You can choose not to comingle your items. In this case you must relabel them with custom bar codes.
Amazon will only then use your items for your sales and not for anyone elses. Possible longer shipping times, etc. But I s always been possible to ensure correct items on the seller side with FBA.
But the issue here seems to be that even if you order directly from Amazon or a reputable seller, you could still end up with a product coming from a less reputable seller if it has the same barcode.
I believe this has been done by setting up a SKU-Variant. The same-SKU technique is definitely correct - I was contracted to work on an inventory management system about 2 years ago and there were some requirements about how there might be different products with the same SKU barcode for this (unless it has changed since then).
I'm not saying it's the right thing to do - but it's also just how being a large Amazon seller works. If you sell LiPo batteries on Amazon and have worked for 5 years to get lots of reviews and the top spot on the listings, and then your supplier discontinues your best-selling range, starting again with fresh listings can completely destroy your business. So you change suppliers and keep the same SKU and change the description. I'm not saying it's 'right', but unfortunately if you want to be an Amazon seller it's just what you have to do.
There might be different techniques to do the same thing too though.
> For inventory tracked with the manufacturer barcode, each seller’s sourced inventory of the same ASIN is stored separately in our fulfillment centers. We can also track the original seller of each unit.
> To fulfill your orders exclusively with your inventory, you can switch to the Amazon barcode at any time (see Changing your barcode setting below).
It seems vendors can choose to have their items commingled or not. Commingling allows them to possibly offer faster deliveries, and they don't need to add extra barcodes to their products.
Even if comingling is enabled, it seems it's not exactly what HN had made me believe. Amazon still tracks and separately manage each seller's inventory, but might choose to ship you another's seller item if it is closer to you for faster delivery. Again, sellers can opt out of this if they don't want it.
It seems some products aren't allowed to be commingled:
> To qualify, products must: Be in new condition. Have only one scannable barcode that is matched to one ASIN in the Amazon catalog. Have no expiration date. Not be consumable or topical products such as skin creams, shampoos, or cosmetics. Not be dangerous goods.
I think beyond offering sellers the option to opt out of comingling, I'd like to see it offered to buyers as well. At checkout, it could let me know that I have the choice to get it from my chosen vendor's stock which would result in X days delivery time. Or to get it from alternate vendor Y for Z faster days delivery.
Actually not if the item is in commingled inventory. When the item is commingled, the seller does not place any identifying markings, such as their unique asin bar code, on the product. Nor does Amazon place seller identifying information on commingled items. They rely on the UPC at that point for automation.
This is 100% untrue. What is your basis for this post?
If a seller chooses commingled inventory when setting up their account, they have no obligation to re-label the product, as amazon uses the existing barcode on the product. If you order a pack of pencils from XYZ_Pencilmart and they are using commingled inventory, amazon will just grab any old item from all the commingled sellers, then deduct an imaginary unit from XYZ_Pencilmart's account.
This is why commingled inventory is a nightmare for resellers - it's your reputation on the line, but someone else's inventory.
You don't know whose units were used to fill an order for your listing. You can't blacklist scammers. You don't know how many of your units remain in stock, and you can't get just those back.
If every lot of units were individually tracked, why would barcodes even matter?
You are wrong. Though I'm not sure how common it is. You can get a free Amazon seller account and see for yourself. Many common items that you might want to sell have the option to commingle inventory. The benefit to the seller is that you can print out multiple copies of a single barcode and stick it on all of your items and just send them in. Whereas non-commingled will need a unique barcode on each item.
"For inventory tracked with the manufacturer barcode, each seller’s sourced inventory of the same ASIN is stored separately in our fulfillment centers. We can also track the original seller of each unit."
A SKU barcode is unique and is issued by a central authority (gs1) but you can always decide to change the title, pictures and even product category, and you can even have multiple suppliers for a single SKU.
You are right that there should be a new SKU, the issue is just that it’s not in the sellers interest as they will lose all their history and reviews which effectively means that if you have a top selling product you have to start again from scratch (which if you are an established top seller in reality means you just lose all your sales and go to the bottom of the listings).
Only if the seller pays more to keep their products separate via stickering. Otherwise the seller’s products are commingled with other sellers’ products and it’s impossible to know which seller’s physical inventory was used to fulfill the order.
They don't commingle inventory. They know exactly which supplier/seller sent in which units. Here is a quote from their seller support article about the topic:
"Used by default for eligible products, manufacturer barcodes use virtual tracking to trace the source of the products throughout the fulfillment process. Identical items from different suppliers are not physically stored together in a fulfillment center. However, Virtual tracking allows Amazon to fulfill orders using identical products from different suppliers. This enables us to process a customer order more efficiently and expedite its delivery from the fulfillment center closest to the customer."
So they will use inventory from different sellers/suppliers to fulfill an order, but they can trace counterfeit/incorrect inventory back to the source if there's an issue.
Amazon does not universally comingle. There are many exempt product categories in addition to the seller's ability to opt in/out. If you buy a product from a specific seller which arrives with a stuck-on barcode in addition to the UPC, that product probably wasn't commingled.
(The fact that this information is so important and hidden is of course inexcusable)
Amazon says that by default they are comingled: "Important: Items in your inventory that are identified and tracked using manufacturer barcodes are commingled with items of the same products from other sellers who also use manufacturer barcodes for those items."
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