Small and Light FBA Fees Price Hikes

#81

I’m on about comparing selling online with offline retailers. Retailers can sell low priced items under £2 easily whereas online you sell them same items and you have to charge that just to breakeven and with costs rising further, it’s making the gap between the price of purchasing online small items compared to the price in shops widen. Who would want to buy a small low priced item online for £3.50 when you can get that same item in the shops for say £1.99

#82

I think the many, many, many new retail arbitrage sellers on here can vouch that people will pay more rather than actually get up and go to a shop :open_mouth:

I was looking for a specific packet mix of ingredients the other day
My nearest supermarket that had it is 30 miles away but Google told me they had it for 70p - or I could buy it on here for £5 Inc delivery!!

#83

£10 and under? or up to £10.99?

#84

£10 and under, reading it

#85

Something else that may effect your S&L charges is 'Fulfilment fee size and weight tier changes’

Starting from 1 March 2023, we will use the dimensions and unit weight of your item to identify the size tier within all parcel size bands.

This may also effect how S&L packages are banded for pricing.
https://sellercentral.amazon.co.uk/help/hub/reference/GABBX6GZPA8MSZGW

The example given is for export only, why haven’t they shown a domestic example. Anyone know if will this effect S&L?

#86

It’s true if you are near that shop or are already there for other reasons, otherwise the cost of petrol or public transport will make buying it at a shop even more expensive than buying it online. And if you sell a variety of niche products, it gets more complicated, I would not even know where to buy some of the stuff I sell.

#87

People do though I think they accept they pay more to have it delivered.

I have a good selling line which can be brought 2 for a £1 in my local shop but I sell it for £2.25 on small and light. I reckon it will have to go up to around £2.50 after the fee changes but I know I will still sell it

I am buying wholesale just to make clear not from my local shop!

#88

:laughing::laughing::laughing::laughing:

#89

Many many people,

When you take into account the cost of parking/petrol/bus far/taxi fare plus time and effort of going to said shop, quite a few people will pay more for the convenience of ordering online

#90

a). Too steep a price hike by Amazon, is this price hike allowed as per Amazon policies?

b). Will seller’s pay from pocket as seller’s won’t be allowed to increase their prices to cope up with this hike, most will loose Buy-Box and a lot of listings will go inactive due to price policy violations.

#91

Not when you factor in all the other things they’re buying at the same time. Depending on what the product is, lots of people wouldn’t even need to make an extra trip.

There are also a lot of places that have travel passes s even if you’re making an extra trip, it doesn’t necessarily cost more. There are also other online platforms they can order from where the prices, even if they increase, might not increase by as much.

#92

It depends on where you live. When I was living in Birmingham I couldn’t understand why people shopped online so much. Now my local town doesn’t have a single brand store at all.
Our nearest city with ‘big’ stores is an hours train journey - 2 changes or an hour and a half in the car - if the M6 is clear
So now I understand

#93

It continues to baffle me why there is a £value limit on this… As it is small and light, not small and light and cheap?

#94

Well maybe its just me then,

I hate shopping, I do as much of it online as I can.

What I don’t get in my weekly grocery delivery (which is delivered) I pick up in the local garage, if I can’t get it at the garage, I get it online and pay delivery, or I get it online and do click and collect if I am really in a hurry and Amazon can’t get it here.

Before I sold greeting cards, I bought most of mine online, I get my Brita filters online, because they’re cheaper than where I get my groceries

It amazes me how many people will pay £10 for next day delivery on a £3 card - but it happens!

#95

I’ve been in online retail now selling on a few market places plus my own website for around 10 years now and I know that when fees rise on platforms and you have to put your prices up it does affect sales.

I was getting a good amount of sales before royal mail was privatized and they hiked their postage fees every year since. Now I sell a bigger range of items, but have about 25% of the sales I once had. My prices have increase between 50% and 100% compared to around 5 year ago.

I find when ever you are getting somewhere and making ground with your online retail business, you get hit and knocked back time and time again, it never ends.

#96

That’s a good thing for the high street, you don’t have to employ lots of staff, pay heating costs, rates are less. The costs of selling offline are going up as well as online so it is just market movement. increase prices to cover your overheads. We haven’t had major price increases for a number of years and we are having to adapt to changes in the marketplace. It is about moving with the times and you just have to learn to adapt to it. Quite often it is a survival of the fittest especially when we are in a recession.

Perhaps you could argue that FBA gives sellers an unfair advantage and maybe this will help sellers to compete outside of Amazon FBA. Amazon will want to optimise their charges but perhaps this a a reminder to businesses that heavily investing in Amazon by putting all your eggs in one basket is not the future.

We use it because it is good value, the minute it stops being good value then we will make a decision to get better value.

#97

There are several reasons why people are willing to pay more shopping online than visiting a physical store. Just a few examples:
Mobility issues, transport availability/costs, not knowing where sells that item, laziness, don’t have time, work unsocial hours when the shops selling that item are shut, you may not know it can be bought cheaper in a shop etc etc

You could have similar arguments about why do people purchase the same item from one online shop as opposed to another where it’s cheaper.

Back at uni many years ago I was taught about the 4 P’s of marketing/sales, possibly a bit “old hat” now but they were Product, Price, Promotion and Place. Depending on people’s personal circumstances each one may take a different priority. For example someone counting every penny then price will be the most important. Where as someone else might need to purchase something online they can’t get elsewhere and the place they buy it from may have a promotion of spend x amount and receive free delivery so may need to add something else to get the free delivery which is more expensive then driving 5 miles to get it.

#98

I think we all have that struggle but every time I get knocked with a change I find a way to adapt and a way to increase my sales.

Majority of my items are small and light. In my best selling category from what I can see my fulfilment fees will rise by about 25 pence plus also an increase in storage. On top of this I have seen rising prices from suppliers which I also need to factor in. My prices will need to rise to cover at least the fee rise plus probably a bit more for the other increases I mention.

Assuming it is a level playing field all my FBA competitors will need to make similar increases. In the short term it is possible some may choose not to increase their prices or may not be aware of the changes. This could impact my sales so I may see a drop initially until they increase their prices.

It is also possible on some lines the prices will never be increased by my competitors and I will have to stop stocking these. To be fair this happens a lot now with some sellers selling at prices too low to compete and I stop selling those lines.

I am fortunate I have had a good few months and I am having another good month so I have plenty of reserves available if there are a few months with decreased sales.

#99

It’s not just about leveling up with your competitors or selling a bit cheaper than them. It’s about a customer believing they are getting value for their money. If something looks to pricey/expensive, then they are less likely to want to part with their money, I have 10 years experience with rising my prices and seeing sales decline.

Not only on Amazon, but also on other platforms, that is why I joined FBA to get more exposure for my products as I can’t keep expanding my product range, I only have so much space.

#100

Thanks for the offer to look for us. I have now checked on a prime account and it does show as Prime but the delivery time is still naff.

Also I did not receive an email, just saw the notice on the dashboard and clicked that.