Anyone use the FBA plugin?

[yourcablestore.com]

Does anyone here use the FBA plugin for 3dcart?

If so how well does the integration work? Any big issues?

I am asking because I am considering switching everything over to FBA mostly because Amazon can ship far cheaper than I can (especially on 2nd day and next day shipments).

[Jimmy]

I am going to start soon. We have sold on Amazon for a while, and are fixing to start using FBA so for sure going to use the intergrated feature. Sorry I could not tell ya about it yet though.

[fechick]

We are using it as well as the paid inventory sync integration. When they work, they're great. But the inventory sync stopped working once without notice and the fulfillment part quit working - again without notice - yesterday. (And of course the store to AZ sync stopped with it.) And we've only been live a few weeks.

Also having an issue because 3dCart feeds customer comments/gift messages into the field for order comments where most merchants (and Amazon suggests to) give merchant contact info, etc. So there is no way, with the current feed mapping, to provide that info.

We are largely season - Q4 - so as long as the kinks get worked out in the next few months, we'll be golden.

[fechick]

The order fulfillment part of the service is still not working - and we're at almost a week now with no updates since Monday.

Had an oversell that we had to direct ship because the Amazon inventory doesn't decrement until the order is submitted and we sold out on Amazon before I could get to a computer and submit the order. It's especially frustrating b/c while the basic FBA integration is free, when it's broken, it renders the inventory sync plug in - which was NOT free - useless because the sync is no longer two way, just one way.

[yourcablestore.com]

fechick did the plugin not working get resolved for you? If not make sure you contact support. They don't really monitor the forums so putting in a support ticket will make sure 3dcart is aware of the problem.

As for your comment issue if you do not need customers to leave comments on a order you can remove the comment section from the checkout page.

You could also hard code the message you want on the Amazon packing list into the comments and hide that section on the checkout page (rather than remove it) so customers can not edit it. It will then be printed on the Amazon packing list.

[Go Live]

My .02 on FBA

You give up the opportunity to insert your propaganda, discount offer, testimonies about your newsletter and the like. Many work hard to get the sale and spend a ton on adwords to only kiss that customer away.
The shipping process is what makes you or breaks you as anyone can offer the same products.
FAST shipping that is well packaged (you won't get that at Amazon) and the opportunity to keep that customer is yours to have. That opportunity is something I would not give away at any cost or savings.

[Go Live]

Inventory sync

Does anyone know if the inventory sync works as a stand alone with Seller Central?

[yourcablestore.com]

In my limited experience using FBA with my seller central account Amazon ships pretty quickly. I don't disagree that there are disadvantages but there are advantages to it too.

The main advantage being shipping cost. You can ship by 2 day and 1 day far cheaper through FBA then you can on your own. Even for standard shipping most orders would still ship cheaper, it is the light weight orders where you would pay more or the large multiple item order where the 75 cent per unit fee makes it more expensive (even then when you factor in warehousing, packaging, employee wages and benefits it is not that bad of a deal).

Something to add to your list of disadvantages would be inability to choose the shipping carrier so you can't specify UPS / USPS or Fedex, amazon choose the cheapest that gets it there in time and a early order cutoff time. Order have to be in by 11:00 AM ( i think) to ensure they ship that day.

[yourcablestore.com]

On 'propaganda' since we are moving to private labeling and manufacturing all our own products we are able to label products with our logo and website so we won't really loose that ability.

[Go Live]

Yes I know that for those with limited warehouse and there own shipping center it looks like a good deal. And the price of $2.50 to ship UPS deal that Amazon has is very tempting.

I just hate to give the overly dictating Amazon any more money and control then I have to.

I buy alot of FBA and receive my orders late all the time with no packing paper and in turn get a full refund. Other times we get an email of out of stock about 2 weeks after the sale. Many times I want it now and wish I was notified sooner and had the opportunity to secure from another seller. So in short I hate FBA. We firmly believe fast ship = Happy repeat customers (USPS Priority 2-3 day) seems to fit that bill for us.

Amazon may soon not allow new sellers if they don't use FBA and that is one quest I will not be a part of.

On another note.
Storage fees have come down and high demand items seem to do very well.
Best of luck to you. Thanks for the reply and sorry didn't mean to stomp on your tread but if anyone has feedback on inventory sync please bring it on.

We do have another solution for syncing our inventory that is done hourly for $100 a month plus a whole lot of extra bandwidth so if 3dcart has a solution would like to hear about it (the support doc does not state much)

[yourcablestore.com]

I have many of the same feelings but in the end it comes down to: Do I think I can make more money / grow faster with FBA? Still trying to determine the answer to that.

[Go Live]

Nothing wrong with exploring any and all of the mutiple sales channels. Some product lines do much better then others channel to channel. And you don't know till you try.
You are lucky to have the markup to offer your products on these channels. And self build will definitely help.

Good Luck!