When Amazon announced a new shipping service for independent sellers on Wednesday, which it said expanded access to Amazon’s delivery network at competitive rates across the contiguous US, it sounded revolutionary.
Small sellers looking for a competitor to USPS, UPS, and FedEx should temper their expectations for now, however. But Amazon also announced a new cashback program for sellers who use its Veeqo multi-channel shipping software, which has the potential to benefit more sellers.
Amazon acquired Veeqo in 2021, and at last year’s Accelerate conference in September, announced it was eliminating the subscription portion of the fee, which averaged $450 per month. At this year’s Accelerate conference taking place this week, Amazon announced the new Veeqo cashback program and wrote:
“Veeqo now offers sellers access to the lowest commercially available rates, based on our pre-negotiated pricing from UPS, USPS, FedEx, and DHL and up to 5% back with Veeqo Credits.”
Amazon also announced a new scanner that integrates with Veeqo’s inventory and warehouse management workflows, which the company said gives sellers of all sizes access to enterprise-level software, without an enterprise-level price tag. More information is available on the Amazon Selling Partners blog.
The Associated Press had broken the news of Amazon Shipping last month, as we reported on the AuctionBytes blog. Today, Amazon officially announced the program’s expansion, which is now available to US sellers with warehouses in fifteen metropolitan areas across the country with plans for future expansion:
“Amazon Shipping picks up packages from sellers’ warehouses and delivers to customers in 2 to 5 days – including Saturdays and Sundays – at a low cost, with no extra fees for residential or weekend delivery. Sellers can also now track their packages in real-time and receive photo on delivery when the order is delivered.”
We followed up with some questions, and we learned the following:
Amazon Shipping is limited to sellers who actively sell on Amazon, but there are no volume requirements and no channels excluded, so if you also sell on other marketplaces, you’re good – the program is agnostic.
Amazon Shipping is also limited to sellers with commercial warehouses or distribution locations – Amazon will not pick up from residential addresses.
It appears that Amazon isn’t just taking some package business away from rival carriers with its new Ground service – but by limiting it to shippers with warehouses in metro areas, it’s taking some of the best package business away, leaving USPS, UPS, and FedEx with the harder, costlier shipments.
When we asked about the cost of the program, Amazon told us that pricing is available for sellers on Seller Central. You can find the program on Shipping.amazon.com.
Amazon made additional announcements on Wednesday (and had announced Supply Chain by Amazon on Tuesday). We’ll be sure to bring you any news coming out of Day 2’s conference on Thursday.
Updated 9/14/2023 for clarity.
