Q3 is just around the corner, and with it come a series of changes to the way Amazon sellers will be doing business in the run-up to the winter holidays and beyond. Let’s go over some of the latest announcements, shall we?
1. FBA Fee Change
Starting October 2016, Amazon will apply new storage and weight-handling fees to free up space in its fulfillment centers for items more likely to sell. New storage fees will first show up on the invoices you’ll be sent in November. To offset the increase in storage fees, Amazon will reduce weight handling fees in November and December.
Monthly fees in store for Q4:
Also, Amazon will be needing you to provide content information per individual box from November 1. It promises to have new tools in place by September 1 to help, but if it’s not possible or practical for you, then Amazon will charge $0.1 (Jan – Oct) or $0.15 (Nov- Dec) to do it for you at the fulfillment center.
2. High-Volume Listing Fee
It used to be that Amazon charged sellers a High-Volume Listing Fee for every SKU over the 2,000,000 limit which hadn’t sold at all on Amazon.com in the previous month. As of August 1, 2016, that’s going to change.
Your first 100,000 non-media ASINs listed more than a year ago that have not been sold at all on Amazon in all that time will be spared the High-Volume Listing Fee. But continuing to list anything more than that will incur a monthly High-Volume Listing Fee of $0.005 per unsold ASIN.
So, if 300,000 of your non-media ASINs will not have been sold even once in the 12 months prior to August 2016, even by a single seller, then the fee would amount to $1,000, for instance. That’s 200,000 ASINs charged $0.005 each, month after month, until they sell.
3. Handmade at Amazon
It seems like only yesterday that the ‘Handmade at Amazon’ U.S. team started sending out surveys to sellers with factory-free merchandise, trying to determine how many would be interested in joining. Well, we covered the story with a post in June 2015, and it seems only fitting that we should follow up on it a year later.
According to FT and the BBC, Handmade at Amazon launched with an army of 5,000 U.S. artisans displaying no fewer than 80,000 items in October of last year. Seven months down the line, it’s taking the world by storm and keen on recruiting craftspeople from across Europe into the Handmade at Amazon program.
For talented sellers who are willing to hand over partial control of their image – along with a hefty transaction fee – in return for Amazon’s know-how and reach, the e-tailer is waiving its £25 monthly Professional plan selling fee until December 31, 2017.
So, Artisans only pay one of two fees: either the Amazon’s referral fee of 12%, or the £0.4/€0.5 minimum referral value applicable per product (whichever is greater). Competitor Etsy imposes the following fees: 3.5% per sale, $0/month for membership, $0.2 per listing, 2.5% for deposit currency conversion, and $15 per month for running a Pattern site, along with some country-specific fees.
Being accepted in the Handmade at Amazon program entitles you to sell on all 6 of its platforms, U.S.A, U.K., Germany, France, Italy, and Spain, provided you comply with all the rules and regulations that apply to the ones you do business in. This is currently an invitation-only program, but sellers who have already been invited can urge their friends to apply here in the coming months.
Melanie takes an active interest in all things Amazon. She keeps an eye on the latest developments, and keeps Amazon sellers up to speed