Amazon SFP to Reopen in October; Sellers Wary of 2% Fee and Lack of Regional Participation
Amazon will reopen Seller Fulfilled Prime service to new merchants on October 1, 2023, the company announced on Tuesday. Back in June, it had announced its intention to reopen the SFP program “later this year” – see, “What It Will Take to Get a Prime Badge on Amazon with Revival of SFP” where we reported on sellers’ reaction to the news when first announced.
In today’s announcement, Amazon reminded sellers it had first launched Seller Fulfilled Prime in 2015 and said, “As the program grew, we realized that SFP was not providing the same high-quality experience that customers expect from Prime,” so it paused the program. “We are excited to be at the point where we will now reopen new seller enrollment on October 1, 2023.”
To start a 30-day trial, sellers must meet the following program requirements:
- Have a domestic US address as your default shipping address
- Have an Amazon Professional selling account
- Meet the following criteria over the past 90 days:
- Self-fulfilled at least 100 packages
- Cancellation rate less than 2.5%
- Valid tracking rate greater than 95%
- Late shipment rate less than 4%
Only sellers who are signed in to Amazon can view details about costs, but one seller responding to the announcement wrote, “Amazon is introducing a 2% additional fee for any ASIN enrolled in the SFP program.” General information about the program is available on an Amazon landing page.
Sellers again wished the program were available on a regional basis to make it easier to meet the strict shipping deadlines required by the program, with one seller commenting:
“Bring back Regional Prime settings. For example, If a seller is on the East Coast they should be allowed to offer Prime Shipping within a 2 day radius of their shipping location(s) while not offering Prime Shipping to the West Coast. With Regional Prime settings customers benefit from faster shipping speeds and Sellers benefit by offering Prime Shipping only within an affordable delivery area. Enforcing Nationwide Prime shipping to small businesses that cannot maintain a national delivery network negatively impacts both customers and sellers.”
