Amazon business is one of the fastest and best ways of making money online. Amazon has given two options to sell on Amazon, Its FBA and FBM. FBA offers sellers hassle-free selling. For FBA sellers, Amazon handles shipping and fulfillment. FBM sellers are responsible for shipping. You need to contact a shipping company to process the order.
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Amazon FBA vs FBM
1. Amazon FBA vs FBM (Ship Yourself)
What Should You Do In 2022
2. Amazon business is one of the fastest and best ways of
making money online. According to Sellerapp blog, Nearly
9.5 million sellers are associated with Amazon platform
globally.
Being a vast business platform, Amazon has given two
options to sell on Amazon,
FBA(Fulfillment by Amazon)
FBM (Fulfilled by Merchant)
3. The seller sends his inventory to Amazon warehouse.
Amazon stores it in the warehouse. When seller receives
the order, Amazon dispatch the order and deliver it to the
customer.
The interesting side is 73% Amazon sellers uses FBA as a
business model to sell on amazon (Source: Seller App).
Fulfillment By Amazon (FBA)
4. Here, the merchant (seller) keeps inventory with himself.
When the customer orders a product, he delivers the order to
the customer through shipping carrier (Fedex, UPS, USPS
etc).
Both Fulfillment by Amazon and FBM (fulfillment by merchant)
are profitable models for sellers. They have their own pros
and cons. If you picks what works the best for you, it would be
easier to manage online business and make profit.
Fulfillment By Merchant (FBM)
6. The FBA program allows hassle free selling to sellers.
Amazon handles shipping and fulfillment channel for FBA
sellers. You put your inventory in the Amazon warehouse and
when a customer purchase the product, Amazon ships it.
Check the FBA business model.
Amazon charges a standard Amazon FBA fees to sellers on
every order to fulfill the order based on product packaging
weight.
Fulfillment Channel
7. While FBM sellers needs to handle the shipment process. When
a customer order a product, Amazon will display you customer’s
personal details for order fulfillment.
8. Amazon charges FBA fees and 15% referral fees on every FBA
order to the seller. The FBA fees is based on the ordered unit
package weight and its size.
Amazon Fees
9. As stated, Amazon FBA involves sending your goods or inventory
to their warehouse. You need to make a listing on Amazon, then
need to make an FBA shipment plan. After the creation of
shipment plan, Amazon will share you FBA labels, you need to
carefully label it on your inventory and send it to the allocated
warehouse. This process is little lengthy.
The inventory will be first received by Amazon, the pallets will be
unpacked and the items will be manually scanned and arranged to
the rack spaces.
Product Launch Duration
10. An FBM seller has more control on its business than an FBA
seller. Suppose, you are doing an FBA business and getting
returns because of product damage or other issue. It is
impossible for you to reach the Amazon warehouse and
manually inspect the rest inventory. It is one of the major
Amazon cons for sellers.
Amazon will bill you for the shipping. Again, after inspection you
will send inventory to Amazon. This means you will pay again for
inventory shipment to Amazon warehouse.
Control
11. Amazon fulfilled business never let the FBA sellers to have
customer’s email and phone contact number details. This
means, you can connect to your customer via seller central email
system only.
Merchant fulfilled business involves order processing at the
seller’s end. So, Amazon shares customer’s phone contact
details and email to the seller. Here, one of the biggest benefits
sellers can have is getting rid of negative reviews.
Connectivity To The End Customers
12. Amazon has two selling plans for both FBA and FBM sellers,
Individual and professional seller. The individual seller plan
includes free product listing and selling but as obvious has
certain limits. You can list as many listing but cannot run
sponsored ads.
Also, as an FBA seller, it allows you limited product storage to
keep your inventory in the Amazon warehouse. In addition, you
have to pay $0.99 USD on each order you receive Amazon.
Seller Plan
13. As FBA sellers have kept the inventory on Amazon side, Amazon
support team provides free customer support services to
Amazon FBA sellers. They handle customers inquiries,
complaints, and product return process. It is a time-saving thing
for a seller. They are responsible for the complete process.
On the other hand, FBM seller has to handle the customer
support. You either need to invest time or hire an eCommerce
assistant to provide support, manage complaints and returns.
Customer Support
14. The biggest advantage for being an Amazon fulfilled seller is prime
delivery. Your listing will get a prime badge from the first day as Amazon
delivery ensures guaranteed delivery within 48 hours to prime sellers.
Prime Badge
15. Amazon has high-equipped warehouses to store and manage
your products. They charges a fixed monthly storage fee to FBA
sellers based on box size and space occupied (per cubic feet) by
their inventory.
Inventory And Order Management
When a customer order a product, the Amazon team print the
order slip and dispatch to the box. Amazon delivery team will
process it to the customer’s destination. You do not need to look
after it.
16. Buy Box is a button appear on the
listing “Buy Now”. The customer
can directly take the action on your
listing and purchase the product.
It is available for FBA seller from
the first day you list a new product
on Amazon under FBA. As the
inventory is available in Amazon
warehouse, they are pretty sure of
product delivery.
Buy Box
17. But, a FBM seller cannot expect a buy box from the first day.
Though a FBM product priced under $25-30 see a buy box.
But, it is not a case for every FBM listing. With time and
authority, the listing wins the buy box.
18. An FBA seller has two options, either sell on Amazon or sell on
both Amazon and other stores. This is what multi-channel ofder
fulfillment (MCOF) mean. Suppose you receive an order on eBay
or other site, you can use Amazon as a fulfillment channel.
Multi-Channel Order Processing
19. As discussed, Amazon charges a fixed monthly storage fee to FBA sellers per
unit. This fees is applicable for the first year only. If a seller does not get the
stock sold under a year, the Amazon charges long-term storage fees to the
remaining units available in the warehouse.
Long-Term Storage Fee
20. • Small and lightweight products
• Fast selling product.
• No space to manage inventory.
• Product shipping fees is more as compared to FBA
fees.
• Good profit margin on product (100-300% ROI)
• Less time for managing online business
• Good budget for investment
When To Do Fulfillment By Amazon?
21. • Handmade or heavy weight products
• FBA fees is high compared to other shipping
carriers.
• Enough space to keep inventory
• Enough time to manage orders and customer
complaints
• Need more control on your business
• Less or no money start an Amazon business
When To Do Merchant Fulfilled Business?
22. • Private label: FBA
• Online Arbitrage: FBA
• Retail Arbitrage: FBM or FBA (depends on profit
margin)
• Dropshipping: FBM
• Wholesale: FBM or FBA
• Handmade goods: FBM
• Used items: FBM
FBA Or FBM Which Is Best For
Different Business Models?
23. Yes, Amazon does not bound any seller to opt for a
single option. You can do FBA and FBM together.
List your product under both FBA and FBM
channels.
Can I Do FBA And FBM Business
Together?