Another Small Amazon/Walmart CPC Update

Hello friends,

Late to the party on this, I apologize. Actually missed today’s Amazon webinar because I was emptying my storage units to get ready for Q4, so I’ve been putting the pieces together from what others have told me about the webinar.

The bad news is that there is still no crystal clear guidance on what we can expect from these changes.

One thing we know for sure is this — Document requests are ASIN-level, not offer-level, which is probably the only ‘good’ thing about this negative situation.

But we are still left with several questions.

• Is every single 12 and under toy going to require documents within the next 30 days?

• Will Amazon submit on our behalf for the items they currently have in stock, or had in stock this year?

• Will any brands, like LEGO, be exempt?

• Are resellers able to send items in for testing or only the manufacturers/brand owners?

• Why is Amazon requiring annual testing when the law says nothing about annual testing being required?

• Why are Amazon and Walmart pushing this initiative so hard, but we have heard crickets from platforms like eBay, Mercari, etc.?

• Assuming Amazon sends out all the required requests this month, can we assume that anything still published come Mid-October is immune from these requests for a year?

• Do testing reports actually have to be from within the last 365 days?

  I’m sure there are many more questions, and unfortunately Amazon is being Amazon and probably doesn’t even know the answer to most of these until they roll it out.

  So with that in mind, unfortunately the best thing we can do is ‘wait and see what happens’.

  Amazon is notorious for wanting to roll something out, but the first rollout is rarely what it ends up being permanently. Until we see how the first rendition of this initiative goes, there isn’t much we can do.

  We are one week into this announcement, and I only have two CPC requests from 1,400 SKUs in my inventory. Both of these requests are for ‘janky’ listings that Amazon has never sold on. I anticipate that number of requests going up, but so far that’s a positive sign for which ASINs are most likely to be affected.

  So with all of that in mind, here is what I am doing:

• Pausing LEGO purchasing until October, and then I will re-visit. LEGO is tricky because they provide the CPC documents on their site, but NOT the testing reports. Not many people have LEGO direct accounts, so who exactly would be able to get the documents and keep the listings alive? Not sure. But I don’t want to gamble on that for the time being. So I am eagerly waiting to see if any sort of exceptions are made for the brand. I am also curious if Walmart will wipe out their retired LEGO catalog. Right now only one LEGO set in my catalog is flagged for CPC. I expect to know more about this by end of month.

• Continuing my wholesale purchases. I am not worried about items that I purchase wholesale because I can get the documents.

• Any sort of RA/OA I do for the time being I need to be certain that they are sold wholesale and it is likely that another seller or myself will upload the documents. For example, if a Marvel Legend goes on clearance at Target that I like that has historically been available wholesale, I’m not afraid to purchase it. It is very likely someone will upload the document or I can get it myself. But let’s say a Target exclusive Godzilla figure goes on clearance. As much as I’d want to buy it, I will be staying away for now because the odds of someone having those documents is much less likely. However, if we learn that resellers are eligible to submit items for testing, then I am not as scared of those types of items.

  It’s definitely uncertain times, especially if you’re a smaller seller that isn’t doing wholesale toys. As I mentioned in my last post, there is nothing wrong with selling through your items to protect yourself. Amazon is turbulent, and these speed bumps create a lot of chaos until they’re fully ironed out and our feedback is given.

  With that being said, this initiative goes against the very fabric of the collectible industry. Third party sellers are what make this billion dollar niche function. If Amazon and Walmart want to make it difficult, we will find alternate ways to sell the collectibles because customers want them and will seek them out.

  I hate to end this post of “we’ll have to wait and see what happens”, but unfortunately that’s what we need to do for now.

  Will keep you guys posted if I learn more.