This week Amazon announced the temporary suspension of shipment creations for FBA merchants selling non-essential items through April 5, 2020. Products in the essential categories – household staples, medical supplies, grocery – are still being accepted. Amazon is taking a similar approach for retail vendors.
Products outside these categories can continue to be sold, as long as they meet the new criteria: they are already being stored in one of Amazon’s fulfilment centres or are en route to a fulfilment centre. Any FBA shipments created before March 7, 2020 can still be received by Amazon.
These changes currently apply to the Amazon US and EU marketplaces.
Here’s the full list of product categories accepted by Amazon:
- Baby Products
- Health & Household
- Beauty & Personal Care (including personal care appliances)
- Grocery
- Industrial & Scientific
- Pet Supplies
What To Do Now
So, if you’re a merchant that runs their business solely on Amazon FBA, how can you adjust quickly to meet these new guidelines?
If you have an inventory management system implemented, like SkuVault, you can alter your workflows to fulfill in-house. In doing so you will still meet Amazon’s temporary guidelines, which state that any vendors or retailers fulfilling their own products will still be able to sell them on Amazon during this period.
If you have further questions about this Amazon announcement or how SkuVault can help alleviate this transition, please reach out to your account manager or contact support@skuvault.com.
