How to Optimize Your Logistics in North America

Paul Sonneveld
I'm your host, Paul Sonneveld, and today we're diving into a very critical topic for topics for vendors, optimizing your logistics in North America and navigating Amazon supply chain can be complex, but the right strategies can significantly impact your efficiency costs and overall success. 

Now, before we jump in. Just a quick reminder, our virtual Amazon Vendor Summit is only two weeks away. Over 250 vendor professionals have already signed up to join us for this exclusive event. So if you have not reserved your spot yet, head to merchantspring.io and grab your seat. 

Now back to Amazon Vendor Logistics in North America. To help me unpack this very important topic, I'm joined by two great experts from Global Overview. Let me just bring them on screen. Today with us, we have Tessa Blumenthal, Senior Director of Operations and Jackson Licha, Vendor Operations Manager. Now, let me briefly introduce them to our audience. Tessa is a seasoned operations leader with over 15 years of experience in e-commerce, supply chain, management and vendor operations. 

As a Senior Director at Global Overview, she leads a team that provides strategic support for Amazon brands, drawing on her deep expertise as a former Amazon in-stock manager and brand specialist. Her experience at Amazon and Zulily has equipped her with a unique perspective on vendor operations and process optimization. 

Jackson brings over 13 years of global logistics and e-commerce experience. At global overview he manages 2.1 billion in Amazon product sales across 70 plus accounts, ensuring smooth operations and supply chain efficiency. With a background in international logistics, including leadership roles at Wan Hai Lines, Norton Lilly International, and APL, he offers invaluable insights into optimizing transportation networks and scaling operations effectively. Tessa and Jackson, it is so great to have you on today's show.

Tessa Blumenthal
Hi, Paul. Thank you for having us.

Jackson Licha
Yeah, it's a pleasure. Thank you.

Paul Sonneveld
Thank you. Look, I think I'm very excited about this topic because as we were talking before, we've covered logistics a lot on this podcast, predominantly from a European perspective. And things are a little bit different in other geographies compared to North America. So really look forward to diving into that. Just a note to our audience. This is a live, live broadcast, an interactive show, which means lots of things can go wrong. Fingers crossed. 

But more importantly, you can ask us questions on the spot live. So if you have questions you want to ask Jackson or Tessa, please pop them into the comment section on LinkedIn and we will surface them here and try and get to them either during our conversation or towards the end. 

All right, let's dive right into it. Tessa, let's start with you. Maybe just to set the scene, can you give us, the audience, an overview of the logistics options available to Amazon vendors in North America, both from, I guess, an Amazon and third-party provider perspective?

Tessa Blumenthal
Right. So it kind of depends on the level of service that you have with Amazon. So basically your volume. But for the most part, we're very familiar with the collect versus prepaid or an Amazon terminology. You have we pay versus they pay. So that's your typical freight options. There's also small parcel for out-of-stock plugging and all of that. 

But within Collect, there are other options. The more volume you're driving, there could be full truckload or drop trailer programs, pallet ordering programs, and then enterprise specialist support. So kind of depending on your volume, there may be some other programs available. And it's always a good idea to reach out and try to make sure you are aware of what programs are out there and whether or not your company qualifies. There's also other forms like direct fulfillment or direct import as other options to get product inbound to Amazon.

Paul Sonneveld
Thank you. Thanks so much for that. You mentioned, obviously, there are some criteria whether you're eligible for certain programs or not. Do they tend to be sort of more metric, volumetric based or turnover-based? Are you able to shed a little bit of light on us in terms of qualification criteria there?

Tessa Blumenthal
Often it's volume, especially for full truckload. You have to be able to qualify by having the kind of volume where you're getting a full truckload on a regular basis, on a regular cadence. For other programs like direct fulfillment, it just is a matter of whether or not your warehouse can meet Amazon shipping metrics for end customer service. So they give you a test period to make sure that you, as you're fulfilling that you're meeting those metrics.

And if you do, then you can qualify. And those are, you know, less driven around like volumes, much more as speed. And then direct import, that's, I think like that's usually a negotiation kind of with Amazon, depending on kind of like discounts provided. And again, probably some amount of volume, whether or not you can get a full container going to Amazon.

Paul Sonneveld
Yeah. Yeah. Great. Makes sense. So, I mean, you're both, you and Jackson are dealing with vendors all day long. So, I'm sure you've seen lots of challenges, lots of headaches. I mean, if you think about maybe last year and particularly into this year, I mean, what are some of the most common challenges that you see Amazon vendors face when they're relying on Amazon's logistic services versus third-party providers?

Jackson Licha
I can probably take that one because I'm sitting on the front lines here. Probably two items. When I was here, the number one challenge we hear about is on-time pickups. As we know, the ship windows are pretty tight. We try to avoid charges and any kind of delays. Vendors can sometimes be at the mercy of Amazon's carriers with the dispatches and appointment times. So it's just knowing how to navigate, how to deal with Amazon and those carriers. 

The second one is communication. where some warehouses may have their own third-party providers. They can pick up the phone or may have a contract with those carriers. With Amazon carriers, you do have to go through the appropriate channels at Amazon. You can't call them directly. So the number one thing here is just making sure that you have a good communication channel. And number two is making sure freight is ready when it's supposed to be and that the dispatchers are going to show up on time. But those are, you know, those two things are probably 90% of the challenges that we face in the US.

Paul Sonneveld
And in terms of the inbound on-time pickup, is that driven, I just wanted to clarify that, Jackson, is it driven by the carrier not showing up on time? Or is it, you know, to what you mentioned towards the end of your answer there around, you know, actually vendor not being, not having the shipment ready to be picked up?

Jackson Licha
We'd say most of the time it's the drivers. Just like in everywhere else in the world, there is a driver shortage. Carriers will choose which dispatchers are most important to them. The good thing about Amazon, though, they have a wide range of carriers, including their own carriers. So if there is a delay, it's usually only a maximum of 48 hours, in which case, if it is the carrier's fault, there will be no chargebacks for the vendors. But that's probably the biggest complaint we hear.

Paul Sonneveld
I see. I see. Now, I know you've got a strong background, Jackson, in terms of the whole international logistics game too. So it would be remiss of me not to ask you this question, which is, what do you see as the big differences between North America and some of the other geographies that Amazon operates in particularly Europe in terms of logistics options, how things work, what, at the top of the list, what would be some of the key differences there that you you've observed over the years?

Jackson Licha
Well, I should probably plug the fact that Global Overview does have an office in Europe. And so the number one thing that they told us was appointment availability is a challenge in any market. But in the European space, sometimes carriers are being asked to deliver to FCs outside of their base market. We see a lot of that with vendors in Germany, where Amazon asked for deliveries to make in FCs in Poland, for example. They may be asked to deliver to various EU marketplaces. 

The small parcel shipping can be a challenge because there's no intra-transfer between the UK and the rest of the EU post-Brexit. And vendors selling within Europe need to maintain two separate inventory pools for both the UK and the continent with separate import duties, VAT charges, product compliance. We don't really see that too much. With vendors, Amazon can. quite a bit more simply, transfer goods across the border between Mexico and Canada.

Paul Sonneveld
Sorry, did you say can or cannot? Sorry.

Jackson Licha
Yeah, it's a little bit more simple. Amazon does own their products. You know, with local trade agreements, well, for the most part, time being, are okay. It's a little bit more simple.

Paul Sonneveld
Yeah, yeah, makes sense. So obviously, I was just thinking around Europe and obviously, this perfect inbound consolidation service is something that's really high on Amazon's agenda in Europe, delivering stock into one or two warehouses and letting Amazon do the distribution in Europe. Is there a similar program in North America around delivering in fulfillment centers in North America and having auto distribution or Amazon distribute the product to Canada and Mexico? Or is it less set up as a program in North America?

Jackson Licha
Because Amazon does own the product, as long as those products meet regulatory guidelines, for example, in Canada, some items have to be in French or, you know, there could be certain packaging requirements. Amazon has been transferring those products on their own, via their own customs channels, mainly to Canada, we see. But yeah, it's a little bit less restrictive, I would say, compared with the UK and the continent.

Paul Sonneveld
Thank you. Great. Well, Tessa, let me head back to you, right? So sort of getting back to the Amazon versus third-party logistics. You know, if I'm a vendor in North America and I'm considering, let's assume that I do qualify for some of those Amazon programs that you mentioned earlier due to volume and the like, how do I value it between going for some Amazon's in-house logistic options versus third-party providers? What should be going through my mind as I make those considerations?

Tessa Blumenthal
So some of the things that we want vendors to consider are mostly issues of transfer of ownership of risk, lack of support versus owning the process. So where Amazon provides like a lot of in-house support for their own system. So like if you're doing we pay or collect shipping, they have more visibility for the pickup, where the product is in the system, so they're able to kind of track where it is, and so you have a better result on when the product will be available for the customer to buy it when it is in that Amazon system. 

There are different metrics that you're held to if you go with a third party, so say prepaid or shipping using your own carrier. You held to delivery metrics versus pickup metrics so it's those things are something you need to understand and what the risks are of that. Amazon, as an entity can often get really great rates as well so there's a cost factor that should be considered. And then ship windows and the like, again, it's like if you are responsible for getting the product across the country, you have to consider the cost of that and whether or not your carrier is going to be able to do that.

So there's more onus on the vendor if they're choosing to do it on their own versus using the Amazon kind of freight network. And then there's also, if you're doing direct fulfillment, which is considered kind of more on your own, it's, again, you're being held to very strong metrics as Amazon really wants to make sure they're giving the best promise to the customer. So you must be meeting the metrics for direct fulfillment and out-of-stock percentages as well.

Paul Sonneveld
Yeah. So at least on paper, at least according to Amazon's logistics brochure, it seems to be like a no brainer, right? Better costs, you're not, you know, you don't get held accountable to all these various metrics, sort of Amazon takes on that kind of ownership and responsibility. But, you know, there's a third-party logistics network out there, right? So there must be doing something right, or there must be certain situations there. I mean, are there actually situations or scenarios where third-party logistics providers make more sense or consistently outperform Amazon's own services? I mean, obviously, outside the volume metric, qualification criteria. Are there examples that you've come across that you can share?

Tessa Blumenthal
I think I might let Jackson answer this one because he's got a deep dive into this pretty recently.

Paul Sonneveld
Yeah.

Jackson Licha
Yeah. Yeah, I'll be 100% honest. Largely, we haven't seen it. No. If a vendor can use Amazon services, it's much better. Global Overview does service some very large conglomerates. Now, if you have such a huge company that you have your own dedicated truckers, your own trucking company, you know, with guarantees, on-time guarantees, and a really good setup contract, unless you have that, we're actually seeing third-party carriers struggle. And vendors who would like to maybe go to prepaid or day pay usually have a very hard time adhering to those metrics that Tessa talked about.

Paul Sonneveld
I see. And does this play out sort of at a total North American level or are there differences on a geographical basis? Like, are there any certain geographies or fulfillment centers in the US where you go, actually, you know, Amazon's a little bit weaker in this particular area. Is there any sort of plugging minor gaps here or actually say, you know what, the performance is pretty consistent across the piece?

Tessa Blumenthal
I think you see Amazon perform fairly consistent to regional expectations and things. There's obviously certain areas that are more prone to natural disaster, things that can kind of cause like additional headache for getting trucks provided and all of that. I think where the trouble kind of comes in is you're trying to, the way that Amazon really tries to push kind of some of that upstream distribution to these FCs, which means they're kind of sacrificing container utilization to break it down to smaller purchase orders to distribute them to more FCs from pickup, can cause like some vendors to have to ship like a cross-country quite frequently, which means then they are on the hook for basically getting it across the country in eight days. And there may be, if it's an LTL load, they may have to consolidate at some point, which, you know, then you have to, it all matters how long that consolidation is going to take place, you know, whether or not they're able to secure a delivery appointment in time at the destination FC. 

So it's, it does make for more variables to manage, versus when Amazon owns the carrier part of the whole piece, then they only hold the vendor to the pickup metrics. So that means that you have to make sure that you're submitting your tender requests, your pickup requests on time within the ship window. And if you do that, and your initial tender request is on time, then you've met your end of the deal. And then Amazon takes it from there and they can, they will absorb the issues with transport versus delivery. You have to get it all the way to their warehouse on time.

Paul Sonneveld
Yeah, I completely get that. How does any of this, I mean, typically we hear You know, most of it's where Amazon takes responsibility for the logistics. Things work most of the time. It's really great. People are happy. Wish I could qualify for it. How does this stack up during like in preparation for peak trading periods like Q4? You know, when the whole supply chain is on the strain, things are busting at the seams. You know, Amazon's playing different games around inventory holding and inbound receiving slots with their fulfillment centers. Does everything set that you said sort of go off the rails or actually have you found that. How have you found Amazon during those times? What tends to go wrong?

Tessa Blumenthal
Yeah, well, a very exciting period of time for us, I would say. I think the big thing is preparation and knowing your timeline. Amazon, it is very difficult to get product inbound a month out before these peak events. And you start to lose kind of that guarantee that it's going to be on the shelf and ready to go right by the time we get peak, like say Prime Day or during the Q4 holidays.

So, we recommend to our vendors to pay attention to promotions and really getting everything tied in, ticked and tied and prepared because promotions, when they are all set and the ASINs that are tied, the products, SKUs that are tied to those promotions are in the Amazon system. Amazon's own forecasting model can read those quite clearly. And then when they're ready to do their stock up orders, they will have all of that on time. 

So you really need to work with like say the buying teams and anybody who's kind of working with Amazon marketing and promotion to make sure that all of that is in place as early as possible so that the forecasting can pick up in time because we do want at least five weeks to get product into the FCs and that's really kind of cutting it as these events get larger and larger and everybody's participating. And if you know you have to get product across the country, again, you need more wiggle room. But yeah, it's all about preparation, I guess, if I were to highlight a single point.

Jackson Licha
It's funny you ask, because it's during peak where everyone says, I can do it better myself. And trade secret, Amazon's going to prioritize their own carriers, their own collect carriers. So we always try to tell them to hold on, like Tessa said, prepare, get ready for this five-week lead time and just stick with what you're doing.

Paul Sonneveld
Yeah, I've spent many years in retail and around those times, it always seems to be like the inbound receiving slots that are the hottest commodity, right? And be able to get hold of them and then be able to get there in time and having your stock receded on time. And certainly you want to be in the queue that isn't a priority in the express lane, right? Not sort of the slow one. So it makes sense. 

I'd love to sort of dwell a little bit more on some of these sort of other practical considerations. When things go wrong, I mean, you mentioned some of these sort of at the start of this conversation, Jackson, but when things go wrong, what tends to go wrong? I mean, what are the most common disruptions and pitfalls that happens in this logistics space, either with Amazon doing the logistics or third parties? I mean, where do things fall down most of the time?

Jackson Licha
For the most part, things are pretty smooth. It's when we, for example, we had two major hurricanes in the United States this year. That caused a lot of disruption, fires on the West Coast. It's usually a lot of weather-related issues. We do see a lot of delays, you know, of course, wintertime in the Northeast. Another thing will be possible strikes. We do have quite a large trucking transportation and longshoremen union here that can cause problems. And then of course, the probably the major thing is there's just a lack of drivers. And of course, during peak, you know, there are more demands for dispatches than there are trucks to move them. So it's basically just more of a supply and demand issue. 

So I would say that probably the top three are, you know, weather related, it's huge, it causes more problems than you think. And then the supply and demand between, you know, drivers and available carriers and available dispatches. And again, that's why we say, you know, if you can use Amazon's carriers, please do so. They typically have priority over the delivery appointments that seem to run short during peak.

Paul Sonneveld
That makes sense. If I can just focus on sort of that smaller vendor segment that does not have access to Amazon's logistics programs, when you sort of think about the world of third-party logistics and all of that. What additional considerations and issues do you see pop up? Where do things go wrong on that front? In addition to the ones, I mean, let me rephrase Jackson or Tessa, what additional issues do you see on the 3P logistics side?

Tessa Blumenthal
So, one of the other things I think we haven't quite covered too is like internal issues and especially when you might be smaller or just kind of getting, getting going, making sure that the like say you were warehouse, your 3PL warehouse. is following the Amazon requirements and setting you up to succeed as well because there are, you know, there's a number of requirements and they're there for a reason that really help product move smoothly through the Amazon warehouse and the receive process and also through the whole carrier process as well. The pallet labels, the pallets being prepared properly and protected with the shrink wrap, and also making sure that the ARN, so like when you're sending your advanced shipping notice, that the Amazon routing numbers are correct and labelled properly, that you get the pro number from the truck. 

All of these little things make a big difference in making sure that your product is protected and makes its way smoothly through the Amazon Inbound fulfillment and the smaller you are the smaller volume of driving you're probably going to be relying more on LTL less than truckload pickup. Which means that it's very important to also make sure that you're estimating your load size correctly because with LTL you're taking a portion of a truck. And your hope is that everybody else who is on that pickup path is also estimated correctly so that we all fit nicely into the truck. 

So making sure that everything is smooth within your own operational space is a big factor because once you kind of get into the carrier space, there are going to be things, as Jackson said, that are out of control. And all you can really do is prep as best you can and then just kind of be prepared to adapt in situations. Say Amazon, for whatever reason, like say for the fires in LA, there's like just no way that the truck is going to get it in the time frame that Amazon is expecting the product. It's at that point you weigh whether or not to break down the load so that it's not sitting on your dock. 

There's some of these decisions that need to be made and it's obviously a cost concern and consideration, but also know that Amazon does operate on a just-in-time philosophy. It's very difficult to nail that exactly, but a just-in-time philosophy meaning they will come back for it if they need it. And so just know that like these things are going to happen and all you can do is really just make sure you're following all the requirements correctly and you're reaching out to the carrier if they miss the pickup and rescheduling.

Paul Sonneveld
As you were talking, this lovely word called chargebacks entered my brain because talking about the things that can go wrong. I know we're not talking in depth here on chargebacks. We've done kind of other episodes on that, but I'd love to get your thoughts on are you seeing any trends or are you seeing particular types of chargebacks really bubbling up to the surface or at the top of the pile there, are you seeing any trends or what is the most common penalty that, that vendors get levied with when it comes to chargebacks as they relate to this topic?

Jackson Licha
Well, thank you for bringing up my favorite topic, Paul. So probably the biggest one in relation to this conversation, obviously, we talked about PO on time, meaning that the carrier needs to deliver within a set number of days or make an appointment within a set number of days. We have seen in the past few months, Amazon system is a little quite a bit more difficult. They've made it more difficult to dispute those chargebacks. 

So, for example, in the case of the fires, Amazon's system's not going to know that a bridge collapsed. Amazon's system's not going to plan ahead for a hurricane. And it only seems that after the fact, maybe a few months after, where Amazon will provide some kind of a waiver, we try to collect as much information as we can, document everything that you can, save your BOLs, save screenshots, in case there are no appointments available, and be proactive knowing that Amazon is going to create those chargebacks. So you can have a case ahead of time. 

Often we see vendors, two months later, they look back at their charge racks and realize, oh my gosh, we don't have any documentation to dispute this. But we do see, as far as trends go, the PO on time be more difficult to dispute compared with last year. I don't know if it was done on purpose or it was just a system change because it is so labor intensive, but it's going to be more difficult to dispute those. Collect your documentation and do so proactively so you can get ahead of them.

Paul Sonneveld
Thank you. That's a good segue to sort of the broader cost implications. Obviously, chargebacks is one of those costs that surprises many vendors, so they have limited visibility of. But of course, there's a broader topic around a freight allowance, right? So we talked about Amazon doing a number of logistics services on behalf of vendors instead of 3P providers. Of course, that service isn't free. So I'd love to explore just a little bit more around, okay, What does freight allowance look like? What are some reasonable benchmarks? What should vendors expect? And how does that change depending on the different program that you are enrolled in with Amazon?

Tessa Blumenthal
Let's see. Do you want to take that one, Jackson, or do you want me to?

Jackson Licha
Yeah, I'll take it. So for those who don't know, a freight allowance is a percentage of sales deducted to cover Amazon's transportation costs. And it's mandatory for collect terms. And even with prepaid terms, we're seeing that Amazon is now even charging a freight allowance, however, smaller charge for prepaid terms because Amazon is using cross-stocks and regional shipments, and they want to recoup these costs. 

We can't share our clients' freight allowance percentage, but a new vendor might see anywhere between 2% and 5% of sales go to transportation. What we'd encourage every vendor to do is, try to figure out what your sales are going to be. Is this percentage worthwhile? Can you do it cheaper elsewhere? But there's also all kinds of other things you have to consider if you're going to try to be prepaid or handle that on your own. This percentage is significant, but we're finding that it's somewhat in line with what you would pay minus all the labor costs and the convenience that Amazon can provide to do the trucking for you.

Paul Sonneveld
And so when it comes to, let's call it the add-ons, right, which is probably the wrong word, but some of those programs like full truckload ordering and there's various other programs I'm aware in Europe. So there are sort of options where Amazon will come to you and say, hey, do you want to roll in this program? We think we're going to save you a whole series of logistics costs internally. Of course, you pay us a little bit more, all of that. What are the common ones there in North America, and how should vendors kind of evaluate that? Or is there typically a strong business case or is some really detailed work required there? I'll probably stick with you, Jackson, for now.

Jackson Licha
Okay. Yeah. So when you do get into that tier where Amazon's providing extra services, they typically do not come, unless it's pallet ordering, they typically do not come with an extra fee beyond that freight allowance. And we also have to remember, Amazon does nothing for free. It can be worthwhile for Amazon to provide, for example, full truckload services versus everyone else's LTL. It costs them a lot less to do full truckload. So obviously that is an incentive for them. So if you have the volume, yes, please go ahead and do so because it's a lot less ARNs, it's a lot less routing to do, a lot less dock space taken up, a lot less truckers showing up. 

And so typically, for the most part, if Amazon is providing those extra services, they've been extremely beneficial to our vendors. But also, you know, we have to keep in mind, this is also beneficial to Amazon. So it's kind of a mutually agreed upon benefit that both parties can use. So, you know, full truckload trailer. I don't know if this is in other markets, but we do what's called drop trailers.

And for those familiar with the drop and pick, what Amazon will do is just leave a trailer at your site. When you fill it up, you call a carrier to come and get it so you don't have to deal with appointment windows, you know, truck lines and things like that. It causes things to move a lot faster, a lot less coordination, you know, at the trucking gates. But of course, it's cheaper for Amazon. So if you do have the volume, you are enrolled in those kind of services, we encourage vendors to take advantage of them whenever they can.

Paul Sonneveld
Thank you. So I'm just watching the clock here and we've gone a little over. So I want to finish up with sort of one question from me and then we've got a couple of audience questions as well that I, that I might see if you can squeeze in a one or two before we close out. So probably the question for me is really a forward looking question. You know, as you look at this year and into 2026, how do you see you know Amazon's logistics services evolve or the whole logistics model? Where you think it's heading and evolving in the next 12 to 18 months?

Tessa Blumenthal
I would say that we've seen the move to a regional distribution network and I see that they're utilizing a lot more I think they're going to lean in more to AI algorithm and more kind of science-based distribution. I think that they're going to get better and better at it. I think it's always rough when you transition to a new approach, but the regional distribution I think will help them more with their last mile, so their ability to cover delivery to the end customer. It's going to be an adjustment period for all of those that need to ship into these new regions and make sure that all regions are covered so that we're not seeing stock issues in one region versus full in-stock in another. 

So I would like to see over the next year or two years that smoothing out for everyone as we kind of adjust to that regional network. And I do think that they are going to really hone in on what their need is. So the actual consumption and really ordering as close as they can. Again, I wanna reiterate the just-in-time philosophy that Amazon really wants to achieve because as for those are familiar with like lean philosophy, like inventory, sitting inventory is waste. So we wanna move everything smoothly through the system. And so I think they're gonna be leaning into AI there. And I think they're going to really try to probably focus in on how do they smooth out some of these pickups, really lean into their own network, so the Amazon freight. I don't know, Jackson, if you had anything to add, I think.

Jackson Licha
Yeah, Tessa is on the ball there. I think they're going to probably push vendors more to their own services. I don't know if sellers are familiar with Amazon warehouse and distribution. I could see Amazon pushing more, even vendors into something like this. There's obviously a problem with reduced fulfillment center space. So like Tessa said, I think they're really gonna try to get more lean, keep last week's cover on hand, do more of just-in-time model, definitely.

Paul Sonneveld
Thank you. That's great. All right, well, let's quickly go to our audience and pick up a few questions. The first one from, I hope you can see that, from Mathleu. Thank you very much for submitting your question. Really appreciate it. I'll read it out. Is there a way to stop Amazon Vendor USA from sending products to Canada? We see this a lot with our clients. Amazon moving things around a little bit. Anything we can do?

Tessa Blumenthal
Yeah, it's when you're in the wholesale relationship with Amazon, they do own the products once they purchase them from you. And I think because of trade agreements, if there's compliance, if they, if they qualify for all the compliance requirements in Canada, they do, they are able to transfer it to their Canadian warehouses. Because you're automatically enrolled in what they call the North American fulfillment network, you would have to opt out. 

And so my recommendation would be if you have a legal concern with the product or you feel that it's incorrectly like being sold in Canada, you will probably have to write a letter of letterhead on the company letterhead from somebody who is qualified to speak on behalf of the company and have that turned into Amazon I think where the concern would be around consumable products and topical products and things like that of the body. Those are the ones that I think Amazon will probably prioritize as far as whether or not you qualify. But again, because it's wholesale, Amazon does own the product. You have to have a good case to not allow them to ship to Canada.

Paul Sonneveld
Thank you. I'll move on to a question from Antonio. Thank you, Antonio. And I know you've been very active in our comment section as well, providing lots of information there. But specifically, you asked about, have you used AGL? I'm assuming this means Amazon Global Logistics. Have you used it? And what's your opinion of the program?

Jackson Licha
So yeah, I can take that one. It depends on what year you're talking, is what Amazon will call it. Typically, in the vendor space, we mostly use direct import to bring products mostly from Northern China, Southeast Asia, into the United States. We do use AGL. We have, again, it's kind of like what Tessa said. Amazon owns the products. And in a vendor situation, Amazon will own it. We do see a lot of products going out of the country to places like Australia, Japan. 

And this is something to talk with your vendor manager about. There's no button that you can click necessarily to get enrolled. I think it's great. Obviously, we have a lot of vendors who want to expand because it's increasing your sales volume. But this is something that should be probably discussed in detail with any kind of vendor manager. But for the most part here, we utilize direct import just because of the nature of the marketplace here in the United States.

Paul Sonneveld
Thank you, Jackson. Last question for today comes from Unmil Patel. It's a long one. It relates to AWD, and I think you mentioned this earlier, Jackson, so I thought I'd bring it in. That might be relating more to the 3P side. The platform was launched in 2024, but there isn't clear information regarding the cost of AWD, especially with damaged products transferred from AWD to FBA. 

If Amazon handles the transfer of the products and gets damaged while in FBA, will the cost of the damage be the responsibility of Amazon? So maybe slightly outside sort of direct vendor logistics piece. But given that Unmil has taken the time to write this question, thank you, Unmil. I'd love to get any thoughts on this one. Who wants to go with that?

Jackson Licha
Yeah, I can do this one too. Sorry, Tessa. It's funny because we just talked about this. Once that product is in AWD, although Amazon doesn't own it, it's still in their possession. So Amazon in FBA, we're talking about FBA now. So if Amazon damages the product at any point in their possession, “they should”,  automatically reimburse for that product. And actually there's a page on Solar Essential where you can view these these damages and what the reimbursements back to the seller would be. 

So to answer your question directly, it is still new. There's still a lot of gray area. We found that there's no specific verbiage on this. But if Amazon handles the transfer of product and it does get damaged while in FBA, Amazon should absorb that cost and reimburse just like they would if it was in their FCs. Now, if you're seeing something different, let us know, but for the most part, that's our understanding. That's what we're seeing.

Paul Sonneveld
Great. Thank you, Jackson. Unfortunately, everyone, we are out of time, so we're going to have to wrap up. Tessa and Jackson, thank you so much for joining us today. Your insights really helped me clarify some of the complexities and particularly around Amazon providing some of those services around logistics in North America and what the differences compared to some other geographies. 

So really appreciate your generosity in terms of insights and knowledge. For anyone who's tuning in live today, or maybe tuning in afterwards, that want to get in touch, maybe interested in learning more about how Global Overview, or you can assist them, what is the best way for them to get in touch?

Tessa Blumenthal
Sure. So we are a full-service agency. We manage all elements of the Amazon business. And as you can see, we have a knowledgeable operations team ready to provide insight for you. You can reach us at info@globaloverview.com, or you can find us on our website, globaloverview.com.

Paul Sonneveld
Excellent. Fantastic. Well, thank you so much, Jackson and Tessa. Until next time.

Jackson Licha
Thank you.

Paul Sonneveld
All right, everyone, that is it for today's episode. That is a wrap. Thank you so much for tuning in. Now, of course, if you are looking for more insights, make sure to head to our website to check out our video-on-demand library at merchantspring.io for a wealth of content and information. 

And while you're there, make sure you register for our upcoming Amazon Vendor Summit in two weeks time. Of course, if you are looking for better analytics for Amazon vendors, whether it be agency level analytics or vendor analytics, don't hesitate to reach out to me. I'd love to show you what MerchantSpring is all about. 

Last but not least, I'm always on the lookout for new topics, new content, things that you would like me to tackle next. So if there's an interesting idea that you'd like me to explore or perhaps find the right expert or speaker, please drop me a note and I will do the research and recruitment for you. Until next time, please take care.