In order to reduce storage costs, the only way is to withdraw from the warehouse! If withdrawal is unavoidable, then try to find ways to reduce losses! When sellers want to withdraw from the warehouse, Amazon’s backend system will have two operation methods: ① Ship to a certain address (Ship-to Address); ② Dispose (Dispose).
Which method is more appropriate depends on the situation of the products in the warehouse.
1. Small quantity but high value and good quality
If such products are disposed of, the loss will be too great, so it is more appropriate to choose “Ship to a certain address”. “Ship to a certain address” is divided into two operation methods.
(1) Create a multi-channel delivery order
If the seller has other sales channels such as eBay, AliExpress, and self-built websites, it is recommended to “create a multi-channel delivery order” in the background, sell the products on other platforms, and then fill in the address of the corresponding customer. Amazon will send these products to customers after charging the corresponding fees. This can digest FBA inventory and prevent products from being unsalable. Secondly, it also shortens the delivery time of orders on other platforms, killing two birds with one stone. Of course, in this way, Amazon’s fees will be higher than FBA delivery fees.
(2) Create a removal order
If the product is not easy to sell, it is recommended that the seller directly withdraw the warehouse, select “Remove Order”, contact a high-quality third-party overseas warehouse, and set the address as the overseas warehouse receiving address. In general, the fees charged by the overseas warehouse will be lower than those of the Amazon FBA warehouse.
Once the product arrives at the overseas warehouse, if it is still OK, but is unsalable due to account problems or unsuitability for Amazon platform sales, you can consider entrusting a third-party warehouse to help replace the product label and then sell it on other platforms.
If it cannot be resold abroad, the seller can consider shipping these goods back to China through the warehouse and freight forwarder, but shipping back to China is equivalent to importing, the freight will be more expensive, and some customs clearance work will also be required. The seller can decide whether to ship the product back to China.
2. Low value, small quantity, and poor quality
Obviously, such products cannot be sold even if they are withdrawn from the warehouse, so you can directly choose the second method – abandonment.
Sellers can directly create a removal order through the backend of Amazon Seller Center, check the corresponding products and quantities, and remove them. Amazon will be responsible for the specific disposal. Of course, Amazon will also charge a corresponding fee for this work.
3. The situation with a large number of products
If the number of products is too large, it may not be possible to complete the cleanup on time by adopting the method of “creating multi-channel distribution orders”. At this time, you can directly withdraw the warehouse, contact a high-quality third-party overseas warehouse, and apply for a removal order. The operation method is the same as “Create a Removal Order” above.
It takes time for Amazon to deal with the above situation. Generally, Amazon will deal with the product accordingly 10 to 14 days after the removal order. If it encounters a peak season and FBA is busy, it will take longer to withdraw the warehouse. This requires sellers to do the warehouse withdrawal at least half a month in advance. Once it exceeds 6 months, Amazon will charge a long-term storage fee.