The New Amazon FBA Fees

Continuing the annual practice of recalibrating the fulfillment by Amazon fees, the Seattle, Washington-based e-commerce giant is implementing a new FBA fees structure in the United States starting later this month.

FBA, which stands for Fulfilment By Amazon, is a service Amazon provides to merchants that want to store their products at an Amazon warehouse but have their orders fulfilled by Amazon. By merchants using the Amazon network, it ensures smooth and timely delivery of goods and excellent customer service, thus making a product “Prime”. Simply put, FBA operates like this: You sell a product, then Amazon ships it for you in exchange for a cut.

The re-adjusted Amazon FBA fees for 2018 will come into effect on Feb 22nd and incorporates two key changes.

FBA Fees

The first key change is the readjusted Amazon fulfillment fee, applicable to most product size tiers and weights. The company also stated that the changes will remain in effect throughout the year, meaning it has abandoned the strategy of introducing separate pricing for Q4 that runs from Oct through Dec.

The other change is in the way Amazon calculates the dimensional weight of a product.

“We are adjusting the way we calculate dimensional weight to align with current industry standards. Currently, dimensional weight is calculated as the unit volume (based on length x width x height in inches) divided by 166. Effective February 22, 2018, we will calculate dimensional weight as the unit volume (based on length x width x height in inches) divided by 139 (instead of 166),” the company stated in an earlier announcement.

It also clarified that the changes in the measurement technique of dimensional weight will affect only “large standard-size items weighing more than 1 lb. and all small, medium, and large oversize items.”

Amazon Fee Calculator

Merchants can calculate the new Amazon FBA fees by using the official Amazon fee calculator. You can check the details of the changes here.

In the screenshot above, you can now compare the old fees to the new fees in the Amazon fee calculator. This is helpful when trying to determine the increase you, the merchant, will be seeing. On a personal note, I utilize the fba calc almost everyday as an FBA seller. I have found that it is very accurate, if you enter the proper ASIN at the beginning of your calculations.

It is worth noting that the rates for the Inventory Placement Service and Multi-Channel Fulfillment program won’t be directly affected by these changes.

But having stated that, because the way dimensional weight is calculated for both Inventory Placement Service and Multi-Channel Fulfillment, subscribers of these services should be prepared for some recalibration of the final price.

Also, the new Amazon FBA fees will be applicable to all those orders placed prior to Feb 22, but shipped on or after the changes come into effect.