FBA delivery policy tightened again! Storage limit will be limited in July

Today, Amazon Europe released a new storage restriction policy, saying that it has lowered the standards for shipping quantity restrictions and will adjust the threshold score for IPI storage performance in July.

The adjustment of the replenishment quantity limit has taken effect on the 16th. According to the official statement, sellers can keep an average of 2-3 months of sales inventory in the FBA warehouse. That is to say, the current delivery quantity limit is still related to the sales of the product, and products with a large number of orders will also have a larger delivery quantity.

Earlier in March, the European site was the first of several Amazon sites to relax warehousing restrictions. Many sellers directly increased the number of items that could be shipped from 200 to 750 or even 1,000 pieces.

Just over two months after the relaxation, the European site has tightened the delivery quantity again. Prime Day is coming at the end of June, and this tightening can be understood as reserving shipping capacity and warehouse processing capacity for the upcoming Prime Day.

This time, Amazon not only directly adjusted the shipping quantity limit, but also announced that the IPI inventory performance score threshold for the European site will be readjusted to 500 points starting from July 1. (Previously, the European site lowered the IPI threshold to 450 points at the end of December.) Sellers need to keep the IPI score above 500 in the two weeks of May 17 or June 21. If the inventory performance does not exceed the IPI threshold in these two weeks, the storage quantity will be restricted on July 1, so it is possible that the total amount exceeds the limit and an overage fee will be paid.

Sellers who successfully maintain an IPI score of 500 or higher can continue to have unlimited storage for standard and oversized items. Monthly storage fees and long-term storage fees still apply, and all sellers, regardless of their IPI score, will be subject to shipping quantity limits, which are exactly the same as the restrictions in July last year.

To sum up, the new policy of the European site contains two contents. One is to reduce the quantity that can be shipped (already effective), and the other is to lower the IPI threshold score (effective on July 1).

First, there is the limit on the number of shipments. If you are a seller who has prepared for the Member Day early, the goods for the Member Day should be on the way or in the warehouse waiting to be put on the shelves. You don’t have to worry about the shipments that have been created. The specific date of the Member Day has not yet been announced. If you need additional replenishment, you have to consider other channels to break through the shipping limit (sellers who need it can scan the code at the end of the article to chat with me privately).

Moreover, the IPI threshold score callback time is after Prime Day, which is actually quite dangerous. In order to prepare for Prime Day, sellers usually have to ensure that FBA inventory is sufficient. In addition, the time point for crawling scores is before the event, and sales are generally average. The IPI is likely to fall below the threshold, resulting in additional charges after Prime Day.

Therefore, while there is still room for maneuver, if the IPI has been hovering around 500 points, sellers who have sent a lot of inventory this time must seize the next IPI score capture period, which is the week of June 21. As long as the score is raised to 500 before this date, they can still be exempted from the total storage capacity limit.

The IPI score is determined by a combination of four indicators: the proportion of redundant inventory, the FBA sales rate, the proportion of inventory without sales information, and the Amazon logistics inventory rate. In short, maintaining good sales and saleability of products can maintain a relatively good IPI score.