2019

Key Dates Ensure your business is aware of these key dates and plan accordingly

Black Friday Cyber Monday Christmas

29 2 25
November December December

Get ready now! Take these simple steps to get your business ready for the festive season.

1 Consider your workforce size and

staffing hours around the
Christmas period.
2 Test out any new operations
You may experience additional
orders at this time so it is
important to have resources ready
to process additional capacity.
before the busiest period hits to
ensure you have robust processes
3 Familiarise yourself with the
Seller Fulfilled Prime
performance metrics and
in place. escalation processes so that you
Prepare your workforce with do not miss out during the
contingency plans to respond to busiest time of year.
any issues across the business,
including poor weather or a
sudden increase in sales.

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Manage Your Inventory
By reviewing your inventory you can make sure
you have sufficient stock so that you don’t miss
a sales opportunity.
Follow these simple steps to forecasting success!
Inventory Opportunities
Report
This report shows key insights
including: low stock items, forecasted
days of cover and lost sales in last 30
days.
Go to your Inventory Opportunities
Report »
Sales & Traffic Report
You can access this from the Sales
Dashboard in your Seller Central
account. This report displays Units
Ordered and Ordered Product Sales at
an ASIN level.
It allows you to quickly identify your
bestsellers at different points of the
year as you can adjust the date range.
You can use this report to decide
which products you need to closely
monitor during Q4.
Go to your Sales & Traffic Report »
Sales Dashboard
Use your Sales Dashboard in Seller
Central to review past sales patterns,
particularly around peak trading.
You can filter product sales reports by
product category or by ASIN to give
an indicator of high demand.
Go to your Sales Dashboard »
Factor in Volatility
Increased demand and volatility come
hand in hand at this time of year. You
can prepare for volatility by analysing
the sales dashboard.
It is not always feasible to keep high
levels of stock across your entire
inventory, so in some instances, you
can increase stock on volatile
products as they may see an uplift
during this time.
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Manage your Seller Fulfilled Prime business

The Seller Fulfilled Prime programme evolves each year

so we advise you to consider the below information to
ensure you step into peak with your best foot forward.

Your Seller Fulfilled Prime Metrics

We will be monitoring your daily SFP performance on your Prime
orders. If your metrics fall below the requirements, your account could
be suspended from Seller Fulfilled Prime until after the holiday.

If you have a concern regarding carrier-related first mile issues that

may affect your metrics, we encourage you to get in touch with us via
this email: uk-sfp-performance@amazon.co.uk

In order to maintain eligibility for Seller Fulfilled Prime, you must

always meet the following performance requirements on your
Seller Fulfilled Prime orders:

An On-Time Use of Buy Shipping A Cancellation Rate

Shipment Rate Services for at least of no more than
of at least

99% 98% 1%
of your
SFP orders

To check your performance, visit the Seller Fulfilled Prime Performance section in Seller Central.

Contacting your Carrier

It is your responsibility to remain in regular contact with your carrier to
provide volume forecasts and updates.
If you are using Amazon Shipping, you can contact your carrier via the Amazon
Shipping portal (ship.amazon.co.uk) and use the ‘Contact Us’ page. If your query
is relating to shipments, select ‘Pickup’ and then ‘Extra/Less Capacity’ from the
dropdown. If your query is urgent, you can request a phone call as the preferred
method of contact or contact your account manager, if applicable.

If you are using DPD and require collection support, please email
selleronboarding@dpdgroup.co.uk or call 0121 336 4900 and select ‘Option 2’.
If you have issues with deliveries, please call 0121 336 4829. Loss and Claims
damage processes can be found here and on Seller Central Help Pages.

If you are using Royal Mail, you should contact your Royal Mail account manager.

Onboard with multiple Prime carriers:

Amazon Shipping, DPD and Royal Mail are currently the supported carriers by the
SFP program in the UK; they differ in their available range of eligible products,
available pickup schedule, and delivery speed. We recommend you to on-board
with more than one carrier, which will enable you to have the fastest delivery
promises. In fact, offering faster delivery promises on your orders usually lead to
increased sales potential because we know Prime customers love when orders
come fast!
You can on-board with an additional carrier here.
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Prime Promise Changes
In some instances, we may need to extend the Prime promise
messaging visible to customers. This extension is based on a number of
factors, including the customer’s location. All changes made ensure
that we continue to meet the high bar on customer experience.

Extreme Weather
It may also be necessary for us to switch the Prime badge off in the event of
extreme weather. If this occurs, we will send you an email notification and
the Prime badge will be automatically removed from Seller Fulfilled Prime
ASINs. Although the Prime badge will be removed from your listings, you will
still be obligated to fulfill non-Prime orders that you receive.

If you cannot ship orders due to poor weather, it is your responsibility to

contact both the customer on order updates and your carrier.

Taking time off?

If your store is on holiday during the Christmas period, please use the
‘on holiday’ feature found in your Seller Central account, in ‘Settings’
under ‘Listing Status’. This will prevent Prime orders from your store
during this time. Your FBA listings will still be active.

You will need to contact your Seller Fulfilled Prime carrier in advance to
let them know that you will not be operating at this time.

You can also switch off the Prime badge on your store by clicking
‘Control Prime Order Volume’ and switching the ‘Enable/Disable Prime’
button to ‘disabled’. This will instantly remove the Prime badge from
your Seller Fulfilled Prime ASINs. You can restore it at any time.

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Plan for Order Volume Increases
We will monitor order volumes closely throughout the
holiday period starting 4th November through 30th December.
If you expect order volumes to increase and your operations
are staffed to handle sharp increases in volume, please inform
us ahead of time at: uk-sfp-performance@amazon.co.uk

Manage your own

Order Volume
For peak, you are required to set an order
limit. This will be a reasonable limit of Prime
orders that your business can cope with,
allowing you to maintain a high quality
Prime service in addition to maintaining
your store metrics.

In case you don't set an order limit,

Amazon may set a limit for you, and in this
instance, we will communicate with you
ahead of time to let you know.

How does it work?

Your order limit is the daily number of Seller Fulfilled Prime orders that your store can reliably ship. Once your limit is met,
the Prime badge will automatically be removed from your Seller Fulfilled Prime ASINs and reinstated after the cut-off
time of the next Shipping day. Although the Prime badge will be removed from your listings, you will still be obligated to
fulfill non-Prime orders that you receive.

Follow these steps to set your Order Limit:

1 In Seller Central,
go to Settings
General
Shipping Settings
Premium
Shipping Programs
Control Prime
Order Volume

2 Set the ‘Prime Order Limit per Shipping Day’ – this is the
maximum number of Prime orders you can reliably ship

3 You will receive an automated email from Amazon

notifying you that your limit has been reached

You can also switch off the Prime badge on your store

by clicking ‘Control Prime Order Volume’ and switching
the ‘Enable/Disable Prime’ button to ‘disabled’. This
will instantly remove the Prime badge from your Seller
Fulfilled Prime ASINs. You can restore it at any time.

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Policy Reminders - Returns policy

• All returns of Seller-Fulfilled Prime items will be
shipped to the return address you have provided on
the Return Settings/Return Address Settings Info
page in Seller Central.
• Buyers requesting to return a Seller-Fulfilled Prime
item within the Amazon Return Policy will have their
return approved immediately. They receive a pre-paid
return mailing label, except in the case of Hazmat
returns (see below).
• In the case of Hazmat items, while the return will be
auto-authorised, a pre-paid label will not be
generated. Sellers are required to provide appropriate
Hazmat-compliant return labels for such returns.
• Sometimes, customers may choose to return the
product themselves by purchasing their own postage.
You are required to accept all such returns and
provide refunds to customers as per Amazon’s policy.
• The standard return window is 30 days. For all
purchases made between 1st November and 31st
December (Christmas period), the return window is
extended until 31st January of the following year.
• The primary responsibility to refund the customer
lies with the seller. If a customer contacts Amazon
Customer Service because a refund has not been
issued on time, Amazon Customer Service may at its
sole discretion refund the buyer, and the seller may
be charged for such a refund.
• Generally, a full refund must be granted to the
customer when a Seller Fulfilled Prime item is
returned, subject to the following exceptions: for
items that are damaged, missing parts, not in the
original condition, or have obvious signs of use for
reasons not due to a seller error, sellers may deduct up
to 50% of the item price.
• Sellers will be responsible for the cost of return
shipping labels, including Hazmat labelling where
required, for all Prime items except as outlined in
"Charges for the Return Shipping Label" on the Returns
and Refunds Process page.
• All returned Prime items must be processed and
refunded within two business days of the item arriving
in the seller's warehouse.
• To ensure a great customer experience, Amazon may
make case-by-case exceptions to return policies,
including accepting returns for Prime items past the
stated returns time frame on the seller's behalf. Such
returns must be processed according to the
requirements of this programme.
• Your Seller Fulfilled Prime returns are
auto-authorized, so they will automatically follow this
policy.

Refunds policy
If Amazon Customer Service requests that you issue a refund on a Seller Fulfilled Prime order, issue the refund immediately
to provide the very best customer experience.

Reimbursements
You may be entitled to a reimbursement relating to a return or refund. If your order meets the claims criteria, you can file a
‘SAFE-T claim’ in Seller Central. These claims are automatically directed to a specialized team, payment is immediately issued
when the claim is granted, and you have full tracking and visibility on the status of reimbursement claims. To file your claim
go to ‘Orders’ In Seller Central and click ‘Manage SAFE-T Claims’.

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Merchandising Opportunities have bigger impact in Peak!
Lightning Deals
Being part of the Prime offering allows you to take part in timed Deals known as ‘Lightning Deals’. These run
throughout the year on Amazon’s ‘Daily Deals’ page.

By participating in Lightning Deals at this time, your products will be surfaced to Amazon’s most loyal Prime
customers on Amazon’s second most visited page at the busiest time of the year.

Aside from the Deals events running around Black Friday and Cyber Monday, you can enrol Seller Fulfilled Prime SKUs
into Deals at any point during Q4 – it’s a great way to maximise sales.

For the Q4 Deal events we are looking for Deals with:

• 20% off (Lightning Deals) and 15% off (7-Day Deals) the lowest
selling price in the last 30 days (excluding Lightning Deal, 7-Day
Deal, Deals of the Day price)
• Lowest selling price since the beginning of the year (including
Lightning Deal, 7- Day Deal, Deals of the Day price)
• As many variations as possible
• New condition
• Prime eligible
• Products that have a 3.0 star rating or higher

Please note that when the Deal is live, the product(s) must be
available through Seller Fulfilled Prime (added to the Prime
Shipping Template).

There is no guarantee of participation in Lightning Deals. Amazon

reserves the right to accept, reject, cancel or move your Deals.
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Seller Vouchers
The festive season is an expensive time of year. Many customers will be seeking out
discounts across product categories, vouchers are a great way to make your listings
more competitive.

Vouchers are discounts applied to ASINs of your choice, as a specific amount or a

percentage reduction. The voucher discounts appear on search results, detail pages
and also a separate landing page. They help to drive customer acquisition by giving
customers a reason to buy now. You can target specific customer segments, such as
Prime or Family customers.

There are Help Page resources available to assist you in setting up your vouchers.

Where to get help?

You can get help on the Seller Fulfilled Prime exclusive contact page. Don’t hesitate to contact us with any questions, big or small.
Contact us on: Seller Central > Help > Contact Us > Selling on Amazon > Seller Fulfilled Prime. The Seller Fulfilled Prime
exclusive contact page will ensure that your query is directed to the right team and resolved as soon as possible.
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