A Sign Amazon Is Backlogged with Holiday Orders?

Amazon advised sellers who use its FBA fulfillment program to consider holding off on sending it inventory replenishments until January as it focuses on fulfilling customer orders during the holiday shopping period.

Some sellers seized on the announcement as a sign that Amazon was backlogged, but Amazon had warned sellers in October to get their inventory in by December 3rd "for peak year-end sales."

Some said it wasn't anything new, just that this year Amazon was considerate enough to provide a warning to sellers. "I actually appreciate the transparency," said one seller - "They're just looking out for sellers."

But some sellers had a suggestion for Amazon: use the Buy Box to showcase merchant-fulfilled inventory rather than Amazon-fulfilled items if their operations are overwhelmed.

"Dear Amazon programmers, how about sending the merchant fulfilled orders some more if Amazon is so swamped," wrote one seller. "I could easily fulfill 200 orders a day, last week I got 47 orders to fulfill ALL WEEK. Yet the buy box continues to go to FBA that won’t be in stock for a week."

"There is a simple solution Amazon," wrote another seller. "And I have said it on your seller forums the last few days. REPROGRAM YOUR BUY BOX ALGORITHM and let some orders trickle to merchant fulfilled orders. Over a million third party sellers are twiddling their thumbs getting few orders when they could process hundreds of thousands a day. We could get you out of the weeds in 3 days."

Whatever the case, sellers are concerned that Amazon may have difficulties processing inventory sent to fulfillment centers that could lead to delays right into the month of January.

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