Two weeks after Amazon announced it was offering unbranded packaging as a default for off-Amazon (MCF) orders “at no additional cost” to sellers using its fulfillment services, it announced it will raise fees for MCF orders beginning next month.
“On January 19, 2023, US MCF fees will be adjusted to reflect the significant investments that we’ve made to improve our shipping speeds and add new features,” it wrote. “MCF will continue to provide best-in-class fulfillment services – which are, on average, priced lower than alternatives – with up to 50% discounts on multi-unit orders, and unbranded packaging at no additional cost.”
One seller said it meant the cost of using Amazon’s Multichannel Fulfillment service would rise by 37%, saying a 5-ounce large standard was $5.35 and would jump to $7.35 in January. “I thought Amazon wanted to expand their 3PL, but clearly not,” the seller wrote.
Amazon provided a table showing how the change would impact certain items. For example, a mobile device case weighing 2.88 oz. (Small standard-size 6 oz or less) would jump to $7.15 from $5.35 (a 33% increase), and a T-shirt (Large standard-size 12 to 16 oz) would jump to $8.50 from $7.45 (a 14% increase) – assuming they were sent via Standard 3-5 day shipping.
Amazon said improvements would accompany the fee increase, “including faster shipping, free integrator apps, and enhanced shipment tracking functionality.”
“We’re excited to announce that we’re improving our standard shipping speed from 7 days (from “click to deliver”) to 5 days. We’ll also continue to offer expedited three-day shipping and priority two-day shipping.
“In addition, we have recently launched new MCF features, including free-to-install MCF app experiences for BigCommerce, Wix, and Adobe (Magento), and ISO/IEC 27001:2013 certification of our IT security systems.”
Note that when Amazon raised MCF fees on May 9, 2002, it said it was to ensure that its fees were “competitive with other third-party logistics providers.”
