Dive Brief:
- Enrollment has reopened for Amazon's Seller Fulfilled Prime program, in which third-party sellers independently handle fulfillment while still meeting Amazon Prime delivery requirements, the company announced last week.
- Amazon originally planned to impose a 2% fee on sales through the program, Bloomberg reported. The company said it removed that added charge after weighing seller feedback.
- "The intent of the program fee was to cover Amazon's costs required to develop and run the program," Amazon said in its announcement to sellers. "After careful consideration, we've made the decision not to implement this fee to ensure sentiment related to the fee does not impact program participation."
Dive Insight:
Amazon's reopening of Seller Fulfilled Prime enrollment comes as it faces a Federal Trade Commission lawsuit claiming sellers are cornered into using the company's fulfillment services, limiting alternative delivery approaches.
The FTC's complaint described Seller Fulfilled Prime as a popular service before Amazon stopped new enrollment in 2019. Amazon said the pause was due to the program not meeting shopper expectations, and it wanted to implement more support for sellers and clearer standards.
With Seller Fulfilled Prime's reopening, more sellers will have the opportunity to display coveted Prime branding on their products while having more control over the fulfillment process. But obtaining and maintaining eligibility means meeting Amazon's various program requirements.
Businesses looking to enroll in Seller Fulfilled Prime must first pre-qualify for the program's trial. Criteria for pre-qualification include self-fulfilling at least 100 packages with a late shipment rate of less than 4% over the past 90 days. Sellers then have to pass the trial by participating for 30 days while maintaining all of its requirements.
"The [Seller Fulfilled Prime] trial ensures your offers can consistently meet the high standards of Prime speed and reliability," Amazon told sellers in an announcement earlier this year.
Enrolled sellers must provide an on-time delivery rate of 93.5% while offering free one-day and two-day delivery for Prime customers, among other requirements, according to Amazon's website. The company says high-value items and products with variable demand are among those best-suited for Seller Fulfilled Prime.
