Shipping Via FBM
Wondered if anyone can help.
At the moment I’m Amazon FBA but really considering FBM, reason is I had 2 different products I was selling on Amazon one was for £9.95 and the other £9.95. So I was selling a Garlic Press for £9.95 - FBA fees where £4.29 per sale.
And with the sponsored ads, we was at almost a loss and the same for the other product.
So my question is, if we go FBM, are there any hidden cost’s for this ? also we don’t want to be going down to the Post Office every single day with orders. Can we get a courier company to come pick products up from my address to send to the customer, and how would this work as we don’t know what sales we will be getting. I just want to know what’s the best option and how courier companies charge per parcel for pick up.
Do you recommend anyone, thanks and any help is much appreciated
Seller_KKcTTZzy6Jd6Q
There are Amazon sales fees, however these are also charged on the FBA sales so you will pay less overall fees for FBM than FBA…
That said, the cost of shipping is a large additional cost and can vary greatly depending on the size and weight of your items.
I would recommend using a website such as Parcel2Go: https://www.parcel2go.com
to compare the prices of different couriers, you can get collections from your address or drop-off at specific local shops.
Or alternatively use the Amazon “Buy Shipping” option, though these will mostly be drop-off-only unless you sell enough volume to arrange collections with the relevant couriers.
You would have to enquire with various couriers directly to find out their requirements and solutions available to you, you should have at least a rough idea of how many parcels you ship per day.
The “best option” is heavily dependent on your business model so it’s impossible to really say.
Couriers generally charge different amounts per-parcel based on the total number you ship per week/month.
Using Royal Mail as an example they have various services where they change x amount per parcel as long as their average weight is below a certain threshold, they have other services where the weight of each specific parcel is used to determine the cost of that parcel.
They have others where size is more relevant than weight.
I’m sure you get the gist of it…
Royal Mail are generally the easiest to use if you have small volumes, Hermes tends to be cheaper but be prepared to put up with more INR (item not received) and damage complaints.
Other couriers vary depending on where you’re shipping from.
Some local couriers can be very competitive, others can be stupidly expensive (I mean… one of our local couriers wanted £2100 to ship two tables and 10 chairs, cost us £42 to ship with Yodel) again you would have to enquire with various couriers to find one with competitive rates (and make sure to read the small print to look for penalty charges)
I would recommend reviewing some of the information on the sponsored product forum: https://sellercentral.amazon.co.uk/forums/c/amazon-sponsored-products
A small-to-medium company with 100+ products for sale could hire an advertising professional for around £50k+ per year and that would save them money. I really cannot stress how much money you can save if you know how to set up ads properly and manage your keywords.
12 replies
Seller_64jziShTiTjOq
Sorry, this is the seventeenth thread that you have created on this forum in just a few months, asking a variety of questions that you really should have researched for yourself, instead of expecting other sellers to take time away from running their own businesses to hold your hand. I suggest that you start from scratch, go to your seller account page, at the bottom click on “Seller university” under the “Performance” heading and start watching/reading the videos and documents there
Seller_KKcTTZzy6Jd6Q
There are Amazon sales fees, however these are also charged on the FBA sales so you will pay less overall fees for FBM than FBA…
That said, the cost of shipping is a large additional cost and can vary greatly depending on the size and weight of your items.
I would recommend using a website such as Parcel2Go: https://www.parcel2go.com
to compare the prices of different couriers, you can get collections from your address or drop-off at specific local shops.
Or alternatively use the Amazon “Buy Shipping” option, though these will mostly be drop-off-only unless you sell enough volume to arrange collections with the relevant couriers.
You would have to enquire with various couriers directly to find out their requirements and solutions available to you, you should have at least a rough idea of how many parcels you ship per day.
The “best option” is heavily dependent on your business model so it’s impossible to really say.
Couriers generally charge different amounts per-parcel based on the total number you ship per week/month.
Using Royal Mail as an example they have various services where they change x amount per parcel as long as their average weight is below a certain threshold, they have other services where the weight of each specific parcel is used to determine the cost of that parcel.
They have others where size is more relevant than weight.
I’m sure you get the gist of it…
Royal Mail are generally the easiest to use if you have small volumes, Hermes tends to be cheaper but be prepared to put up with more INR (item not received) and damage complaints.
Other couriers vary depending on where you’re shipping from.
Some local couriers can be very competitive, others can be stupidly expensive (I mean… one of our local couriers wanted £2100 to ship two tables and 10 chairs, cost us £42 to ship with Yodel) again you would have to enquire with various couriers to find one with competitive rates (and make sure to read the small print to look for penalty charges)
I would recommend reviewing some of the information on the sponsored product forum: https://sellercentral.amazon.co.uk/forums/c/amazon-sponsored-products
A small-to-medium company with 100+ products for sale could hire an advertising professional for around £50k+ per year and that would save them money. I really cannot stress how much money you can save if you know how to set up ads properly and manage your keywords.
Seller_Zm6mSLypM9kp8
Garlic press would qualify as a small parcel which will cost you £2.95 on Hermes with tracking and RM it will be similar without tracking. Amazon prefers tracked items for INR claims but it is upto as your item will be covered by both Hermes (£25) and RM (£20) insurance. These prices are for drop-off only at Hermes/RM. For collect add 50p,70p respectively.
On top of that, you will have to pack this in a box if not already packed so that could also cost you 10-50p per box or grey mailing bag etc and bubble/shrink wrapping will be another cost to consider.
You will also have to consider the returns as you might have to pay for the return postage depending on the return reason.
For FBA, I think the Shipping+Packing cost will be £2.51+VAT out of £4.29 so it is clearly better to use FBA as you will save time and money. Other benefit with FBA is the ability to get more BuyBox unless you are selling your own product and you are the only seller on the listing.
Seller_yGYywTeQ9NU6S
Thanks BlankName, totally get what you are saying, tbh because the product was cheap in regards to the sale price and minus FBA fees and sponsored ads, there was no profit on the product. We ditched it and in the process of buying premium products. So a premium sale price should work better. A lesson learned on our first product.
