Fulfilment by Amazon

Before listing products for Fulfilment by Amazon, it is important to know what is suitable for our fulfilment process and what is not. There are four criteria that can make products unsuitable for Fulfilment by Amazon:

Categories Requiring Approval

For some product categories, Amazon limits the addition of new sellers and closely monitors seller performance to ensure a high-quality experience for buyers. These measures are taken because of the types of products sold in the category, and often reflect concerns about consumer safety, product quality, branding, or import and export restrictions.

You can sell items in the following categories in the UK: Books, Music, DVD, VHS, Baby, Toys & Games, Electronics & Computing, Home & Garden, Shoes, Software, Sports & Leisure, DIY & Tools and PC & Video Games. Prior approval is required to sell in the following categories: Clothing, Health & Beauty and Jewellery & Watches. Contact us to request approval. For information on categories requiring approval in other Marketplaces, please refer to the following help section.

Restricted Products

Certain products are not allowed on the Amazon.co.uk website under any conditions. Some products may not be sold as a matter of compliance with legal or regulatory restrictions, for example, prescription drugs. Specific product content is prohibited as a matter of Amazon policy, for example, crime scene photos.

Please see our FBA Manual and the Amazon Services Europe Business Solutions Agreement for more information about prohibited and permitted products. For additional information regarding prohibited content and copyright violations, please see our Seller Offenses & Prohibited Content page. Restricted Products in other European Amazon Marketplaces can differ from those in the UK. Please ensure to check these restrictions for each Marketplace before creating offers. See in particular the FBA Manual for Germany and France.

Hazardous Materials

In addition, materials that pose a health risk due to toxic chemicals or volatile substances are not permitted. For a complete list of products restricted in our fulfilment centre, see our FBA Manual 2.5 Product Restrictions.

Improper Packaging

Amazon has established packaging requirements that help provide a safe working environment in the fulfilment centres while enabling an efficient fulfilment process. Included with the packaging requirements are physical limitations on the products we will handle in our fulfilment centres. Large or heavy items can pose dangers to employees and interfere with the fulfilment process. See FBA Manual 5.8 Packaging Requirements.

Fulfilment by Amazon offers three channels for uploading your listings to accommodate the scale of your business.

Add a Product

If you have a small number of items you want Amazon to fulfil for you, you can list them one at a time. This online tool in your seller account enables you to select items in the Amazon.co.uk and on other Amazon Marketplaces in the EU catalogue or add new ones if you have a Pro Merchant account. Once you have your inventory listed, you can simply convert it to be fulfilled by Amazon. For more information, go to Listing Your Item.

Flat File Feeds

If you have large volumes of inventory, you can list items by uploading a flat file through the Upload tool in your seller account. We provide an Excel spreadsheet template that you can use to build the file. This method enables you to directly list them for Fulfilment by Amazon and bypass the conversion process. For more information, go to FBA Manual 4.3 Flat File Feeds.

API Integration

If you have large volumes of inventory and development resources available to you, you can integrate your own website or inventory management software with Amazon’s inventory catalogue using Amazon’s SOAP API. This method enables you to directly list them for Fulfilment by Amazon and bypass the conversion process. For more information, go to Amazon Fulfilment Web Services.

Once your listings have been converted to Fulfilment by Amazon, the shipping workflow will walk you through the process of creating a shipment.

You enter item quantities and select your carrier. The workflow will identify inventory that needs to be labelled and provide item labels, packing slips and shipment labels that you can print. We’ll also notify you of any errors and provide tips along the way to help you streamline the shipment process. Once your items are packed and your shipment is labelled, you can hand your shipment over to your carrier. If you have a large shipment, you can also arrange for less than truckload (LTL) or self-delivery.

All full container loads, both domestic and international, must be loaded, braced and prepared to ensure the shipment is received undamaged and is safe to unload. Shipments in container must be palletized.

All shipments to Amazon FCs are subject to a safety review before unloading. Any shipment deemed hazardous to Amazon associates will be rejected and require rework by a third party. Typical reasons for rejection are broken or damaged pallets, incorrect pallet type, shifted or collapsed loads, damaged boxes, and over height or over weight pallets. Pallets must be 4 way accessible and the dimensions must be: 1200 × 1000 mm. Double stacked pallets must not exceed 3m in total height with each pallet being not more than 1.5m. There must be a 30cm gap between the top of the palletised stock and the roof of the container and a 30cm gap between the back of the last pallet and the back of the container to allow sufficient clearance for the goods to be unloaded.

Note: While we don’t want to limit selection for our customers, we want to help ensure sellers have productive inventory that converts into sales to avoid unnecessary storage fees. In case of inventory with slow sales conversion storage capacity available to individual sellers may be limited. Effective August 2, 2011, all sellers whose first shipment of inventory has not been received in a fulfillment center may have their inventory capacity limited

For more information, go to FBA Manual 5.3 Shipping Work Flow .

Inventory you send to an Amazon fulfilment centre is generally scanned and made available for sale within three business days of being received. You can track the status of your shipment in the Shipping Queue with the status cycling through In Transit, Delivered, Checked-In, Receiving and finally Closed. During the Receiving process, your item barcodes are individually scanned and entered into the tracking system, the dimensions and weight are captured for storage and fulfilment purposes.

For more information, go to FBA Manual 5.4 Shipping Queue .

Our Fulfilment Centres offer a secure modern environment. We store inventory either in bulk or in individual “pickable” locations. Media products are stored on library-type shelving in vertical, spine out positions with loose stacking to avoid “shelf wear.” Specialty items like high-value goods may be placed in specific secure areas of the fulfilment centre as appropriate. If inventory is damaged or misplaced while in Amazon’s control in the fulfilment centre, we will purchase the inventory from you.

For more information, go to Fulfilment by Amazon Replacement Value Schedule .

The unit dimensions are measured to the nearest 1/10' and the accumulated cubic feet of all your inventory is recorded each night for the total volume of your stored inventory. You pay for the average daily volume you have in storage during the month; this means you only pay storage for what is in our fulfilment centres while it is there.

For more information, go to the FBA Programme Fees or download the FBA Programme Fees.

Once your products are listed through Fulfilment by Amazon, your customers will be able to take advantage of offers such as FREE Super Saver Delivery, Amazon Prime shipping discounts, Express Delivery and Evening delivery in London and Birmingham with Fast Track Messaging as well as world class Amazon customer service just to name a few. When customers see “Fulfilled by Amazon” beneath your product listings, they know their orders will be fulfilled securely and on time.

For more information, go to Fulfilment by Amazon Programme.

With Multi-Channel Fulfilment, you can use Fulfilment by Amazon to fulfil orders from any sales channel. Once inventory is in our fulfilment centres, you can choose to sell it on Amazon.co.uk and on other Amazon Marketplaces in the EU or not. When an order comes in, tell us where and how to ship it, and we’ll do the rest.

You can submit orders from your seller account, by uploading a flat-file feed or by integrating with Amazon’s SOAP API. You can select between Standard Delivery (5-7 business days)or Next-day Delivery. Your packing slips will contain your business name and can include a customized message to the customer.

On Multi-Channel Fulfilment orders, you can work directly with your customers to handle customer service issues.

For more information, go to FBA Manual 7.4 Submit Orders for Multi-Channel Fulfilment.

With the exception of Multi-Channel Fulfilment orders, all Selling on Amazon fees will apply to purchases made on Amazon.co.uk. and on other Amazon Marketplaces in the EU. Unlike merchant fulfilled orders, you won’t receive a shipping credit.

For more information, go to Fees and Pricing or download the FBA Programme Fees (PDF)

Please note, that for orders placed on other Amazon Marketplaces in the EU, marketplace specific rates will apply. You can find these rates in the respective help section for that Marketplace and on the rate card specific for that Marketplace.

All Fulfilment by Amazon orders are shipped in Amazon branded boxes. The packing slip displays the Amazon brand and the name of the merchant. For Multi-Channel Fulfilment, you also have the option of adding a brief personalised message on the packing slip.

All products fulfilled by Amazon.co.uk are assessed a Pick & Pack Fee. The amount of the fee varies depending on these criteria:

• Dimensions and Weight: Standard or Oversize
• Product Category: Media or non-media

For more information, see FBA Programme Fees or download the FBA Programme Fees (PDF).

The cost of fulfilment depends upon the origin of the order.

If the order was placed on Amazon.co.uk and on other Amazon Marketplaces in the EU, you will be charged the following three fees:

• Pick & Pack (per unit ordered)
• Order Handling (per order)
• Weight Handling (envelope max 300 g, box up to 2 kg, box over 2 kg)
• Fulfilment Network Fee (Fee only applies if orders are placed on one of Amazon’s other European Marketplaces)

For Multi-Channel Fulfilment (orders originating anywhere other than Amazon.co.uk), you will be charged the following fees

• Pick & Pack (per unit ordered)
• Shipping Method (per order – standard or expedited)
• Shipping Weight

For more information, see FBA Programme Fees or download the FBA Programme Fees (PDF)

One of the advantages of Fulfilment by Amazon is the use of Amazon’s customer service to handle customer inquiries, refunds and returns. For orders from the Amazon.co.uk website that Amazon fulfils, we will manage all customer service associated with fulfilment of your products in the programme. Our online returns centre provides customers with help pages and details about how to contact us. If the customer wants to return a product, we direct the customer to our online Returns Centre.

For more information, got to FBA Manual 7.5 Customer Service.