New Seller Enrollment for Seller Fulfilled Prime Will Reopen on October 1, 2023
We are excited to announce that we will reopen new seller enrollment for Seller Fulfilled Prime (SFP) in the US on October 1, 2023.
We first launched SFP in 2015. Our goal was to allow sellers to independently handle the fulfillment of their products while also making them available to Prime customers with the same fast, free delivery they have come to expect.
As the program grew, we realized that SFP was not providing the same high-quality experience that customers expect from Prime. As a result, we paused new seller enrollment while we worked to make sure we had more support for sellers and clear standards in place for the SFP program to ensure it provides customers a great Prime experience. We are excited to be at the point where we will now reopen new seller enrollment on October 1, 2023.
To enroll, you must pre-qualify to start the 30-day SFP trial. During the trial, you must meet all SFP program requirements to pass and become enrolled in SFP.
Here are the pre-qualifications you must meet to start the SFP trial:
- Have a domestic US address as your default shipping address
- Have an Amazon Professional selling account
- Meet the following criteria over the past 90 days:
- Self-fulfilled at least 100 packages
- Cancellation rate less than 2.5%
- Valid tracking rate greater than 95%
- Late shipment rate less than 4%
The SFP trial ensures your offers can consistently meet the high standards of Prime speed and reliability. For more details on the enrollment process and SFP program requirements, go to Upcoming Changes to Seller Fulfilled Prime.
We look forward to seeing you in October.
Seller_OvL8C4BJWiuS9
Let me play devil's advocate here-Has Amazon revamped their Prime program? The main reason people sign up for prime membership is for the fast delivery and free shipping, but as many of us know, the program has fallen short in the last year or so.
Seller_gC8zhroXlURLU
I assume SFP let's the customer have "free" shipping because they are Prime members. Does this me the seller has to eat the shipping cost or is the seller compensated for shipping cost or maybe there is no charge to have shipping labels printed through Amazon?
This program could be great for us
Seller_gC8zhroXlURLU
we average 360 orders per month FBA but do very little FBM so "self-fulfilled at least 100 packages over the past 90 days is not doable. So will we not qualify? I can guarantee you on our self fulfilled 3 other platforms we exceed FBA in cancellation rate, tracking rate, and late shipment rate.
SFP could be a great program for us if almost all the FBA customers become SFP customers
Seller_EktzaMsxp4zIJ
Are the old changes still part of the new SFP program? Do you have to ship on Saturdays? Do you still have to meet the same Delivery Speed Metrics? If so, I simply don't understand the point of the regional Prime program at this point.
Seller_i4cqHIciUWg3q
Amazon is introducing a 2% additional fee for any ASIN enrolled in the SFP program.
SFP sellers are committed to providing guaranteed 1-2 day shipping for buyers. In comparison to non-SFP sellers, SFP sellers incur higher shipping fees to ensure that buyers receive their products promptly. However, the recent introduction of a 2% referral fee penalty by Amazon for SFP sellers seems counterintuitive.
Consider this scenario: A laptop priced at $1500 is being offered by two sellers. The first seller offers 5-7 day standard shipping, while the second, an SFP seller, offers 2-day shipping. The SFP seller, in order to maintain the high-speed shipping promise, now faces an additional $30 referral fee and an extra $15 in shipping costs, amounting to a total of $45 extra expenses. This puts the SFP seller at a significant disadvantage against the slower shipping option.
What puzzles is the concept that the seller providing the fastest shipping services, along with a generous return policy, is being penalized rather than rewarded. The SFP program's success lies in the commitment to exceptional customer service, and the new fee structure appears to be at odds with this principle.
Seller_7rNklHYkq1IwY
Bring back Regional Prime settings. For example, If a seller is on the East Coast they should be allowed to offer Prime Shipping within a 2 day radius of their shipping location(s) while not offering Prime Shipping to the West Coast. With Regional Prime settings customers benefit from faster shipping speeds and Sellers benefit by offering Prime Shipping only within an affordable delivery area. Enforcing Nationwide Prime shipping to small businesses that cannot maintain a national delivery network negatively impacts both customers and sellers.
Seller_3wzBczgcWe0Ch
Ahh, here is the reason for this-
A 2% charge per prime order
Seller_PCshC7t8gZjqm
2% Program Fee is a wonderful (sarcasm) way to motivate people to use FBA instead of SFP. A $1500 item now incurs a $30 SFP Program Fee when the entire cost of fulfilling through FBA is potentially less than $30. Even better, I think non-Prime members buying an item on a Prime template cost the Seller the 2%, too.
BUT, at least Amazon figured out that Delivery Speed Metrics shouldn't only incorporate Buy Box winning page views vs. all page views. Nothing like having a critical metric (Delivery Speed) depend on an opaque one that competitors can impact (Buy Box).
Seller_4kcQUU5kS4Ft7
In most cases, would shipping USPS Priority Mail the day after order is placed meet Seller Prime requirements for delivery speed?
Seller_3QIhzNaiqbTwC
If you are currently selling SFP as we are, you will understand that the real question (that of course Amazon will not answer) is this:
What factor will the SFP Prime status have on winning the featured offer when competing against FBA Prime offers and against standard MFN offers ? We have been selling SFP for many years. Currently about 1500 orders per month SFP- about 1/3 of our total. All our SFP offers are "oversize" offered as prime regionally. There was a time when a SFP 2day offer was equal to a 2-day prime FBA offer in winning the featured offer. But currently a SFP offer has to be an average of 6% cheaper than the FBA offer to get featured status. There was a time when a SFP offer could be 10% higher priced than a MFN offer and still be featured. Now that is down to an average of 3-4% higher (while an FBA offer can be as much as 15% higher.)
So yes, the new 2% fee for SFP fee is obviously a way to force sellers to FBA- there is no real justification for it. But still, it could be worth it to pay the extra 2%....IF SFP offers are going to be considered as equal to FBA offers and IF SFP offers allow a much higher margin against standard MFN offers. If not, then we and many others will have to abandon the program.
