New Seller -- Question About $3.99 Shipping Credit
My apologies as this will seem like a dumb question -- I am brand new to selling and have tried to find this info but haven't come up with the answer.
I am seliing FBA and this relates to the $3.99 shipping credit. For instance: if I list a book at $4.99, and the Amazon fees are $5.00, as I'm listing it indicates that I will get $4.00 ( 1 cent plus the $3.99 shipping credit).
I'm trying to understand that because it seems odd that Amazon would just give me $3.99 for every sale, but it is written there.. But I still can't fathom that that is right.
So then if I go into Manage Inventory, it will show the listing as $4.99 and Amazon fees as $5.00, and will show that I will earn .01 cent.
Can someone please confirm which is correct? I'm trying to price my books well and depending on which is right, I could be pricing them much too low.
I'm an individual seller. Also was under the impression that FBA books are listed as Prime/free shipping. Is that $3.99 covering shipping and not being sent to me? That is what I would have thought except for it saying "you will receive $x" (which always includes the shipping credit).
Not looking for anything for free and not meaning to sound uninformed. It's all just so new and it's not clear.
Thank you in advance!
New Seller -- Question About $3.99 Shipping Credit
My apologies as this will seem like a dumb question -- I am brand new to selling and have tried to find this info but haven't come up with the answer.
I am seliing FBA and this relates to the $3.99 shipping credit. For instance: if I list a book at $4.99, and the Amazon fees are $5.00, as I'm listing it indicates that I will get $4.00 ( 1 cent plus the $3.99 shipping credit).
I'm trying to understand that because it seems odd that Amazon would just give me $3.99 for every sale, but it is written there.. But I still can't fathom that that is right.
So then if I go into Manage Inventory, it will show the listing as $4.99 and Amazon fees as $5.00, and will show that I will earn .01 cent.
Can someone please confirm which is correct? I'm trying to price my books well and depending on which is right, I could be pricing them much too low.
I'm an individual seller. Also was under the impression that FBA books are listed as Prime/free shipping. Is that $3.99 covering shipping and not being sent to me? That is what I would have thought except for it saying "you will receive $x" (which always includes the shipping credit).
Not looking for anything for free and not meaning to sound uninformed. It's all just so new and it's not clear.
Thank you in advance!
10 Antworten
Seller_Hi7wbO2Kbo6bl
Whether FBA or FBM, selling a book for $4.99 is a mistake on any site, and certainly on Amazon.
Fees and shipping for FBA are not the same as FBM.
If selling FBM, the shipping charge of $3.99 for a book order is the charge set by Amazon for sellers on the individual plan who cannot set their own shipping rate. That's for FBM.
If you are on the individual plan and list a book at $4.99 you would receive $$8.98 total. You would then owe Amazon $1.35 + $1.80 + $0.99 in fees ($4.14 total)
From that $4.84 left over after fees you would have to purchase shipping -- at Media Mail rates you would make a few pennies on the transaction if the package is under one pound. Most book packages are over that.
From those few pennies left over you would still have to pay for packing material.
Do not list books that cheaply.
Seller_nRFmxiQg4EGrw
No, you totally misunderstand what the shipping credit is.
If you sell a book FBM (not FBA), the default is that the customer will be charged your price ($5) plus a shipping charge of $3.99, for a total of $8.99. That's what the customer pays.
This would get passed along to you as $5 for the product charge, and $3.99 shipping credit; both of which would have 15% deducted for fees, on top of the $1.80 closing fee for media. You would then use this money to ship the product to the customer.
If you sell FBA, there is no shipping credit. If you sell it for $5 (which as pointed out will cause you to lose money), then Amazon handles the shipping, and you get only $5 before the fees, which typically for a small book will run about $5-6. But you also don't have to buy shipping.
For FBA, don't overlook the fact that you have to pay to ship the book to Amazon in the first place, including packaging materials and shipping label. As a rough figure, you can assume that it costs about $1/book, so you're already that far in the hole before you even pay storage or selling fees (or worse, removal fees when it never sells).
I would suggest that you not send any book to FBA which you can't price at at least $15; anything less leaves little to no room for profit, especially considering that by the time your book reaches Amazon, the prevailing price may have dropped, and you will have to decrease your price to be able to sell.
Cooper_Amazon
Good Evening @Seller_eScujmsiseGlE,
It looks like some of our seasoned sellers @Seller_nRFmxiQg4EGrw and @Seller_Hi7wbO2Kbo6bl were able to help answer your question.
If any of their replies helped you, feel free to mark it as “Most Helpful reply” using the 3 dots in the corner of their post. This helps other sellers find the answer to your question at the top of the post just in case they find themselves in a similar situation.
Please let us know if we can help answer any more of your questions or you may reach out to Selling Partner Support at anytime. Have a wonderful rest of the week and may the sales be with you!
Cheers, Cooper_Amazon
