If you sell a lot of things on Amazon, as in you have more than 100,000 ASINs, you are deemed as an Amazon high volume seller. If you fall into that category, RepricerExpress has a few things you should know so you can make the marketplace work to your advantage.
Amazon High Volume Seller Fees
As of the first of August last year, Amazon implemented High-Volume Listing Fees.
There are a few criteria that have to be met, so check carefully to learn if you’ll be affected.
- Non-media ASINs are the ones in question.
- You have an active offer.
- The ASIN was created more than 12 months ago.
- The ASIN hasn’t had a sale from any seller in the past 12 months.
- The first 100,000 ASINs that meet these criteria won’t be affected.
- Each ASIN above 100,000 will be charged a monthly fee of $0.05/ASIN.
- The fee will be charged monthly.
- It’ll apply to your highest number of applicable ASINs above 100,000 at any time during that month.
Who’s Primarily Affected?
Other than the obvious — those who have hundreds of thousands of listings with a lot of them sitting around untouched — it seems like there’s one type of seller Amazon’s targeting: dropshippers. It also tends to affect merchants who use FBA, as it’s pretty darn hard to fulfil sales of that order by yourself.
Unfortunately, the sellers who will/do feel this the hardest are those who deal in customisable merchandise, like merchants who create made-to-order clothing or home décor. It can also affect merchants in broader categories, like those selling things that can sit around a while, like used books or supplements.
Related: 4 Great Tips for Drop Shipping on Amazon
Some Strategies You Can Employ
You don’t necessarily have to scale back your operation just because of Amazon’s High-Listing Fees. But if you’re a dropshipper who still wants to continue that, then that can be your first option, to just pay the fees. Here are some others you might want to take a look at.
1. Use FBA If You Don’t Already
If you have more than 100,000 ASINs, using FBA should be a no-brainer. It takes a huge weight off your shoulders so you can focus on other things, like developing relationships with suppliers, sourcing hot and/or financially efficient products, marketing and advertising, and building your brand.
2. Organise, Find or Build a Good Warehouse Management System
If you do have more than 100,000 ASINs but know for certain there are ways you can trim the fat to bring yourself down to a level where you won’t be charged those pesky fees, a good Warehouse Management System (WMS) should be a priority.
This will help you identify which items are slow-movers, and possibly the ones to get rid of. A good WMS should be able to organise items according to last sell, last order, and delivery dates so you can target products that need to move off the shelves first. From then, you can put in place various selling strategies to bring yourself down to a more fee-friendly level.
3. Get the Word Out About Your Off-Amazon Site
You know what’s awesome about selling from your own site? You get total control over everything and don’t have to pay listing fees for any item, regardless of how many you have. But you know what’s awesome about selling on Amazon?
They have the infrastructure already in place where you can target oodles of buyers familiar with a certain layout and process. So, why not get the best of both worlds? Redirect buyers to your own site, which can be filled with some of the slower-moving items, and keep some of the high-volume items on Amazon and avoid paying the High-Volume Listing Fee.
4. Use an Inventory Management Software
If you’re dealing with hundreds of thousands of items and selling on multiple channels, it only makes good sense to use software specifically designed to keep track of everything.
Related: Best Amazon Inventory Management Tools for Sellers
Final Thoughts
Whatever route you decide to take, there’s always one weapon you should have in your arsenal: an easy-to-use, yet highly sophisticated repricing program. And that’s where RepricerExpress steps in. We do all the heavy work behind the scenes so what you see is a simple, straightforward software that can be tailored for any number of situations and sellers. But hey, enough of this just talking about it — try it out for yourself and get a 14-day free trial when you sign up now.
