What is the small and light FBA programme?

Small and Light offers reduced fulfillment costs on qualified items that allows you to pass the savings on to the customers. Its benefits include:

• Free shipping for Prime customers
• Reduced fulfillment costs
• Instant customers trust

It’s great for smaller businesses who sell low-priced items to make a profit, as the normal FBA fulfillment costs were high meaning it would have been impossible to make a profit. Amazon could offer these lower costs because it provided slower shipping.

What’s changing?

Those enrolled in the Small and Light programme in the US will switch to a low-price FBA system as of 29th August. The biggest benefit of this is while you have a slight price increase, you will enjoy the same high-speed shipping as the higher-priced products have and that customers love.

“The new rates will provide sellers with lower fees for their low-priced items while maintaining the fast FBA delivery speeds that customers appreciate.”

Eligible items will automatically receive the new rates on the 29th and be exempt from holiday peak fulfillment fees between October 15, 2023, and January 14, 2024.

Here’s a breakdown of what’s new:

• The low-price product rate is dropping from $12 to $10, those who are above $10 will be part of the higher-price rates.
• The new FBA rates for low-price products will be, on average, $0.77 lower per item compared to the current rates.
• For products that are priced below $10, this change will mean you pay roughly $0.30 more.
• Sellers not enrolled in Small and Light will see a slight decrease in fees while maintaining the same fast fulfillment speeds.

What do you need to do to prepare for the new low-price FBA rates?

If you are in the US we advise that you start to get ready now for the change in rates! While eligibility for the low-price FBA only requires you to sell products $10 and under, you still need to adjust to the new pricing, here’s what you can do:

• Review your product offerings – with the slight price increase you may want to adjust your pricing to cover the higher costs.
• Check your inventory status and FBA rates to prepare for the adjustment in prices, you only have less than two months to prepare!

Our thoughts

While we know some sellers of low-priced products may be frustrated at the changes to the rates, we advise that you look at ways to cover the new costs now, the good news is that you will be able to ship your items faster, which could potentially bring in more business as customers love fast shipping! So we will hold off on judgment until this has been implemented.

Need some help?

The world of Amazon is constantly changing, and we know it can be hard to keep up. The good news is; you have a team of Amazon experts waiting to help you win! You can ask us anything about the above updates or anything Amazon related, just send us a message or give us a call.