Starting next week, Amazon's shipping costs will increase significantly!

Among the many Amazon logistics fees that have changed this year, the most worrying one is the new inbound configuration service fee. Starting March 1 (next Friday), this fee will take effect. Sellers can now see the estimated cost of the inbound configuration option when creating a shipment.

Specifically, the configuration fee for shipments to the West Coast warehouse is more expensive than that to the Central and East Coast warehouses. The fees for shipments to 1 warehouse, 2-3 warehouses, and 4 or more warehouses decrease in turn. If you want to concentrate the shipments in one warehouse, the cost of standard items is up to $0.68 per item, which is a large number. If sellers want to avoid costs by "building warehouse A and sending to warehouse B" or deleting some shipments, Amazon will charge fees based on the actual receipt situation, which may be higher than the estimated cost when building the shipment, and sellers will have to pay additional warehousing defect fees.

The warehouse configuration fee is activated, with a maximum of $0.68 per item for standard size products

When Amazon announced that it would add a warehouse configuration fee , the industry booed. As the launch date of the warehouse configuration fee approaches, starting from February 9, Amazon's logistics revenue calculator has included the warehouse configuration service fee and announced detailed charging standards for goods of different sizes shipped to different regions and different warehouse numbers in the United States.

One seller did some calculations: Although the FBA and warehousing fees were partially reduced, for the company's overall market, this part increased profits by about 1.2%, but the warehousing configuration fee directly caused a profit loss of about 3%, which was a heavy blow. This is the common situation of most sellers.

With the entry configuration fee taking effect, when sellers create a shipping plan, the shipping configuration options they can choose from include minimum shipment split, partial shipment split, and Amazon optimized shipment split.

With minimum shipment split, sellers can send inventory to the least number of warehousing locations ( usually one location ) , but a certain fee will be charged; partial or Amazon optimized shipment split is to send inventory to multiple warehouses to reduce or waive fees. If the inventory is sent to the optimal warehousing location recommended by the platform ( usually 4 or more ), no fees are required; if the inventory is sent to some warehousing locations ( usually 2 or 3 ), the seller pays a lower fee.

When creating a shipment, sellers can see the estimated fees for different shipping configuration options. What is the shipping configuration fee for each item? Amazon draws the line based on product size, weight, and the number of split warehouses.

(Standard size item fee)

For standard sizes, the cost of sending a small item to one location is between $0.21 and $0.3, the cost of sending to 2 or 3 locations is between $0.12 and $0.21, and there is no charge for sending to 4 or more locations; the cost of sending a large item to one location is between $0.23 and $0.68, the cost of sending to 2 or 3 locations is between $0.13 and $0.48, and there is no charge for sending to 4 or more locations.

(Large oversized item fee)

For large and bulky items, the cost of sending a single item to one location is $2.16 to $6 according to the minimum shipment. The cost of sending to 2 or 3 locations is $0.55 to $3.32. Similarly, there is no charge for sending to more than 4 locations.

That is to say, if you want to assign shipments to the same warehouse, you need to pay a fee for each product, starting at $0.21. Some sellers compared their products and found that they were charged $0.34 per item, saying that the platform was "a bit shady."

When calculating the configuration fee for a shipment, Amazon considers the product size, shipping weight, and warehouse location. Now, when creating a shipment, sellers can select different warehouse configuration options and warehouse locations (West, East, or Central) to estimate the cost per item for a single SKU or batch of SKUs.

For example, if 100 large standard-size items weighing no more than 12 ounces are shipped to one inbound location in the Western region with the minimum shipment split option, the rate for each item is $ 0.34 , for a total of $34. If the same shipment is shipped to two locations in the Western region with the partial shipment split option , the rate for each item is $0.24, for a total of $24.

Shipments are sent to the wrong warehouse or deleted, or higher configuration fees are charged

Sellers are dissatisfied with this sudden extra fee, so is it possible to avoid it, such as building a warehouse in the east of the US and shipping from a warehouse in the west of the US, or deleting some shipments?

Amazon states that if a shipment is sent to a different location than the shipping plan (a shipment sent on a wrong route) or is not delivered to the fulfillment center within the time frame specified in the shipping policy (a shipment that was removed or abandoned), a shipping service fee will be charged based on the actual shipment received and the shipping location, which may be higher than the estimated fee when the shipment was created.

For example, if a seller chooses to split a partial shipment and sends two shipments to two locations, but only one of the shipments is actually sent, Amazon will charge a higher minimum shipment split rate for the received items, which is the standard charge for sending to one warehouse. At the same time, the seller must also pay a warehousing defect fee for the abandoned shipment.

Still taking the large standard size (no more than 12 ounces) as an example, if you choose to send 100 pieces of goods to a warehouse in the Eastern US when opening a warehouse, the rate per piece is $0.23 according to the Eastern US standard. The estimated cost when creating the shipment is 100 items x $0.23, a total of $23. If the shipment is sent to the wrong warehouse in the Western US, the fee will be generated based on the actual receiving location of the shipment, which is $0.34 per piece, a total of $34.

If you choose to split some shipments when creating a shipment and send the shipment to two warehouses in the western United States, the cost per shipment is $0.24, and the total estimated cost is $24. However, in fact, the second shipment is received 40 days after the first shipment, which results in an "abandoned shipment entry defect" and does not meet the requirements. Amazon will charge both received shipments at the lowest shipment split rate (sending to one warehouse), with a single-item fee of $0.34 and a total fee of $34.

In addition, if the seller creates a shipping plan that includes standard-sized products, non-standard-sized products (such as large bulky products), or special handling categories, Amazon may ship the inventory to multiple shipping locations, and each shipment will still be charged the minimum shipment split rate, even if the minimum shipment split option is selected. In other words, even if multiple warehouses are shipped, the standard fee for shipping to one warehouse is still applied.

To avoid this, sellers can create separate shipping plans for standard-size products, non-standard-size products, and products in certain categories (apparel, jewelry, shoes, watches, dangerous goods).

Before the platform charges, sellers can view the estimated warehousing configuration fee on the shipment overview page. Amazon charges 45 days after the warehouse receives the shipment. The actual fee can be viewed in "Payment Control Panel → Transaction Overview → Transaction Type → Service Fees → Update".

If you want to reduce the placement fee, sellers must accept shipping to multiple warehouses or to areas outside the West Coast of the United States, where the delivery fee will be lower. Sellers can also consider using Amazon's warehousing and distribution services without paying the placement fee.

Some sellers said that since they will be charged for choosing the inbound configuration service, they will just not choose it. But is there any other choice? Amazon has made it clear that the inventory configuration service will end on February 29, 2024. Starting from March 1, during the shipment creation period, sellers can use the Amazon Logistics Inbound Configuration Service and select the preferred inbound configuration option.