The Holiday Season (typically referred to as "Q4" by Amazon Sellers) tends to be stressful but lucrative for most eCommerce business owners and this Q4 is shaping up to be slightly more stressful for Amazon Sellers thanks to a few recent announcements by Amazon.
On August 16th, 2022, Amazon announced that they would implement a 2022 Holiday Peak Fulfillment Fee averaging $0.35 per item sold on the US & Canada FBA from October 15, 2022, to January 14, 2023.
On August 29th, Amazon announced that they would enforce stricter FBA Restock Limits on FBA Sellers during Q4.
2022 Amazon FBA Holiday Peak Fulfillment Fee
Amazon is known for providing extremely cost-effective fulfillment solutions for Amazon Sellers and, even with the recent Fuel and inflation surcharge, Amazon's FBA solutions are still the most cost-effective eCommerce fulfillment solution.
This Holiday Season, Amazon will follow the strategy of many major carriers by introducing a holiday peak fulfillment fee from October 15, 2022, to January 14, 2023. The fee will be an average of USD $0.35 per item sold using US and Canada FBA. Select examples of new peak fees by size tier listed below (click here for detailed 2022 FBA Holiday Peak Fee pricing charts)
Package Size | Non-Peak Fee | Peak Fee |
Small Standard (>6oz) | $3.07 | $3.28 |
Large standard (1-2lbs) | $5.40 | $5.71 |
Large oversize (20-150lbs) | $86.71 + $0.83/lb above first 90 lb | $89.33 + $0.83/lb above first 90 lb |
In Amazon's announcement in Seller Central, Amazon highlights that;
"Amazon’s fulfillment fees during this peak period will remain an average of 30% less expensive for slower standard shipping methods than other major third-party logistics providers, and an average of 70% less expensive than comparable two-day shipping alternatives."
Holiday 2022 Changes To Amazon FBA Restock Limits
Over the last few years, Amazon has made many changes to its storage policies driven primarily by COVID-related demand. One of the most controversial changes to FBA Storage and fulfillment was a new component to storage called "Restock Limits".
Amazon FBA Restock Limits are limits set by Amazon for how many new units of each size category (standard, oversized, apparel, etc.) an Amazon Seller can send to Amazon FBA. FBA Restock Limits are determined by an internal Amazon algorithm that considers a range of factors including; seasonal and peak selling periods for products, forecasts for ASINs, the new selection a seller carries, deals a seller has scheduled and fulfillment center capacity.
Restock Limits are different than FBA Storage Limits because restock limits are constantly adjusted for each Amazon Seller based on a series of fluid inventory factors while storage limits are dependent on a seller's IPI (Inventory Performance Index) Score.
2022 Changes To Amazon FBA Restock Limits
Amazon announced on August 29th with an email to Amazon Sellers that in order for Amazon to ensure a successful holiday season, including accounting for seasonality and scheduled deals, Amazon is updating its restock limits to allow all sellers to have at least four months of inventory in FBA.
According to Amazon's announcement "While all sellers using FBA will see their limits updated, this updated limit will currently restrict about 5% of sellers using FBA from being able to restock additional products due to their already having high levels of inventory."
While most sellers do not appear to be impacted by this change, some highly seasonal sellers (particularly in the jewelry or Holiday specific categories) have taken to the Amazon Seller Forums to share that they were not given high enough Restock Limits to meet their anticipated Q4 demand.
What Do 2022 Holiday Restock & Fee Changes Mean For Amazon FBA Sellers?
Changes to fees and restock limits have many Amazon Sellers stressed about Q4 but for most sellers, these changes will have a minimal impact on business operations.
In addition to not being highly seasonal in Q4, most of AccrueMe's portfolio companies have already adjusted to Amazon Restock Limits in 2020/2021 by adding 3PLs for Amazon Sellers to their logistics operations and increasing their prices to account for inflation and increased costs across their operations.
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