Top 5 Amazon News for January 2023

Each month, we monitor Amazon news and updates to seize opportunities as well as to avoid potential problems before they become an issue for us and our clients.

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Here we share the top updates and news for January 2023:

1. Update: Three new product listing attributes will be mandatory in December (USA)

Amazon announcement:

“We previously announced that four additional product listing attributes would become mandatory in December, but have reduced the list of mandatory attributes from four to two at this time.

Attributes will change from optional to required for the following product types:

  • Colour name: COAT, VEST
  • Product description: HOME, PLANT_SEED, TOYS_AND_GAMES

All new listings for affected product types will require a valid attribute value, or the product will not be added to the catalogue.

Your active listings will not be affected. To publish your inactive listings, go to Manage inventory to update your attributes now.”

 

ProMerit Tip: The good news is that active listings are not affected. But keep in mind that whenever you need to update any information or image on your current active listings, you may be asked to update these new mandatory attributes, in the product categories affected.

 

2. Grow and protect your brand with the new Build Your Brand page (USA)

Amazon announcement:

“Our new Build Your Brand page on Seller Central helps you inform your strategy, grow, and protect your brand. You can access the page through Seller Central under the Brands tab.

On the page, you can learn how our brand-exclusive programs can help you by using the four key program areas:

  • Build brand loyalty: Create lasting connections with millions of customers through tools that help you best showcase your brand and drive repeat purchases.
  • Grow your audience: Reach customers while they shop using innovative tools that help you drive consideration and build brand awareness on and off Amazon.
  • Inform your strategy: Make informed decisions about your product portfolio and marketing activities with insightful tools that deliver actionable data, including customer purchase behavior, competitive analysis, and search optimization.
  • Protect your brand: Protect your intellectual property (IP) with advanced tools that block out counterfeits, help you find and report violations, and give you automated protections to proactively remove suspected infringing or inaccurate content.

If you’re not yet a brand owner, visit the Build Your Brand page to learn about the benefits of launching a brand in the Amazon store.

Don’t forget to bookmark the page and check back often for the latest brand-specific updates.”

 

ProMerit TipAmazon is always sharing information and best practices to help us boost our brands, so new tools have been published for curious brand owners who are still unaware of all the opportunities the platform offers. There is a variety of brand programs, brand protection advice, and some advertising tips. Learning is part of the process, though having previous experience is crucial in each of these areas to know the market and identify shortcuts.

 

3. Changes to shipping charge corrections for seller-fulfilled returns (USA)

Amazon announcement:

“Starting January 14, sellers will be responsible for any carrier shipping correction charges on customer returns of seller-fulfilled orders caused by incorrect return label information.

Carriers may issue shipping correction charges after a shipping label has been purchased. This can happen when the dimensions or weight do not match the values you provided, or when your return address is invalid. Return shipping corrections can result in a positive or negative credit depending on whether you over or under paid.

We have previously absorbed these charges, but in line with industry standards, sellers will soon be responsible for shipping corrections for seller-fulfilled returns.

Since January 14, your account will be charged, or credited, if:

  • The dimensions, weight, or both, of your product return are incorrect: If the product returned by the customer has physical attributes that do not match your product listing or outbound shipping, you will be charged or credited for the difference in cost between the label you paid for and the correct label cost.
  • Your return address is incorrect or invalid: If your return address is undeliverable, the carrier will charge a $18 fee for every package that could not be returned. Your return address must be in the same country as the store you sell in, and must accept return packages.

If any of your ASINs receive a shipping correction charge due to incorrect product attributes, return address, or both, you will receive a monthly email notification with a detailed report. If you do not receive an email, you did not incur any shipping correction charges.

To avoid these charges, make sure your products’ dimensions, weight, and return address are listed correctly in Seller Central.”

 

ProMerit TipUp until now, Amazon has absorbed the return costs caused by incorrect label information. So now is a good time to go and make sure all product information (dimensions, weight, return address, etc.) is accurate and precise on Seller Central to avoid extra costs.

Notifications will be sent via e-mail, so everyone will be notified if this ever happens.

 

4. All MCF orders are now shipped in unbranded packaging (USA)

Amazon announcement:

“We recently started shipping your Multi-Channel Fulfillment (MCF) orders in unbranded packaging automatically at no additional cost to you.

The packaging materials, including boxes, tape and poly bags, don’t contain any Amazon branding.

Unbranded packaging is available for eligible sortable items. Non-sortable inventory, apparel, footwear, and any items larger than 56 inches or heavier than 49.9 lb are not eligible and cannot be shipped in unbranded packaging (…).”

 

ProMerit TipAs mentioned above, certain products are eligible for unbranded packaging. To find out how many of your orders are shipped in unbranded packaging, visit the Multi-Channel Fulfilment Inventory report where this information is displayed.

 

5. Improvements to Amazon fulfillment reports (USA & Canada)

Amazon announcement:

“We’ve recently redesigned the Amazon Fulfilment reports page to help you find report information more easily.

The page includes new sections, including Recently viewed, Most popular reports and What’s new.

We’ve also introduced a scheduling feature that lets you automatically generate reports at the frequency that you choose. The feature is now available for the following reports:

  • Manage FBA Inventory
  • FBA Customer Returns
  • Amazon Fulfilled Inventory
  • Reserved Inventory

On each report page, you can create a new scheduled report in the Schedule tab. Once the report is generated, it will appear in the Scheduled reports section.”

 

ProMerit TipGreat news for teams handling periodic fulfillment reports: In the four reports mentioned above, we have three new features (“Recently viewed”, “Most popular reports” and “What’s new”), which will provide us with the information we need in a more timely manner, by scheduling the reports. For more information, you can visit FBA Business reports.

We hope this article is helpful for your businesses. Please note that the above announcements have been sourced from Amazon’s official channels as well as from some well-known business blogs.

If you have any questions related to our services, please contact us. Remember to sign up for our newsletter to receive more exciting news every month!