Amazon has announced its latest FBA fee updates for 2021.
These changes will take effect June 1, 2021 (June 8 in Europe) and the good news is that most referral fees will not change and they are making only modest increases (about 2-3% on average) to fulfillment fees.
The fees that will change include the following:
2021 FBA fulfillment fee changes
2021 Amazon referral and program fee changes
2021 FBA returns processing fee changes
2021 FBA New Selection program changes
2021 FBA fee changes for removals, disposals, and manual processing fee
2021 FBA Small and Light fee changes
2021 Multi-Channel Fulfillment fee changes
If you are just starting your Amazon business Amazon referral fee is a fee charged by Amazon every time a product is sold and it is typically between 8% and 15% of the price the customer pays. On the other side, the Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) fee is a per-unit fee, based on the dimensions and weight of the item.
Summary of Amazon 2021 Seller Fee Changes
US Fulfillment by Amazon fees:
- Will implement moderate increases in fulfillment fees, about 2-3% on average, to reflect the changing costs of fulfillment, transportation, storage, and customer service. These increases are in line with or below industry average increases for fulfillment services.
- Are reducing the returns processing fee for customer-returned products in the Apparel and Shoes categories.
- Are eliminating the returns processing fee for customer-returned products in the Watches, Jewelry, Luggage, Handbags, and Sunglasses categories.
- Are launching FBA Liquidations, with associated fees for this service, which will allow sellers the opportunity to recover value from their overstock and returned items instead of having the inventory returned or disposed of.
- Will eliminate the packaging weight adjustment to our rate card calculation.
- Will increase removal and disposal fees to reflect the changing costs of these services.
- Are increasing the FBA manual processing fee for shipments received without box content information to reflect the increasing cost of providing this service.
Detailed info for Europe here.
US referral fees:
- Will split Appliances into Full-Size and Compact categories, and lower the fee for Full-Size Appliances to 8% while keeping the fee for the Compact category unchanged.
- Will raise the referral fee for the Personal Computers category from 6% to 8% to align with other electronic device categories.
- Will implement a supplemental 7% fee for products in the new Veterinary Diets pet food category to account for the cost of maintaining the veterinarian confirmation process. This does not apply to other pet food or supplies.
- Will implement a Renewed Program Fee for products sold within the Amazon Renewed program to account for the costs of the additional services offered to sellers.
- All other referral fees will remain the same.
What This Means For You And What Should You Do?
Good news is that not all changes negatively impact profitability. Amazon stated, “We will also reduce certain fees, like the returns processing fee, which reflects feedback we have received from sellers and our continued efforts to reduce costs.”
What you need is a good plan of action going into 2021:
- Changes are relatively small, but you need to adjust your profit margin calculations appropriately for the 4-5% fee increases.
- Do you have any items in the 12 to 16 ounce category. Now you can decrease prices (or get some extra profits)
- Remove any unfulfillable inventory before June 1, 2020
Lastly, click here to view the complete announcement from Amazon US. Dig through the changes and find specifics on how you’re impacted.
Europe marketplace changes are here.