Back Ordered ----

Why is my FBA item considered “back-ordered”

Here’s a question:I shipped out my FBA books on December 26th, which were received at an Amazon warehouse on January 4th. First, Amazon listed some of these books as back-ordered on January 12th, but now the back-ordered date has been pushed back to January 16th. I have already lost 2 sales because of this - people who had a pending purchase with me, then likely backed out when they saw the item they ordered was in fact “back-ordered”. Any thoughts on why this happens?

It sounds as if Amazon had you ship your inventory to a single warehouse. If this is the case it is likely that once it was received Amazon reshipped them to other facilities to allow any orders to be fulfilled from a closer location to the buyer. Sometimes this process can take a few days or even a week or more if there are holidays in the cycle.The best way to determine this is to check your ‘Reserved’ counts. If you go to the [FBA Inventory|https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/ssof/knights/items-list.html/ref=sm_fbamnginv_dnav_fbafulrpts_] page you can sort by ‘Reserved’ status. Items that are counted in Reserved are those already accounted for on a customer order that has not shipped and any inventory that is moving between warehouses.If this is the case, there is nothing you can do but wait for Amazon to finish staging inventory throughout their warehouses.

What’s the Story with Backorders on Amazon?

What does “backordered” mean? Can I backorder an item and still win the Buy Box?
Most products on Amazon can be listed as “backordered.” This means that the seller will accept orders for it, even though the product is not yet fulfillable and will only be shipped at a later date.

How can I sell an item I don’t have in stock?

In general, it’s obviously best practice to have available stock of the item you are trying to sell. This is not just so you’ll be able to make sales and increase your bottom line, but because Amazon views a seller with consistent sales and strong stock history favorably.

Amazon recognizes that it is not always possible to have available stock all the time, and backordering the item allows sellers some grace, enabling them to take orders without actually having the item in stock.

Customers see that the item isn’t available for shipping until the stated restock date. They can then decide if they want to still place the order or not. If they do, they are aware that they won’t receive the item for a while.

But can a backordered item win the Buy Box?

Yes!

Usually, unless there’s available stock of the item, a seller cannot win the Buy Box, and it will just be won by another seller. But a backordered item is different. It can win the Buy Box since the customer is promised a date that the order will be shipped by.

Having said that, obviously items that are immediately fulfillable are favored. Amazon prefers to give the Buy Box to sellers who have enough inventory to deal with the increased demand that the Buy Box may create. Sellers with a larger current inventory, consistent sales, and a strong stock history may be granted a greater Buy Box share. For more information about inventory depth and other factors that impact the Buy Box, see Feedvisor’s Buy Box Bible.

Can I backorder any item?

While you can pretty much backorder most items, it might not be the go-to solution for you.
Backordered items will only show up on Amazon when the restock date is within 30 days of the current date. An Amazon rule of thumb is that items must be shipped within 30 days of the customer making the order. So, if you won’t have that product back in stock within the next month, there’s no point listing it as a backorder.

BMVD products cannot be backordered, since they must be shipped with two days of the date the order was made.
 (BMVD is a catagory---- Books, Music, Videos and DVDs.)

Anything fulfilled through FBA also cannot be backordered. The availability of FBA products is based on whether or not they are actually present in Amazon’s fulfillment centers.

How do I list a product as a backorder?

 

As explained on Amazon Seller Central, all you need to do is to enter the restock date for the item, which is the date the item will be back in stock.

If you want to set up backorder products using an inventory file upload:

1. Download the category-specific inventory file template.
2. In the RestockDate column, enter the date when the product will be back in stock. Provide values for the following required columns: SKU, ItemPrice, and Quantity. You will also need to enter Partial Update in the UpdateDelete.
3. In your seller account, from the Inventory tab, select Add Products via Upload.
4. On the Add Products via Upload page, upload your inventory file.

What else do I need to know?

In theory, backordering an item might sound like the ideal solution for you, especially during those crazy periods when your supplier has let you down or you messed up on your inventory management. However, it may not always be the perfect solution in practice.

Many sellers have voiced complaints about the whole backorder process. They say that even if technically you can list an item as a backorder, Amazon does not view it favorably and will penalize you. This is because, at the end of the day, even though the customer is willing to wait, the order will still be shipped “late,” and late shipping is a big no-no for Amazon.

They claim that if you backorder often enough, Amazon will go as far as to suspend your account.
These sellers advise others to cancel the order instead and take the metrics hit, since backordering an item will only hit your “late shipment rate” and “on-time delivery score” a whole lot more.

What’s the takeaway?

Backorders should be used wisely. It is most certainly not a way to guarantee sales that would have been lost had you cancelled the order.

And if you do decide to backorder, make sure you manage it efficiently. If there’s no clear date as to when stock will arrive, and if the estimated ship/delivery dates are not being correctly updated, it will result in a poor customer experience. Which, as you know, goes against the grain of Amazon’s whole existence.

Good luck!