Sellers' costs are reduced! Amazon announces a trial of new policies

Recently, many sellers have received invitation emails from Amazon regarding FBA fee reductions, inviting them to participate in the Athene regional delivery pilot project or the Apollo regional delivery pilot project.

It is reported that these are two pilot programs, both of which are invitation-based. They are named Athena and Apollo. Sellers will be considered to have successfully participated only after receiving Amazon's invitation email and performing corresponding operations.

According to sellers, some sellers have received emails from Amazon since early September, inviting them to participate in the Athena pilot program. From September 9, 2024 to November 15, 2024, they can be exempted from low inventory level fees, provided that they restrict order delivery outside designated areas.

That is, for items below the low inventory fee threshold (indicating a 28-day historical supply), out-of-region delivery will be prohibited. This can reduce the need for costly long-distance delivery, exempt these orders from low inventory level fees, and thus save FBA fees.

1. Sellers must agree to change their delivery strategy to prohibit out-of-region delivery of low-inventory items to reduce the need for costly long-distance delivery.

2. When product replenishment returns to normal, the platform will cancel the out-of-region delivery restrictions on the products.

3. Sellers can select the products they want to participate in the pilot from the list of eligible products provided by the platform.

Some sellers received an Apollo pilot program email. It is reported that sellers who received the invitation and agreed to participate in the pilot program will only use the available inventory in the same area to deliver orders to buyers from September 15, 2024 to November 15, 2024.

Apolo Pilot Program Invitation Letter

A detailed description of the Apolo pilot program is as follows:

In fact, the Athena project and the Apollo project are talking about the same thing.

The difference lies in the different products they target: the Athena plan tends to focus on low-inventory products that are about to run out of stock, while the Apollo plan tends to focus on products priced below $25.

The similarity between the two is that they both have to bear the consequences of FBA inventory being restricted by region.

Both pilot programs mention that no matter which warehousing configuration service fee option the seller chooses, the inventory the seller sends to Amazon will still be expanded in the distribution network of nine geographic regions in the United States; at the same time, if the seller has no remaining inventory in the region, it will not be able to sell in that region.

For example, if you agree to participate in the Apollo program, your FBA inventory in the Washington area may only be available to buyers within this FBA area. If buyers in California want to buy, they may not be able to purchase or have their inventory delivered.

Although the Athena and Apollo pilot programs provide sellers with logistics cost reductions and discounts, some sellers also said that they face many challenges and uncertainties during the implementation process.

Regardless of which of the new programs you are invited to participate in, Apollo or Athena, there are terms and conditions that need to be followed:

Amazon mentioned in the supplementary terms listed above that these plans are only available to sales partners who receive invitations directly from Amazon via email. In addition, sellers who receive invitations are also notified that they are not required to participate. If you do not want to participate, you can simply ignore the invitation.