Hi Stuart,
we are investigating what feeds Amazon can supply with respect to FBA Returns to then be able to confirm if there is a way we can work with this data and ultimately generate a return record within Linnworks.
Mark Aldous
Head of Implementation
Linn Systems Ltd
This would be a fantastic idea, I'm currently trying to work out if I can do it myself but nothing would beat a proper integration.
For example it ruins any ideas about integrating Xero and I'm unable to show the hierachy meaningful financials out of Linnworks, which leads them to question my choice of software. I intend to keep using Linnworks but it would be a big help fixing this.
Cheers,
Dave
Many many software companies offer that sort of full integration with FBA: it shouldn't be that big a deal. Linnworks does certain things really well and I appreciate that, but this element vastly reduces the functionality. Most of our sales are FBA, so we are constantly doing elaborate work-around to get reliable figures for all our platforms. Sure wish this could be fixed. It's not a flashy new feature that creates a new marketing opportunity, but it would be a big help to many users.
Proper FBA functionality would make turn Linnworks from a good product to a great product! Unfortunately at present, FBA functionality in Linnworks is very lacking.
Manage By Stats has it and Sellics has it, that I have personally evaluated. Admitted: they don't have the wide-ranging functionality of LW, but it can't be all that big a jump from getting inventory quantity feeds from FBA. Please prioritize this improvement: it would kick LW up to another level. Also, being able to enter in different costs for different marketplaces would also help: duty and freight vary from region to region.
Hey Mark, it's been a year since your comments on this idea - any update??
My company is struggling with this issue too. The FBA orders are synced to LW and then to Quickbooks through a connector, but any FBA refund isn't noted so Quickbooks accounting is off on Inventory levels. What is the update on this basic feature functionality for FBA users?
Hello Linnworks - is this on your roadmap?
I was told about 4 months ago that LW was waiting for Amazon to finish updating their API and after that they would integrate FBA returns. However, I've been following this issue for two years and it has gone nowhere. "It's on our roadmap" is developer-speak for "Hahahaha that's never going to happen!" Maybe I will be pleasantly surprised. What I don't understand is why did they come out with the new data analytics module but fail to address this issue, because if you're an FBA seller, it's "garbage in, garbage out." Germany, in particular has a very high return rate, especially at certain times of year. You can't just ignore it while you slice and dice a bunch of dolled-up pivot tables.
I just try to enjoy the things LW does well, which are substantial and a great value. I gave up on them dealing with the FBA returns issue: I have a business to run and analytics is a big part of that. I use Manage by Stats to output the complete sales data for all Amazon sales and returns (you can do it from Amazon but I'm not sure you can do it for all marketplaces in one report) and then I manipulate the data in Tableau, which is a fantastic analytics platform, and not very difficult to learn (and free). I still pull some Ebay and shopify sales and returns from LW, stitching together several reports. In all fairness, the LW reporting module is better than those of similar platforms, which are sometimes too weak to bother with. I've found that many small companies with finite resources focus on new features that can be advertised on the landing page and bring in more business, rather than some of the little details (like FBA Returns) that make the program function better in ways that are less noticeable. You only find these stoppers after many hours of evaluation, or when you've already integrated.
Maybe they will deal with this huge gap someday. Maybe they'll make an announcement next week! In the meantime, they should have it up front in their documentation so that people don't have to invest heavily in the program before they find out- "Oops! These analytics really don't work because I'm an FBA seller!" That would be a great service to people evaluating the program.
It still fulfills its primary task quite well.
Good luck!
Stuart
Why is no one from Linnworks updating / replying any comments here. 2 years ago this was opened. This time line suggested that nothing happened for 18 months and the last 6 months they have been waiting on Amazon.
Any update on this? We really need to be able to get the FBA Returns data in Linnworks for our FBA orders
Yes Linnworks please post a response on this subject.
<<Why is no one from Linnworks updating / replying any comments here. 2 years ago this was opened. This time line suggested that nothing happened for 18 months and the last 6 months they have been waiting on Amazon. >>
This seems to be going nowhere. They just don't care, because they can advertise financials and analytics and users won't figure out the huge gap in those functions until they are already in it. Who would ever imagine an analytics platform that doesn't include returns?
Rather frustrating, but just the way they choose to do it. I've already come up with a somewhat elaborate work-around. I get all my Amazon figures from Manage by Stats.
Good luck!
Hi Everyone,
Just a quick update to say that although we don't have any immediate plans to work on this in the short term, we are aware of the request and will continue to monitor its popularity to help us decide if and when it should be added.
- Linnworks Product Team
Stuart Cohen
All of our European sales are FBA, but Linnworks does not account for FBA returns. That means that FBA sales are always recorded, but they stay in their as sales, even if they are returned. For some items that might have a high return rate, say, 17%, it makes the sales figures so far off that they are useless for making future sales projections. I can't rely on reporting that might be off 15-20% for some items, or even 5% for others.
Please fix this very large oversight.
Thanks
Stuart Cohen
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