Amazon FBA Australia. How it works and how to get in.

As a business owner you might find yourself searching for an efficient way to connect to customers online and easily ship products to them. Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA) may be the answer you’re looking for.

In this article we’ll explore what Amazon FBA is and how it works in Australia. We’ll also let you know how Wise might be able to help with your business banking needs.

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What is Amazon FBA and how it works.

Fulfilment by Amazon, or FBA, is an order fulfilment service that is provided by Amazon and available to sellers on its marketplace.¹ It allows you to store your products in an Amazon fulfilment centre and when a customer makes a purchase, their staff will take care of the entire shipment process on your behalf.

Is Fulfilment By Amazon Available in Australia?

FBA is currently available in Australia and as of early 2022 there are fulfilment centres in Melbourne, Sydney, Perth and Brisbane¹ Where your inventory would be stored depends on your specific shipping plan, but more on that later.

Benefits of using Amazon FBA instead of fulfilling orders yourself

There are definitely benefits to using Fulfilment by Amazon rather than fulfilling each order yourself.¹

• Customers can get free Australian shipping for eligible orders over $39
• Amazon Prime members could get free, expedited shipping
• Your FBA listing is marked with the Prime logo and search tag
• Your customers get access to Amazon’s 24/7 support
• Amazon manages any product returns on your behalf
• Any returned items in a sellable condition are put back in your inventory
• The fees are “pay as you go”

How do you sign up to Amazon FBA in Australia

It's relatively simple to do the initial set up of Amazon FBA as most of the process is done online. Here’s a step by step look at what you’ll need to do.

Step One: Register as an Amazon Seller

If you haven’t already, you’ll need to start by registering as an Amazon seller using their online registration system. Once you’re registered as a seller you can log into Seller Central to start listing FBA products.¹

Step Two: Mark your products as FBA

Seller Central is where you go to create listings for the items you’re looking to sell on Amazon, regardless of the shipping method¹. The process for creating a listing is relatively easy as you’ll be guided with prompts. When you get to the prompt that says ‘Fulfilled by’ you just need to select ‘Amazon’ instead of ‘Merchant’ to make it FBA.²

Step Three: Send your products to Amazon

Once you’ve marked an item as being FBA, you’ll need to organise to send the products to a fulfilment centre. When Amazon receives the inventory your FBA service is ready and the ‘pay as you go’ fees begin to accrue.¹

How do you send your products to Amazon warehouses in Australia

Amazon has some very specific guidelines and rules for how they want Amazon FBA products to be shipped to the fulfilment centres.

Creating a shipment for Amazon FBA

The process for creating a shipment starts in Seller Central. Just like when you created your product listing, you’ll be guided through the process using prompts. Here’s how you get started.³

1. Login to Seller Central
2. Go to the Manage Inventory page
3. Select the products you want to send
4. Go to the ‘Action on Selected’ menu and choose ‘Send/Replenish Inventory’
5. On the ‘Send/Replenish Inventory’ page choose ‘Create a new shipping plan’

From there just keep working your way through the prompts to prepare the products and confirm your shipping plan.

Packing your products for an Amazon fulfilment centre

One important part of the process is making sure your items are packed according to the Fulfilment by Amazon guidelines to ensure they aren’t rejected and don’t attract any unplanned services fees.¹ It’s a good idea to review the requirements yourself, but here’s a few of the key points.⁴

• Make sure each box only contains items related to one shipment ID
• The merchant SKU, FNSKU, condition, quantity and packing option of the shipment should match the shipment details in your Amazon seller account
• Boxes with multiple items inside are maximum 63.5cm long on each side
• Boxes with multiple items inside weigh maximum 22.6kg
• The boxes should be RSC, B flute, ECT-32 or 200BH
• Only foam sheets or cushioning, air pillows, bubble wrap or full sheet of paper are used as packing materials
• Each box should have its unique FBA shipment label attached

Transportation to the Amazon fulfilment centre

Once you’ve finished packing you can organise a carrier to take your shipment to the designated Amazon warehouse.

If you have 15 parcels or less your shipment can be dropped off at any time.⁵ More than that, and your boxes will need to be on pallets and delivered by appointment.

Keep in mind that Amazon only allows professional carriers to deliver to their fulfilment centres. They also have set standards, rules and processes the carriers must follow.⁵ To make it easier for sellers, Amazon have created a carrier manual for deliveries to Australian Amazon fulfilment centres.

How to remove your products from Amazon warehouse

To remove your inventory from an Amazon fulfilment centre you can follow these steps.⁶

1. Login to Seller Central
2. Navigate to ‘Manage Inventory’ and select the items
3. Go to the “Action on selected’ drop down box and press ‘Create removal order’

You’ll be able to choose whether your stock is shipped to an address, disposed of or liquidated. Keep in mind that there are removal fees which are charged per item.⁶

What fees do you pay with Amazon FBA

Here’s a table of some of the fees FBA charges in Australia. Keep in mind these fees generally do not include any applicable taxes such as GST ⁷ ⁸

A short note on Amazon global shipping.

With Fulfilment by Amazon it’s possible to sell your products internationally¹. Keep in mind that different FBA fees may apply to global sales and there could be additional charges for you and your customer, such as import duties, customs fees and foreign taxes. You can read more about global selling here.

What should you be aware of before you sign up to FBA

Fulfilment by Amazon could be a great way to scale up your business, but it's always a good idea to examine any potential pitfalls. For you this might include some of the following.

• Cash-flow and managing product inventory wrongly may cause you to go out of stock and lose your ranking positions.
• You won’t control the product returns
• There are long-term storage fees
• Correctly preparing products for delivery to Amazon can be time consuming
• There’s a lack of personal connection to your customer base

Wise, Your International Business Account

If you choose to sell on Amazon you’ll need a business account to receive your earnings. This is where a Wise can help.

With a Wise business account you can have Australian account details as well as account details for several of the world's major currencies. You’ll be able to pay invoices to suppliers in over 70 countries and your money is converted using the real exchange rate, just like you see on Google.

To see how a Wise business account could benefit you, have a look at the product features for yourself.

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Sources:

1. Amazon AU - Fulfilment by Amazon
2. Amazon AU - List products for fulfilment by Amazon
3. Amazon AU - Send FBA inventory to Amazon
4. Amazon AU - Shipping and routing requirements
5. Amazon AU - Small parcel delivery with Amazon
6. Amazon AU - Remove inventory from a fulfilment centre
7. Amazon AU - FBA removal order fees
8. Amazon AU - Inventory storage fees
9. Amazon AU - 2021 AU FBA fulfilment fee changes
   Sources checked on: 1 March 2022