Amazon is raising fees for sellers who use the company’s services to fulfill off-Amazon orders known as Multi-Channel Fulfillment (MCF). The company said the fees will go into effect on May 9 “to ensure that MCF fees are competitive with other third-party logistics providers.”
On August 1, Amazon will also add surcharge fees to MCF orders going to customers in Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, and Alaska. A surcharge of 100% will apply to standard-size items and a surcharge of 200% will apply to oversize items.
Here are just two examples of how the rate hike will impact sellers who ship “Standard” 3-5 day shipping:
Mobile device case (Small standard-size (2 to 6 oz))
Current fee for Standard: $5.29
New fee for Standard: $5.35 (6 cents, a 1.13% increase)
T-shirt (Large standard-size (apparel, 12 to 16 oz))
Current fee for Standard: $6.20
New fee for Standard: $7.45 ($1.25, a 20.16% increase)
Stating what might be obvious to some, those who use Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) are not required to use MCF. (FBA is for orders placed by Amazon customers.)
Amazon said it had made significant improvements to its fulfillment and delivery network since the start of the pandemic. “With these improvements, we provided 97% on-time delivery and more than doubled our US fulfillment center capacity to help meet rising demand. In addition, we’ve opened more than 350 new fulfillment centers, sortation centers, regional air hubs, and delivery stations in the US.”
In Thursday’s announcement, Amazon revealed that sellers who use certain inventory management tools can enroll in unbranded packaging and will have the ability to block Amazon Logistics as a carrier.
Amazon launched those capabilities last year on a limited basis (with a 5% surcharge for blocking MCF orders from being shipped by Amazon Logistics.) As we noted at the time, eBay and Walmart prohibit sellers from using Amazon Logistics (discussion boards are full of buyers complaining about ordering something on one marketplace but receiving it Amazon packaging).
You can find a description of “Blank Box Fulfillment” and “Carrier Preference” on Amazon’s help page on Seller Central.
You can find Thursday’s full announcement about the new MCF fees on Amazon Seller Central.
