[AMZ] Amazon Re-opening SFP - Program Rule Changes

Selling on Amazon Amazon Announcements
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Just got this email from Amazon. Not only does AZ collect Prime subscription fees from buyers, now SFP sellers have to pay a 2% fee as well. SFP sellers still do not receive any Prime revenue compensation for offering Prime shipping:

Hello,

We are excited to announce that on October 1, 2023, we will reopen enrollment to Seller Fulfilled Prime (SFP) for qualified sellers who successfully complete the SFP trial. To ensure that customers have a great and consistent Prime experience, we will also make program changes so that the speed and reliability of SFP shipments are similar to other Prime shipments.

As an existing SFP seller, your program eligibility will continue without the need for the trial if you meet all updated eligibility requirements that will take effect on October 1, 2023.

Here is a summary of the updated requirements:

  1. Delivery requirements: The on-time shipment (OTS) requirement will be removed and replaced with minimum thresholds for on-time delivery (OTD) and valid tracking rate (VTR). The OTD threshold will be refreshed quarterly. For more information on OTD and the recent updates to the SFP performance dashboard, which now provides further analysis, tools, and support for you to drive operational improvements, go to ā€œOn-Time Delivery Updates for Seller Fulfilled Primeā€ (Ų£Ł…Ų§Ų²ŁˆŁ†).

  2. Buy Shipping usage is now optional: You may use any Amazon-integrated carrier. Amazonā€™s Buy Shipping services will continue to be available and provide valuable benefits such as discounted shipping suggestions with valid tracking to help you meet the customer promise, but will no longer be required. For more information, go to ā€œWhat are the benefits of using Buy Shipping for SFP sellers?ā€ (Ų£Ł…Ų§Ų²ŁˆŁ†)

  3. Delivery coverage and speed requirements: There will be three size tiers: standard-size, oversize, and extra large. The weight and dimensions that define oversize items will be updated to reflect items larger than standard-size but smaller than extra large. All offers must provide nationwide delivery within the contiguous United States. The delivery speed calculation will be updated to incorporate all Prime customer page views in the contiguous US, in addition to Prime customer page views in your defined one-day and two-day delivery regions. Speed thresholds will be refreshed quarterly for each of the size tiers. For more information, go to ā€œDelivery speedā€ (Ų£Ł…Ų§Ų²ŁˆŁ†).

  4. Free Returns for all reasons: The free returns requirement will be updated to follow the Amazon-fulfilled Free Returns policy so that return-eligible items weighing under 50 lb will be eligible for free returns for all seller- and customer-related reasons. For more information on Amazonā€™s policy, go to ā€œFree Returnsā€ (https://www.amazon.com/b?ie=UTF8&node=18726306011).

  5. Program fee: For every SFP item sold, there will be a fee of 2% of the total price with a minimum of $0.25 per SFP item sold. For more information, go to ā€œProgram feeā€ (Ų£Ł…Ų§Ų²ŁˆŁ†).

We recommend that you go to ā€œUpcoming Changes to Seller Fulfilled Primeā€ (https://sellercentral.amazon.com/help/hub/reference/external/GXCRLXHNJNPE2DHM) to understand these changes in detail, and adjust your operations as needed before they go into effect on October 1, 2023.

We look forward to the improved customer experience that these changes will bring.

The Seller Fulfilled Prime Team

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The Prime membership is a joke and has been for a few years. They need to revamp that. The membership fee is ridiculous, the fact that most of the time your promised fast delivery is late or lost.

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We got out just in time. Free returns for everyone, no thanks. More feeā€™s, no thanks. Offering SFP on any of our products price us out of the competition. Iā€™d rather go back to FBA than offer anymore SFPā€¦but thatā€™s definitely not going to happen.

Ohā€¦and anyone else ever get a replacement order for an SFP? Nothing like having to pay next day air costs for replacement orders. Ridiculous.

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Agreed. I was pleased to be the first to upvote your reply noting that in the Headline-accompanying discussion (link, NSFE) for todayā€™s News Headline ā€œNew Seller Enrollment for Seller Fulfilled Prime Will Reopen on October 1, 2023ā€ (link, Seller Central, ā€œrefā€-version URL).

Thereā€™s a reason why I archived the full text of the Headline-accompanying discussion (link, NSFE) for the original shot across our bows on the SFP relaunch, the 13Jun2023 News Headline ā€œSeller Fulfilled Prime will reopen new enrollment in 2023ā€ (link, Seller Central, ā€œidā€-version URL).

Thsnks to the mentoring of the seasoned & savvy forum vets (oh, how I miss @Bad_Brittnieā€™s contributions), we enjoyed a good deal of success with SFP back in the day.

The COVID-19 Crisis scare-inspired changes put paid on our utilization of the program, as it did for many another member of our Seller Community.

Amazon has been scrambling to regain former participation levels ever since, but the egregiously self-serving agenda of Seattleā€™s TPTB seems to pretty much deflate the balloon afore it makes it aloft.

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Not only does AZ collect Prime subscription fees from buyers, now SFP sellers have to pay a 2% fee as well. SFP sellers still do not receive any Prime revenue compensation for offering Prime shipping

I havenā€™t taken the time to read the official link, butā€¦

I actually like the sounds of this. :astonished: Did I really just say that??

The 2% fee says to me that Prime members will have to start getting used to higher prices. I think thatā€™s a good thing. 2% is not a big deal, and since itā€™s the customers who will pay it, I donā€™t mind it. You can also view it as a minor expense (if you donā€™t pass it on to the buyer) in exchange for the increased exposure to the Buy Box if youā€™re competing against non-Prime sellers. Think of it like a Buy Box fee. How many of us wouldnā€™t pay an extra 2% to be sure we got in the BB?

Here are the things that jumped out at me -

  • Buy Shipping usage is now optional Are you freaking kidding me? They finally listened to me! Someone from Amazon needs to cut me a check for consulting fees. :laughing: This is HUGE.
  • The on-time shipment (OTS) requirement will be removed. I think theyā€™re confused. OTS hasnā€™t been a thing for SFP orders in a while. Even if you shipped late, as long as you delivered on time, it was counted as shipped on time.
  • All offers must provide nationwide delivery (not nationwide 2-day delivery anymore? Woo hoo! :partying_face:) within the contiguous United States. The delivery speed calculation will be updated to incorporate all Prime customer page views in the contiguous US, in addition to Prime customer page views in your defined one-day and two-day delivery regions.

Iā€™m not sure if Iā€™m understanding that right, but if theyā€™re giving us ā€˜defined one and two day delivery regionsā€™ back, itā€™s time for a party!

Free Returns for all reasons

Hasnā€™t this always basically been a part of SFP? Part of the terms said you had to give Amazon the power to give your money away at their whim, so if they wanted to make you pay for return shipping, they always could. :thinking:

I donā€™t know that Iā€™d want to go back, but at first glance this doesnā€™t sound as bad as some of you might think.

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We still qualify, and do not need to apply, only since we turned it off in time.

This statement got me. Yes we could raise prices and pass it onto the customer like @roxy was talking about. However, for the privilegesā€™ of shipping same day, everyday, Saturday and Sunday, and using more expensive shipping optionsā€¦ They want us to pay another fee!!?

You Amazon are going to charge me to work the evening and weekends? Delivery on Saturday and Sunday required.

We loved the thrill of SFP, and will keep watching. For now we pay enough fees, and ship faster, and deliver faster than FBA orders do. I know this since we are 60-30% FBA/FBM

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Yes, we had one delivery that arrived due to the USPS a day late. Amazon promptly issued a refund before midnight the day it was due to arrive.

Rare but I remember this one. All I could think is the customer joyful that they got free stuff.

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I suspect that is highly dependent on where you live.

My small condo complex gets 2 -3 separate Amazon deliveries a day, and mine are all on-time, and my neighbors are not disappointed either.

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It is a revenue generation scheme.

With the requirement for nationwide coverage, the marginal sellers who were SFP in a single shipping zone will be gone. Those with carrier contracts better than what Amazon shipping provides as rates will play the game. And it will probably be used by many of the sellers who are paying for advertising.

How it will affect sellers who thinkā€™s decisions on FBA vs SFP remains to be seen, but it might push some to FBA.

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Iā€™m not going to pay a 2% fee to delight Amazonā€™s customers with Prime shipping, and open myself up to all returns. Most of my products are custom-made, and I have found Prime buyers to be the biggest abusers of returns. They donā€™t read product measurements, descriptions, and instructions, and are more likely to return than non-Prime customers.

Recently Amazon started blocking automatic returns (customer faulted) on custom products and it has cut these nonsense returns by half.

My FedEx One Rate makes Prime possible in terms of shipping cost (except to PO Boxes). But Iā€™d have to create new listings for Prime-only with higher pricing. It isnā€™t worth the trouble, time, return costs, etc.

I am still Prime-Eligible but I donā€™t, and wonā€™t, use it.

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We would consider it except for the ship on Sunday.

We were quite successful the first time with @Bad_Brittnieā€™s help.

However, I am not working 7 dayā€™s a week. Six are enough. I have to have one day to some work around and see the animals. Plus, we donā€™t have a carrier that offers Sunday pickup. When I enquired before, I was told I could drive packages to Buffalo. No thanks.

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We would consider it except for the ship on Sunday.

You donā€™t have to ship on Sunday, do you? I didnā€™t read the details of the change, but itā€™s always been that you must ship on either Saturday or Sunday. Iā€™d guess 99% of us donā€™t have carriers that pick-up on Sundays, so Iā€™d be shocked if they made that a requirement.

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Originally, the proposed changes to SFP required Saturday shipping, but they ran into objections from Jewish sellers and changed it the Saturday or Sunday shipping when it was implemented. As far as I am aware, there was never a consideration to require Sunday shipping.

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We Received thisā€¦

Dear Seller,
We are excited to inform you that we are re-opening the Seller Fulfilled Prime program on October 1 2023, and you qualify to enroll in it.
With Seller Fulfilled Prime you can offer your products to our wide network of Prime members. By offering your products as Prime listings, Prime customers will be able to easily identify your products as ones with fast, reliable delivery and high-quality customer service.
Register to learn more about it in our Seller Fulfilled Prime Info Session hosted from 09/26/2023 ā€“ 09/28/2023 at 12:30 - 1:30 PM PST.

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Dear Seller,
We are excited to inform you that we are re-opening the Seller Fulfilled Prime program we are implementing new ways to screw you over and keep more of your money for ourselves on October 1 2023, and you qualify to enroll in be screwed over by it.

With Seller Fulfilled Prime you can offer your products to our wide network of Prime members for free. By offering your products as Prime listings, Prime customers will be able to easily identify your products as ones with fast, reliable delivery they can get at no cost just by asking, and high-quality know that any complaint, no matter how ridiculous or obviously false, made to Amazon customer service will result in an immediate refund out of your pocket - no questions asked.

Register to learn more about it in our Seller Fulfilled Prime Info Session hosted by people who have no idea how SFP actually works from 09/26/2023 ā€“ 09/28/2023 at 12:30 - 1:30 PM PST.

If you sign up for this, please ask them for us -

  • Will nationwide 2-day delivery still be required for everyone (meaning, we can not just pick and choose specific regions to make Prime available)

Some language in their announcement suggests that ā€˜regionalā€™ Prime may be coming back, so Iā€™d very much like them to clarify this.

You can guess what I expect their answer to be. :laughing:

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I wish someone would post your corrections to the announcement in NFSE.

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Oh, ok, now I get why theyā€™re bringing ā€œmoreā€ SFP back AND why they nixed the 2% fee for it :eyes::expressionless:

For example, according to the FTC, Amazon has harmed competition by requiring sellers on its platform to purchase Amazonā€™s in-house logistics services in order to secure the best seller benefits, referred to as ā€œPrimeā€ eligibility.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/26/tech/ftc-sues-amazon-antitrust-monopoly-case/index.html

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And perhaps no coincidence that I also just received this? :thinking:

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Click for FULL TEXT
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If ya wanna reel `em in hook, line and sinker, ya gotta first cast the bait.

Experienced anglers will generally return again and again to a favored fishing holeā€¦