Amazon FBA Seller Fees Updates for 2019
Perhaps you’ve heard the buzz already, how Amazon has changed their FBA seller fees for 2019. Rest assured. If you sell anything on Amazon, this is a very good change for you.
When the fees take effect:
FBA storage fees take effect on February 15, 2019.
Amazon fulfillment and referral fees take effect on February 19, 2019.
Here’s the basic overview:
- Amazon lowered long-term storage fees after a September 2018 increase.
- Amazon lowered referral fees for certain categories and products under a certain cost.
- New storage fees take effect February 15, 2019.
- New referral fees take effect February 19, 2019.
In September 2018 when Amazon had increased their seller’s fees, there was a major scramble that upset many sellers. But Amazon listened to their sellers and decided to recant on the seller’s fees increase. Now you don’t have to worry anymore about an increase in seller’s fees. Ultimately, you can relax and rest easy—while keeping a good inventory of stock for future customers.
How does this sound to you? Amazon claims that “over 40% of FBA units shipped to experience no change—or even a decrease.” Naturally, we think this sounds fantastic! And if you’re a seller, we hope you think so too.
This past December (2018), sellers received an email from Amazon that outlined details about the new FBA seller fees and how they worked. Here are some key takeaway points from that email.
- Sellers will see a certain increase in fulfillment fees, while seeing a decrease in many storage and referral fees. This minimizes the impact of these adjustments for as many sellers as possible.
- Amazon will not make any changes to the fulfillment fees for small standard-size and large standard-size items that have a shipping weight of 10 oz. or less. You will see small increases in fulfillment fees for products in other size tiers, as this reflects the changes in fulfillment and transportation costs.
- Amazon changes the dimensional billing weight calculation for oversized items. Apply a minimum width and height of 2 inches when you calculate the dimensional weight for these items, so that it aligns with packaging costs.
- Amazon introduces separate fulfillment fees for dangerous goods containing flammable or pressurized aerosol substances, as well as for items that have lithium-ion batteries.
- Amazon simplifies the Subscribe & Save fee structure, which starts September 2019. For each new item added to this program, you will be able to fund a flat discount of 5 percent or 10 percent.
Amazon FBA Seller Fulfillment Fees
It’s wonderful that sellers will not see any changes to their Fulfillment fees, which is a relief. The pick, pack, and send options included in this package is a service many of you depend on, as it very well could be the difference between you selling or not selling on Amazon.
However, there is one charge. Amazon has also made separate changes to shipping fees for any dangerous goods or products that contain lithium batteries. This is a good thing, as it keeps those products separate. Potentially dangerous products are more expensive to ship and to store because of the potential handling dangers, so it makes sense these items have their own, separate fees.
Hands down, Amazon is still an attractive business for potential sellers. The last thing they want to do is raise fees and discourage people from signing up for FBA seller program.
Amazon FBA Seller Storage Fees
Since Amazon has lowered their FBA storage fees, it’s even more compelling for new sellers to sell on Amazon rather than using third-party sellers, transportation, and storage locations for the products. By implementing this change at the beginning of the year only encourages new sellers to start selling earlier, therefore growing the FBA sellers’ community.
With Amazon’s new FBA seller fees changes, now sellers won’t have to liquidate their stock or move any inventory around. This saves time, money, and stress in the long-term.
For units that have been sitting in a fulfillment center for 181-365 days, Amazon will remove with the long-term storage fees. Overall, this is great news for sellers, as it saves them a bunch of fees, allowing them to stock even more items in Amazon’s warehouse. Keep in mind that any items stored over 365 days will see some storage fees.
Amazon FBA Seller Referral Fees
Some categories will have a reduction in referral fees under a certain amount. Perhaps this is due to Amazon’s desire to see items priced below $15. Items $15 or less are categorized as an “impulse buy.” Which is great because customers do not have to think twice about making a large purchase.
This is great for sellers with products in the Beauty, Health and Personal Care, Baby products, Grocery and Gourmet, Jewelry and Watches, and Furniture categories.
What should you take away from this?
Amazon is always looking for ways to make the FBA seller program as effective, efficient, and cheap as possible for their sellers. This is such a great win for you!
This change in FBA seller fees is great news for sellers, because you can save a few dollars with the reduced fees. Also, it proves that partnering with a powerhouse company, Amazon is always seeking to increase the value in their services. And because of that, selling on Amazon and with the FBA program will even more attractive to new sellers in hopes of expanding their Amazon marketplace and customer base.
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For a complete explanation and breakdown of Amazon’s FBA seller fees in all product categories, CLICK HERE.