New FBA Storage Utilization Surcharge Fee Starts April 1, 2023

At this point, most Sellers have probably accepted that selling on Amazon requires constantly adapting to increasing overall fees. To no one’s surprise, Amazon will begin introducing a new Fee for FBA Sellers beginning April 1, 2023 — the Storage Utilization Surcharge. 

How Will FBA Fees Change Starting April 1? 

Soon, FBA Sellers will begin to be charged a new Storage Utilization Surcharge Fee in addition to all other existing FBA Fees. But what exactly does that mean? 

Amazon has laid out the new fee in the 2023 FBA monthly storage fee and aged inventory surcharge changes Help Page: 

“Starting April 1, 2023, we will introduce a storage utilization surcharge for the monthly storage fee. The surcharge will be based on the storage utilization ratio, which is the ratio of your average daily inventory volume stored in cubic feet divided by the average daily shipped volume in cubic feet over the trailing 13 weeks. We will calculate the storage utilization ratio on the last day of a given month. This means that for inventory stored in April 2023, we will calculate the storage utilization ratio on April 30 and apply the surcharges in May 2023 storage fee charges.” 

Off-Peak Period: 

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Peak Period:

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What Can Sellers Do to Prepare for the Surcharge? 

Sellers should focus on improving their Storage Utilization Ratio to avoid increased fees. The rate in which Sellers can sell through inventory is a huge factor when selling via FBA.

If your product sits on the shelf at Amazon’s fulfillment centers for longer than 26 weeks, you will begin to pay an additional $0.69 per cubic foot, and after 39 weeks, you will pay an additional $0.94. We recommend Sellers to get ahead of this by asking the below: 

• Are you winning the Featured Offer/Buy Box enough to sell through in a reasonable amount of time? 
• Is your Adverising Strategy effective enough to convert to substantial sales? 

• Are you compiling a Monthly Inventory Age Report to stay on top of inventory age by either removing the units or preparing for the fees and surcharges that come with Aged Inventory? 

If you answered no to any of the above questions, Blue Wheel/Retail Bloom can help! If you're interested in learning more about how we can assist your brand efforts in online marketplaces, schedule a consultation with our team. 

Why Did Amazon Create Another Fee? 

It’s likely that one of the main reasons Amazon will be introducing the new surcharge fee to discourage inventory from being stored at their Fulfillment Centers long term. It’s been stated before that Amazon’s fulfillment centers are not storage centers — they exist to ship units.  

Part of the deal on Amazon’s side is the orders themselves, and if your products are not getting sold for extended periods of time, they will make up for the difference by charging you multiple fees and giving you the option to remove the units (for a fee). This is why it’s super important to only send in products with a history of selling-through quickly to be sold via FBA.