FBA policies and fees updated! Will sellers get rich or go bankrupt?

Amazon sellers always have a subtle attitude towards FBA. The FBA fees are rising year by year, but sellers are thinking about making money while scolding their brother-in-law, and at the same time they have to plan how much goods to send to the FBA warehouse.

Now that the new year is coming, sellers are getting more and more nervous because according to Amazon’s practice, it is almost time to update the FBA policy. Last year, the news of the FBA fee update in February was released at the end of the year. When will it be this year?

Yes, today.

The background notification is as above. This major update not only involves FBA fees, but also involves changes in the platform commission rate. The key is this sentence in the pushed content.

In other words, FBA fees will increase but commission fees will decrease? These two are the biggest costs and are always a concern for sellers. Amazon also said at the end of the notice that it would do its best to reduce the impact of this change on sellers, and even said that it expects 40% of FBA products will not be affected.

Is it really as good as Amazon said this time, with reduced commission fees, and my brother-in-law has eaten so much meat, and finally he has mercy on everyone and gives everyone some soup?

Let’s take a look at what changes have taken place.

First, let’s take a look at the FBA logistics costs. Since Amazon itself has said that they are increasing, let’s see by how much.

It seems, as if, that the increase is not much?

Let's compare the price increase of FBA at the beginning of this year.

Compared with the data in 2018, except for separating out the commodities in the 10 to 16 ounce range, the increase is basically the same as that in 2018.

This is also within the expectations of the sellers. After all, Amazon always raises prices at this time. It is a blessing that the price did not increase much this year.

After reading about the heart-breaking price increase, let’s take a look at the good news from Amazon - a reduction in commission rates.

Let’s first look at which categories have had their commissions reduced.

After a thorough review, I found that the commission rates of several categories have been lowered.

The rest of the categories mentioned, such as shoes, bags, and clothing, have all had their commission rates raised by 2% to 3%. These categories are all red ocean categories with a large number of sellers and products. Once this ratio is mentioned, there is no need to look at other categories that have been reduced. Amazon has definitely made a profit.

My brother-in-law is quite good at using the tactic of hitting the target from a distance, but there is still good news for us small and medium-sized sellers.

This inconspicuous item is a big part of the rate reduction this time) - the minimum commission has been reduced. If the unit price of the product is relatively low, the commission is rarely lower than the minimum commission, and the commission needs to be paid according to the minimum standard.

Before this update, the minimum commission was generally between 1 and 2 US dollars, which was a very fatal fee for low-priced goods. Now the updated minimum commission standard has been uniformly adjusted to 0.3 US dollars.

The vacated part is all hard-earned money, and the profit margin has suddenly become much healthier. Now you can make money by selling at a low price. This may be one of the best news that sellers have heard now.

Why did I add one at the end of the above paragraph?

Because this update has follow-up content

——FBA storage fee policy has also been updated

This fee is not as complicated as the commission, and it can be summarized into two points.

First, update of long-term storage fees

Long-term storage fees will only apply to stranded inventory that has been stored for more than one year (previously, long-term storage fees were charged for inventory that had been stranded for half a year). At the same time, the minimum long-term storage fee will be reduced from $0.5 per item to $0.15 per item.

The update of long-term storage fees will take effect on February 15, 2019, which means that inventory stored for more than half a year will still need to pay long-term storage fees on the 15th of the next month. If it is the minimum standard, it will still be charged at $0.5 per piece.

The second update involves fewer sellers.

For dangerous goods containing flammable or pressurized aerosol substances, Amazon will charge a separate monthly storage fee. The current standards are as follows

This fee will take effect in early April 2019 when the monthly storage fee for the previous month is collected. The monthly storage fee for products in other categories remains unchanged.

This major update of FBA contains a lot of content. Whether the cost will increase or decrease for sellers depends on your own calculations.

right