Seller_L4mc9uax2MoSW

they are not a long term storage facility, but rather a fulfillment center.

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If they are NOT a longterm storage facility (hence the monthly storage fee, long-term storage fee, inventory utilization storage fee at 22wks, and capacity limit storage fee), they should NOT be charging a fee that contradicts what literally ALL of the above fees are saying, "DO NOT OVERSTOCK! DO NOT send product in quantities to FBA ** GREATER THAN ** what you are sure will sell in 90 days MAX". Yet here they are, charging a fee that literally is encouraging EVERY SINGLE SELLER on here, including me, to overship quantities that will push us right into the other profit draining fees we have been so desperately trying to avoid. Those other storage fees are there for a REASON, FOLKS! Its because surplus inventory HURTS Amazon, and it HURTS US. Neither of us want to stock MORE than we are absolutely sure that we can sell in 30 days. Because it clogs up fulfillment centers if it doesn't sell, and WE get charged HEFTY FEES to discourage this practice. So why charge this NEW LI Fee that contradicts ALL of that?

Amazon's AI cannot factor:

• FBA inbound delays (thus the new patch-although they still have not defined what a "reasonable delay is-5 days or 5 weeks)
• Distributor shortages that are simply OUT OF OUR HANDS, THAT WE SHOULD NEVER EVER BE CHARGED A PENALTY FOR because we don't have enough to feed the Amazon machine. Other platforms will GLADLY take those units if Amazon doesn't want you to sell them here, and is going to PENALIZE YOU with LI fees for doing so.
• Products that are selling FAST, but NOT WELL, because we are losing our shirts, liquidating them at a massive loss because we OVERSTOCKED, and are ATTEMPTING to avoid LT Storage fees. NO ONE who wants to STAY IN BUSINESS, WOULD EVER RESTOCK products they just LIQUIDATED due to VERY POOR SALES! NOBODY, AND I MEAN NOBODY, RESTOCKS IN A SITUATION LIKE THAT. Yet here comes a NEW FEE, telling us we absolutely should. "Your CFO says, "YOU JUST LOST $10,000 liquidating that product. Now everybody's paycheck is CUT IN HALF this month. Amazon's AI says, "EXCELLENT JOB! RESTOCK MORE IMMEDIATELY, AT THE SAME PRICE, OR YOU WILL PAY LI FEES ON EVERY REMAINING ORDER". THAT SITUATION IS VERY UPSETTING TO A SELLER WHO JUST MADE THE DIFFICULT DECISION TO TAKE IT ON THE CHIN, AND LIQUIDATE STOCK AT A HUGE LOSS, AND YET NOW THEY ARE BEING ASKED TO DUPLICATE THAT SAME SCENARIO NEXT MONTH, OR BE PENALIZED WITH A FEE! THE AI IS COMPLETELY OBLIVIOUS TO THIS. The AI DOESN'T KNOW WHAT THE AI DOESN'T KNOW. AMAZON, YOU'VE TRUSTED YOUR 3RD P SELLERS FOR 16+ YEARS. PLEASE TRUST US ON THIS NOW. WE KNOW WHEN IT IS GOOD FOR US TO RESTOCK, AND STILL HAVE A BUSINESS NEXT MONTH, BETTER THAN A COLD CALCULATING AI METRIC DOES.
• Then there are the PROFESSIONAL liquidators who literally come in and drop a YEARs worth of units (500-1000) AT FBA, ON PURPOSE, AT HALF OF RETAIL, causing the price of a previous best seller, to spiral down to a MEGA-LOSS PRICE, for regular dealers such as myself, who pay normal dealer price - This causes everyone else's product to be STUCK at FBA for up to a YEAR, until that liquidator is done destroying the product price (and Amazon's resulting commission amount), and eventually THAT FBA inventory is liquidated at a loss to us, or we incur massive storage fees and send it home, resulting in more loss. The new LI Fee causes us to stock TRIPLE that amount(?!), and hemorrhage triple our loss - There is a toy liquidator on here right now that wrecks sku prices regularly, and literally dumps 500 units at a time of $60 products, ** THAT are ACTUALLY SELLING WELL ***, and cuts the price to $35, and the other 30 or so sellers, completely lose everything for an entire YEAR until he/she sells out. How does the AI adjust for that? Well, we have no sales due to the liquidator slashing the price, so no LI FEE right? Correct. But what we have INSTEAD is TRIPLE the inventory, sitting at FBA, at a price that will not sell until that guy literally sells a YEARS WORTH OF inventory, and we now incur triple the PROFIT DRAINING storage fees of what we would have previously shipped.
• THE ABOVE ARE LIQUIDATION SALES FROM 2 DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES, ONE FROM A DEALER MAKING A TOUGH DECISION AND SELLING HIS OWN PRODUCT AT A TERRIBLE LOSS, AND THE OTHER FROM A DEALER AFFECTED BY A LIQUIDATOR WHO CAN INSTANTLY CHANGE THE MARKET FOR A PRODUCT OVERNIGHT, AND SERIOUSLY AFFECT SELL THROUGH RATES FOR ALL OTHER SELLERS. IN BOTH SITUATIONS, THE AI IS PROMOTING YOU TO RESTOCK OR PAY A LI FEE, EVEN THOUGH BOTH SITUATIONS MEAN A LOSS FOR SELLERS. THE AI AGAIN, DOESN'T KNOW WHAT IT DOESN'T KNOW.
• The AI doesn't account for ** EVERY SITUATION **, which is why they are trying to patch it with about half a dozen exceptions, because of the above poor fellow who is paying $.79/unit LI fee on a product he's only making $.50 on.

The fee was a very bad idea from the start, and it goes against everything a fulfillment center is SUPPOSED to have as it's goal: Fulfill as many orders as humanly possible, with as little excess unused inventory as possible. YET NOW there is a FEE charged unless we have 30 days of reserved, untouched, unsold inventory on-hand, SITTING AT FBA at all times. Kind of contradicts the idea of "fulfillment center" doesn't it? Sounds more like a storage center that wants a month of everyone's stuff remaining untouched, all the time.

Again, NOT AT ALL A FAN OF THIS LI FEE, coming from a veteran Amz seller of 16 years, who can actually make sense of all previous storage fees, WHICH ARE THERE TO PREVENT OVERSTOCKING (EVEN THOUGH there are WAY too many).