Amazon discontinues Small and Light program

Amazon is discontinuing its specialized fulfillment program for small, lightweight, and low-priced goods in Europe, after the discontinuation in the US. Starting from September 26, these items will automatically be subject to new low-price FBA rates.

Amazon introduced the Small and Light program in 2015. It allowed merchants to sell smaller, lighter, and more affordable products with reduced Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) fees. This helped merchants selling lower-priced items to save money. Amazon provided slower shipping speeds for these products compared to regular FBA items.

The discontinuation was announced earlier this summer in the USA and will take effect there on August 29th. The new low-price FBA rates will be, on average, 0.77 dollars lower per item compared to the current FBA rates, but around 0.30 dollars higher than the Small and Light rates. The advantage is that these items will now be delivered with the regular, faster FBA fulfillment speed. Merchants do not need to enroll to access the lower rates as it was in the Small and Light program.

Starting from September 26th, the Small and Light program will be discontinued in Europe, and the low-price FBA rates will automatically apply for sellers on Amazon in Europe.

The company works with country-specific price thresholds in Europe for this purpose. In Germany, the threshold for the lower fees is set at 11 euros, in France, Italy, the Netherlands, and Spain, it is 12 euros. In the UK, it is 12 British pounds, in Sweden, it is 140 Swedish kronor, and in Poland, 55 zloty.

The actual FBA fees for products falling under the price threshold also depend on their weight and dimensions. For users of PAN-European FBA, these fees range from €1.45 to €2.87, as calculated by Onlinehändler News. Merchants storing their goods in a single European Amazon location usually incur higher costs. Earlier this year, Amazon raised fulfillment costs in Europe.