More details, including examples, rates, reports, and links, at the Seller Central link: FBA features, services, and fees > 2024 returns processing fee changes
h/t @Dogtamer and this post: [Fortune] Andy Jassy says Amazon has a ‘great relationship’ with sellers. Longtime sellers say it’s ‘the worst it’s ever been’ - #6 by Dogtamer
We’ve built our entire brand on telling customers to try it and return it easily - but if they do, you’re going to pay for it. 
The slow drip of these new fees has become exhausting.
It just amazes me how it is not even a consideration for Amazon to look to recover some of these costs on the buyer/customer side. It is always on the seller side.
7 years selling on Amazon and this is the first year where we will have no growth and perhaps even retract bc economics on many products just simply dont work.
“If your product ships less than 25 units in a month, any returns of units shipped during that month are exempt.”
Well, only couple of my best selling items that might sell more than 25 units/month in Nov & Dec. I guess I’m not going to be too concerned about this fee.
I’ve seen this fee as entries on transaction reports since sometime last year, all with zero values. I’ve been wondering when that’ll be a-changin. Now we know. New Fee Frenzy ©
Amazon
yes, the placement fee kills at least one of my oversize products because it adds another $2.60 to each item sold.
My button cell items are about to be dead in the water to thanks to the new laws on that.
Plus the low-inventory fee.
It’s gotten out of hand.
This returns processing fee addition is so irritating because Amazon should be dreaming up ways to REDUCE the returns rather than just letting the insanity continue and putting the costs on us for their inconsistent scammer-friendly policies.
how long until they introduce a too-few-returns fee?
My biggest issue with the whole thing is Amazon’s overall position.
We (Amazon) are offering customers a service (FBA) that we are losing money on, so you (the Seller) are now going to have to pay more to subsidize it.
Here are 2 novel ideas 
Or
2)How about Amazon stop tripping all over themselves to deliver faster (thus increasing their delivery/logistic costs). 2 days was always fair and reasonable and still beats all the competition. If we order 100 things from Amazon, lets be honest 99 of them can wait 2 days, I get next day delivery bc I can. Not bc I need it next day…
Are they losing money on FBA? Seems to me they’d be raking it in.
This last go-around of fees has me seriously thinking of pulling out of FBA altogether…already it has suddenly become unfeasible for several of my items due to the latest fees…the new placement fee added $2.30 to a $34 item overnight. I’m thinking the savings on the outrageous FBA fees could better be used on advertising.
According to others yes, is what I have been told.
This is sound business strategy though. One of the things I look at first if ordering from an unknown store/brand is their return policy. If they seem like they’re trying to avoid returns that makes me think they have a product or customer service problem that’s causing them a return problem. If you sell a good product most people won’t return it. There’s some exceptions here, but generally for ecommerce since you can’t inspect the item prior to purchasing, a hassle free returns policy is the only thing that’s giving a buyer confidence to make a purchase.
They have definitely hiked their prices for Amazon.com sold items. And the fee hikes on sellers ARE recovering costs from buyers. Some sellers will eat the cost but most will hike their prices to offset the fees. Amazon has no ability to collect additional costs from buyers. They can only collect fees from sellers and sellers set the price to the customer. They can’t charge customers a fulfillment fee, that would turn people off from buying.
Some sellers will eat the cost but most will hike their prices to offset the fees.
We have not seen this in our repsective categories. It seems most sellers have now eaten these costs and/or stopped selling certain items entirely (us included).
They can only collect fees from sellers and sellers set the price to the customer.
I also disagree with this. I think they could increase prime, again they have not raised since 2022, every other subscrition service have raised prices since then.
I also think they could reasonably charge $3.99-$5.99 depending item, to offer it next day opposed to just giving next day away. I know my household would be fine getting most thing 2 day for free and paying a nominal amount for the things we want or need next day.
I don’t think next day delivery costs Amazon any more than 2 day delivery. The reason why normal couriers charge more is because they’re oftentimes delivering from afar and it costs more to send something by air than ground. If it’s coming from a local FC, it doesn’t actually cost more to deliver it tomorrow vs holding the order for an additional day and doing the same work to pick pack and deliver.
Also, Amazon has sufficient product selection at this point, it makes a lot more sense to piss off sellers than to piss off buyers by hiking prime rates again (which btw, they kind of did, they’re charging extra for ad-free prime TV which was fully included last year). While you may be seeing sellers eat the costs in your categories for now, that likely won’t last as if you quit certain items due to costs, it’s likely that the sellers who are continuing are operating in the red after accounting for ALL costs (which a LOT of businesses do poorly)
I understand your theory but there is perceived value in receiving something next day vs 2 day. Think it would be very reasonable to charge nominally for it and that would help ofset some of these seller fees.
I know we have discussed this before and it doesnt seem we sell in the same categories/lanes but these new FBA fees are very simply retracting our Amazon business, there is no way around it.
As a buyer I’m already paying a premium price for the prime service which is supposed to be for fast delivery. Trying to upcharge more for the “even faster prime” delivery is NOT ok. You have to look at it strictly from a buyer perspective. What buyer says “I don’t mind getting nickel and dimed for additional fees so that sellers don’t have to”?
I pay a similar amount for an instacart delivery service for unlimited same day deliveries (for different/less product selection than Amazon). If they reduced their service level for prime I would just cancel it and use their standard free shipping offer which usually comes in 2 - 3 days anyway.
Again disagree, fast is 2 day, always was and still faster than everyone with the selection and reliability.
There has to be further costs associated with 1 day vs 2 days (more needed distribution locations, delivery points of access, just overall logistics have to be more).
It cant be that every associated cost will be burden to the seller. Hell inflation alone is up nearly 10% since last prime increase, why has none of that been passed directly to the consumer.
Again not making it up, our revenue and margins are down and I think if a poll was taken, we are in the majority.
Fast WAS 2 day. They spent a lot of marketing dollars gloating about how they do X% of deliveries in 1 day or same day now. To turn around and charge extra for that? Bad move.
As far as fee increases go, it’s always better to push that onto the seller. If any % of buyers leave, that impacts their GMV negatively. If a small % of sellers leave, it doesn’t impact anything. Plus raising the cost of prime is a direct, noticeable increase. Raising the cost on sellers causes prices to slowly drift upwards either from sellers hiking prices, or less competition because some sellers exit the market. As far as Amazon doing what’s in their own best interests (which is what you EXPECT them to do), they pretty much got it right…
Why can’t we just call these fee changes what they are.
I am so sick of this.
Fast WAS 2 day. Exactly! Who is/was doing it any faster?
They chose to “out do themselves again,” “fixing something that wasnt broken” like they always do and once they realized it wasnt financially feasible to continue like this… they said “wait a min” we can now just charge sellers to spread their inventory out, which allows Amazon for a greater 1 day coverage…
so we can run ad campaigns and press releases about how much 1 day coverage we have, which no one realstically as a consumer expects anyway.
The point I feel you are missing is, eventually it all comes around to seriously hurt sellers, maybe this round of fees doesnt do it, maybe the next round doesnt either but eventually it will.
I know sellers who were put out of biz by the end of small and light, and some by the SFP changes and this round will strangle the next batch. If you have 40% margins, 35% then 30% is not so bad. But once it gets too sub 5% its a problem and eventually that will reach you to.