Placement fees shipping pallets
This new placement fee is killing our business.
We ship in pallets 3-4 pallets a week , The shipping cost used to be between $140- $250.
We are located in Texas and we used to ship to FTW1 (Dallas) and IAH3 (Houston).
What we are not understanding is, if you are going to charge placement fees for the minimal split because you are going to distribute the products across the nation why we have to ship ship to distribution center thousands of miles away while we have distribution centers within a 20 to 100 miles away?
We choose minimal split Central and we had to ship to Indiana the cost was $733.35 to ship and $755.45 for the placement fee that is 10x what we are used to.
Why do we have to ship to a very far distribution center if you are going to charge us a placement fee to distribute the products?
Placement fees shipping pallets
This new placement fee is killing our business.
We ship in pallets 3-4 pallets a week , The shipping cost used to be between $140- $250.
We are located in Texas and we used to ship to FTW1 (Dallas) and IAH3 (Houston).
What we are not understanding is, if you are going to charge placement fees for the minimal split because you are going to distribute the products across the nation why we have to ship ship to distribution center thousands of miles away while we have distribution centers within a 20 to 100 miles away?
We choose minimal split Central and we had to ship to Indiana the cost was $733.35 to ship and $755.45 for the placement fee that is 10x what we are used to.
Why do we have to ship to a very far distribution center if you are going to charge us a placement fee to distribute the products?
3 replies
Dominic_Amazon
Hi @Seller_FH9PAcD1z3FBv,
Dominic from Amazon here, want to provide some additional info.
You are able to choose Amazon split shipments if you qualify and avoid the fee entirely.
When you create a shipping plan, you can select one of the following inventory inbound placement options:
- Minimal shipment splits: You can send your inventory to the minimal number of inbound locations, generally to a single location, and we will spread inventory across our network on your behalf, for a fee. The fee may vary by inbound location—for example, there may be higher fees for shipments sent to locations in the West versus other parts of the country.
- Partial or Amazon-optimized shipment splits: Send your inventory to multiple inbound locations yourself for a reduced or no fee. The reduced fees will depend on the number of shipments and inbound locations that you send your inventory to. For instance, if your shipping plan qualifies, you can select the inbound placement option to send your inventory to the optimal number of inbound locations recommended by Amazon, generally four or more locations, and pay no fee. If you select the placement option in which you send your inventory to a partial number of inbound locations, generally two or three, you will pay a reduced fee.
Inbound placement options will be provided when your shipments qualify. Factors that affect the number of inbound options include the following:
- Whether your shipment includes a mix of standard-size items, non-standard-size items, or special handling categories
- Whether each box contains the same mix and quantities of SKUs
- Quantities and number of boxes for each item
- Geographical demand
To maximize the number of inbound options, try the following:
- Create separate shipments for standard-size items, non-standard-size items, and each special handling category
- Ensure that the item mix and item quantities are equal across all boxes
- Increase the number of boxes
Additionally one thing to note:
- On average, we will decrease FBA fulfillment fee rates for standard-sized products by $0.20 per unit and for Large Bulky-sized products by $0.61 per unit. These fees will apply starting April 15, 2024, the same date that the first inbound placement fees will begin to be charged. Products priced below $10 will continue to have an additional $0.77 discount on per-unit fees. Go to the FBA fulfillment fee rates page for more details.
Please let me know if you have any questions.
Best,
Dominic
