You pay storage fees until they actually remove it.
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Mine usually take far less time than that; but I have had them go as long as 7 months before being totally finished (since I sell one-off used books, my removal orders are a bit different than yours, but stillā¦)
Policy is that the storage fees stop the day that you submit the removal order. Although Iāll admit, Iāve not checked recently if this is actually what is happening (Iām now using <25 cu. ft; not worth worrying about the regular fees).
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I think it depends on the size of what it is youāre storing and how well it sells.
Jan-Sept - we pay on Avg $80 a month to hold roughly 20K units at FBA. Our products are small but not that small.
Storage is cheap (even with the increases / premiums for Q4).
I couldnāt imagine a scenario where we would pull inventory out of FBA for any reason.
Happy to pay a total of $1680 to store our inventory at FBA for a year.
When you do the math, itās costing us 1.5 cents per unit to store till sold.
Another way to look at it when one considers removing inventory, sending it back, potentially having it lost OR DAMAGED when itās sent back to you.
Thatās the biggest issue with removal orders. They are treated like CRAP and good luck getting a reimbursement when they come back damaged.
Just my 2 Cents
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We do not do FBA. Best way to deal with FBA expenses, right? (ignoring the costs of self fulfillment, of course!)
I am stunned by those removal fees. The last time I removed books it was 50 cents to return and 15 cents to discard. No wonder I left FBA a few years ago. The same ordinary 2-pound book (and many of mine were much over that) now costs $ 2.20 to get back!
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I am stunned at how cheap they used to beā¦
Someone at Amazon finally figured out how much $ Amazon was losing at 50 cents - including labor / freight / packagingā¦
lol
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MCF reduces the FBA inventory in Amazon warehouses. Hence it helps improving IPI score. Removal Orders could also reduce FBA inventory in Amazon warehouses. So, it would also improve IPI score. Itās cheaper but we have to wait longer for the inventory to come back. Thatās my understanding. Isnāt that right?
I would be surprised if this policy was followed seeing how amazon tries to f you over every other way.
Do you mean that if Amazon takes 90 days to execute the removal orders, I would get charged storage fee of that extra 90 days? Wow, I didnāt know that. Hmmā¦ that doesnāt sound good 
Thanks for shring.
I used to be able to FBA all of the books I was unwilling to sell myself and make a small profit on each one. Those days are long gone.
Well apparently the āpolicyā says otherwise, but thereās a pretty solid chance you WILL get charged anyway.
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My experience on removal orders is mixed. Let say after placing a removal order, around 20% of units come within the first few weeks, around 40% comes within a month, the rest (40%) comes within 2-3 months.
Glad to hear this. That policy sounds more fair than punishing sellers (us) from the slowness of Amazon workers.
I wish I would need <25 cubic feet. You must be selling small size items. 
I agree with everything you said except the statement above 
I donāt know your product size tier but I think the most popular size tier is Large Standard. Thatās $0.87 from Jan to Sep and $2.40 from Oct to Dec per cubic foot per month. Thatās not cheap. Iām paying the storage fee outside of Amazon at the rate of $8.50 per month per pallet (80 cubic feet) per month. Thatās around 10.6 cents per cubic foot per month, waaaaay cheaper than Amazon warehouse. (Anyone reading this please let me know whether my rate is cheap/ok/high). I believe that Amazon purposely charges higher storage fee because they donāt want inventory to sit there long term.
Do you use 3PL? I wonder if theyāre better than FBA, maybe better during Q4ā¦ It would be cool if someone create an analysis comparing these two.
I just pulled a report from Jan of 2023. 14,885 units on Avg (Standard Size) - .83 cents fee. $80.86 total charge.
We are brand owners / manufacturerās so we store any excess we have but generally production orders are made to order for Amazon / Walmart / Distribution and sent once complete based on our planning.
Everyoneās experience is different for what meets their needs. $8.50 a month per pallet is decent and really varies based on geography of courseā¦
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Thanks for confirming. Yes, I purposely only called warehouses in states with low minimum wage and cheap land. I was stupid in the beginning to store inventory in California and New York. They were horribly expensive. Luckily I got a tiny bit smarter later
You must be a vender. Thatās cool.
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No better way to learn then making mistakes they sayā¦
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Nope, just a seller for now but all 3 of these channels are different and we have different components for each.
Our Amazon goods have the FNSKU on the labels (printed on trade dress).
Inventory for Walmart has a UPC code on it.
Distribution goods do as well but we hold them separately due to pallet configurations.
Iāve never worked harder for less in my life - LOL
Marketplace selling in our category is high-volume / low margin. Our advantage is vertical integration. My business partner owns the 40 year old CM that manufactureās our products at near-direct-transfer costs.
Not sure how anyone in my category makes any meaningful $ if they arenāt a manufacturer.
Of course, weāve got numerous competitors that are selling everyday for a loss and placing their products at the top of the page with PPC to lose some more.
Iāll never understand that stupidity but itās rampant on Amazon. Once one moron goes out of business, there are 2 more lined up behind themā¦
Even if their products are totally fake - meaning they arenāt what they claim to be - just the packaging would cost more than what they charge essentially (including FBA Fees / Commish)
Very strange
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I used to wonder how all these sellers sold products youād typically find at CVS/walgreens for so cheap (they were less than wholesale cost a lot of times). I finally realized a couple years ago they were selling stolen goods.
There is such a thing as stealing pallets from warehouses or stealing from the back of a truck.
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How do you steal your own private label goods? LOL
Thatās what goes on in my world on Amazon.
Seems a lot less prevalent on the Mart (for now).
Weāve done much better than expected on Walmart. Just started selling there in Feb. Aggressively been kicking myself in the buttocks for not going there soonerā¦
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