If you’re trying to pivot your business to e-commerce, you may be interested in Amazon’s Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) service.
The Basics of Amazon FBA
Amazon FBA is a program that lets you store your products in the Amazon warehouses, and Amazon will fulfil orders for your product. They will pick, pack, ship, track and list products on amazon. Customers order items through amazon like they usually would; amazon handles all aspects of processing the orders fulfilling them.
What Are the Benefits of Using Amazon FBA?
There are many benefits to using amazon FBA, including no inventory storage or fulfilment costs.
· Amazon will store products in amazon’s warehouses, and Amazon will handle all of the fulfilment, shipping, tracking etc.
· Amazon takes care of everything for you.
· Your products can be shown on amazon even if you choose to list them in other places.
· If your item is out of stock, Amazon will let buyers know that it is currently unavailable.
· If your product sells through amazon FBA, amazon may pay you up to $1 per sale and charge a monthly storage fee (which would cost more than what amazon pays).
What Are the Disadvantages of Using Amazon FBA?
There are some disadvantages to using amazon FBA, including:
· Having an amazon subscription fee.
· Amazon FBA fees.
· Amazon taking a percentage of your profits.
· Amazon restricting what you sell amazon not wanting to deal with certain types of items.
· Amazon does not like restricted items (such as cigarettes, liquor, guns etc.)
· Amazon will also not support certain high-risk products (such as supplements or weight loss pills). Amazon does not like antique or homemade items.
Amazon has many rules and restrictions for using their amazon fulfilment program. Make sure that your business is eligible before trying to use amazon’s FBA service.
How do I get started with Amazon FBA?
Getting started with the amazon FBA service is pretty simple. After signing up for an account on Amazon, Seller Central amazon will walk you through the amazon FBA process. Amazon is pretty straightforward with what they do and doesn’t allow it to sell products through amazon fulfilment. Amazon does not want restricted items or anything that can be dangerous to their customers in their amazon warehouses. Amazon requires sellers using the amazon fulfilment program to be registered businesses that have a UPC for each product they sell on Amazon.
