Starting today, Amazon has adjusted multiple charges!

Amazon will adjust a number of logistics and warehousing fees in April. Among them, low inventory fees will be charged today, and the warehousing utilization surcharge and the off-season monthly warehousing fees for standard-sized products will also be adjusted today; in mid-April, FBA delivery fees will be reduced, which is one of the few good news.

The myriad of charges make sellers smile bitterly: "Now you have to pay a configuration fee for shipping, a storage fee for storing in the warehouse, a long-term storage fee if you sell slowly, a low inventory fee if you sell quickly, advertising fees if you want to sell, and abandonment fees if you don't sell." Amazon's fees are getting higher and higher.

Marketplace Pulse's research shows that the fees sellers pay to Amazon account for an increasing proportion of their sales every year. Last year, platform fees for private label sellers accounted for 50%-60% of their sales. This year, after Amazon added warehouse configuration fees and low inventory fees, sellers will have to pay more.

Amazon adjusts multiple fees starting today

Amazon has changed a number of logistics costs this year. After the warehousing configuration fee came into effect in March, logistics costs changed more frequently in April, making it another key month for sellers.

Low inventory level fee

Starting today, April 1, Amazon will begin charging a low inventory level fee for standard-size items whose inventory levels fall below customer demand.

This fee is charged for each item shipped, ranging from $0.32-$0.89 for a small standard-size item, $0.36-$0.97 for a large standard-size item, and $0.47-$1.11 for a large standard-size item weighing 3 to 20 pounds.

There is a certain threshold for the low inventory fee. Amazon will charge it when the inventory level of the product is less than 28 days relative to historical demand, and the fee will be charged only when the long-term historical supply days (past 90 days) and the short-term historical supply days (past 30 days) are both less than 28 days (4 weeks). For example, if the short-term historical supply days of the product are more than 28 days, but the long-term historical supply days are less than 28 days, the low inventory level fee will not be charged.

It should be noted that Amazon calculates the historical supply days indicator for the parent product and adds the low inventory fee to the FBA delivery fee of all qualified delivered products , taking the larger value of the long-term historical supply days and the short-term historical supply days to determine the cost segment.

For example, for a large standard size shipping weight of 4 to 8 ounces , the long-term historical supply days is 18 and the short -term historical supply days is 24. The historical supply days will take the larger value of 24 , and the total fulfillment fee for the product will be $ 4.08 per item (standard fee) + $0.36 per item ( low inventory level fee ), for a total of $4.44 per item .

Seasonal products should pay special attention to this fee. Amazon gave the example of a winter boot, which has the highest sales in December and January, and then gradually declines in February and March. If the performance of the product in the past 90 days is considered, the historical supply days of the product before and during the holiday season months are more than 28 days; in mid-February, due to low inventory levels, the historical supply days of the product will be less than 28 days. The seller sells 730 items per year, of which 44 items incur low inventory level fees, and the estimated fees total $20.26.

Monthly storage fees slightly reduced

Starting April 1, during the off-season (January to September), the monthly storage fee for standard-sized items will be reduced by $0.09 per cubic foot, which will be reflected in the April storage fee collected in May. At the same time, the monthly storage fee for large or oversized (formerly known as oversized) items during the off-season and the monthly storage fee for standard-sized items, large oversized items, and oversized items during the peak season remain unchanged.

Warehouse utilization surcharge scope expanded

Starting from April 1, Amazon began to introduce a more detailed fee segmentation for the storage utilization surcharge, and began to charge this fee to professional sellers with storage utilization rates exceeding 22 weeks. In other words, sellers using professional accounts and with storage utilization rates exceeding 22 weeks are required to pay the storage utilization surcharge, and inventory with an age between 0 and 30 days does not need to pay the surcharge.

Slight reduction in delivery fees

Starting April 15, Amazon's logistics delivery fees for standard-sized and large-sized products will be reduced. Compared with before and after the fee adjustment, the average cost of standard-sized products will be reduced by $0.20 per piece, and the average cost of non-standard-sized products will be reduced by $0.61 per piece.

Amazon has previously added segmented ranges. If sellers want to reduce costs more, they can spend more time optimizing product packaging to reduce costs.

Although sellers joke that Amazon's fees increase sharply when they rise and decrease slightly when they fall, the reduction in delivery fees is already good news when a series of new fees take effect, the original fees are increased or the scope of charges is expanded, and it can also give sellers a little respite.

Platform fees continue to rise, sellers lower their performance targets

According to Marketplace Pulse, the fees sellers pay as a percentage of their sales have increased year by year. Last year, Amazon charged a typical private label seller 50 % -60% of its sales in commissions, delivery fees, storage fees, advertising fees, and other fees.

(Amazon’s share of sellers’ revenue)

With the addition of warehouse configuration fees and low inventory fees this year, sellers will have to pay more because, in reality, most sellers cannot manage their supply chains as perfectly as Amazon can in theory, but they also cannot always raise prices to maintain profit margins.

Amazon has a huge share of the US market, and most sellers on the platform are born and developed to sell on Amazon, which makes it difficult for them to diversify their channels. Sellers must pay advertising fees because everyone else does it; they must also use FBA because "Prime" requires it, and they must do these, so they must also adapt to all the fees and requirements that come with it.

Sellers have no leverage or bargaining power to protest Amazon's changes. Moira Weigel , an assistant professor at Northeastern University , said: "Amazon sellers are similar to temporary workers and franchisees. They bear the risks and responsibilities that come with entrepreneurship, while giving up most of the freedom that entrepreneurship has historically provided."

This year’s fee increase isn’t over yet. Starting June 1, Amazon will expand the scope of return processing fees to include high-return rate products in all categories (except clothing and footwear) . For products shipped in a given month, the platform will charge a fee for each returned product that exceeds the return rate threshold. The specific standards have not yet been announced.

With the addition of new costs and the increase in inherent costs, since 2024, many Amazon sellers have clearly felt rising costs and declining profits, and have quietly lowered their full-year performance targets.