Introduction
The Fulfillment by Amazon scheme has simplified product delivery for businesses around the world. The FBA program revolves around Amazon shipping — sellers can join the program and receive certain benefits, such as easier selling and fast Prime delivery.
This program tends to be quicker than non-Prime shipments and gives you a bonus when selling on Amazon as you’re available to Prime members.
As part of its service, Amazon also launched the FBA Small and Light program. It’s useful if your products are smaller than set weights and diameters. Here, we discuss the several benefits to your business and the costs involved.
What Is Amazon Small and Light?
Amazon FBA Small and Light is a service for any seller whose items are small and light. Small and Light items sold through the scheme can be part of Amazon Prime.
Small and Light offers the same benefits as the Amazon FBA program, but with cost savings, the FBA fees per unit for Small and Light products are lower.
How Does Small and Light Work?
As an FBA seller, you store a number of sellable units in the Amazon fulfillment centers. When a customer buys one of your products, Amazon FBA provides the classic Amazon Prime next day shipping or 2-3 business days shipping or any other services your product or customer requires.
The Small and Light scheme allows you to access these benefits for a lower price if your product meets the requirements.
What’s the Difference between Amazon FBA and Amazon FBA Small and Light?
The fees are lower than standard FBA fulfillment costs due to lower shipping costs for Amazon. You can set a lower customer price, provide free shipping, and sell a smaller quantity of sellable units while maintaining excellent profit margins.
The S&L scheme allows you to appeal to both prime and non-prime customers. There are also additional perks that you can offer your customers if you join the Amazon FBA small and light program, depending on your product types and which fulfillment scheme you join.
Who Can Qualify?
The standard FBA program is open to all people selling on Amazon. You can sign up through the Amazon website and quickly improve your customer service and appeal to Amazon Prime customers. As of December 2019, there were 112 million Amazon Prime customers in the United States alone, meaning it could be a great way to improve your profit margins if the program suits your product.
Small and Light is only open to sellers providing small and light products.
What Amazon Small and Light Schemes Can I Join?
Although you need to be selling items and have a seller central page, you can choose which FBA small and light scheme works best for you. Both of these include an additional fulfillment fee per item alongside the Small and Light fees listed here.
Individual Products Scheme
One option is to join the Amazon small and light program to sell each unit. You pay a fee for each product your customers order, plus an extra $0.99 as a membership payment to the FBA Small and Light program.
The Individual Products scheme helps you to avoid paying excessive Amazon FBA fees. You receive two significant benefits:
- Membership of the fulfillment by Amazon scheme for your small and light products
- The ability to add new products to your Amazon catalog
However, you do not receive as many features as the professional program. The Individual plan is best for people who are starting or unsure of their exact business and sales model.
Professional Products Scheme
To join the professional program, you pay Amazon FBA Small and Light fees of $39.99 per month. This cost is the same as standard FBA fees for the FBA Amazon program, but the FBA Small and Light has lower individual fulfillment costs.
This scheme gives you numerous additional perks as well as those in the individual plan:
- Create listings in bulk
- API integration
- Set your shipping fees for non-media products
- On-site advertising tools
- Run promotions like free shipping
- Add multiple users to your account
- Feeds, spreadsheets, and reports to manage inventory
- Qualify for top placement on product detail pages
As you can see, you receive numerous additional benefits due to this scheme. If you’re an established seller, this more comprehensive scheme will probably be best for you.
How Do I Join Amazon FBA Small and Light Program?
You can join the Amazon FBA Small and Light Program only if you are already an Amazon seller. Your products also have to meet the small and light specifications to qualify. Otherwise, you will need to join the standard FBA scheme.
There are four simple steps for sellers wanting to enroll in the Small and Light program:
- Go to your Amazon seller central account login and choose small and light FBA as the shipping preference for your preferred items on your page.
- Engage in product enrollment and select the products you want to be part of the Fulfillment by Amazon scheme. Only ASINs with a minimum of 24 units per month sold in the four weeks prior are eligible for the FBA Small and Light program.
- Check the eligibility guide to make sure your products can ship through the FBA Small and Light program. There are some restrictions. For example, temperature-sensitive products are not always eligible as the temperature-sensitive element makes them harder to store in a fulfillment center.
- Prepare your items and ship them to a fulfillment center. You need to send a minimum of 24 units. If you’re regularly selling fewer than 25 units of your product per month, this fulfillment option might not be for you.
Now you’re ready for your items to be part of the FBA Small and Light scheme. Your items will be eligible for a range of benefits, including exposure to Amazon Prime members and free shipping to customers in some instances.
Extra Bonuses
You also have the opportunity to use some of Amazon’s other services with Small and Light FBA. Small and Light sellers can have Amazon print the manufacturer barcodes for tracking and prep and package items, including gift wrapping, making life easier for sellers.
Overall the small and light scheme provides sellers with a range of benefits and can be useful, depending on your product.
Further Reading:
- Pros and Cons of Selling on Amazon for FBA Beginners
- Amazon Product Research The Ultimate Step by Step Guide
What Is the Minimum Quantity for Amazon FBA?
As discussed, to be eligible for FBA Small and Light, you need to be regularly selling 24 or more items per month. You have to send this amount of small and light products to the fulfillment center.
If you have fewer customers, you may find that the FBA Small and Light scheme has little financial benefit to you.
What Does It Cost?
The downside of the program is the Amazon FBA seller fees. You have to pay program fees to sell on Amazon through the FBA program.
The upside is that you pay through fulfillment fees rather than a regular payment: there is no fixed subscription for FBA services.
There is also no minimum order requirement — you can send as many or as few products as you like. However, Small and Light fees are cheaper than standard FBA fees.
What Are Postage Prices for Small and Light?
The price point for products and packaging weight for Amazon FBA Small and Light depends on the delivery country. If most of your products ship within the United States, there are two Small and Light Amazon FBA options:
Small Letter: 16 x 9 x 4 inches or smaller and 4 oz. or less.
Although shipping an item that’s 4 inches or less and so light may not be an option for all of your products, it’s a good deal. It costs only $1.97 per Amazon FBA product shipped.
Large Letter: 16 x 9 x 4 inches, but over 4 oz. in weight.
Though the dimensions are the same, the seller pays fees of $2.39 per unit to Amazon for the difference in weight.
You can compare this to standard US postage costs to see how much your business would save and whether it would be worth it.
Is Small and Light Worth Using?
Pros
- Prime product status can expose you to more customers and boost your sales.
- Using a tool like Helium 10 can help you find profitable small and light products to save on fees.
- After you’ve sent your products to a fulfillment processing center, Amazon takes care of the delivery.
- If you’re selling multiple products a month, you save considerable postage costs.
- With two schemes, individual and professional, you can easily choose the membership that’s best for you.
Cons
- The subscription fee can be expensive if you’re not selling many products.
- Your shop needs to sell 25 items or more per month to qualify for the scheme.
- You might not be eligible – specific products, like those that require temperature control, won’t work with FBA small and light.
Our Verdict
Ultimately, only you know your products’ specifications and whether FBA Small and Light will bring extra revenue and sales. There are undoubtedly significant benefits to the scheme, such as the ability to earn a Prime Badge, and the extras of the scheme like printing manufacturer barcodes.
Looking at product reviews on the Amazon seller forums can help you decide if FBA Small and Light is best for your products.
