Amazon is giving sellers an incentive to expand their business internationally by offering a $39.99/monthly plan to reach customers in 10 countries.
Some sellers expressed pleasure at the savings. However, many sellers appeared wary of biting off more than they could chew, citing numerous challenges of international selling, including language barriers, regulations that vary by country, and fees to professional accounting consultants to advise on country-specific tax issues.
Some of the comments from sellers included:
“I already sell in the UK and Europe. It’s not the monthly fee that is a killer, it’s the complexity of starting and supporting an international business. Importing merchandise, taxes, regulations, language, etc make it much more challenging to sell overseas than in the USA.”
“… Having to stock inventory in more than one country increases the complexity many fold. If Amazon would extend US-based FBA delivery into other continents (not sure how they do that efficiently) automatically then that would be a good starting point…”
“They seem to be laboring under the misconception that the big obstacle to expanding into foreign markets is the subscription fee. As if sellers were passing up on $thousands in potential profits to save $40/month. Gives a whole new meaning to the phrase Clueless in Seattle.”
Interestingly, several sellers spoke positively about eBay’s Global Shipping Program.
The following is the letter Amazon sent sellers inviting them to participate in the new pricing program.
Dear Seller,
To help you grow your business internationally, we are offering a discounted monthly subscription fee of $39.99 (see footnote 1) that will allow you to sell in 10 countries. Register now to sell in North America, Europe, Japan and India, and we will limit your total monthly subscription fee for all your accounts to $39.99, a discount of up to $89.00 per month (see footnote 2).
Follow two easy steps to take advantage of this offer:
- Register an account to sell in a new region. If you are already registered in multiple regions, go to step 2.
- Link all of your accounts.
Your fee discount will be automatically applied to your account starting in your next billing cycle (you will pay the full fee in each region for the first month). You can view your fee discount in the transaction details section of your Payments report.
Go to this help page to learn more and get started. Thank you for selling on Amazon.
Regards,
Amazon Services
Footnote 1: Estimate based on prevailing exchange rates on May 15, 2019.
Footnote 2: Referral fees, FBA fees, Closing fees, and other fees will still apply.
When I got my letter, I wanted to laugh at this point, conveniently hidden in the ‘fine print’
“you will pay the full fee in each region for the first month”
How many sellers will sign up and then not notice that little phrase and end up wondering why they have such a big bill that first month? Seems an odd way to do things.
I laughed too when I got the letter. I’m still trying to sort out my Amazon.ca nightmare from a year ago. I didn’t get enough sales to offset a bad review. Not going to be diving into the murky Amazon Europe marketplace anytime soon.