Fulfilled By Amazon - advice from any other sellers

Compytom

Hi

I currently sell books on Amazon, similarly to how I sell on eBay - just list and post from home when I sell one.

MY stock of books is growing into the 100's and I want to start the FBA programme and send my stuff to Amazon for them to ship.

Are there any current FBA sellers out there who can let me know the ins and outs. Specifically-

*how much did it cost to send your inventory to Amazon?
*which courier did you use?
*what are the fees? I see handling fees, storage fees, selling fees but I don't understand what they all mean.
*did you find your sales increased when you accessed Amazon Prime members?
*can you still make money when offering prices at below the £2.80 standard postage charge?

Or any other bits of information that would help me to decide if and when to go FBA.

Any time that you spend in helping me will be gratefully appreciated.

Regards
CT

asajj

You probably will get a quicker response on the correct forums
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=40

sequence

Is your stockpile of books growing because they aren't selling very fast ? If so, FBA is not for you.

soolin

I've moved this thread as I think you will get the attention of Amazon sellers on here and get some helpful responses.

RFW

Compytom wrote: »

*how much did it cost to send your inventory to Amazon?
*which courier did you use?
*what are the fees? I see handling fees, storage fees, selling fees but I don't understand what they all mean.
*did you find your sales increased when you accessed Amazon Prime members?
*can you still make money when offering prices at below the £2.80 standard postage charge?

1) If you go through the process of sending goods Amazon has an option to send with UPS and pay through your Amazon account. I think it's £4.23 plus VAT for a 15kg parcel.
2) As above, courier is UPS, you can use other couriers but given the rate UPS is probably the best option. It's a bit of a faff to organise collection but nothing terrible.
3) Fees vary depending on size and weight. Amazon will show you the full fee. Given you're selling books, you can probably ask them what the fee will be to save working it out. Storage fee is relatively negligible, especially if you have products that sell.
4) Yes. FBA items sell better than fulfilled by merchant. At least 2 to 1.
5) Making money below £2.80 will depend on the FBA fee and your cost price. If you're thinking down that road you'll either need to sell a lot of books or have worked out your profits well.

I rarely sell books but do sell on Amazon. The best things I sell FBA are items that work out cheaper with Amazon fees than posting myself. In books, I'd guess that would be 1-2kg hardback books.

fishybusiness

There is an FBA fee calculator here

https://sellercentral.amazon.co.uk/hz/fba/profitabilitycalculator/index?lang=en_GB

I've all but stopped ebay selling and moved to Amazon. Tried FBA for the first time about 4 weeks ago, can't fault it so far.

Sales have increased and even though Amazon charge various fees, which can add up, still works out around the price of my own postage.

Hardest part was working out how to add inventory to shipments bound for Amazon - found it incredibly convoluted and confusing.

Get serious about FBA and you'll be researching the Buy Box and repricing

llan

Good morning.

Compytom

RFW wrote: »

1) If you go through the process of sending goods Amazon has an option to send with UPS and pay through your Amazon account. I think it's £4.23 plus VAT for a 15kg parcel.
2) As above, courier is UPS, you can use other couriers but given the rate UPS is probably the best option. It's a bit of a faff to organise collection but nothing terrible.
3) Fees vary depending on size and weight. Amazon will show you the full fee. Given you're selling books, you can probably ask them what the fee will be to save working it out. Storage fee is relatively negligible, especially if you have products that sell.
4) Yes. FBA items sell better than fulfilled by merchant. At least 2 to 1.
5) Making money below £2.80 will depend on the FBA fee and your cost price. If you're thinking down that road you'll either need to sell a lot of books or have worked out your profits well.

I rarely sell books but do sell on Amazon. The best things I sell FBA are items that work out cheaper with Amazon fees than posting myself. In books, I'd guess that would be 1-2kg hardback books.

Thanks for your answers - very helpful. The UPS fees seem very good! I'd rather not sell at below £2.80, but that seems to be what the competition is doing on the range of books I can easily get hold of for next to nothing. As I'm developing a knowledge in this area, I am starting to find books that go for more money, but it takes time and there's obviously millions of books out there!

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

RFW wrote: »

1
4) Yes. FBA items sell better than fulfilled by merchant. At least 2 to 1.

Just to note books with the condition of "new" are not eligible for the Buy Box and so may not sell as fast as other items via FBA.

Whether you win the Buy Box for used items would depend on whether Amazon was selling it new or not. There is usually a "more buying options" box on the side of the product page and appearing here helps sales.

Compytom

sequence wrote: »

Is your stockpile of books growing because they aren't selling very fast ? If so, FBA is not for you.

No, I'm just getting hold of far more books. Some sell fast (2 to 3 days of listing) and some sit there for a little while. I'm hoping that the Amazon Prime thing can help with sales and hopefully costs, as I'm already £2.80 in postage behind some of my rivals.

RFW

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head wrote: »

Just to note books with the condition of "new" are not eligible for the Buy Box and so may not sell as fast as other items via FBA.

Whether you win the Buy Box for used items would depend on whether Amazon was selling it new or not. There is usually a "more buying options" box on the side of the product page and appearing here helps sales.

Good point.
It does appear that some Prime subscribers will tick the box for Amazon delivery only and select from there. So even on used books, as you say, there will still be some kind of boost.
I don't really get why the customers bother but Amazon do seem to generate a customer loyalty that Ebay can only dream about.