Beware of penalties! Two settings you should make before Amazon's long holiday

What are the two settings required for Amazon long holidays?

Do you take precautions during long holidays such as summer vacation, New Year's holidays, and Golden Week?

As many of you may know, when it comes to Amazon (amazon.co.jp), you must set a lead time regardless of holidays or public holidays. If a seller fails to meet this deadline, which is usually set at 1-2 days, Amazon will consider the shipment to be late and will penalize your account.

Also, with regards to Amazon, the reply deadline for user support (messages from buyers) is 24 hours. This also requires a response regardless of holidays and holidays, and if the 24 hours have passed, your account will be penalized, just like with lead times.

As you can see from this, during long holidays, two settings will be required: "Change lead time" and "User support response."

How to change lead time

To change the lead time, you can either manually set it for each item or set it all at once. You will need to choose which method to use depending on the number of items.

Lead time settings: manual changes

1. Click Seller Central > Inventory > Manage Inventory.
   

   

2. Click on Inventory Management > Edit Details.
   

   

3. Edit details > Listings tab > Shipping time > Save and exit
   

   

Value to enter in Shipping days

For shipping date, enter a value between 1 and 30.
*If you want to set it to "2-3 days", "3-4 days", "6-10 days", etc., you can do so by entering the values ​​below.
*If you enter "3", it will say "Usually ships within 2-3 days"

Lead time settings: bulk changes

If you have a large number of items, we recommend bulk registration.

1. Click Seller Central > Inventory > Inventory Reports.
   

   

2. Click Inventory Reports > Request a Report.
   

   

   - Select the type of report: Select "Listing Report".

   ・After about 15 minutes the download will be complete and the download button will appear.

   - Click Download and save the file in text (tab-delimited) format.

   ・Open the file you saved in Excel or a spreadsheet. (This will be used in step 4.)

   
   

   Then transcribe it into a format for uploading.

3. Click Seller Central > Inventory > Bulk Product Upload.
   

   

4. Click Download inventory file > Extract inventory file > Change price and quantity.
   

   

   

5. Click on Pop-up page > Price and quantity change file.
   

   

   Please note that only the media category files are different.
   Clicking this will automatically download an Excel file. This is the file to upload. Click to download.

6. Download file > Template > Use the listing report file created earlier to fill in the required fields.
   

   

   ・Product management number (SKU): Please be sure to enter this even if there are no changes.

   ・Stock quantity: Please be sure to enter this even if there are no changes.

   ・Lead time (number of working days until shipment): Please make sure to enter the number of days including holidays. For how to enter the value, please refer to "Value to enter for number of working days until shipment" described in Manual registration.

   ・Update/Delete: Please be sure to write "PartialUpdate".

7. Excel file > Save as > File format "Text (Tab delimited)" > Save

   Once you have completed filling out the sheet, save it in the upload format "Text (Tab delimited)" and upload it to Seller Central.

Bulk upload instructions

1. Click Seller Central > Inventory > Bulk Product Upload.
   

   

2. Upload inventory file > Category inventory file/Listing file (L)/Price and quantity change file (general version) > Upload
   

   

   

   - File type: Select "Category-specific inventory file/Listing file (L)/Price and quantity change file (generic version)".

   ・Upload file: Select the "Text (tab delimited)" file you saved earlier.

   ・Processing report format: Select Excel.

   Finally, click Upload to complete the process. Don't forget to check that the changes have been updated.
   Also, save the file you created and use it when you want to reset the lead time settings again.

If you are using an external inventory integration system/app

If you are using an inventory linkage system, you need to be careful. Even if you complete the settings in Seller Central that we introduced, if the lead time is set in the inventory linkage system, it will be overwritten. If you are using an inventory linkage system, we recommend that you always check the settings and operation on the system side.

How to manage user support

We have set the lead time. Now, regarding user support, how do you manage support on holidays?
If you do not reply within 24 hours, you will be penalized, so you need to check at least once a day. However, you may not always have a PC with you, and you may not be able to check the time.

What I will introduce this time is not about settings but about management methods. If you are unfamiliar with this, please make use of it.

Using the Seller Central App

With the Amazon Seller app, you can analyze sales, ship orders, search for products to sell, list items, manage inventory and returns, and even answer questions from buyers. In other words, even if you don't have a PC, you can respond to user support anywhere by simply linking your account in advance. Since it's an app, you can also set it to notify you, which is a reassuring point.
Regarding the reply, it is acceptable to say, "We will respond on the next business day."
*This app is available for both iOS and Android, so please feel free to use it.

summary

You need to be especially careful about Amazon penalties compared to other malls. If the penalties continue, your account may be suspended, so be sure to set up long vacations, which are easy to forget.

Also, don't forget to reset the lead time after the long holiday. Failure to change the date can lead to missed sales.

Please note that even stores that use Marketplace Prime will need to make separate settings.