non-Spain EU FCs are not listed there. The only way to view the products in non-Spain EU warehouses is by looking within the Inventory Ledger. But the Inventory Ledger is view only, there is no way to create removal orders within there.
Maybe I am missing something - is there some other way that we can create these removal orders which we have not yet been advised about? If not then what is the way forward to resolve this please?"
