HIGHLY STRINGENT WORKAROUND TO CUT NEW FBA SPD SHIPMENT PLACEMENT FEES
For those who are US-based FBA sellers sending shipments in via SPD, note the following to avoid the new placement fees:
Placement fees can be avoided if you send in 4 IDENTICAL BOXES of # of UNITS as four shipments (i.e., 1 SKU, 4 boxes of x units). Let Step 2 of Send to Amazon load and "NO PLACEMENT FEE" WILL BE AVAILABLE!
I tried sending in 4 shipments of 4 different SKUs. They're not allowing that...and doubt they will.
Just making our lives harder...UPS will likely have bigger and heavier boxes due to more quantities per box as sellers shave down the new cost.
GRIMEY AF, HOPEFULLY THIS HELPS!!!!
Credits to @Seller_6pdCaLUeDUypQ for remembering this option as well:
HIGHLY STRINGENT WORKAROUND TO CUT NEW FBA SPD SHIPMENT PLACEMENT FEES
For those who are US-based FBA sellers sending shipments in via SPD, note the following to avoid the new placement fees:
Placement fees can be avoided if you send in 4 IDENTICAL BOXES of # of UNITS as four shipments (i.e., 1 SKU, 4 boxes of x units). Let Step 2 of Send to Amazon load and "NO PLACEMENT FEE" WILL BE AVAILABLE!
I tried sending in 4 shipments of 4 different SKUs. They're not allowing that...and doubt they will.
Just making our lives harder...UPS will likely have bigger and heavier boxes due to more quantities per box as sellers shave down the new cost.
GRIMEY AF, HOPEFULLY THIS HELPS!!!!
Credits to @Seller_6pdCaLUeDUypQ for remembering this option as well:
99 replies
Seller_vQrMnPKQlwPaI
Completely agree. It's incomprehensible. Unless by strategic decision, Amazon decided to remove many from the business, which was already quite dubious before these latest fees.
Additionally, we have lost a week of work trying to find a way to lower these fees through the alternatives offered, but our shipments "do not qualify." So for 4 boxes that previously cost $60, now it costs us $200 plus $1,000 in lost time this week.
The only good thing we see is that last year we were doubting whether to continue in this business due to low or no profitability. With this measure, these absurd fees, Amazon has already helped us make the decision to withdraw.
Seller_gQEVGvhUqjxnE
Trying to send 28 sku's to Amazon and there is no option of sending it with no placements fees even though our account is set up for the Amazon-optimized shipment splits.
Seller_Z5ctyFr3TMayu
So I've just tried with all my might to get shipments into 4 different Amazon warehouse...No matter how much Quantity/box I've split on 200+ items, it'll always maxed out to three warehouse.
I honestly think this whole inbound fees is a sham for Amazon's greediness. I mean they've already charging customer for Prime, that's their promise to their customers, why are we eating the costs for their operations.
Seller_18hjXesNI1QNo
For me, I have to use 6 boxes. Then they give me no fees option with 5 shipments to 5 locations.
Dominic_Amazon
Hi @Seller_PgPO1RrhvIiPA,
Dominic from Amazon here, want to provide additional info.
Inbound placement options will be provided when your shipments qualify. Factors that affect the number of inbound options include the following:
- Whether your shipment includes a mix of standard-size items, non-standard-size items, or special handling categories
- Whether each box contains the same mix and quantities of SKUs
- Quantities and number of boxes for each item
- Geographical demand
To maximize the number of inbound options, try the following:
- Create separate shipments for standard-size items, non-standard-size items, and each special handling category
- Ensure that the item mix and item quantities are equal across all boxes
- Increase the number of boxes
Best,
Dominic
Seller_PgPO1RrhvIiPA
To Whom It May Concern,
Latest edited summary of this Workaround - dated 3/29/24 (I can't edit/delete past unrefined redundant posts due to the forum's 24-hour rules),
"Our challenge is to have enough boxes for Amazon-optimized shipments to distribute to at least 4 separate Inbound Destinations (IDs for lack of a better acronym). If you have more boxes, you have a higher chance of your boxes being eligible.
Scenario1: 4 boxes of SKU1, can be eligible, if their algorithms offer us 4 separate IDs.
But if you see 2 boxes of SKU1 going to 1 ID, and the other 2 boxes going to 2 other separate IDs, you'll be charged the placement fee since it's only 3 separate IDs at the end of it.
"SKU1" in the above examples can also be amalgamated with varying qtys of SKU1, SKU2, SKU3...
Better Case Scenario for a better chance of avoiding the Placement Fee: A workflow with 4+++++ boxes. They can be different SKUs, packed template per box or mixed.
Observations from 3/29/24: I was able to avoid the Placement Fee rather easily with 6-8 box Workflows earlier in the month, but a contributor mentioned they were unable to qualify for $0 Placement Fee with a 1400pc SPD Workflow recently and I had the same problem with my workflow today.
I had to keep adding boxes to my Workflow from 6 boxes to 14 boxes before I qualified for the $0 Placement Fee. I'm not sure if having 4 of the 14 boxes being identical helped or not, but that might've been what did it.
I just tested another workflow with 6 boxes (with 4 boxes being identical) and it worked again, so it looks like the '4 identical boxes' rule might carry more weight in determining whether you qualify for the $0 Placement Fee (possibly due to dimensional flexibility).
Thanks again for all contributions. Godspeed.
