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Commingling is bad, but does commingling mean they can't trace it back to which seller sent it to them for FBA? If they can, they can penalize that seller, not

Commingling is bad, but does commingling mean they can't trace it back to which seller sent it to them for FBA? If they can, they can penalize that seller, not the other seller (who won the sale). I'm assuming Amazon has a unique id for every individual item in their warehouses. I'm not sure this is the case, but it seems likely given how their warehouses are organized and the location of stuff is very mixed up and only known to computers. (It would also be sufficient if they have unique ids for lots. If one seller sends 10 identical perishable items and Amazon groups those on a shelf together, they can still trace it back to the right seller.)

fencepost 7y ago
I've seen conflicting reports on whether they can but that's less important than (the appearance?) that they don't. "This terrible thing has happened in an area you're responsible for and you failed to catch/address it. Is this because you didn't have the required resources, because you're incompetent, or because you're corrupt? If it was resources, what do you need and why didn't you have it?"
dspillett 7y ago
> If they can, they can penalize that seller, not the other seller (who won the sale). That is fine for complaints raised directly through the specific complaint channel(s). It doesn't help with complaints recorded as (or as part of) reviews, which might not have a corresponding official complaint. If I see mention of expiry dates and similar issues in reviews I don't have any assurance that this refers to the supply of product I'd be getting items from if I ordered. People will often not bother with an official complaint unless it is an expensive item that they want a refund on, they instead go the "less paperwork" route of leaving a negative review, binning the item, and ordering from elsewhere.
- adrianmonk 7y ago
  I see a LOT of product reviews that are really seller feedback, and I wish Amazon would fix this. They need to have it so that wherever the user happens to find themselves (product review page, order page, support page, etc.), they are guided toward leaving the right kind of feedback. Instead of relying on users to be really familiar with how Amazon works and find the right place on their own. For example, on the product review page, right now they have a blank called "Write your review". Instead, they could require you to indicate what kind of feedback you're offering, giving choices like "review the product itself" and "review the performance of Joe Schmoe, the seller for order #1234 on date 456" and with no default selected. Or just give you two blanks labeled "product review" and "seller review". You also raise another issue which is that there's baggage associated with raising an official complaint. People don't necessarily want to deal with it, or they don't want to cause trouble and feel like filing a complaint is the nuclear option. I'm sure Amazon's attitude is that if something is wrong it should be made right, but that's not what every customer realistically wants.
crazygringo 7y ago
> but does commingling mean they can't trace it back to which seller sent it to them for FBA? If they can, they can penalize that seller... Correct, they can't trace it, so they can't penalize. > I'm assuming Amazon has a unique id for every individual item in their warehouses. They don't. If they did, there would be some kind of unique bar code on every item you received from Amazon.
- QuotedForTruth 7y ago
  Commingling (in this context) doesn't necessarily mean that the products are literally sitting in the same bin as the same product from another seller. Each seller's items could be kept in separate bins if put in the same warehouse. Then when one of that product is ordered, the picker is told to go to a specific bin to get it. Amazon would then still know which seller's product they sold you. The actual advantage of commingling comes from the fact that amazon doesn't have to distribute every sellers items across the US. They can just send you one from the closest warehouse.
  - FireBeyond 7y ago
    That takes up more warehouse space, which is what Amazon is trying to avoid. Much easier to put it all into one big bin, and if you want, they can charge you to have your own bin.
    - adrianmonk 7y ago
      Seems easy enough to work around. Just fill the extra space with completely different products. Put the other seller's products in a different location, also mixed in with other stuff. The rule would be that you can put two products together if they are either the same seller (in which case you don't need to distinguish) or a different product (in which case you can distinguish visually). Amazon already mixes different products in the same slot in order to optimize space anyway.
  - hinkley 7y ago
    Yeah I'm struggling with the notion of why commingling prevents audit trails. You don't even have to use separate bins for audits, although I admit that makes it pretty trivial. You just need a label.
ikeboy 7y ago
No, they are very capable of tracing it back. See https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/help/external/200141480 https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/help/external/200141480 See also https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21244240 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21244240, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20549623 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20549623, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13952939 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13952939, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12062856 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12062856 This comes up often.

fencepost 7y ago

I've seen conflicting reports on whether they can but that's less important than (the appearance?) that they don't. "This terrible thing has happened in an area you're responsible for and you failed to catch/address it. Is this because you didn't have the required resources, because you're incompetent, or because you're corrupt? If it was resources, what do you need and why didn't you have it?"

dspillett 7y ago

> If they can, they can penalize that seller, not the other seller (who won the sale). That is fine for complaints raised directly through the specific complaint channel(s). It doesn't help with complaints recorded as (or as part of) reviews, which might not have a corresponding official complaint. If I see mention of expiry dates and similar issues in reviews I don't have any assurance that this refers to the supply of product I'd be getting items from if I ordered. People will often not bother with an official complaint unless it is an expensive item that they want a refund on, they instead go the "less paperwork" route of leaving a negative review, binning the item, and ordering from elsewhere.

adrianmonk 7y ago
I see a LOT of product reviews that are really seller feedback, and I wish Amazon would fix this. They need to have it so that wherever the user happens to find themselves (product review page, order page, support page, etc.), they are guided toward leaving the right kind of feedback. Instead of relying on users to be really familiar with how Amazon works and find the right place on their own. For example, on the product review page, right now they have a blank called "Write your review". Instead, they could require you to indicate what kind of feedback you're offering, giving choices like "review the product itself" and "review the performance of Joe Schmoe, the seller for order #1234 on date 456" and with no default selected. Or just give you two blanks labeled "product review" and "seller review". You also raise another issue which is that there's baggage associated with raising an official complaint. People don't necessarily want to deal with it, or they don't want to cause trouble and feel like filing a complaint is the nuclear option. I'm sure Amazon's attitude is that if something is wrong it should be made right, but that's not what every customer realistically wants.

crazygringo 7y ago

> but does commingling mean they can't trace it back to which seller sent it to them for FBA? If they can, they can penalize that seller... Correct, they can't trace it, so they can't penalize. > I'm assuming Amazon has a unique id for every individual item in their warehouses. They don't. If they did, there would be some kind of unique bar code on every item you received from Amazon.

QuotedForTruth 7y ago
Commingling (in this context) doesn't necessarily mean that the products are literally sitting in the same bin as the same product from another seller. Each seller's items could be kept in separate bins if put in the same warehouse. Then when one of that product is ordered, the picker is told to go to a specific bin to get it. Amazon would then still know which seller's product they sold you. The actual advantage of commingling comes from the fact that amazon doesn't have to distribute every sellers items across the US. They can just send you one from the closest warehouse.
- FireBeyond 7y ago
  That takes up more warehouse space, which is what Amazon is trying to avoid. Much easier to put it all into one big bin, and if you want, they can charge you to have your own bin.
  - adrianmonk 7y ago
    Seems easy enough to work around. Just fill the extra space with completely different products. Put the other seller's products in a different location, also mixed in with other stuff. The rule would be that you can put two products together if they are either the same seller (in which case you don't need to distinguish) or a different product (in which case you can distinguish visually). Amazon already mixes different products in the same slot in order to optimize space anyway.
- hinkley 7y ago
  Yeah I'm struggling with the notion of why commingling prevents audit trails. You don't even have to use separate bins for audits, although I admit that makes it pretty trivial. You just need a label.

ikeboy 7y ago

No, they are very capable of tracing it back. See https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/help/external/200141480 https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/help/external/200141480 See also https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21244240 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21244240, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20549623 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20549623, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13952939 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13952939, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12062856 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12062856 This comes up often.