90 CommentsSelling on Amazon is incredibly lucrative, flexible, and a major source of income for Amazon’s 2.4 million sellers. In fact, anyone can sell on Amazon if they have the right resources and time.
And while the majority of Amazon sellers use Amazon’s Fulfillment by Amazon method (aka FBA) to store and ship products from Amazon’s warehouses, there is another option.
You can fulfill your own products that you sell on Amazon’s website using Fulfillment by Merchant (FBM).
With the COVID-19 pandemic affecting supply chains in 2020 (as well as Amazon’s capacity for FBA inventory), some sellers have opted for FBM, or Fulfillment by Merchant, to handle the process themselves in 2021.
We’ll tell you what you need to know about getting started selling on Amazon and how to fulfill products via FBM.
You’ll also learn:
- The basics of how to sell on Amazon
- The pros and cons of selling Amazon FBM
- When to use FBM instead of FBA
- Creating listings to ship via FBM
- Shipping FBM orders
- FBM best practices
How to sell on Amazon
Selling on Amazon is a great way to earn extra income or to expand a business you already have, and it’s something you can start building today.
- 60% of Amazon sellers say their current Amazon business is their first experience as a web entrepreneur
- 64% of Amazon sellers are profitable within a year
- 59% of sellers spend fewer than 20 hours per week working on their Amazon businesses
Everyone’s experience selling on Amazon is unique, so your first step is to consider what kind of business you want to create.
We’ll review the main decisions you’ll have to make and provide an introduction to the basics of how to sell on Amazon. If you’d like to learn more, be sure to read our free in-depth guide: “How to Sell on Amazon FBA.”
Step 1. Select your marketplace
Amazon has 18 global marketplaces:
- Australia
- Brazil
- Canada
- France
- Germany
- India
- Italy
- Japan
- Mexico
- Netherlands
- Saudi Arabia
- Singapore
- Spain
- Sweden
- Turkey
- United Arab Emirates
- United Kingdom
- United States
While you are free to sell in any marketplace you like, we recommend the following guidelines:
- If you are a US seller, sell in the US marketplace. The US is not only the largest of the Amazon marketplaces, but it is also the easiest place to get started.
- If you are a seller living in the EU or the UK, sell in the EU marketplace. The second largest Amazon marketplace in the world is the EU marketplace. It encompasses the UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, and the Netherlands. Although it’s not as easy to sell on as the US marketplace because of taxation and language barriers, it is convenient for EU-based sellers.
- If you are a seller living anywhere else in the world, sell in the US marketplace (even if you have another marketplace in your country). The other global marketplaces do not have nearly the traffic as the US marketplace, therefore, it’s better to forego those marketplaces for the larger, simpler US marketplace when starting.
Step 2 – Select your business model
Amazon lends itself well to various business models that fit all different budgets, time investments, and seller personalities. But, the business model you select depends largely on whether you know what you want to sell on Amazon or not.
Jungle Scout can help you identify a high-demand, low-competition product to sell or validate a market opportunity for something you already have or make yourself.
Here are the most popular business models for Amazon sellers:
- Private Label. Private label is the practice of manufacturing bulk products to sell under one’s own brand or label. 67% of all Amazon sellers use the private label business model.
- Wholesale. Whereas private label involves selling one’s own brand, wholesale is the process of purchasing another company’s branded products in bulk to resell on Amazon. 26% of Amazon sellers use the wholesale model.
- Reselling (Arbitrage). Resellers practice retail or online arbitrage by purchasing discount products at retail outlets, big box stores, or even online on discount sites like eBay to sell at a higher price on Amazon. 19% of Amazon sellers use retail arbitrage and 17% use online arbitrage.
- Dropshipping. Dropshippers market and sell products of another manufacturer or supplier. When a sale is made, the dropshipper purchases the product from the supplier who in turn ships the product to the buyer. 9% of Amazon sellers are dropshippers.
- Handmade. Handmade Amazon sellers create their own products to sell on Amazon, like jewelry, clothing, or gifts. Unlike the other business models mentioned above, Amazon Handmade has its own separate section on the platform. 6% of Amazon sellers sell via Amazon Handmade.
There are also methods of selling on Amazon that are for digital products or are a little more niche, such as Kindle Direct Publishing or Amazon Merch.
Step 3 – Select your fulfillment method
There are two methods for fulfilling products on Amazon: FBA and FBM.
Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA): A method of selling on Amazon in which a seller (or a seller’s supplier) sends their products directly to Amazon’s warehouses. Amazon then stores the inventory and ships it directly to the customer (often through 2-day Prime shipping) and manages customer support.
Fulfillment by Merchant (FBM): A method of selling on Amazon in which a seller lists their products on Amazon, but manages all storage, shipping, and customer support themselves (or through another third party). This is also referred to as a Merchant Fulfilled Network or MFN.
- 92% of Amazon sellers use FBA
- 57% of Amazon sellers use only FBA
- 34% of Amazon sellers use both FBA and FBM
- 43% of Amazon sellers use FBM
- 9% of Amazon sellers use only FBM
Note: This article goes into further detail on how to choose the right fulfillment method for your needs and abilities and how to ship products via Fulfillment by Merchant successfully.
Step 4 – Create an Amazon seller account
After deciding what you’ll sell and how you plan to get your products to your customers, you’ll need to get your business set up — it’s easier than you might think.
Creating your business
You will need to have a named business at this point. The name of your business can be anything you like, but we recommend you keep it relatively generic in case you want to pivot your focus in the future (say, from Smith Spatulas Co. to Smith Home Goods if you expand/change your product focus).
However, you don’t need to file your business as a corporation or LLC when you’re starting out. You can sell on Amazon as a sole proprietorship, meaning that you use your personal tax ID. Although, depending on the state or country that you live in, you may still need to file a Do-Business-As (DBA) form for the name of your business.
Once you have your business information, you can create an account in Amazon Seller Central.
- Prepare all of the information you will need:
- Business information (your business name, address, and contact information)
- Email address
- Credit card
- Phone number
- Tax ID (Federal and State)
- Go to Amazon Seller Central (sellercentral.amazon.com) and click the box that says ‘Register now’
- Decide if you want to be a professional or individual seller
- Enter your information into Amazon
Step 5 – List a product
As soon as Amazon approves you for selling on the platform, you can start listing products.
There are two ways to do this.
1. Sell on an existing product listing
First, if you are selling a product that already exists in Amazon’s catalog, all you need to do is go to the existing listing and click the ‘Sell on Amazon’ button.
From there, add the information for your offer:
- Your price
- Condition (new or used)
- Quantity (if you have more than one)
- Fulfillment channel (FBA or FBM)
2. Create a new product listing
If the product has never existed in Amazon’s catalog, you will need to create a new listing. To do this, you must:
- Log into Seller Central
- Click Inventory > Add a product
- Click ‘I’m adding a product not sold on Amazon’
- Enter in the details for the product
After you have created your listing, it will take between a few minutes to an hour for your listing to appear in Amazon’s catalog.
Step 6 – Fulfill your orders
When you make a sale on Amazon, you will need to fulfill the order.
If your products are sold via Amazon FBA, then Amazon will handle fulfillment for you and make sure your customers receive your products. However, if you are selling your product via Amazon FBM you will have to handle and ship your own order.
Each Amazon fulfillment method has its pros and cons.
The pros and cons of FBM
Before we cover the details of how to ship products using Amazon’s Merchant Fulfilled Network, here are a few pros and cons to shipping via Amazon FBM. (Data from Jungle Scout’s 2021 State of the Amazon Seller Report.)
Pros of Amazon FBM:
FBM sellers earn more revenue
- 33% of FBM sellers earn more than $25,000 per month in revenue compared to 26% of FBA sellers.
- 53% of FBM sellers have total lifetime sales over $100,000, versus 46% of FBA sellers who say the same.
FBM sellers spend less money to start their business
- 37% of FBM sellers started with less than $1,000 versus 27% of FBA sellers.
- 35% of FBA sellers started with more than $5,000 versus 27% of FBM sellers.
FBM sellers start their businesses faster
- 51% of FBM sellers took less than six weeks to get started on Amazon versus 34% of FBA sellers.
- 47% of FBM sellers realized a profit in fewer than three months versus 38% of FBA sellers.
FBM sellers have a back-up plan in place
- During the holidays, when unloading times for inventory replenishment may slow down an FBA seller’s business, FBM sellers can continue to receive orders and ship goods.
- When emergencies occur such as the COVID-19 pandemic and Amazon stops shipping certain products, FBM sellers can continue to receive orders and ship goods.
Cons of Amazon FBM:
FBM sellers spend more time on their business
- 20% of FBM sellers spend more than 40 hours per week on their Amazon business versus 16% of FBA sellers.
FBM sellers are more concerned about competition.
- 72% of FBM sellers are concerned about increased competition driving down prices versus 70% of FBA sellers.
- 57% of FBM sellers are concerned that Amazon sells products that compete directly with their own versus 51% of FBA sellers.
For Amazon beginners, FBM costs can be higher than FBA costs
While it might seem like sellers who pick, pack, and ship their own goods have lower costs than those who use Amazon FBA and must pay FBA fees, when the total costs are compared, FBM sellers often spend more to ship products.
Use Amazon’s FBA calculator to compare the costs and profits to ship the product yourself versus Amazon doing it for you.
FBM sellers must handle their own customer service
Amazon handles the majority of the customer service needs for Amazon FBA sellers. On the other hand, FBM sellers not only have to handle their own customer service claims, but they also have to accept and receive returns and manage their seller feedback.
When should I sell Amazon FBM instead of FBA?
Here are a few scenarios where fulfilling your own products, instead of relying on Amazon to fulfill them for you, is the better option.
You sell products that aren’t easy to ship via FBA
Certain products such as oversized products, products that require special handling, and products with slow turnover are sometimes better to ship on your own versus having Amazon do it through FBA.
Plus, shipping your own large/atypical products could save you money, as well as ensure that the product is presented to your customer the way you want it presented.
And, as noted above, if you’re unsure of which method of fulfillment will cost less, you can use Amazon’s FBA calculator to compare the two methods.
You can do it cheaper than Amazon
On the same note, you might already have an existing merchant-fulfilled network in place or a third-party fulfillment service (other than Amazon) to do it for you.
In this instance, using your own network may be the better solution.
You do dropshipping
By virtue of the business model, dropshippers can only ship their products via FBM since their products are being shipped directly from the manufacturer/supplier.
You sell handmade products
Although handmade products can be stored in Amazon’s fulfillment centers and shipped via Amazon FBA, many Handmade sellers fulfill their own products to ensure that the product arrives the way the seller intended.
How do I list a product on Amazon FBM?
Listing an FBM product is, in many ways, the same as creating any other product offer.
Using the steps outlined above, once you reach the part of the offer that reads ‘Fulfillment Channel’, select the radial that states ‘I will ship the item myself (Merchant Fulfillment).’
After the product appears in Amazon’s catalog, you will find your Merchant Fulfilled products under Inventory > Manage Inventory. Make sure you check ‘Active’ for ‘Status’ and ‘Merchant’ for ‘Fulfilled by.’
How do you know when a product sells?
As an FBA seller, once a product sells it is quietly confirmed, packed, and shipped by Amazon without so much as a notification. However, as an FBM seller, you will need to know when you have an order so you can confirm and ship it to your customer.
There are two ways to do this.
1. Amazon Seller Central Order Widget
First, on Amazon Seller Central, you have an order widget as pictured below.
When an order comes through, you will get a number listed under ‘Pending.’ After the order is confirmed by Amazon and the sale goes through, the pending order moves to ‘Premium unshipped’, ‘Prime unshipped’, or ‘Unshipped.’
- Premium shipping is if you offer fast shipping options to Amazon shoppers such as overnight or express delivery.
- Prime shipping is for orders shipped via Seller Fulfilled Prime.
- Unshipped encompasses all other methods of shipping such as USPS Media Mail or First Class.
2. Amazon Seller Mobile App
If you have the Amazon Seller Mobile application, you will receive a notification when an order is ready to ship.
How to ship a product
After Amazon notifies you that an order is ready to ship, you have 24 hours to confirm that the order went out.
If you aren’t sure how to ship your order, first, choose a carrier. In the US you have multiple options, including:
- USPS
- FedEx
- UPS
- DHL
In addition, larger products such as furniture or mattresses may require using a transport truck for shipment.
You can compare the rates of various shippers using websites such as:
Can I still ship Prime?
One of the biggest benefits of selling Amazon FBA is that your products, more often than not, are automatically available for Prime benefits. That means that Amazon shoppers who are Prime members can order and receive products fulfilled by Amazon within 2-3 days.
This benefit does not apply to FBM sellers unless they are qualified for Seller Fulfilled Prime.
Seller Fulfilled Prime is a program that allows FBM sellers to sell products with the Prime badge from their own warehouse/fulfillment center. Sellers who sell Prime reach more customers, have a better chance of winning the Buy Box, and offer guaranteed delivery date messaging to their customers.
To join Seller Fulfilled Prime, a seller must apply for the position. However, Amazon is not accepting any further applications for Seller Fulfilled Prime currently, so FBM sellers interested in the program will have to add their names to a waiting list.
What shipping supplies do FBM sellers need?
The carrier and method in which you ship also helps determine the shipping supplies you will need to ship your goods.
Some methods of shipping — such as USPS Flat Rate — use specific boxes that you can get for free from the nearest post office. Or, you can have them delivered directly to your door.
Other methods require you to supply your own shipping supplies. We recommend:
- Boxes, envelopes. etc.
- Packing material (air bags, brown paper, etc.)
- Peel & stick mailing labels
- Printer
- Packing tape and Scotch tape
Where can I purchase shipping supplies?
While there are a myriad of shipping supply businesses where you can purchase bulk shipping goods, here are a few that we recommend:
-
- Uline
- Fastpack.net
- Amazon.com
5 FBM best practices from Amazon itself
According to Amazon’s best practices document, here are a few considerations for selling your products via FBM.
1 – Use Amazon’s ‘Buy Shipping’ feature
One of the easiest ways to ensure that your orders are on time and have tracking numbers is to purchase your shipping directly through Amazon using Amazon’s ‘Buy Shipping’ feature.
When an order is placed for one of your products, Amazon gives you the option to purchase shipping directly from them.
To access Amazon’s ‘Buy Shipping’, go to Orders > Manage Orders. Then, click on the ‘Buy Shipping’ button next to the order you want to ship. Next, verify the information and confirm. Finally, from there, print the label.
Once you buy shipping through Amazon, it automatically confirms the orders and sends the customer the tracking number (see #2).
2 – Always provide tracking numbers
Amazon requires all orders to have a tracking number. If you purchase shipping through Amazon, then the tracking number will auto-generate and be sent to the customer.
3 – Manage delivery times
Amazon wants to ensure that all of its customers receive their goods on time, so it’s important to confirm, pack, and ship your products in a timely manner. And if you’re selling a product with Premium or Prime shipping, it needs to arrive by the guaranteed date.
4 – Incorporate a good return policy
Make sure you have clear return instructions included in your packaging, as well as a valid return address.
Remember: as an FBM seller, you will need to process and handle your own returns. Plus, returns are not optional with Amazon. If a customer requests a return, you must accept it.
5 – Comply with Amazon’s dropshipping policy
Note: these policies only apply if you are a dropshipper.
-
- Be the seller of record of your products.
- Identify yourself as the seller of your products on all packing slips, invoices, external packaging, and other information included or provided in connection with them.
- Remove any packing slips, invoices, external packaging, or other information identifying a third-party drop shipper prior to shipping the order.
- Be responsible for accepting and processing customer returns of your products</span.
Get started with Amazon FBM now
With everything going on in the world right now, there’s never been a better time to get started with Amazon FBM. Although, even if you decide to stick with FBA full time, having FBM as a backup plan won’t hurt.
And as the data shows, sellers who add FBM into their repertoire find more success in the long run!
90 comments on “How to Sell & Ship Your Own Products with Amazon FBM”
Good day.
How to sell promotional customs products on amazon as FBM ? is there a requirement to ship within 24 hours after receive orders ?
Does selling promotional customs products FBM consider as drop shipping on amazon even if a third party is going to print
the products and ship it on my behalf after each sale ?It would take 1-3 days to produce and ship the products to customer.
How do I handle that the 24 hours situation with amazon ?
Hi Joe,
You can sell customized products on Amazon Handmade. We have an article on that topic, check it out!
Hi
Very thankful to you for explaining completely detail for Fbm
Very very useful
But I have one issue here
I have got first order on fbm when press (confirm shipping)
After that select carier and shipper I have no getting (tracking id)
Please solve my problem
Thanks again
Hi,
If you bought the shipping through Amazon, it should automatically fill in the tracking information.
Hi Brian,
I want to sell festival focused articles to Indian Americans living in India through Amazon. com. Which is better for me FBA OR FBM. I have my own manufacturing.
Thanks
Hi Raj,
Are you going to sell on Amazon India or Amazon US? If you are comfortable with the fulfillment process, you can choose FBM. If you want Amazon to handle all fulfillment, use FBA. You can test both fulfillment methods, you don’t need to choose just one.
Hello,
I am trying to start selling on Amazon and getting information together to do so. I want to sell my own products on Amazon and have them ship to customers. I am looking to package my own products and need to know if I can just take them to a fulfillment center and have them ship for me? Or is there something else that I need to do?
Hi Brittany,
Check out our articles on Amazon FBA, that is what are talking about and we include all the information you need.
You cannot drop the items off yourself at a fulfillment center, you must create a shipment in Seller Central and ship them.
Also, check out our in-depth How to sell on Amazon guide.
Hi I am new to selling on Amazon and just getting everything organized. I want to ship things FBM but my shipping companies require both phone number and email of the recipient. Is this something Amazon provides when you get an order? I thought they want no interaction between seller and buyer since they are Amazon customers.
Hi Curtis,
You won’t be able to get that information from your Amazon customers. Amazon doesn’t provide it when creating a shipping label, only the address.
If you buy shipping through Amazon, do you have to ship in Amazon boxes? Is it generally cheaper to buy the shipping through Amazon, or do people use it for the ease of getting the shipping information onto the site?
Hi Leslie,
No, you do not need to use Amazon boxes if you buy shipping through Amazon. You can use blank packaging or packaging from whichever shipping carrier you use.
It is usually cheaper and definitely easier to buy shipping through Amazon.
Hi Brian Connolly,
Thank you so much sir. Your article is richly educative.
But then, does it literally mean, I will need at least $5000 before I can venture into FBA?
Hi Obi,
No, you don’t need that much to start selling on Amazon. If you start with arbitrage or wholesale, you can start with much less than that. If you are launching your own private label products, $5,000 is a good amount to start with.
Thank you for the helpful advice…
Hi
Thank you for the article it is full with so much helpful information.
I have one question. When you offer prime via DPD here in the UK. Do you put this cost of shipping in with the product cost. For example if the product is normally £10 and shipping is £7 i would sell for £17.
Also if i offer prime on a product which included the postage how can i offer this at the cheaper price sending it non prime way.
Hope this all makes sense
Many thanks for your support
Hi Nick,
If you would like to offer “free shipping” then yes, include the shipping cost in the listing price. If sending it FBM, you need to list it at a price that is profitable for you. If you can’t list lower than $17, then that is the lowest price. Or, charge the customer for the shipping versus offering free shipping.
Hi,
Great article, thank you. I’d like to sell an oracle deck on Amazon and fulfill the orders myself. However, I don’t have an ISBN printed on my product. Will I need an ISBN to sell on Amazon, and if so where can I get one (I’m in Spain)
Thanks
Hi Leigh,
Is that a book? If not, you will need a UPC, not an ISBN. You can get a UPC from GS1.org.
Once you have a UPC, you can create your Amazon listing. Though Amazon will likely require you to label each item with the FNSKU barcode, which is the barcode Amazon generates for your product.
I have an individual seller account of Amazon US store. My products are handmade toys which are made in another country and can be shipped only from there. FBA is not an option for me right now. Since I’m a beginner and have no experience yet I’m concerned about the shipping part of the business among others and have some questions.
In the scenario when a buyer has made an order, how then I should proceed? It’s my understanding the buyer will have Standart and International shipping options that a seller will have to use.
Will I be able to have this product shipped from another country? This process seems to be dropshipping but I don’t fully understand how it will actually work.
Thanks for reply in advance!
Hi Roman,
Once you receive the order on Amazon, you will need to place the order with your supplier. Make sure you are collecting enough in shipping to cover the costs to ship internationally. You can edit your shipping template in Seller Central.
Hi there!
We are a furniture Brand and want to list our business on Amazon UK as FBM. We have our own delivery mechanism in place. We have a tracking ID system and customers can track shipments over the phone. Can we use the same delivery system with our Amazon orders?
Thank you for this informative post.
Hi Shees,
Yes, you can but you must enter the tracking information into the Amazon order once the order has shipped.
So the shipping fee defaults to 3.99. What do you do if you have a really heavy book and you know shipping will be lots more than that?
Hi Laura,
In your shipping settings, you can set your shipping price + add additional cost per pound. Though with Media Mail through USPS, the shipping is still pretty cheap even with heavier books.
I am a newbie to FBM and I sold my first book today. The return address on the shipping label is my real address, right? Seems weird but if they need to return it I guess it has to come back to me, right?
Hi Laura,
Yes, that is correct!
Hi. I am doing POD Tshirts/ Hoodies etc and have my store set up o Shopify with a fufillment partner based in USA who handle the production and shipping.
I have just been approved to be an Amazon seller and will use the FBM method since I am working with dropshippers. Just confused about the flow process to set up my products on Amazon, whether they require barcoding or any other requirements or can I book orders through my Amazon listings and place the orders directly with my fulfillment partner as I am currently dong from my own Store?
Any valuable information on the actual flow process I need to follow to set up the right way will be a huge help. Or a link to any free/ paid video series or course that can help me learn and then set up and run my Amazon business the correct way. Thanks for your help.
Hi Sharad,
To create a listing on Amazon, your products will need to have a unique product identifier such as a UPC code. Though you may apply for a GTIN exemption if your products do not have one.
Also, if you are selling shirts/hoodies, you should look into Merch by Amazon. It is Amazon’s POD service where they handle the printing and shipping, you just upload your designs.
-Brian
I have trouble selling hardcopies of my newly released book Innertrek A Reluctant Pilgrim in Himalayas in India .on Amazon… Only Ebooks version are available .Please advise
Hi Mohan,
Have you created a listing and it is not selling or you are unsure on how to list your book?
Hi. If I am on amazon.ca Can I ship from the USA? Using DYK post here in Edmonton. Thanks
Hi Lee,
Yes, you can.
I am about to start my FBM business,I am concerned about shipping, that how it will work in Canada, how to calculate shipping? and how to offer free shipping? Do you any idea which shipping carrier is economical and cost effective in Canada?
BTW your article is very helpful, thank you for writing this article.
Hi Maryam,
I am not sure about the cost to ship in Canada. Though, you can set your shipping settings in Seller Central by going to Settings > Shipping settings.
Thank you. Please I am a foreign student in China and I would like to to start the FBM. Please how can I do my shipping？ should I buy amazon shipping? I need your best advice
Hi Sam,
Will you be selling in the US? If so, you will need to use FBA, fulfillment by Amazon. Where Amazon will store and ship the products for you to your customers.
I am new to online market!
I am a professional by career but want to change my way of living life!
Will be a new start up for me based in New Zealand! What should i select? FBA or FBM?y prefereed market would be USA , Canada and New Zealand.
Hi Harshil,
If you are going to be selling in other countries, then you must do FBA so your inventory is located in each of those countries fulfillment centers.
Hi,
I live in Canada and would like to start FBM on Canadian market and have an individual amazon seller plan on the beggining. I am wondering if I have to create a name of my bisness or even to register the bisness in Canada before i will open an account on Amazon .
My second question is,do I have to open my credit card uder the name of my bisness or, can I use my personal visa account?
HI Margaret,
You can sign up as an individual to sell on Amazon. You don’t need a registered business.
You can use your personal credit card as well.
Like, the way you explain, very interesting.
Have Vanilla Beans to sell.
Thank you.
Thanks for reading!
Do I have to buy shipping through Amazon if I a FBM?
If I do at the Post Office, how do I show that it is shipped on the order so customer can see that it is shipped?
Hi,
I suggest buying shipping through Amazon but you can buy shipping outside of Amazon. Once you purchase shipping, go back into Seller Central and add the tracking info to the order.
Can a seller deliver the items themselves if a customer is close by?
If so what do they use as the carrier name?
How/ What do you do for a tracking #?
How do you confirm with the buyer that the item is delivered?
Hi Troy,
I don’t suggest that. Just ship the item as you would for any other order.
If I buy shipping from amazon, then who ships it? for example, do I take it to the Amazon Warhouse, or a third party?
Hi Jack,
You’ll have different carrier options when purchasing shipping from Amazon. Ex. Fedex, UPS, USPS, etc.
Bring it to the respective carrier.
Hi there I live in US & I’ve set up a US sellers account , I have a customer base in the US already which I use FBA for my products here , but I’ve linked my sellers account to the UK , France and Spain market place also as I generate 15-20% sales internationally. But I wish to keep my costs low and use FBM for my international orders I’m just having an issue with shipping.
Do Amazon themselves have a international courier they use that I can set up, print the label off and drop it off at dropbox or get it collected. Or will I need to continue using the main shippers (USPS,Ups,Fedex). I just continue having issues with my items once they arrive in these other countries with customs & import fees causing my products to take longer then usual to get to my customers. Need help in this & the best advice moving forward are the shippers filling the customs forms wrong or do I need to pay the import fees prior to sending?
Hi Kevin,
At this point, you’ll most likely need to continue using the main carries you mentioned, if you are shipping from the US. Customs and import fees are just a part of international shipping. I suggest contacting these carriers to see if there is anything that you can do differently to prevent any delays once they reach the final country.
Very informative. I clearly understand how to get my Amazon up and running. Thank You for all your information.
I loved this arficle, it help led me a lot and was so coear to understand.
I just have one question about Dropshipping, for exemple, if I sell a produt on amazon, so I need to order myself this product at the store right? (ex. walmart) Do I put the custumer address for delivery already when I order it or mine? If is the customer’s , how can I make sure it’s not going to have any information like a receipt ou brand box include with this order that are going to my customer?
Hi Amanda,
It is against Amazon’s terms to dropship items from other retail stores such as Walmart. I do not suggest dropshipping.
What you can do is purchase items from Walmart first and resell them on Amazon
How about returning goods? Our own policy is that customers pay their costs for shipping books back to us, can I still handle that policy when selling FBM? or is shipping back always at our costs?
Hi Rob,
You can charge for return shipping. It depends on the reason for return as well. If the book received was not what the customer ordered, they wouldn’t be charged for shipping for instance. Amazon states you must meet or exceed their return policy for FBM orders: https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/help/help-page.html?itemID=200708210&ref=ag_200708210_bred_G201725780
Subject: Can Amazon FBM sellers ship the item to Amazon stores?
Hello, I’m from Portugal and I’m already registered with Amazon FBM, I have a box of products ready to send to America, I haven’t listed any products yet, I thought I could send them to Amazon’s warehouses and they send them to customers, there is this way for FBM?
or only at the FBA?
I have a redirector in America, but it won’t be much more expensive, will it be sending each product to my customers?
Thanks
—–888—–
Assunto: Pode um Amazon vendedor FBM enviar a mercadoria para os armazens da Amazon e os artigos serem enviados por eles?
Olá sou de Portugal e já estou inscrita na Amazon FBM, Tenho uma caixa de produtos prontos para enviar para a America, ainda não listei nenhum produto, pensei que poderia enviar para os armazéns da Amazon e eles enviarem para os clientes, existe essa forma para FBM?
ou só no FBA?
Eu tenho um redireccionador, mas não me ficará muito mais caro, ser ele a enviar cada produto para os meus clientes?
Obrigada
Hi Monica,
All sellers can fulfill orders using both FBM and FBA. Once your products are in an Amazon warehouse, they will be fulfilled by Amazon (FBA.)
Hello Dave. After speaking with Amazon Customer Service no one will tell me why under Manage Inventory/Fulfilled by (Amazon Merchant) radio buttons have vanished. I have no access to the links for Fulfillment By Merchant. How do I reconstruct that link? Why did it vanish????
Thanks
Gordon
Hi Gordon,
Can you be more specific about which “buttons” are missing in your seller central?
I’m a newbie. I’m wavering between FBA and FBM. I’m wondering if I need to have a business in the US to sell FBM on Amazon?
Are you not located within the US? If not, you would need to use a third party fulfillment center if doing FBM. In that case, you should use FBA and send your products to an Amazon warehouse.
Hi,
I have stock on 3PL warehouse and I drip-feed tp FBA warehouses. I adopted this solution due to the 200 pcs stock limit on new products. But I run out of stock before Amazon checks-in my inbound shipment (it takes ages now).
If I create a FBM offer on the same ASIN, it will receive a new SKU number. I will be fulfilling from the same 3PL so all my stock is labeled for selling via FBA (so has FBA FNSKU label). Do I have to re-label products before sending them out to the customer via FBM?
Thanks,
Ekaterina
Hi Ekaterina,
No, you will not need to relabel them.
Hi!
This is a great article and I have learned a lot from this, but I have one question. While doing FBM, How I can get “Buy Box” for my product if 6 -7 sellers are already selling the same product. Kindly guide me regarding this.
Thanks in Advance 🙂
Hi Julianna,
You would need to be priced competitively to get the buy box as FBM with other competing sellers. You’ll also need to have the professional Amazon account.
Are the jungle scout fees you pay monthly the only fees you owe amazon no matter how much product you sell?
Hi Levan,
Not sure what you mean by this. Jungle Scout’s monthly price will not change. Whatever plan you choose is what you will pay.
Amazon’s fees are $39.99/month for the professional selling plan plus referral/FBA fees.
This article is very helpful, just like to know if I opt in for buy shipping from amazon and after amazon issues the tracking number do i have to ship the product to amazon or they pick it up from me and deliver? How does that work
Thank you
I’ve been selling FBA since 2015, but with Covid I had to switch to merchant which was all new to me. I’m actually thankful that it happened because made me learn to do FBM which isn’t hard, but I never experimented with trying to do it. Now I have separate FBM sku’s for my products so if my FBA is out of stock, I’ve got FBM here as a backup!
But I do have a question. Is there a way to ship multiple FBM orders in one shipment if the buyer made separate purchases? So many times I have 2 different orders bought by the same person, going to the same place. I’ve just been buying the shipping for each one individually, but it would save me money if I was able to combine them somehow.
Hi Elizabeth,
Yes, you could do that. I would purchase shipping under one order but adjust any weight or dimensions to account for two items.
Then, just update the second order with the same tracking information.
Hello Brian,
I have been reading some of the advice on your various web pages re selling on Amazon.
If I can explain what I have here, you may be able to offer some direction.
First, I am living in Australia and have self-published a book (on behalf of the author),
“For You, Blessed Mother.” Hard cover, 116 pages; ISBN: 978-0-646-81431-5
To sell copies on Amazon U.S. would clearly be good, but shipping costs for books
are often quite high. (It works both ways – when I buy books from the U.S.!)
Are U.S. buyers prepared to pay for the cost of international shipping?
Best regards,
Richard
Hi Richard,
Have you considered sending inventory into a US FBA fulfillment center? Shipping orders from Australia would be expensive for the customer and take much longer than an Amazon customer is used to.
I find that seller university offers too much information but oddly not enough! What happens if a customer wants to return an FBM item? How are they reimbursed?
Hi Susan,
You the seller will reimburse them once you receive the retuned item.
Hi.
As I understand it, the shipping cost is reimbursed to the seller. If I drop-ship my products from another country, how do I configure it in Amazon so that I’m reimbursed of the cost of international shipping from the country of origin to the customer’s address in the US?
Please pardon my next question as I’m a newbie (and I’m not sure if it’s appropriate). Anyway… Can I configure the Product Detail Page so that customers can type in their measurements like waist, hips, length, etc? If so, how?
I would really appreciate any feedback. Thank you.
Vernon
Can I use custom tape with my company logo?
Yes, you can!
Hello ,
Thanks for your article it’s very
Helpful
I have one question
If I purchase shipping through Amazon
Then who will pay the shipping cost ?.
Amazon will deduct it from the purchase price or I have to pay at the time of shipping
?
And is it possible to ship from Pakistan as a FBM seller ?
Hi,
You can either charge the customer shipping costs on your listing or you can offer free shipping. When you purchase shipping through Amazon, the cost will be deducted from your account balance.
Will I have to ship the product to my customers with my own money after a purchase has been made?
Hi Isaiah,
You can set your shipping settings to charge customers for shipping or you can offer free shipping.
Hi,
Thanks for this article, it’s very helpful. I have about 10 books that I want to sell FBM but before I list them I need to figure out how much to charge for shipping. Can you tell me how to do that? Do I need to take each book into the post office and have them tell me the cost to ship each one? Thanks for your help!
Hi Steph,
Thanks for the question! The post office won’t be able to give you an accurate price without knowing where it is going.
Shipping books, you are able to use media mail with USPS, which is considerably cheaper than other shipping options. Prices start at $2.80.
In your shipping settings, you are able to add weight-based and flat-rate shipping options.
Hope this helps!
Brian
Hi
Do I need to use brand new boxes for FBM or will used ones do including ones with amazon logo?
Thanks
Hi Peter,
You can use old boxes as long as they are in good condition and protect the product. Though, it is recommended to use new boxes.
USPS provides free boxes if you are shipping with the post office!
– Brian
How do you use a 3rd party prep company with fbm and do you have to give the 3rd party full access to your seller account.
Hey Jade! Glad you reached out about this as it depends on the 3PL, how you want to run your business, and what software might be deployed (which might be the only thing that gets access). It also sort of depends on what you’re selling, and the volume of your sales. As for account access, I believe these prep companies need to use your Amazon MWS keys to connect to your Amazon account, which allows them to fulfill your orders that way. You could use a company like ShipHero (https://fulfillment.shiphero.com/#how-it-works), custom solutions, etc. Hope this helps!
Hi there
Both bullets in this section above are bonkers. Typos I guess. Or wrong interpretation of the data:
FBM sellers are less concerned with competition
49% of FBM sellers are concerned about increased competition driving down prices versus 46% of FBA sellers.
31% of FBM sellers are concerned that Amazon sells products that compete directly with their own versus 27% of FBM sellers.
Thank you so much for catching those errors and letting us know! They have been corrected and should read properly now. 🙂 Thanks again!