Amazon sent an e-mail to sellers on March 16th discussing fee changes for 2021. If you have a Seller Central account, you can see the full text of the update here. I will also share it below.
Amazon discusses investments they made in 2020 to help sellers, and they outline the fee changes in detail.
For certain categories, return processing fees will be reduced or eliminated. Fulfillment fees are going up 2% to 3%. These increases are scheduled to go into effect on June 1st, 2021.
See below for the full announcement.
Note: you need to have a Seller Central account to follow the links in the body of the text below.
*Begin Amazon Announcement*
Hello,
2020 was one of the most successful years for sellers in Amazon’s store, even with the obstacles presented by the COVID-19 pandemic. From April 15, 2020 to January 15, 2021, independent third-party sellers – almost all small and medium-sized businesses – increased their Amazon sales by more than 55% year-over-year. And we are working hard and investing heavily to help you continue this success.
In 2020, we increased square footage across our fulfillment and logistics network by 50%, opening dozens of new delivery stations and fulfillment centers around the world. We built more than 250 tools and services to help you manage and grow your business, such as the Growth Opportunities page to help you drive new sales, FBA Liquidations to help you recover value from inventory and improve sustainability, and improved Seller University courses to guide you on how to use all of these new tools and services effectively. We also recognized the uncertainty the COVID-19 pandemic created for small businesses, and in December, we made the decision to postpone our annual fee adjustments until the spring of 2021 to provide stability and support through what we expected would be a challenging winter. While many other companies passed along costs through surcharges and fee changes in 2020, we absorbed over $5 billion in COVID-related costs on your behalf, and are absorbing billions more in the first half of 2021.
Now, as vaccines are being distributed and we see a path to normalcy, our next fee adjustment in the US has been scheduled for June 1, 2021. Most referral fees will not change, and we are making only modest increases (about 2-3% on average) to fulfillment fees, in line with or below industry averages. We will also reduce certain fees, like the returns processing fee, which reflects feedback we have received from sellers and our continued efforts to reduce costs.
Please review the fee change highlights below and links to the more detailed fee pages in Seller Central. These changes will take effect June 1, 2021, except where otherwise noted.
US Fulfillment by Amazon fees
- We will implement moderate increases in fulfillment fees, about 2-3% on average, to reflect the changing costs of fulfillment, transportation, storage, and customer service. These increases are in line with or below industry average increases for fulfillment services.
- We are reducing the returns processing fee for customer-returned products in the Apparel and Shoes categories.
- We are eliminating the returns processing fee for customer-returned products in the Watches, Jewelry, Luggage, Handbags, and Sunglasses categories.
- We are launching FBA Liquidations, with associated fees for this service, which will allow sellers the opportunity to recover value from their overstock and returned items instead of having the inventory returned or disposed of.
- We will eliminate the packaging weight adjustment to our rate card calculation.
- We will increase removal and disposal fees to reflect the changing costs of these services.
- We are increasing the FBA manual processing fee for shipments received without box content information to reflect the increasing cost of providing this service.
See details of 2021 US Fulfillment by Amazon fee changes
US referral fees
- We will split Appliances into Full-Size and Compact categories, and lower the fee for Full-Size Appliances to 8% while keeping the fee for the Compact category unchanged.
- We will raise the referral fee for the Personal Computers category from 6% to 8% to align with other electronic device categories.
- We will implement a supplemental 7% fee for products in the new Veterinary Diets pet food category to account for the cost of maintaining the veterinarian confirmation process. This does not apply to other pet food or supplies.
- We will implement a Renewed Program Fee for products sold within the Amazon Renewed program to account for the costs of the additional services offered to sellers.
- All other referral fees will remain the same.
See details of 2021 US referral fee changes
Last April, we announced the FBA New Selection program, and since then, over 60,000 enrolled sellers have sent over 680,000 new-to-FBA ASINs to our fulfillment centers. Given the positive feedback we’ve received from many of you, we are expanding the program. We will extend program benefits to oversize items, offer promotional clicks on advertising, remove the 500-ASIN limit, and improve storage and removal benefits for select categories. The new benefits will start April 1, 2021.
See details of 2021 FBA New Selection program changes
For a summary of all fee changes, visit amazon.com/selling-fee-changes. We welcome your feedback at mailto:fba-fee-announce-feedback@amazon.com and will review each comment.
The Amazon Services team
On November 16th 2021, Amazon announced new fee increases for 2022. Read about the increases here.
Check out the story of how my business has evolved since I started in 2015 here.
Wondering if you have the right tools to start selling with Amazon FBA? See the list of tools I use here.
Want to read the story of how I became an accidental mouse pad seller? See this post.