October 31, 2012—Hurricane Sandy and Frankenstorm has impacted numerous Americans along the eastern seaboard the last couple days leaving many homeless and without power. But east coasters aren’t the only ones affected by the recent natural disasters as third-party Amazon sellers scramble
to contact customers and coordinate purchase orders and shipping.

On Monday, Amazon.com emailed sellers recommending they contact any buyers affected by the recent events and update them on the status of their orders. Amazon also advised third-party sellers to temporarily deactivate their listings if they unable to meet their shipping levels. Amazon even went as far to say they might inactivate seller-fulfilled listings if they determine that they are unable to be fulfilled as a result of “no apparent seller activity.”

Amazon isn’t the only marketplace being affected by Hurricane Sandy. eBay and Buy.com emailed buyers asking for “patience” from merchants who may have been impacted by the recent storm. Chief Marketing Officer of Buy.com Bernard Luthi noted that the East Coast makes up a major portion of the buying population. eBay asked third-party sellers to put their storefront in “vacation mode” to indicate their operations are currently closed. Even fulfillment by Amazon was shaken by the recent events as amazon announced they will “handle all communication for FBA orders impacted by Hurricane Sandy.” Typically, third-party sellers deal with any and all communication between buyers and FBA is no different.

With 170 million people expected to celebrate Halloween today and even more shopping online, Hurricane Sandy is impacting not only third-party marketplace sellers but e-commerce retailers as well.

Alistair Barr of Reuters.com reported a story today outlining how the Internet is being hit especially hard by Hurricane Sandy. The article expounds on how e-commerce businesses like New York-based start-up Fab.com are being affected by Hurricane Sandra because of power outages and workers not able to access facilities and therefore, orders cannot be processed and shipped.

“The biggest impact to us right now is that our warehouses have no power,” said Jason Goldberg, founder and chief executive of Fab.com. “We’re doing everything humanly possible to send packages as quickly as possible.”

Although Hurricane Sandra is affecting many third-party sellers and e-commerce retailers, there is one thing it hasn’t disturbed–Amazon Web Services. Thankfully, all 100,000 computer servers are safe and sound as Amazon’s Virginia facilities are located out of the storm’s path.

If you or someone you know is a marketplace seller and affected by Hurricane Sandy we want to hear your story. Email us at Nick@amazongenius.com