UPDATE:
I spoke with my FBA Onsite rep today. Basic overview of the program is that they have chosen very few sellers to start with. Our company has done FBA, MFN, as well as qualified for SFP, but have never participated.
Not sure how we got selected, but I was told we were one of like 50 sellers starting out.
Basically, AMZ flies in employees to actually set up your warehouse to be an extension of an Amazon fulfillment center. When you move items into the fulfillment “node”, then the items you moved in become available for prime offers. Moving them into the node is a walk across the facility for an employee rather than an inbound shipment to an Amazon facility.
Obvious savings will be Amazon FBA storage fees, and inbound shipping fees. They make a customized rate card for you since the fulfillment will be going from 1 facility (in our case) to customers across the US, and I’m assuming the pricing won’t be as sharp as traditional FBA because they have to guarantee 2 day shipping to sites all across the USA from one location instead of across a network of fulfillment centers.
Another obvious benefit, is the time to restock AMZ “fulfillment centers”, and also do removals to avoid fees.
An additional benefit, you can set up small & light and a traditional FBA node within your warehouse, so participation in Small & Light could make a lot of sense.
Returns go back to an Amazon fulfillment center for the time being, though they’re saying its on the chopping block for sellers to begin taking them back right away. But for now, all returns will go to an Amazon fulfillment center and NOT be placed into their fulfillment network, but rather be set aside to be batch shipped back to us on a regular basis.
Amazon still handles all customer service and returns.
Once I get the rates back, I’ll chime back in. Unless, they tell me not to share for any reason, in which case I’ll keep them confidential.
If you have questions and I have any answers I’m happy to share them with you.
