Seller Alert: Amazon FBA Warehouses Overloaded, with 10+ Facing Receiving and Delivery Delays

Every year in the fourth quarter, holiday promotions for Black Friday, Halloween, Christmas, and other occasions come one after another. For cross-border e-commerce sellers, this is a crucial time to stock up, ship goods, and handle order surges.However, the sudden drop in storage capacity and warehouse backlogs completely threw sellers’ shipping plans into disarray.

One seller, reflecting on the current situation, speculated: “Amazon has slowed warehouse expansion while also beginning major layoffs. Its huge logistics and warehousing expenses have become a heavy burden, and its workforce has already shrunk by 6%. Amazon warehouses are now short-staffed, just as sellers are actively stocking up for the coming peak season, so Amazon has had to restrict sellers’ storage capacity.”

This speculation is not without merit, as Amazon warehouses were already showing signs of operating beyond capacity in early October.

Sellers may have noticed that Amazon warehouses have been taking longer and longer to receive and stock inventory lately. Sellers are experiencing different wait times: 10 days, over 20 days, 30 days, or even longer…….

The main reason is that Amazon is experiencingwidespread warehouse congestion.

An urgent notice has been issued: “Due to severe congestion at Amazon warehouses, appointment availability is currently limited. Amazon is frequently not releasing appointments, rescheduling appointments, or canceling them without reason. The warehouses most severely affected include (SBD1，LAS1，GYR2 ，GYR3，LGB8，ONT8，LAX9). We cannot currently predict how long this situation will continue. We will provide updates as soon as we receive news. Inbound transit times may be affected to varying degrees in the near future. Please take note. Thank you!”

Haixi.com asked a freight forwarder about the situation. He said, “Most warehouses in the western US are basically backed up. Shipments for Black Friday and Cyber Monday arrived at the same time. Without enough staff to process them, the warehouses were bound to become congested.”

Appointments for direct full-container deliveries are also looking bleak. Many Amazon warehouses are scheduling appointments 2-3 weeks out, while popular warehouses such as TEB6 and ONT8/9 are scheduling 4-5 weeks out.

According to the appointment schedule provided, the following warehouses are experiencing severe congestion:

Currently, Amazon warehouses experiencing a backlog are quite congested. The warehouses mentioned above are more likely to experience delays with appointments and receiving inventory. Sellers should check warehouse conditions in advance when choosing a warehouse to avoid unnecessary problems.

It is worth noting that even at the same warehouse, the time it takes for each seller's inventory to be received can vary. For example, at the same GYR3 warehouse, some sellers have waited half a month with their inventory still not received, while others have had theirs received promptly within two days.

One seller joked: “Every year during peak season, warehouses get backed up, and how quickly your inventory is received is all down to luck.”

It is understood that many Amazon sellers are still anxiously waiting for their inventory to be received.

However, besides warehouse backlogs and staff not processing shipments promptly, other reasons why inventory may take a long time to be received include:whether the dimensions or weight of each box have been entered, whether the dimensions and weight for each child item are compliant, and whether outer carton labels are missing or damaged……..Sellers should check these details promptly to avoid running out of stock.

Generally, it takes around 48 hours from the time inventory arrives at the warehouse to when it is received. If there is still no receiving update after a while, you can gather the necessary information and open a case to contact Amazon customer service for help. However, we do not recommend doing this too frequently. One seller said: “A friend of mine had their ability to open cases revoked because they opened too many investigation cases like this.”

Therefore, sellers are advised to avoid warehouses experiencing severe backlogs when shipping. You can also create several shipping plans separately and use different channels for each to prevent all your goods from being unable to be checked in. Sellers with larger volumes can first send their goods to an overseas warehouse, then arrange storage and onward shipping or fulfillment one item at a time.

Finally, peak-season warehouse congestion can delay appointments, check-in, and delivery. Sellers should plan their shipping schedules carefully to ensure orders proceed as expected.

Source: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/Uwl1czE3wyf9VktArIPgRQ