Amazon Sellers Face New Fees for Shipping Their Own Products

According to an announcement from Amazon, Amazon sellers will face new fees of 2% on each sale when they ship their own products to customers instead of using the company’s own Fulfilled by Amazon service.

The New Fees Apply to Only Amazon Sellers Who Use the Seller Fulfilled Prime Program

Amazon sent a notice to sellers saying that, effective on October 1st, the company will impose a 2% fee on every product sold by merchants that are members of Amazon’s Seller Fulfilled Prime Program. Sellers will either need to pay 2% of the sale or a minimum of $0.25 per item.

The Seller Fulfilled Prime Program was launched in 2015. This program allows Amazon sellers to show a “Prime” badge on their product listings without using Amazon’s in-house fulfillment service, Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA, for short). In order to participate in the program and receive the “Prime” badge, sellers must fulfill orders with one-day and two-day delivery at no additional charge for Prime customers.

The new fee only applies to sellers who use Seller Fulfilled Prime. It won’t apply to Amazon sellers who fulfill their own products without the “Prime” badge on their products, aka sellers who choose to use Fulfilled by Merchant (FBM, for short).

Amazon Also Charges Sellers Other Fees for Selling Products on its Platform

This new 2% fee isn’t the only charge that sellers should be prepared to pay when selling products on the Amazon website. Shippers should note that Amazon also charges sellers what they call “a referral fee” for selling products on its platform. These fees can vary based on the types of products that are being sold and can range anywhere from 8% and 15% on each sale. Of course, unless sellers are keeping fulfillment in-house and taking care of it themselves, they may also have to shoulder other costs like warehouse storage, packing, and advertising fees.

What is Fulfilled by Amazon?

Fulfilled by Amazon is a service that allows Amazon sellers to use Amazon to warehouse, pack, and ship products to their customers without the sellers keeping any inventory on hand themselves. For this service, sellers pay a fee that is taken out of their profit margins when a sale is made. Fees are dependent on the type of item being sold, how large it is, how much it weighs, and whether it requires any special packaging.

To learn more about FBA, check out our post: Fulfilled by Amazon: A Guide to Understanding and Using Amazon’s FBA Service .