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Dear Amazon Seller,

This newsletter will cover the following topics:

1. Toys selling eligibility requirements for Christmas 2012  
2. VAT increase in Spain
3. Get ready for the year-end festivities
4. Set default shipping country in Seller Central
5. Increase your storage capacities and boost your sales this festive season
6. Information about invoicing
7. Grow your business with Checkout by Amazon

1) Toys selling eligibility requirements for Christmas 2012 

To protect buyers, only the most reliable sellers are allowed to self-fulfill toys from mid November 2012 to beginning of January 2013. Therefore, toys sellers that want to sell over the Christmas period have to be aware of the toys gating initiative for the end of 2012 and should make sure that they have good performance indicators. The 2012 criteria are as follows*:

• Seller's first sale on Amazon.co.uk must be prior 17/09/12 (sale does not need to be toy-specific).     
• Seller must have processed and shipped at least 25 orders (orders do not need to be toy-specific) during the 60 consecutive days preceding 1/11/2012. 
• No greater than 1% short-term order defect rate as of 1/11/2012. 
• No greater than 1.75% pre-fulfilment cancel rate for the trailing 30 days preceding 1/11/2012. 
• No greater than 4% late shipment rate for the trailing 30 days preceding 1/11/2012.

You can check your performance metrics in Seller Central under Performance/Customer metrics.

*Orders fulfilled by Amazon will not be subject to the holiday season restrictions provided your account is in good standing.

Here are some steps you can take to remain eligible to sell in Toys & Games throughout the festive season:

• Monitor your customer metrics and take corrective action when necessary. Learn more about customer metrics.
• Use Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA) to send products to your customers.
• Check your orders frequently in the Manage Orders section of your account.
• Minimise order cancellations; don’t show more stock for sale than you have available to dispatch.
• Dispatch orders and confirm dispatch in a timely manner.
• Ensure your seller policies are up to date.

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2) VAT increase in Spain

In July 2012 the Spanish government announced a VAT (Value Added Tax) rate change affecting different types of goods and services in the following ways:

• General VAT on goods and services (and e-books) has risen from 18% to 21%
• Reduced VAT (imposed on hotels and restaurants mainly) has been increased from 8% to 10%
• Super-reduced VAT on basic necessities and physical books has remained unchanged at 4%

The change has been effective since September 1st 2012.

Please note that international Sellers exceeding the threshold of €35,000 yearly revenues in Spain are obliged to register for VAT purposes in Spain. A failure to do so could lead to severe fines and penalties by competent fiscal authorities.

It is under Sellers’ responsibility to be informed about country specific legal requirements and comply with them. Amazon is not to be held liable for any lack of compliance of Sellers in the fiscal or any other area. For more information click here.

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3) Get ready for the year-end festivities

In the heat of the summer holidays it’s easy to forget about planning for the next big holiday season. The sales build-up for Christmas is only a couple of months away and it is critical to start preparing your peak season selection as early as possible.

Gifting is the obvious priority, but remember that unique gift ideas are just as important to Amazon shoppers as the perennial favourites. Of course you should ensure good supply of key best-sellers and trending items but why not get creative by offering bespoke, original and unusual items to grab the attention of gift shoppers. This will help you present an important point of difference at a competitive time of year.
To kick off with a few ideas:

• Selection boxes (chocolates*, fine foods*, beauty products*, fragrance*, toys*, dvds)
• Hampers (food and drink*, linens)
• Gift packs (toys*, stationery, jewellery*, lingerie*, pet accessories, sweets & snacks*)

Party items also feature prominently on shopping lists in the festive season: think about decorations, table-ware and glasses, candles, balloons, party bags – the list goes on…
The quality of your listings is just as important as it will help customers find your products and then influence their decision to purchase them. Therefore, make sure your products have:

• Attractive images with a clean white background
• Clear, concise and accurate titles
• Bullet points which describe the key features in short sentences
• Descriptions with as much factual and information content as possible
• Correctly assigned browse-nodes and relevant key search term

This tutorial will explain how information is displayed on Amazon product pages (also known as detail pages).

*The following categories require prior approval to start selling in: Clothing, Grocery, Health & Beauty, Health & Personal Care, Jewellery and Watches. If you are currently not eligible to sell in these categories, please contact seller support who will be able to provide a full list of requirements to gain eligibility.

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4) Set default shipping country in Seller Central

In order to provide an excellent service to buyers and to let them know in advance from which country the products ordered will come from, we recommend you to fill in your shipping settings in Seller Central with your own shipping country:

1. Sign up in your Seller Central

2. Go to Settings > Shipping Settings 

3. In the section “Ships from location” click on “Edit”, select your shipping country and save the changes

This little change would have a positive impact in the buyer experience on the website and potentially will reduce possible complaints and misunderstandings.

Check your shipping settings in Seller Central.

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5) Increase your storage capacities and boost your sales this festive season

Benefit from increased sales especially during peak season by adding extra services to your products using Fulfilment by Amazon! Did you know that all FBA offers are automatically eligible for free Super Saver Delivery and Prime Delivery?

Besides the handling and packaging, FBA also includes Amazon’s customer service and customer returns service.
Tip: Get now a first experience  and ship your remaining summer items with Fulfilment by Amazon.  
Use our helpful Amazon reports to identify potential “top sellers” for FBA. These reports can be found under Reports > Business Reports.

Learn more about FBA here or if you have any specific questions, simply contact our Seller Support team via your seller account.

Watch out for further insides and useful tips in the following Newsletter to help you maximise your sales during Christmas season!

This tutorial and webinar will explain the first steps on how to get started with Fulfilment by Amazon
 

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6) Information about invoicing

In case you are an international Seller registered for VAT purposes in Spain, please be aware of the following information.

In case you should require fiscal data for invoicing purposes, you should request them directly from the buyer.

Amazon does not collect fiscal information from buyers, thus contributing positively to a simple and fast purchase experience.

Please note that alternatively to an “Invoice” there are other invoicing options that do not require the VAT Registration Number or the fiscal code of the customer depending on the amount of the transaction. Such alternatives include “Abbreviate Invoice/Factura Abreviada” and/or “Ticket/Tique”.

Please make sure you get further information about the characteristics and requirements of the alternatives mentioned above. It is the sellers’ responsibility to be informed about country specific legal requirements and comply with them.

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7) Grow your business with Checkout by Amazon

Last month we discussed how implementing Checkout by Amazon on your own website makes it easy for millions of Amazon customers to make a purchase using the payment and delivery information held within their Amazon account - without leaving your website. This time, we want to touch on how offering Checkout by Amazon can help grow your business.

With millions of Amazon customers in the UK familiar with the Amazon checkout experience, Checkout by Amazon is an obvious extension for those Amazon Sellers who also have their own website. Amazon.co.uk customers spend 134% more online than the average internet user according to an independent third party study,* and Checkout by Amazon is able to provide these shoppers with an easy way to pay. Basket abandonment can also be reduced through offering Checkout by Amazon as the shopping cart abandonment rate for orders placed with Checkout by Amazon is 20% lower than internet averages**.

• Improve conversion by enabling customers to access their Amazon address book and payment methods directly on your website.
• Offer a checkout option that can be fully integrated into your existing checkout flow to provide a seamless experience consistent with your brand.
• Reduce basket abandonment by simplifying the checkout experience and providing a trusted way to pay.

To join the growing number of Amazon Sellers offering Checkout by Amazon on their own site, register now:

* comScore Media Metrix Core Report, December 2011 **(Fireclick Index, Top Line Growth, Cart Abandonment Rate, 2012)

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26 September 10-11AM: How to maintain a good performance for the Christmas period and beyond Click here for more information as well as downloads of previous webinar presentations.

 

	Checkout by Amazon
		Checkout by Amazon is a complete checkout service for e-commerce sellers. More info here.

 

	Amazon Webstore
		Create and run your own eCommerce website using Webstore, Amazon's all-in-one transactional eCommerce platform, built on proven technology which powersover a billion secure transactions around the world each year. More info here.

 

With kind regards, 

Amazon Services Team

 

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