Amazon FBA small and light: All you need to know

The multiple fees associated with the fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) program has often been regarded as an obstacle to selling small and cheap items. FBA has allowed sellers across the world to scale their Amazon businesses at an unprecedented rate. However, for smaller products, the added fees meant lower margins. This is why many sellers stayed away from selling products under $10. 

Amazon now has a solution to that problem. With the small and light program, you can maintain profitability while selling products priced at or below $7. What is the program and how can you sign up? Let’s take a look.

Quick guide

1. What is Amazon FBA small and light?
2. Amazon FBA small and light: Benefits
3. Amazon FBA small and light fees
4. How to enroll for FBA small and light
5. Final thoughts

Additionally, the following categories and types of products are not eligible for Amazon FBA small and light.  

• Restricted products
• FBA prohibited products
• Adult products
• Dangerous goods
• Temperature-sensitive products (like chocolates)

So, how do you find the best products to sell using the program? Finding the right product and the right supplier is just as important for smaller and cheaper products. 

Since you are dealing with tighter margins, sourcing is all the more important. To make product sourcing easy and effective, you can use SellerApp’s product sourcing tool, developed in partnership with Alibaba. 

Additionally, you can use the FBA calculator to find exactly how much money you’ll have to pay as FBA fees. 

Amazon FBA small and light: Benefits

The program is created to encourage sellers to list fast-moving and light products. You pay a lower fulfillment fee while getting the major benefits of Amazon FBA.   

• Free Prime delivery: Products sold under the small and light program are eligible for free Prime delivery (within 3-5 business days). Amazon customers without a Prime membership will also get free delivery within 6-8 business days. Being eligible for Prime will give your products a massive boost in invisibility. Additionally, customers will not need to make a minimum purchase of $25 to qualify for free shipping. This usually translates to more sales and profits.

Additional read: Amazon Profit Margin: All that Finally Matters.

• Reduced fulfillment fees: This is the primary benefit of the program. The lower fulfillment fees will help your margins, or you can choose to pass on those savings to the customer with competitive prices. Either way, it is a win-win situation.
• Amazon’s A-Z guarantee: Being part of the FBA program comes with many perks. One of them is Amazon’s A-Z guarantee. Customers trust Amazon and with FBA, that trust extends to you. Amazon’s world-class team will take care of customer queries and refunds while you focus on your business.
• Free Promotions: Some products priced $5 or under in the consumables category (beauty, health & personal care, grocery, baby – excluding Apparel) may be eligible for a 5% discount when a customer orders two or more units of the item. In these cases, the discount is covered by Amazon and you won’t be changed. Essentially, they are free promotions for your products that don’t hit your bottom line.

Amazon FBA small and light fees

Let’s get down to the most important part of the small and light program – the lower fulfillment fee. These are the fulfillment fees for Amazon FBA small and light in the United States and the United Kingdom. 

Country	Size	Volume	Fulfillment Fee
United States	16x9x4 inches or less	4 oz. or less	$1.97
United States	16x9x4 inches or less	4+ oz. to	$2.39
UK	23x15.5x0.4 cm or less (small letter)	92 g or less	£0.60
UK	30x22.4x2.4 cm (large letter)	225 g or less	£0.80

It is abundantly clear that Amazon FBA small and light is great for your bottom line. Plus, it helps you reach a much wider audience and come with all the benefits of FBA. Also, keep in mind that only the fulfillment fees are lower, all other FBA fees remain the same with small and light. 

What are the various FBA fees that you’ll have to pay? Check out this detailed video to learn all about the various fees associated with the program. 

How to enroll for FBA small and light

Now that you’re up to speed with how the program works, let’s take a look at how you can enroll for Amazon FBA small and light. 

1. Create or use an existing MSKU (merchant stock keeping unit) depending on your business plan. You can use Amazon’s small and light enrollment guide to help you figure out what you need to do.
2. Got your MSKUs ready? Log in to seller central and access the enrollment page.
3. Download the enrollment template.
4. Enter the relevant MSKUs in the provided fields. Make sure you remove extra spaces before and after your MSKUs – this is to ensure that there are no upload errors.
5. Upload the updated document to seller central.
6. Monitor and review upload status. The time taken to process your request depends on the file size. Once the processing report is available, make sure you double-check the report for errors.
7. Ship the products to the Amazon fulfillment center. You need to send at least 24 items for each MSKU.

That’s it! You’re all done and ready to sell on Amazon. 

Final thoughts

Amazon FBA small and light is a great way to make money selling cheap, small, and light products on Amazon. The lower fulfillment fee might look negligible at first, but when you have a product selling like hotcakes, it adds up. 

Of course, a lot depends on finding the right product. Even after finding the perfect product, you need to create a kickass listing and optimized PPC campaigns. 

Need help managing your PPC campaigns? SellerApp has you covered with our expert PPC management services. We combine the best of machine learning technology and PPC expertise to deliver optimal advertising outcomes every single time. 

Additional Resource:

Should You Pick Amazon Dropshipping or FBA

Top 3 FBA Errors and How to Get Your Money Back

The True Power of Amazon FBA

FBA Onsite: The Ultimate Resource For Amazon Sellers