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Wed May 1 2024 22:26:49

Did Amazon Go Too Far with Its New Low Inventory Fee?

By: Ina Steiner

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Update 5/2/2024: Amazon announced changes it is making to the new fee, see today's EcommerceBytes Newsflash article.

In December, Amazon announced a new "low inventory fee" coming to FBA sellers this year. As we reported at the time, sellers already faced fees for sending in too much inventory to Amazon fulfillment centers, and with the new change, it means this year they face fees if their inventory levels drop too low.

The new fee generated a lot of controversy, but we recently heard from a seller who explains a situation that makes the fees especially irksome for him: end-of-life products. "If I have been selling an item more than 1 year and it gets discontinued (or even has a temporary out of stock), I am going to get hammered by this fee as my on-hand inventory drops to zero on the site. With the last of my sales (when the computer feels I have less than 7 days of stock) getting hit with the highest fee. There is now no way to sell through an item that isn't coming back without this crazy, escalating fee."

Amazon explained the reason for the new fees: "When sellers don't carry enough inventory, we are unable to distribute products as effectively and efficiently across our network, which slows delivery speed to customers and increases shipping costs." Not coincidentally, Amazon issued a press release on Monday boasting about its speed of delivery. It wants to offer buyers absolute reassurance that they'll receive their orders fast.

This has been one of the most stressful changes for sellers who use FBA in recent history. The EcommerceBytes reader told us, "If we don't keep 28 days of stock on hand, the fees kick in. But, all items in the FBA warehouse get charged a storage fee every 30 days." And he said, "I hope you can awaken someone at Amazon to see how this is nothing more than an unfair, unavoidable tax on sellers."

The owner of Amazon marketing agency "My Amazon Guy" Steven Pope delved into the fees in a YouTube video (below), and he too brought up the end-of-life dilemma for sellers. Amazon is letting sellers see what their fees would be for April, but it won't begin charging them until May. Pope explained how the fees were impacting his own account (an extra $800 in the first 2 weeks of April) and called the fees "substantial, confusing, and not transparent." Let us know what you think.

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Readers Comments

Perminate Link for Did Amazon Go Too Far with Its New Low Inventory Fee?   Did Amazon Go Too Far with Its New Low Inventory Fee?

by: ADJackson This user has validated their user name.

Thu May 2 04:35:43 2024

Amazon has become a tyrant on the marketplace.

Perminate Link for Did Amazon Go Too Far with Its New Low Inventory Fee?   Did Amazon Go Too Far with Its New Low Inventory Fee?

by: ScottLBrown This user has validated their user name.

Thu May 2 08:45:04 2024

EOL is a problem and they should provide a flag to let them know an item is not coming back to stock and that can let the customer know delivery may be slower or charge the seller for faster delivery on the individual item if it is NOT in a warehouse within 2 days ground to the customer. ( just so we can move it out ).

The bigger issue is that they just announced the new Inbound Fees . . and we haven't got a full handle on those fees yet to create a % value to add to our Cost Metrics.   Now with the addition of this, it's too much $$ to hit sellers with at relatively the same time.

In simpler terms, Forecasting the total cost of these new fees and their affect on Cost is a big issue.

OMG ...

Perminate Link for Did Amazon Go Too Far with Its New Low Inventory Fee?   Did Amazon Go Too Far with Its New Low Inventory Fee?

by: ronk53 This user has validated their user name.

Fri May 3 10:01:32 2024

If you sell on Amazon you are funding a dictator!  

Perminate Link for Did Amazon Go Too Far with Its New Low Inventory Fee?   Did Amazon Go Too Far with Its New Low Inventory Fee?

by: shut1968 This user has validated their user name.

Tue May 7 12:48:00 2024

Uh.. simple solution???  SHIP YOUR OWN ORDERS!!  Don't buy into the FBA garbage, your feeding them MORE of your profit!!!  Only a FOOL would waste their money on FBA!!!  
Amazon already gives buyers ridiculous delivery time frames and has ruined selling on just about any other marketplace... QUIT FEEDING THE BEAST!  



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