Let's sort that out a bit.

Add to your regular cost of goods sold (which would be #1, goes to any book sale) : #2, shipping & materials to send to Warehouse, including tracking costs.

Fit in #10 here 'time costs of dealing with FBA - problems pre-sale'.

While you're waiting for a sale and shipment, storage costs at warehouse #7 and #8.

At sale, Picking & handling fees #4 and #5 - there are 2 sets of picking fees possible, that should be a separate discussion.

The commission and pro merchant or regular closing fee would be charged as usual.  (#3, I didn't see mention of pro merchant or .99 fee)

Add in 'Time costs after sale - any customer service referred to seller.'  Compare to all customer service after regular sales.

Add in handling returns that don't come back in same condition.

Add in handling stock that isn't performing as expected that you want to get off FBA, cost of return shipping or purging.

A major additional expense could be the cost (postage, packing materials, labor) of getting any unsold items back from Amazon, when you decide to close down. The alternative to having them returned would be abandoning them there, and there will probably be a fee for that, too.

Tom

Any14Deal wrote, "It is my understanding that you can NOT abandon items there. You would continue to be assessed warehouse fees even if you do not have items up for sale.

I don't have time to wade back through all the verbiage, but I am certain you can abandon the property and Amazon will dispose of it however they see fit, and your charges would stop. Nothing else makes any sense - and they do have that option for *certain* for damaged returns, so it would follow that they would use common sense here as well.

I believe the same to be true for vacations. If one is on vacation the seller still pays warehouse space for stock not on line.

I'm sure you're right - but of course that is true for *every* other option you have for storage. If you rent a warehouse the rent payment does not stop if you are on vacation. If you store them in your garage your mortgage payment does not stop when you leave.

I can see no way where a small seller using spare space in the home can make the numbers work using FBA - home space is sort of 'free' and FBA space has a cost. It is just a lower cost than almost any other commercial storage cost - if you can make the other charges (fulfillment, shipping, etc.) work properly for you. I have 4,400 sq ft of usable warehouse space that I can convert to 8,800 with the addition of shelves and equipment at the 2nd story level (like most warehouses there IS no second story, but I could stack product that high.

I have it at a ridiculously low rate considering costs in the area - 20-25% below market - and it is far more expensive than the FBA warehouse charges, mainly because they charge only for space the size of your goods, not for all the unused storage space space, break room, latrine, hallways, etc.

Regards,

John Brown

Any14deal wrote, "Many things have changed over the months...:

Indeed. When they first started, there were so many *silly* ideas they had that you could tell it was a new concept and they were sort of rushing to put the product out there. Abandonment is *such* a no-brainer. Why would you want your customer to pay for returns they don't want?

Even if you had to charge them a small fee, the only cost is pulling the items; deciding if you (Amazon) want to take title for free (in which case the fee would be waived) or toss it in the dumpster. Only cost is pulling the items, and that is not a huge cost.

Regards,

John Brown

IMHO, the main reason the "shipping holdback" fee was changed to the "variable closing fee", was so it would apply to FBA sales.

Tom

Yep I was hit with a VCF as well.  The thing that ticks me off is the item I sold isn't even a media item.  It is classified as a "Video Game" but is actually a audio/video cable.

The VCF is only charged on media items.  Other categories, such as Electronics or Toys are not charged this fee.