FBA delivery is too difficult! Sellers have found a way to crack it

Amazon has introduced several new charges this year: warehouse configuration fees, low inventory level fees, return processing fees, and adjustments to storage-related fees. Sellers not only have to pay rising operating costs, but also face a significant increase in operational difficulties. Currently, delivery difficulties have become a common pain point for sellers.

Every time a shipment is made, the operation needs to make multiple delivery plans, comprehensively compare the cost and timeliness, which takes a lot of time. Troubled by this, a seller, after multiple tests, summarized a packing method for Amazon's shipments in different warehouses and without charging configuration fees, which was well received . Sellers can learn from the test to alleviate the difficulties in shipment.

Sellers collectively complained that FBA delivery has become a big problem

Since Amazon implemented the warehousing configuration fee in March, many sellers still have not found a quick and suitable shipping method, and each shipment is a mental challenge.

One seller said: "After the implementation of the new FBA policy, shipping is really a headache. Not only does it take longer, but you have to constantly communicate with logistics providers. The first-leg cost in the past two months is more than 40% higher than the whole of last year." This sentiment resonated with peers. An operator said that it only took one hour to create and track shipments before, but now it is really tiring.

Nowadays, when shipping goods, sellers not only have to calculate how to save money and which channel is faster, but also have to confirm with the freight forwarder whether there is a required freight route and compare the freight forwarder's quotes; because sub-warehouses are common, operations must follow up on each shipment one by one and fill in the tracking number in the Amazon backend. Sellers can't help but sigh that if the brain is not powerful enough, they may not even be able to do the basic shipping work well.

After nearly 4 months of exploration, some sellers have found a suitable delivery method. Some sellers will directly choose to ship to three warehouses in the West Coast of the United States . Among them, a seller of small products confirmed that this is the most cost-effective delivery method after calculation. "I basically ship to three warehouses in the West Coast of the United States now, and I can't save a penny. There is no configuration fee for the five warehouses in the East Coast of the United States, but the shipping cost and timeliness are also more troublesome." said a seller.

Because the delivery methods are complicated, sellers are bound to make mistakes even if they make multiple calculations. For example, some sellers send goods through different logistics channels to balance the costs. As a result, the goods fail to enter the warehouse on time, and instead pay higher configuration fees.

"I have a batch of goods divided into five warehouses, one of which was sent by express and four were sent by ordinary ships. As a result, the time in the last four warehouses exceeded 30 days, and they were counted as deleted or discarded goods. I thought it was okay to be charged a defect fee, but I didn't expect that the warehouse that sent express delivery would charge me a warehousing configuration fee. It happened that all the goods sent by that warehouse were light and small items. I found out about this when the report was submitted last month. My heart bleeds." said a seller. Therefore, although the five warehouses did show zero charges when the goods were shipped, after the goods were signed for, the settlement view showed charges, and it was a considerable configuration fee.

Sellers are calculating carefully in order to save some shipping costs. Recently, after multiple calculations, a seller concluded that the shipping method of split warehouses and possibly waiving the configuration fee has attracted attention in the industry.

Shipping problems solved, sellers are expected to save configuration fees

In recent days, the seller @外贸小白菜 has conducted multiple tests and re-verifications, deduced some of the logic behind Amazon's warehouse division, and shared a packing method that allows Amazon to ship goods through warehouse division without charging configuration fees.

(Boxing mind map)

First, if the shipment has multiple single- sku full containers , when there is one sku and the number of containers is greater than or equal to 4, if 4 containers are reached (full containers with the same packing quantity), it can be divided into warehouses for free; starting from the 5th container, there are any number of containers and any packing quantity, and it can also be divided into warehouses for free. If there are less than 4 containers, or if 4 full containers with the same packing quantity are not reached, a configuration fee will be charged.

When there are 2-5 SKUs and the number of boxes is greater than or equal to 5, if the first 4 boxes have only 1 SKU, for example, the number of boxes of sku-A in the first 4 boxes is the same, then there are many ways to pack the 5th box and beyond, all of which can be split into warehouses and free of charge, for example:

sku-A*x pieces, full box*y boxes, separate warehouse, free of charge

sku-B*x pieces, full box*y boxes, separate warehouse, free of charge

…

sku-E*x pieces, full box*y boxes, separate warehouse, free of charge

You can arbitrarily match sku-A to sku-E, and each sku can have any packing quantity, y boxes, and can also be divided into warehouses, free of charge.

If the number of cartons is less than 5, or if it is not less than 5 but 2 SKUs are mixed in the first 4 cartons, a configuration fee will be charged.

Secondly, if the shipment has multiple mixed boxes , when there are 2-5 SKUs and the number of boxes is greater than or equal to 5, if each box contains all SKUs and the number of boxes of each SKU in each box is the same, they can be divided into warehouses free of charge; but if the number of boxes of each SKU in each box is inconsistent, a configuration fee will be charged.

In addition, when there are 2-5 SKUs and the number of boxes is greater than or equal to 5 boxes, if the first 5 boxes have 2 or more SKUs, and the number of boxes packed in each box is the same for each SKU, such as boxes 1-5 are sku-A*a pieces, sku-B*b pieces...sku-E*e pieces, then there are many ways to pack the 6th box and beyond, all of which can be divided into warehouses and free of charge, for example:

sku-A*x pieces, full box*y boxes, separate warehouse, free of charge

sku-B*x pieces, full box*y boxes, separate warehouse, free of charge

…

sku-E*x pieces, full box*y boxes, separate warehouse, free of charge

You can arbitrarily match sku-A to sku-E, and each sku can have any packing quantity, y boxes, and can also be divided into warehouses, free of charge.

The seller also made some analysis on the reasons for the failure of warehouse splitting and gave corresponding solutions:

1. The shipment quantity of one or more SKUs is too small, assuming that it is less than 4/5/8/10/12/15 (there may be one or more thresholds), or the shipment quantity ratio is too low relative to other SKUs. In this case, the seller can adjust the shipment SKU, shipment quantity, and quantity ratio between SKUs.

2. The goods in the shipment contain a variety of product attributes, such as standard-sized goods, large-sized goods, oversized goods, clothing, shoes, aerosols, flammables, etc. At this time, the seller can check whether the size of the listing is filled in correctly and create shipments according to different product attributes.

3. Insufficient storage capacity, or insufficient storage capacity for certain product attributes. In this case, the seller can expand the capacity; if the size filled in the listing is larger than the actual size measured by Amazon, it is recommended to reduce the listing size and write the outer box size of the shipment as small as possible.

4. Store performance or inventory performance is not up to standard. Sellers can consult seller support or investment manager to seek solutions.

The seller pointed out that Amazon has actually stated the factors that affect warehouse division, including the number of deliveries, the number of multi-SKU boxes and regional demand. Sellers should increase the number of warehousing options as much as possible and can consider creating large shipments with more single SKU packaging boxes in the warehousing plan.

"Amazon will tend to distribute your shipments to warehouses near the state where your product sells well. Many sellers complain that all of their shipments are distributed to the eastern U.S. You can check your specific data in the backend by following the path: Data Report - Inventory and Sales Report - Sales Volume - Show More... - Completed Order Sales - Click Download - Select Data for the Last 30 Days - Request to Download .csv File - Column M in the table is the state."

Sellers can refer to the shipping packing analysis provided by the seller for testing. If there are any deficiencies or better operation methods, you can leave a message in the comment area to jointly solve the shipping problem.