Your goods went to MDW2, and you received a very cheap price that caught your heart. In the end, you found that you received a small red flag from Amazon, and there was an additional shipping fee in your bill. So congratulations, you have won the ONT8 scam package. Against the backdrop of Amazon's corruption scandal, third-party logistics' ONT8 'may explode
 
This year has been a particularly difficult year for both sellers and logistics providers. In 2020, we thought it would be the most difficult year due to labor shortages, slower delivery times, and rapid cost increases during the pandemic. However, we were too naive. Since entering 2021, freight rates have skyrocketed since March, reaching heights that we usually cannot understand or reach. For sellers, they also have to deal with unexpected gift packages from bad logistics providers and overseas warehouses.
 
Sequentially inward rolling
Under the premise of such high costs, the sellers are trapped in the inner circle, and the prices dare not rise. There are more new sellers who directly enter the market at a low price, continuing the business logic of most Chinese people, killing their rivals first, and then harvesting. So now the sellers are in great pain. On the one hand, the purchase cost is rising, on the other hand, the logistics cost is rising straightly. Not only is it rising, but also the timeliness experience is very poor. The delivery time is twice as long as before. It is everywhere. In addition to the entry of the new sellers' death squads, this year's sellers are rushing to clear the inventory. Because of the great pressure of capital and liquidity, the sellers who can survive are basically able to enter the next cycle. In fact, frankly speaking, except for industrial and trade enterprises, most of the individual sellers who enter the market now will act as the "sacrifice" of this round of foam.
 
The process of internal competition has been consistently transmitted from upstream to downstream, causing sellers to become internal and FBA logistics to begin internal competition. As a result, the price war has become rampant, with people running away, funds breaking apart, and those who continue to set up stalls and fish in troubled waters. After more than a year of washing up, the market has slightly improved, mainly because sellers have more pitfalls in logistics and know what's going on.
So the information is relatively symmetrical, and the seemingly cheap and clumsy performance style is already difficult to deceive sellers with more than 2 years of operational experience.
  
Overseas warehouse foam
 
In 2020, the number of overseas warehouses in the United States will increase, which is estimated to be more than the sum of the previous three years. The price of commercial real estate will also rise. The foam we are talking about here does not mean that there are more overseas warehouses. In fact, compared with the development trend and volume of cross-border e-commerce, these are far from enough, but mainly because of the serious homogenization. Renting warehouses, transferring large goods, and delivering one piece of goods, whether they can be done well or not, will be discussed first.
Running an overseas warehouse well is a very complex technical task. It is not as simple as investing a sum of money, renting a warehouse, and finding someone to look at. Therefore, many warehouses rented in 2020 are now facing a serious problem. Taking Los Angeles as an example, the competition in the entire tail end market has begun to enter a white hot stage. Many warehouses have not achieved profitability and do not have the possibility of long-term sustainable profitability. Therefore, the overseas warehouses in the United States have also entered a process of internalization, and various chaos has begun to emerge.
According to the information we have obtained, currently overseas warehouses are required to optimize costs at every stage, from unpacking to palletizing to trucking. However, due to the pandemic, costs at every stage are increasing. What should we do? The warehouse cost is, the labor cost is, and domestic customers want to lower prices. What should we do? We can only start using our brains. So the first "technology" used in China in 2018 drifted across the sea to the United States and took root and sprouted.
Although oranges grown in Huainan are called oranges, and oranges grown in Huaibei are called tangerines, in both China and the United States, the consequences are not picky, and the fruits produced are the same.
ONT8 major scam
 
After the seller hands over the goods to the logistics provider, regardless of the label address created by the seller, they will ultimately deliver them to ONT8. For example, if the seller places an order with the logistics provider based on the price of MDW2, the seller compares the prices and finds that their price is the cheapest. After leaving, if they are lucky, the backend can see their goods and they have entered the warehouse quickly. Moreover, the backend displays the transfer and Amazon will deduct a fee from ONT8 to the warehouse you should have gone to. If you are unlucky, you will receive a small red flag from Amazon. For the internal structure of the seller, many times the operation and logistics are separated, and the operation only sees the incoming goods. As for the expenses incurred, they are not clear what they are, at most they complain about Amazon's arbitrary deduction of fees. For those who manage logistics, they usually don't look at the backend, so there is a loophole like this.
 
And the logistics provider of the first leg promotes to the outside world that they enter the warehouse every day and have many dedicated lines. We think that some of the dedicated lines can be opened, which is also unbelievable. In fact, as long as you have common sense, it is difficult to book Amazon warehouses now. It is really not easy to get daily delivery appointments from various warehouses. If you really have this ability, it is estimated that the top few overseas warehouses will worship it.
 
Perhaps seller friends may be curious about how they achieve it. In fact, due to Amazon's pallet delivery, overseas warehouses usually use a reservation number to schedule a time, and then other goods that also go to this warehouse are sent together. Amazon does not use a PO number to match one by one, so this creates a loophole. Since it is possible to insert goods from the same warehouse, but not from the same warehouse, can they be inserted? The answer is that they have tested it. In the past, they used to use express delivery to make reservations and directly deliver them, and cannot return them. Now, they are mixed with trucks for delivery, and Amazon will not detect it on site.
There is a more advanced option, which is to directly use Amazon FREIGHT's truck service. This is Amazon's truck service, which directly loads all the goods that are not going to ONT8. There is a loophole here. Amazon FREIGHT's truck can be used for DROP OFF (placing the frame and cabinet on the Amazon unloading platform, with the front of the truck going first). Because the car had left, the Amazon warehouse discovered it in a timely manner and could only accept it, so they successfully deceived everyone and succeeded.
 
Moreover, some unscrupulous overseas warehouses currently offer partial delivery and sell the rest directly, taking advantage of the loophole of many warehouses on Amazon that do not have signatures. Customers ask for an ISA number, and when they make an appointment, they have already booked everything. When they ask for a POD, the overseas warehouse only gives one without a seal, and Amazon does not recognize it at all.
 
So for domestic first mile logistics providers and sellers, they need to be particularly cautious, as anything can happen during this turbulent time.
            
postscript
 
When writing this article, several major industry events actually occurred. One was the bankruptcy filing of Global Easy Buy, which went from a billion dollar leader to a pile of chicken feathers on the ground today, truly responding to the line from "Peach Blossom Fan": "Watching him rise from the Zhu Tower, watching him entertain guests, watching his tower collapse. From prosperity to decline, in just a few years. This also indicates that this industry will soon become a traditional industry, and the problems of enterprises that were previously covered up by information spreads and high profit support will be exposed one by one. Without a complete organizational system, core products, and systematic support, these companies will not see the future and may disappear before dawn.
Another issue is that the financing of the industry has reached a climax. Many people ask me how to view this problem. In fact, the complexity of the international logistics track is much higher than that of domestic logistics. The popularity of capital is still in its early stages. The international logistics industry is still in the stage of informatization, and it is difficult to see significant breakthroughs in business models or technology. As the saying goes, logistics must be done solidly, close to the needs of users, and solving their pain points is our top priority.
Keep in awe, forge ahead, and encourage everyone.