Has anyone switched to FBA only?
I’m seriously considering switching to FBA only. I’ve sold on Amazon for almost 10 years now mainly personalised items in the beginning, although I also do a fair few non personalised products now, most of which qualify for small and light for FBA and I do sell through FBA. I design and make all the items myself along with some help a few hours a week.
To be honest the constant messages of “where’s my item” when Royal Mail have lost it or delivered late are actually really getting me down along with the ever changing policies to keep up with. I only seem to get it on here and not on my other selling channels or not as much but at least there I still feel like I’m running my business and in charge where as on Amazon I almost feel like I’m working for them! I’ve been contemplating for a while upping my non personalised products and just biting the bullet and only selling those through FBA small and light and concentrating elsewhere on my personalised products to make things easier.
Has anyone else just gone full FBA from originally being seller fulfilled? How did it work out for you? The main pitfalls that I can see to consider are;
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the risk of having a load of stock in the FC’s then something going wrong with my seller account and having to pay loads to get everything back
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Restock limits although those seem to have all gone back to normal now
Any other main things I need to think about before potentially taking the leap?
0 replies
Seller_7VbclcPFFRTnc
Many sellers are fba only
We have been on here 10 years plus and only last year looked at fba
We now sell almost all our non personalised goods fba s&l and concentrate just on our personalised goods for fbm - we send with delivery confirmation though so don’t tend to get the Where’s my item emails
As you’ve noted already , stock in amazon is a risk - we send little and often
Seller_esvgLzKXw2YAl
I’ve been pretty much FBA only for quite a few years now.
It’s considerably easier than FBM.
All I have to worry about, is actually getting enough stock in to Amazon, to cover the sales.
Unless you have had issues previously with running your account, then I wouldn’t worry so much about losing it. I sleep easily enough and don’t worry about Amazon particularly.
Just make sure that you stay within the rules.
As far actually using FBA, then as long as you understand the charges associated with it, then you shouldn’t have a problem.
Ensure that you don’t overstock on lines and watch out for FBA fee changes etc.
I would heartily recommend it, just use your common sense and try small first.
Seller_77IcbQKVGdZo0
I switched over in October last year, it was originally just until the end of the year but I have decided to make it permanent.
The biggest win for me is the lack of communication from customers. I have only had two messages to deal with. Both of which I just told the customer to go back to Amazon Customer services.
There are no A-Z’s for failed delivery which I would normally have had a few around Christmas.
I would say refunds are slightly higher but nothing too drastic.
Restock limits are never a problem for me I am always a long way below my restock limits. I replenish frequently and try to keep as little stock as possible in FBA in case of any account issues
For me it is working, it gives me more personal time. It is much easier to send boxes of FBA items than prepare each individual item for postage.
Seller_gOlDFgS5Li5Jc
yes we have sold fba only for a few years now and the pros generally outweigh the cons at least for us as you have far more sales and also your metrics are much safer
as kris says and we do the same send little and often then when you can see the quicker sellers send more of that item
Seller_AeSYBToQ271lM
Great news everyone, pleased to see it works. I actually sold more through Fba last year than seller fulfilled which was for the first time. My problem is the seller fulfilled stuff is personalised, so it’s not necessarily a straight swap. I’ve been trying to up the non personalised with new products designs to then slim down the personalised but just debating on taking the hit and going cold turkey which would give me the time and mental headspace to concentrate on doing it as well as building up the personalised elsewhere a lot quicker as it’s draining trying to juggle it. There never seems to be enough time in the day!
Kris I use either normal second class or RM48 but even still getting a lot of them arriving late or not having the scan so having to refund or replace. Just disheartening!
Smiley Guy you’ve hit the nail on the head with the more personal time element. Or even just more flexibility on when I can take time off instead of feeling on a hamster wheel every day and like I can’t take a break.
Thanks everyone for replying so far, really helpful, anyone else feel free to chip in.
Seller_qqCKaiyZvp4Rc
years ago seller fulfilled had more advantages in terms of pricing and managing returns
royal mail were also more reliable and punctual but now its gone the other way
in fact if you have a look at most categories top 100 the vast majority are FBA so its clearly the way to go
Seller_6sxtIS0RbZ5k7
I am 100% FBA, I used to do both if something went out of stock but I’m not even doing that any more.
I would say the biggest drawback is when a consignment gets held up somewhere, I currently have one that’s been waiting for collection since 28/1/21 (with 2 others that were sent to a different FC 2 days later already on sale), so it’s always worth splitting your stock across different boxes.
Seller_ZPjajjMXjCNQH
I am not quite FBA only but working towards it. have not had any problems of note but I try to keep stock at Amazon at a minimum, for the reasons you suggest, and send stock “top ups” weekly.
Seller_2EG6N58tYDYmC
We are 65-70% FBA only.
If the item is not a fast-selling item, we get excessive inventory issues with FBA but we have one item in multiple variations so we prefer to dispatch ourselves.
Seller_7VbclcPFFRTnc
oh and also, once every month or so go to reports - fulfilment by amazon - inventory age - generate
this shows you how old your inventory is to avoid long term storage fees
