In March as the pandemic started to bite, Amazon couldn’t cope with the deluge of orders and decided to limit FBA shipments as well as a raft of other measures such as extending expected delivery dates to consumers for stock already in FBA. Most of these restrictions were removed a few months later but one remained – Amazon ceased accepting parcels and individual products weighing more than 15kg.
The reason for this ongoing restriction is that products (or parcels) over 15kg would generally require two people to pick, pack or dispatch and that made physical distancing in Amazon warehouses impossible.
Good news out today, Amazon are ready to resume receiving FBA shipments and processing of individual products and parcels over 15kg in the UK, France, Italy and Spain. Amazon have changed their operations to enable them to receive, restock and ship these products while, they say, continuing to keep employees protected and follow safety guidelines from local and international health authorities.
In March, Amazon also said that monthly storage fees will be waived for the products Amazon are no longer taking customer orders for due to not being able to pick, pack, or ship them. What this probably means for you is that if you had products in FBA weighing over 15kg that they’ve simply sat on a shelf for six months but can at last be shipped again.
What about selling in the mean time however? Have you been fulfilling these orders yourself? Did you have to arrange a carrier contract in order to ship them? Having not been able to send products weighing more than 15kg into Amazon FBA for over six months, will you now resume FBA shipments or have your removed such products from FBA forever?