What are Amazon FBA long term storage fees?

Twice a year Amazon makes an inventory clean-up, and the next one is due on the 15th of February. So it is a good time to refamiliarise yourself with Amazon FBA long term storage fees, what they cost and how you might want to avoid them.

Here’s what Amazon says of long term storage fees in the help section: “Long Term Storage Fees: On 15 February and 15 August of every year, FBA conducts an inventory cleanup. At this time inventory items that have been in our fulfilment centres for between 6 to 12 months will be assessed a long-term storage fee of £441.25 per cubic metre and items that have been for 12 months or longer will be assessed a long-term storage fee of £882.50 per cubic metre.”

The timings are calculated from the time the consignment arrived in the Amazon depot. So anything that’s been stored there before August 15th 2017 will be deemed liable.

If you have slow moving stock lodged with FBA, that hasn’t sold in over 6 months, then you need to assess whether you should be keeping it in the Amazon system. Obviously, for as long as it’s there your stock is costing you money in monthly storage fees. At the moment those fees are £0.48 from January to September and £0.68 October to December per cubic foot per month.

Obviously these long term fees are meant to act as a deterrent, because it helps neither merchants or Amazon to have stacks of non moving stocking in warehouses. And it helps Amazon too by freeing up space in the fulfilment centres. They don’t have infinite space after all.

Amazon FBA is a useful service but isn’t right for everyone and it’s vital to keep a close eye on what you’ve got stashed in the fulfilment centre and make sure that you’re not paying over the odds for a service that isn’t working for you.