Placement Fee Questions - Raise Prices and Pay it?
Just wondering if anyone has messed with the new FBA inbound and was able to figure out anything.
We changed the FBA Inbound Settings to Amazon-optimized shipment splits but the option is still grayed out.
Boxes: 8, SKUs: 22, Units: 1004, Weight: 231 lb.
Total placement fees: $227.36, Total estimated shipping fees: $136.14 = $363.50
We tried with just 5 SKU and 5 boxes. Everything leads back to we have no choice but to pay the Placement fee.
Is there something I should try different, Less SKU's, More SKU's?
Are most people just going to raise their price and pay the placement fee to stay in FBA?
Placement Fee Questions - Raise Prices and Pay it?
Just wondering if anyone has messed with the new FBA inbound and was able to figure out anything.
We changed the FBA Inbound Settings to Amazon-optimized shipment splits but the option is still grayed out.
Boxes: 8, SKUs: 22, Units: 1004, Weight: 231 lb.
Total placement fees: $227.36, Total estimated shipping fees: $136.14 = $363.50
We tried with just 5 SKU and 5 boxes. Everything leads back to we have no choice but to pay the Placement fee.
Is there something I should try different, Less SKU's, More SKU's?
Are most people just going to raise their price and pay the placement fee to stay in FBA?
37 replies
Seller_tpqaa8E80LdPD
I'm having the same issue. Have you found any suggestions on how to break up the shipment?
Jameson_Amazon
Hi @Seller_uJo8XNzWYLBfo,
Thank you for reaching out on the Seller Forums!
I know you are asking for insights and suggestions from other sellers here, but I did want to quickly chime in with some additional information on the inbound placement service fee update.
Please note that to enable more efficient use of our network, we charge separately for inbound and outbound activities. As a result, we will lower our outbound fees while creating new inbound fees that you can reduce or avoid entirely based on how you inbound products to us.
Effective April 15, 2024, we will decrease FBA fulfillment fees for standard-size products by $0.20 per unit and for Large Bulky-size products by $0.61 per unit on average. April 15 is the same date that the first inbound placement services fees will begin to be charged.
If you haven't done so already, I would recommend reading through the following resources for more information on this update:
- "Update to US referral and Fulfillment by Amazon fees" news post
- "2024 FBA inbound placement service fee" help page
Please let me know if you have any questions!
All the best,
Jameson
Seller_YcxQfBfr2FGAy
You need to keep trying higher quantities until you see the option of no placement fee (which will be 4+ warehouses). For one of my products, that meant shipping 10 cases. For another it was 8 cases.
But try several combinations, because in my case of "oversize" units, it is most cost efficient to do the 10 cases to avoid the fee.
For my "standard" size products, it is more efficient to pick one of the fee options. The total cost definitely is higher than before, but just be aware that the cheapest option may not be the one with no placement fee. Depends where in the country you are located and the specific size/weight of your products. Test all of the variables that you are presented with, including changing the qty you plan to ship in.
Seller_ugu6pupksAYiY
Hi, personally our store has decided to raise prices to make up for the new inbound fees and to avoid potential low stock inventory fees coming in April. I would rather lose a few sales than lose money selling product...
To answer your second question, Emerald_City_Fabrics stated it best:
"The key does seem to be enough skus evenly split over multiple boxes." I've found having at least 5 boxes gives me the no inbound fee but EVERY SINGLE SKU MUST BE EVENLY DISTRIBUTED BETWEEN THOSE 5 BOXES. Nothing more or less or you'll get partial / 1 shipment warehouse. I have personally found this option to be the most head ache / stressful situation for us. We are sticking to partial splits of 3 boxes / 3 skus evenly distributed.
Experiment with the above scenario too. I found that doing so I was only saving about $10-15 doing 5 shipments vs 3 shipments because of the warehouses we were being shipped to.
Seller_9Uf78DYSZ2lcW
If you can create a separate shipment for each SKU and pack up at least 4 equal boxes, that is most likely to give you all three options of how to ship it in.
Now if that is going to be cost effective for you will depend on many things.
If you have something that you normally ship in as a case pack, then instead of just shipping in one case several times over a couple weeks, create a single shipping plan with 4 of those cases and then you can probably arrange to send those cases over the same 2 week period. It will likely cost a little more since they are going to make you ship at least 3 of those cases further than you probably normally did before March 1 but it is likely to be the best option.
However, if you are creating shipments with multiple sku, what others have said, you have to make sure all boxes are identical AND all items being shipped are of the same size class and that nothing requires special handling etc.
There is probably no way around it, with the extra fees, prices are gonna go up. I would start now nudging prices up a little at a time to help cover the increased placement and inbound shipping and low inventory fees. The FBA fulfillment fee reduction doesn't look like it's gonna cover the increases from the other fees seeing as my inbound charges went from being $0.25 per item to being as much as $1.33 per item and even if I manage to ship 4 full cases on a shipping plan it still only brought it down to $0.36 per item but I could only do that at the very start of my busy season, I don't dare do it half way through the season or I will wind up paying too much for storage through the off season.
Seller_Rn2Wp18w9HiyF
In my testing the best way to get reduced placement fees is to ship in multiple boxes of high sales items. If you have low demand items maybe try putting them all in the same box instead of splitting them up (if that doesn't work) or even putting them in a separate shipment.
Seller_AZumeM3ttoMFP
Is it just me, or did amazon jump the gun on the placement fees?
"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."
...FEES WILL APPLY STARTING APRIL 15, 2024, THE SAME DATE THAT THE FIRST INBOUND PLACEMENT FEES WILL BEGIN TO BE CHARGED."
Maybe I have a different calendar, but it is not April 15th on mine.
Just sayin'.
Seller_0EBsyUMvixIPH
Get off Amazon. Focus on Shopify. It's time.
Seller_52pUzzgnsLDGs
if you decide to keep selling through FBA instead of shipping yourself, don't forget on April 1 the low inventory fees will be kicking in too.
Seller_a1uEWiswwVpNl
We have just avoided placement fees by increasing the units that were shipped. For us it doesn't matter on where we ship it to, the price is pretty much the same for all regions.
Just read another thread, that some1 placed items in different boxes and the split option came up, so experiment with changing boxes and quantities.
