Amazon FBA Small and Light fees in 2023

Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA) has proven to be an excellent fulfilment method, so it’s no surprise that most Amazon sellers are using it to better grow their business. However, if you’re selling a low-priced product, then it may not make sense to use FBA because of Amazon’s fulfilment costs, although there are exceptions.

The Amazon small and light (SnL) programme gives sellers the option to sell smaller, cheaper, and lighter produced at a discounted fulfilment fee, hence, allowing for a wider margin to pass on the savings to their customers.

This article discusses everything you need to know about FBA Small and Light fees, including Small and Light enrollment and how the Small and Light Amazon UK process works.

What is Amazon Small and Light?

FBA Small and Light is an Amazon programme which was created to reduce fulfilment costs for products which meet specific criteria, such as size, weight and price. “SnL”, therefore, allows sellers to offer smaller and more lightweight products to their customers at an affordable price.

Selling low-priced products on Amazon means that FBA may not be the best option as you’ll have to pass on the cost to your customers too. This is where Amazon’s Small and Light will help you save money on the FBA fees which sellers of regular products pay, which means you can increase your profit margins too.

Amazon Small and Light: What qualifies as “small”?

Any product measuring 18 x 14 x 8” or less and weighing 3 pounds in the US or 225g in the UK or less is considered “small” by Amazon and automatically qualifies for Small and Light Amazon UK. However, it’s good to stay up to speed on Small and Light FBA as Amazon updates the requirements from time to time. In addition, the product must also be priced under $10 or £8.09 and in brand new condition.

Please note that the following products do not qualify for Small and Light enrollment:

• FBA prohibited products
• Restricted products
• Adult products
• Temperature-sensitive products like chocolate although crushable products like potato chips and glass qualify if they are properly packaged per Amazon’s requirements
• Dangerous goods (also referred to as hazmat)

If your product complies with all the above criteria, you can be eligible for Small and Light enrollment, saving plenty of money on fulfilment fees. Do keep in mind that if you raise the price of your product to over £8.09, you will automatically be disqualified from Small and Light Amazon.

How much are FBA Small and Light fees?

A very pressing question that’s on nearly every seller’s mind thinking about enrolling in FBA Small and Light. Here’s a breakdown of the FBA small and light fees in both the US and UK:

From the above, you can see that any seller who meets the underlying criteria can benefit greatly from Small and Light FBA. It can help you potentially reach a wider audience as you enjoy all the benefits that FBA brings to your bottom line. However, it’s worth noting that Small and Light enrollment will only lower the fulfilment fees and not the other fees for FBA SnL.

Small and Light enrollment explained

By now, you’re up to speed on how Small and Light Amazon UK works – now we can discuss how to enrol in SnL:

• Create/use an existing merchant stock keeping unit (MSKU) depending on what your business plan is. Amazon’s Small and Light enrollment guide is helpful for understanding what you should do.
• After your MSKUs are ready, log in to Seller Central and access the SnL enrollment page.
• Download the SnL enrollment template.
• Now enter the appropriate MSKUs in the fields. Remove all extra spaces before and after your MSKUs.
• Upload the document to Seller Central.
• Monitor and review your upload status. The time it takes to process your request comes down to the file size. After the processing report is made available, double-check it to make sure there are no errors.
• Ship your products to Amazon’s fulfilment centre. At least 24 items must be sent for each MSKU.

And, we’re all done!

How is SnL different from regular FBA?

First of all, the general idea behind both is the same. The key differences mostly revolve around delivery times and fulfilment fees:

• The regular FBA fulfilment fee is calculated according to the product category, size tier, dimensional weight, and shipping weight. With Amazon SnL, the fulfilment fee is calculated according to size tier and shipping weight only.
• Regular FBA items come with the advantage of next-day delivery whereas FBA Small and Light products take at least 3-5 days to ship.

However, it’s the delayed shipping that makes Small and Light FBA a great low-cost fulfilment option. Unlike regular FBA products, Amazon isn’t tasked with delivering SnL products the very next day after receiving an order, thus, charging sellers less. Find more about FBA here

Is Small and Light FBA worth it?

Small and Light FBA provides a great opportunity to maximise your profit margins while still offering a highly reliable order fulfilment service to your customers. Here are just some of the benefits of Small and Light enrollment:

• As we discussed earlier SnL saves you money as you can still enjoy FBA services but at a fraction of the regular fulfilment fee, therefore, meaning less money is spent on operational overheads.
• Under Amazon Small and Light, there’s no Minimum Order Requirement. Customers can buy as many product units as they like and no matter how many units they require, you’d still be using Amazon’s fantastic FBA SnL service to deliver the goods.
• Small and Light Amazon UK allows you to offer up to 5% free discounts on items priced at £4.03 or less, if someone wants to buy multiple units. There are no charges due to Amazon for the cost of the discount.
• Small and Light Amazon also supports multi-channel fulfilment, which means you can fulfil orders on multiple marketplaces outside Amazon, such as Walmart and Shopify. Just make sure you know the corresponding fees for each platform.
• If you’re a Prime customer, shipping is absolutely FREE and you get access to millions of Amazon shoppers.

Are there any potential downsides of Amazon Small and Light? Sure, if it can be called that:

• Small and Light Amazon UK is available in select countries only. Australia, for example, does not have access to it (yet).
• Despite SnL products being “Prime eligible”, they do not qualify for next-day delivery.
• Sellers have to comply with certain preparatory and shipping requirements which, naturally, means extra work.

Small and Light FBA is currently supported in the UK, US, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, and Japan. Each marketplace has its own unique fee structure.

What are the Amazon SnL prep requirements?

Two things apply here: regular FBA packaging and prep requirements, and Amazon’s Small and Light prep and packaging guidelines when shipping items out to your customers. The most important ones are:

• Every unit needs to be packaged separately and have its own Amazon barcode.
• All products being shipped under FBA Label Service must have a single scannable barcode – e.g. UPC or EAN – and placed in a flat, easy-to-access location; barcodes must never be put on the corner, seam or curve of your packaging.
• Fragile and sharp items must be packaged appropriately so as to avoid breakage and injury to shipping handlers; crushable items must be packed accordingly to prevent any damage.

Amazon Small and Light Fee Changes Beginning March 1st 2023

Every March for the past few years, Amazon have changed and usually increased the pick and pack fees. In The UK Most fees will change between 1 and 4%. however most “oversize” items which are classed as “out-of-gauge” by most couriers, where a dimension is above 60cm will have a fee increase of approximately 12% with special oversize 20kg weight limits being increased by nearly 30%.

Closing thoughts on “What is Amazon Small and Light?”

Hopefully, this article has answered the question “What is Amazon Small and Light” and explained how it can benefit you as a seller. It has also shed light on the current FBA Small and Light fees, so you’ll know exactly how your overheads will be impacted. Finally, we shared some of the benefits of Small and Light Amazon, as well as a few potential downsides, and of course, how easy Small and Light enrollment is.

If you’re not sure whether your product qualifies for FBA Small and Light, Chris and his Amazon marketing team are just a phone call away. We can help you with everything from saving fulfilment costs to prep and packaging requirements and more.

Amazon Small and Light Amazon UK is an excellent way for sellers to extend the benefit of FBA fulfilment to their customers, while enjoying many benefits for themselves as well. It allows you to widen your profit margin and reduce overheads significantly, while also accessing a wider network of active Amazon shoppers. Take advantage of Small and Light Amazon today to better grow your brand and business.