As we shop and buy our everyday goods, we have all noticed prices creeping up. Whether it’s the dollar or two more on our coffee or seeing shipping fees return to order summaries, we’re all feeling the effects of our increasingly costly supply chain.
However, Amazon is now about to implement a new surcharge to pass the cost of increasing fuel prices and inflation on to the FBA Seller.
Effective April 28th, a 5% fuel and inflation surcharge will be applied to FBA fulfillment fees. This surcharge will be calculated based on the unit weight or dimensional weight (whichever is greater) of the item in FBA. The fuel and inflation surcharge fee will differ depending on the category that products are classified as – apparel or non-apparel and dangerous goods. Please find the appropriate table for your products and evaluate the costs for your catalog.
Core FBA fulfillment fee changes (excluding apparel)
The adjusted core FBA fulfillment fees shown below will take effect on April 28, 2022. The greater unit weight or dimensional weight will be used to calculate the shipping weight for all large standard-size and oversize units, except for special oversize. View the “calculate the shipping weight” section further down this page for more information.
FBA fulfillment fee changes for apparel
On April 28, 2022, we will implement the following fee changes for apparel items in the Clothing & Accessories category. The greater unit weight or dimensional weight will be used to calculate the shipping weight for all standard-size units more than 0.75 lb and oversize units, except for special oversize. View the “calculate the shipping weight” section further down this page for more information.
Fulfillment fee changes for dangerous goods
FBA has separate fulfillment fees for dangerous goods (also known as hazardous materials or hazmat) that require special handling and storage. Go to FBA Dangerous Goods program and Dangerous goods identification guide for more information.
The following fulfillment fee adjustments for items sold through the FBA Dangerous Goods program will take effect on April 28, 2022.
So with this new fee being implemented on April 28th, all orders that are placed on that date and after that are Fulfilled by Amazon will be subject to this surcharge. If you are unsure of what size tier your products fall into, use this table to evaluate the size tier.
Calculate the shipping weight
Once you know your shipping tier, how do you calculate your shipping weight to know the new fee? From Amazon, shipping weight is determined by the unit weight or dimensional weight, depending on the size tier and which is greater. Dimensional weight is equal to the unit volume (length x width x height) divided by 139. The dimensional weight for oversize items assumes two inches’ minimum width and height.
For core FBA and dangerous goods, Amazon will use dimensional weight when it is greater than unit weight for all large standard-size units and small, medium, and large oversize units. Small standard-size units and special oversize units will use unit weight. This change will also apply to units fulfilled through Multi-Channel Fulfillment and Small and Light.
This is, unfortunately, a change with no end in sight from Amazon. So how should you handle it? Depending on your business goals and strategy, we are seeing brands implementing the following to adjust for this new fee:
- Passing the increased cost on to the end-consumer by raising the product price
- Absorbing the cost (for now) on high margin items
- Cutting FBA product selection down to only those products that can sustain the increased cost and transfer the listing to FBM
- Creating Virtual Bundles, which can increase the total order revenue and decrease the impact of the fees applied to the overall order value
- Channeling shoppers to direct website sales when possible by limiting FBA product selection
With this change, it feels as if it’s the beginning of the larger impact inflation and rising fuel costs have on consumers and then small and large businesses alike. We have all heard these changes are coming, and costs are rising, but this is one of the largest implementations to combat those costs we have seen so far from Amazon.
We will be watching this development closely and evaluating the impact on the Amazon marketplace.
