Amazon Provides Transition Period For Controversial New Low Inventory Selling Fees

Amazon sellers are breathing a sigh of temporary relief as VP Selling Partner Services Dharmesh Mehta announces a transition period for new low inventory FBA fees through the month of April.

Mehta shared the news publicly on LinkedIn but also said sellers will receive emails and notices across Seller Central as well, explaining for the month of April the fees will still be calculated and applied, but will then be credited back at the end of the month so sellers can use this time to understand what impact the changes will have on their businesses and make adjustments if needed.

"Since December, we’ve been communicating with our selling partners about a new fee starting today which will be applied to products sold through FBA that have had consistently low levels of inventory relative to their unit sales. We have heard feedback from a number of sellers that they are uncertain about how, if at all, the new fee will impact their business. To help address these questions and ensure sellers better understand how or if the fee will impact them, we have decided to have the month of April 2024 be a transition period for which all of these low-inventory-level fees will be credited back to sellers.
 
From April 1-30, Amazon will charge sellers the FBA low-inventory-level fees as they are incurred, but after the end of the month, we will credit back sellers for all low-inventory-level fees charged during this period. Our goal is to help our selling partners learn in real-time if they need to make adjustments to avoid the fee in the future, while having the peace of mind that during the transition period any fees incurred will be credited back.

In addition, this will provide time for the majority of sellers to see that they will not be impacted by this fee, and for those that do incur a fee on some units sold, it will most often be a rare case. So we also hope that through this transition period, these sellers will have a chance to better understand the actions they can take to ensure healthy inventory levels and eliminate situations where a low-inventory-level fee would apply."

The new fees were announced in December and were met with significant backlash from across the seller base, not to mention scrutiny from the FTC according to reports from Fortune.

What do you think of Amazon's temporary reprieve? Are you still concerned these fees will negatively impact your business? Let us know in the comments below!