7 ms·

Fulfillment by Amazon suspends non-essential inbound shipments

200 points by myth_drannon 7y ago

Rottweiler 7y ago
Paywalled. Can't read it.
- rwmurrayVT 7y ago
  http://archive.ph/CCOvG http://archive.ph/CCOvG Edit: Amazon is suspending all incoming shipments of non-essentials to their fulfillment centers. You can still order non-essentials that are currently "in stock" and at their fulfillment centers.
  - joezydeco 7y ago
    This message will get mangled out in the public. Hopefully it won't trigger a run on Amazon and make things worse for the fulfillment centers.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- wrycoder 7y ago
  Another source: https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/3/17/21183310/amazon-coronavirus-fba-inventory-seller-vendor-restrictions https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/3/17/21183310/amazon-coronav...
jmccorm 7y ago
TL;DNR: Through April 5th, they're preventing marketplace vendors from shipping new inventory to Amazon's fulfillment centers that aren't household staples, medical supplies, or otherwise high-demand products. Marketplace vendors that do their own warehousing and customer shipments are unaffected. This may affect the available selection, inventory, and shipment options seen at Amazon, but no restrictions were placed on customer purchases. The following notice was sent to my Amazon Marketplace account: Hello from Fulfillment by Amazon, We are closely monitoring the developments of COVID-19 and its impact on our customers, selling partners, and employees. We are seeing increased online shopping, and as a result some products such as household staples and medical supplies are out of stock. With this in mind, we are temporarily prioritizing household staples, medical supplies, and other high-demand products coming into our fulfillment centers so that we can more quickly receive, restock, and deliver these products to customers. For products other than these, we have temporarily disabled shipment creation. We are taking a similar approach with retail vendors. This will be in effect today through April 5, 2020, and we will let you know once we resume regular operations. Shipments created before today will be received at fulfillment centers. You can learn more about this on this Help page. Please note that Selling Partner Support does not have further guidance. We understand this is a change to your business, and we did not take this decision lightly. We are working around the clock to increase capacity and yesterday announced that we are opening 100,000 new full- and part-time positions in our fulfillment centers across the US. We appreciate your understanding as we prioritize the above products for our customers. Thank you for your patience, and for participating in FBA. The Fulfillment by Amazon team
azakai 7y ago
The title may be slightly confusing. They aren't suspending shipments to customers, they are suspending shipments to Amazon from vendors (Fulfillment by Amazon vendors, who ship to Amazon and then Amazon handles everything from there). The suspension covers non-essential supplies as mentioned in the title.
- endorphone 7y ago
  It seems like that will fairly quickly lead to suspended shipments to customers if Amazon doesn't have the inventory.
- vwcx 7y ago
  Surprised, but not surprised, that Business Insider would run an ambiguous, panicky headline in a time like this. Imagine if web journalism wasn't funded by clicks and precision of headline/reporting was the metric that mattered.
  - endorphone 7y ago
    Their headline, which was probably too long for HN, is entirely accurate. It would be useful if people stopped blaming the media without verifying first.
    - vwcx 7y ago
      Sure, their headline is accurate, but the way it is written creates ambiguity by relegating the factual turn to the end. Headlines are often skimmed and propagated. Unless every viewer reads the headline in full and every aggregator replicates it exactly, the headline may be misleading. Journalists aim for clarity in communication, an ethos that is infringed on increasingly more as web-only publications live or die off clicks. I agree that we shouldn't "blame the media", but we can blame Business Insider for playing with ambiguity in this headline's structure.
      - tedunangst 7y ago
        How would you word it? Other than medical supplies to its warehouses suspending all shipments Amazon is amid coronavirus crisis?
Mediterraneo10 7y ago
The dangers of overcentralization of shopping. The country in which I presently live went into lockdown a couple of weeks ago, but I have still been able to order all kinds of stuff and have it delivered to my home: some furniture, some books, vinyl records, a new vacuum cleaner. That is because none of the disparate online shops here to which one turns are overburdened. Amazon’s decision to be the one-stop-shop for everyone and sell food as well, now makes it unable to provide the rest of its inventory.
- the-pigeon 7y ago
  Amazon is an extremely distributed company. Just because it's one company doesn't mean it's centralized.
- vilhelm_s 7y ago
  Well, on the other hand, it seems like because Amazon is so centralized, they had a lot of capacity which they can now re-purpose. Previously they were shipping both non-essential stuff (books, vinyl records, etc) and essential (food, medicines), and now all those resources can go into essential things. If the vinyl record shops had a completely separate fulfillment system, there would be no easy way to repurpose it to ship essential items, so we would be in a worse position.
  - Ajedi32 7y ago
    In an unencumbered free market system where shipping systems were not dominated by any one particular shopping vendor (not Amazon, not vinyl record companies, nobody), what would naturally happen would be a sharp increase in shipping costs in accordance with demand (incentivizing shipping companies to increase supply), followed quickly by a corresponding decrease in demand for shipping items the market deems non-essential (e.g. I'm less inclined to order vinyl records online if shipping costs go up, but if I can't get hand sanitizer anywhere _but_ online I'll probably still order it).
    - vorpalhex 7y ago
      So we should charge people more for hand sanitizer, thereby meaning the poor get less of it?
capableweb 7y ago
Anyone knows if this applies wordwide? Specifically Europe/Spain
- jmccorm 7y ago
  Great question. The seller FAQ (marketplace account required) clarifies that this applies to the US and EU marketplaces.
ativzzz 7y ago
On the topic of hiring 100k workers, how is amazon planning to safely manage such a large increase in a physically-present workforce when all the current suggestions are to prevent large gatherings and isolate?
- paulmd 7y ago
  Packaging doesn't strike me as a particularly person-to-person type of thing where you need to touch other people. I'd imagine gloves, masks, and safety glasses are probably fine.
  - 9wzYQbTYsAIc 7y ago
    Touching something someone else just touched after wiping their cough spray off their lips is definitely a risk booster.
    - deleted 7y ago
      [deleted]
    - sitkack 7y ago
      24 hrs on cardboard, up to 72 hrs on plastic/stainless steel (smooth surfaces).
      - wool_gather 7y ago
        Caveat: that's our best understanding at this time; that study hasn't been reproduced as far as I've seen.
        sitkack 7y ago
        I would take these as minimums, still wipe down outside material with bleach/windex/soap water.
        wool_gather 7y ago
paulmd 7y ago
Pretty big news and says a lot about the state of the situation if even Amazon can't keep up (yes, with stocking, not shipping, but still).
pmoriarty 7y ago
Amazon's crisis is an opportunity for other online retailers. I know I've started searching around on other online retailers like ebay, wallmart, home depot, and boutique retailers for products that were no longer in stock on Amazon.
daxorid 7y ago
Bear in mind that "essential" in these contexts is a very fluid definition, and is likely to be highly dependent on the popularity and connectedness of the sellers/partners. For example, Elon Musk managed to convince Alameda County that manufacturing luxury vehicles is an "essential" service subject to exemption from their industrial shutdown order.
wool_gather 7y ago
The Reuters version of this news is on page 2 right now with a clearer HN title: "Amazon stops receiving non-essential products from sellers amid COVID19 outbreak" https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22605116 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22605116
zaroth 7y ago
Kind of hard to know what exactly is an “essential” item. Last week the condensate pump for my furnace stopped working. A condensing furnace produces about a gallon of water an hour while it’s running. I rigged up a storage bin to catch the water and would dump it out manually a few times a day. The size of the bin is limited because the furnace drain is only a few inches off the ground. Keeping my house heated basically depends on that condensate pump. I ordered one on March 12 and it was delivered March 14. There’s probably a very long tail of strange things which are actually relatively crucial components that people depend on being able to order (rather than having spare parts on hand).
etxm 7y ago
Clickbait be clickbait. Can’t we stop this bs panic inducing clickbait in times like this? Edit: looks like they’ve updated the title
bdcravens 7y ago
dang, this title should be updated. It's inaccurate to the point of fearmongering (probably not OP's fault, since the article has probably changed the title to a more accurate one, but I'd say this falls under "...unless it is misleading or linkbait" and should have been submitted differently)
kristianp 7y ago
The announcement from the original source: https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/help/external/help.html?itemID=GF37V7QBB8WSVF43 https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/help/external/help.html?...

200 points by myth_drannon 7y ago

Rottweiler 7y ago

Paywalled. Can't read it.

rwmurrayVT 7y ago
http://archive.ph/CCOvG http://archive.ph/CCOvG Edit: Amazon is suspending all incoming shipments of non-essentials to their fulfillment centers. You can still order non-essentials that are currently "in stock" and at their fulfillment centers.
- joezydeco 7y ago
  This message will get mangled out in the public. Hopefully it won't trigger a run on Amazon and make things worse for the fulfillment centers.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
wrycoder 7y ago
Another source: https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/3/17/21183310/amazon-coronavirus-fba-inventory-seller-vendor-restrictions https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/3/17/21183310/amazon-coronav...

jmccorm 7y ago

TL;DNR: Through April 5th, they're preventing marketplace vendors from shipping new inventory to Amazon's fulfillment centers that aren't household staples, medical supplies, or otherwise high-demand products. Marketplace vendors that do their own warehousing and customer shipments are unaffected. This may affect the available selection, inventory, and shipment options seen at Amazon, but no restrictions were placed on customer purchases. The following notice was sent to my Amazon Marketplace account: Hello from Fulfillment by Amazon, We are closely monitoring the developments of COVID-19 and its impact on our customers, selling partners, and employees. We are seeing increased online shopping, and as a result some products such as household staples and medical supplies are out of stock. With this in mind, we are temporarily prioritizing household staples, medical supplies, and other high-demand products coming into our fulfillment centers so that we can more quickly receive, restock, and deliver these products to customers. For products other than these, we have temporarily disabled shipment creation. We are taking a similar approach with retail vendors. This will be in effect today through April 5, 2020, and we will let you know once we resume regular operations. Shipments created before today will be received at fulfillment centers. You can learn more about this on this Help page. Please note that Selling Partner Support does not have further guidance. We understand this is a change to your business, and we did not take this decision lightly. We are working around the clock to increase capacity and yesterday announced that we are opening 100,000 new full- and part-time positions in our fulfillment centers across the US. We appreciate your understanding as we prioritize the above products for our customers. Thank you for your patience, and for participating in FBA. The Fulfillment by Amazon team

azakai 7y ago

The title may be slightly confusing. They aren't suspending shipments to customers, they are suspending shipments to Amazon from vendors (Fulfillment by Amazon vendors, who ship to Amazon and then Amazon handles everything from there). The suspension covers non-essential supplies as mentioned in the title.

endorphone 7y ago
It seems like that will fairly quickly lead to suspended shipments to customers if Amazon doesn't have the inventory.
vwcx 7y ago
Surprised, but not surprised, that Business Insider would run an ambiguous, panicky headline in a time like this. Imagine if web journalism wasn't funded by clicks and precision of headline/reporting was the metric that mattered.
- endorphone 7y ago
  Their headline, which was probably too long for HN, is entirely accurate. It would be useful if people stopped blaming the media without verifying first.
  - vwcx 7y ago
    Sure, their headline is accurate, but the way it is written creates ambiguity by relegating the factual turn to the end. Headlines are often skimmed and propagated. Unless every viewer reads the headline in full and every aggregator replicates it exactly, the headline may be misleading. Journalists aim for clarity in communication, an ethos that is infringed on increasingly more as web-only publications live or die off clicks. I agree that we shouldn't "blame the media", but we can blame Business Insider for playing with ambiguity in this headline's structure.
    - tedunangst 7y ago
      How would you word it? Other than medical supplies to its warehouses suspending all shipments Amazon is amid coronavirus crisis?

Mediterraneo10 7y ago

The dangers of overcentralization of shopping. The country in which I presently live went into lockdown a couple of weeks ago, but I have still been able to order all kinds of stuff and have it delivered to my home: some furniture, some books, vinyl records, a new vacuum cleaner. That is because none of the disparate online shops here to which one turns are overburdened. Amazon’s decision to be the one-stop-shop for everyone and sell food as well, now makes it unable to provide the rest of its inventory.

the-pigeon 7y ago
Amazon is an extremely distributed company. Just because it's one company doesn't mean it's centralized.
vilhelm_s 7y ago
Well, on the other hand, it seems like because Amazon is so centralized, they had a lot of capacity which they can now re-purpose. Previously they were shipping both non-essential stuff (books, vinyl records, etc) and essential (food, medicines), and now all those resources can go into essential things. If the vinyl record shops had a completely separate fulfillment system, there would be no easy way to repurpose it to ship essential items, so we would be in a worse position.
- Ajedi32 7y ago
  In an unencumbered free market system where shipping systems were not dominated by any one particular shopping vendor (not Amazon, not vinyl record companies, nobody), what would naturally happen would be a sharp increase in shipping costs in accordance with demand (incentivizing shipping companies to increase supply), followed quickly by a corresponding decrease in demand for shipping items the market deems non-essential (e.g. I'm less inclined to order vinyl records online if shipping costs go up, but if I can't get hand sanitizer anywhere _but_ online I'll probably still order it).
  - vorpalhex 7y ago
    So we should charge people more for hand sanitizer, thereby meaning the poor get less of it?

capableweb 7y ago

Anyone knows if this applies wordwide? Specifically Europe/Spain

jmccorm 7y ago
Great question. The seller FAQ (marketplace account required) clarifies that this applies to the US and EU marketplaces.

ativzzz 7y ago

On the topic of hiring 100k workers, how is amazon planning to safely manage such a large increase in a physically-present workforce when all the current suggestions are to prevent large gatherings and isolate?

paulmd 7y ago
Packaging doesn't strike me as a particularly person-to-person type of thing where you need to touch other people. I'd imagine gloves, masks, and safety glasses are probably fine.
- 9wzYQbTYsAIc 7y ago
  Touching something someone else just touched after wiping their cough spray off their lips is definitely a risk booster.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
  - sitkack 7y ago
    24 hrs on cardboard, up to 72 hrs on plastic/stainless steel (smooth surfaces).
    - wool_gather 7y ago
      Caveat: that's our best understanding at this time; that study hasn't been reproduced as far as I've seen.
      - sitkack 7y ago
        I would take these as minimums, still wipe down outside material with bleach/windex/soap water.
        wool_gather 7y ago

paulmd 7y ago

Pretty big news and says a lot about the state of the situation if even Amazon can't keep up (yes, with stocking, not shipping, but still).

pmoriarty 7y ago

Amazon's crisis is an opportunity for other online retailers. I know I've started searching around on other online retailers like ebay, wallmart, home depot, and boutique retailers for products that were no longer in stock on Amazon.

daxorid 7y ago

Bear in mind that "essential" in these contexts is a very fluid definition, and is likely to be highly dependent on the popularity and connectedness of the sellers/partners. For example, Elon Musk managed to convince Alameda County that manufacturing luxury vehicles is an "essential" service subject to exemption from their industrial shutdown order.

wool_gather 7y ago

The Reuters version of this news is on page 2 right now with a clearer HN title: "Amazon stops receiving non-essential products from sellers amid COVID19 outbreak" https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22605116 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22605116

zaroth 7y ago

Kind of hard to know what exactly is an “essential” item. Last week the condensate pump for my furnace stopped working. A condensing furnace produces about a gallon of water an hour while it’s running. I rigged up a storage bin to catch the water and would dump it out manually a few times a day. The size of the bin is limited because the furnace drain is only a few inches off the ground. Keeping my house heated basically depends on that condensate pump. I ordered one on March 12 and it was delivered March 14. There’s probably a very long tail of strange things which are actually relatively crucial components that people depend on being able to order (rather than having spare parts on hand).

etxm 7y ago

Clickbait be clickbait. Can’t we stop this bs panic inducing clickbait in times like this? Edit: looks like they’ve updated the title

bdcravens 7y ago

dang, this title should be updated. It's inaccurate to the point of fearmongering (probably not OP's fault, since the article has probably changed the title to a more accurate one, but I'd say this falls under "...unless it is misleading or linkbait" and should have been submitted differently)

kristianp 7y ago

The announcement from the original source: https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/help/external/help.html?itemID=GF37V7QBB8WSVF43 https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/help/external/help.html?...