The Rush to Get Inventory to Amazon Warehouses

Amazon FBA sellers have less than 4 weeks to get their inventory to Amazon fulfillment centers in time for Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping. 

Amazon advised sellers who participate in its Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) program: 

To ensure your inventory is available for purchase during the holidays, please ensure your inventory arrives at our fulfillment centers by these dates:

November 6 - For Black Friday and Cyber Monday

December 3 - For peak year-end sales

The dates raised eyebrows of some sellers who thought those dates weren't realistic. "If you haven't shipped out all your holiday season inventory by Oct 1st, then you have never done a holiday season sale," one seller wrote, explaining that it's not just a matter of transit time. Once items arrive at a fulfillment center, it takes time for them to get through receiving and made available for sale - assuming Amazon doesn't send some of the inventory to other warehouses, they explained.

And that's not factoring in unexpected issues outside sellers' control. The most notable - in 2010, Amazon experienced capacity issues at its fulfillment centers due to higher than expected demand for FBA fulfillment services. That led to Amazon introducing Long Term Storage fees for FBA sellers in 2011.

Things may not get that dire again, but delays are to be expected even at the best of times. On a thread on the Amazon discussion boards today, a seller noted it can be days before Amazon checks in shipments of inventory. "We have had shipments sit carrier delivered for 5-10 days before Amazon checks it in. This will most likely get worse the closer to Christmas we get."

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