FBA placement fees; the good and bad

I could have sworn there was a thread on this already, but I can’t find it, so apologies for starting a new one.
I finally sent in my first shipment of books after the new placement fee went into effect. Seems that was the only way to find out what it cost.

So not terrible, but not great, either; my price to ship a box of books went up by a little more than double. That’s still under $1/book, so still viable, but will change my calculations for what is worth sending in.
But the good news; in the past, when Amazon received a shipment, the listings would show “Deliver By” dates 4-6 weeks out; the shipment delivered on Feb 28, and received the next day, showed “Deliver By” dates on the listings in APRIL, although normally it takes less time than that for them to be showing normal delivery times.
But the latest shipment was shipped on Friday, and they started receiving it today. “Deliver By” dates are starting mostly on April 1, just 7 days out. So if that holds true, then I no longer have to worry so much about customers getting upset about shipping delays when they didn’t read the delivery estimate.

I’ll wait to see what the reduced FBA fees are; it may work out close enough that the faster placement (if that’s the new norm) will make it overall a worthwhile fee to pay.

Of course, on the flip side, the other various FBA fees have grown to the point that I’m now shipping very little to FBA; most is more profitable as FBM.

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This is probably the thread you were looking for:

Due to the nature of our business, and our ability to massage things into what we think Amazon wants, I’m cautiously optimistic that we can turn lemons into lemonade.

Haven’t created a shipment plan yet - loaded up bc we knew this was going to be a problem but we have been shipping to Walmart which has the same stupid system. We have gotten around every single placement fee and shipping to Walmart SPD is actually cheaper than LTL which sounds nuts but it’s true. They put in place a 25 cent placement fee per unit for our stuff but there are no plans to roll back their WFS (AKA FBA) fees.

We should be able to hold out until the 15th when the FBA fees are reduced before we create our next shipment plan for Amazon. At that point, we should be looking at less total costs, not more.

The only thing that can screw this up in my mind is if FBA limits come back into play. That would be a real nut-kick. Imagine a scenario where you can’t send in enough inventory to meet the 28 day min or enough to get the splits to fend off the placement fees. I could absolutely see Amazon going down this path. What a great way to suck sellers dry of their measly profit they make selling on that hell hole.

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Just as an update, as of this afternoon (might have actually happened sooner; I didn’t look yesterday), every book I shipped in is showing Available with normal Prime shipping times.
WAY faster than any shipment I’ve sent in since pre-pandemic.

Granted, I think this is what it should have been like all along, but I will cover a good bit of the extra charges just in getting stuff to move sooner after shipping it in. So still not great, but not a game changer, other than no longer sending in what were previously “marginal” books (the margin has just moved a bit).

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Just had one facility close the shipment with exactly one unit of each FNSKU missing. Given that I shipped 5 identical boxes to 5 different facilities, this is impossible. I make multiples of 5 of each item and split them as soon as they are made, so each box has exactly the same items. I count them before sealing so each box has exactly the same number of items. I position them all the same way so any discrepancies will stand out visually. They are all color coded tags, so that will also make errors stand out. Again, it is impossible.

The good part about splitting into 5 shipments is that if they hit a bad facility (LAS1), the rest of them will get some items and won’t hold up my sales.

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Ah but nothing holds true with FC experiences! I get different ones every week now with the new process, vs. my known-imperfect-but-reliable good old CLT2. Some are definitely better than others, but it’s very random week to week who I’ll get.

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curious - you make 5 multiples of each item and put in 5 boxes to 5 locations.

Are you putting 1 in each box for each sku and getting the discount rate?

On my SKUs if I put in 1 to 5 , Amazon will not give me ANY DISCOUNT.

Only at 6 pcs to 5 locations.

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You cannot split 6 units evenly into 5 boxes. You would need to split 5 units into 5 boxes (1 per box). Then, they will not charge you a placement fee. So far, that has worked for every shipment I’ve made. The boxes have to be identical, which is why I am sure I did not make a mistake when packing. I would totally not have made a mistake of putting one less of each FNSKU into one box.

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Of course 5 and 6. you mis-understood me. - but no big deal

I tried sending like you did 1 per SKU per box, x 5 boxes - No Discount
Tried until I got to 6 per SKU - Which means for me that I need to send in 30 units
before I get the discount

and you need to just send in 5 units per SKU (1 per box x 5)?
Interesting

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Min 5 shippers here as well to avoid the fee.

This is the first I am hearing of anyone mentioning needed 6 on here or the NSFE.

Interesting indeed.

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Maybe you sent only 6 units total? I sent in 100 units total. Some FNSKUs had only 5 units (1 unit per box). Some FNSKUs had more. The total was 100 units (20 per box).

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I do not believe it. It actually worked for me.

My issue was that I was putting in different amounts for each sku
But if EVERY SKU is has the same quantity it works !!

OK, That is not perfect for me, but I can live with it.

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Yes, the boxes have to be identical. That is why I know the FC made a mistake.

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That is what did not work for me.
some had 5, some had 10, some 15
but all boxes were the same.
over 1000 units in the order

more confused

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I have been experimenting with this and all test shipments worked. All real shipments worked. I haven’t had any problems. 5 boxes, every box has to have the exact same number of each FNSKU. They have to have the same dimensions. They have to have the same weight. They have to be identical in every way.

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Thanks - for your help.

This is strange. I went back to my old tests and reupload it.

it was 58 SKUs at 5 each x 5 boxes (1450 pcs) - No discount again !!

Then I just RE-DID the 41 SKU test at 1 each x 5 boxes (205 pcs)- A Discount.

then I just upped the 41 SKU to 5 each x 5 boxes - (1050 pcs) A Discount !!

It makes no sense.

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