Amazon To Increase UK Multi-Channel Fulfillment Fees By November 12th

Amazon just announced another fee increase that may whittle away at your profits just in time for the holidays. 💸 

Amazon said that they will be increasing the multi-channel fulfillment (MCF) single-unit-order fulfillment fees beginning 12th of November this year. The price hike will apply to all parcel size tiers and already includes the additional fuel and inflation costs. 

The retail giant explained the increase mirrors the surge in order fulfillment and logistical costs, and will allow them to keep on providing the same high-speed delivery and high-quality service their customers expect. 

This is the latest in the seemingly never-ending fee increases Amazon imposes on its independent sellers.

If you have been following our posts for some time, you may remember the Amazon Fee Stack, the term we’ve assigned to the incremental but regular fee increases that Amazon has been making at the expense of the sellers’ profit margins. 

⚠️ Constant price hikes, even if they are only small in amount, can have a negative effect on your bottom line.

When you add them all up, you may be surprised at just how much they amount to. And when you add these higher fees on top of all the other increasing operating costs of your business, you may be shocked to see how little is left for your business to operate sustainably.

UK MCF Fees Before November 2022

Amazon actually reduced their MCF fees for specific size categories beginning on April 26, 2021.

For the large envelope 960g size tier, for example, the MCF fees for Standard and Expedited Delivery dropped from £3.93 and £4.95 to £3.39 and £4.10, respectively.  

But starting from May 12, 2022, Amazon added a 4.3% fuel and inflation fee to the existing FBA fulfillment fee per-unit rates in the UK and other European countries and territories. MCF, in case you’ve forgotten, is a division under the FBA Program.

UK MCF Fees After November 2022

Have a look at the table below to see the difference between the old and new MCF rates per unit for local and international deliveries. Keep in mind that these rates apply to standard shipping, not expedited shipping.

	Local shipping		Cross-border shipping
	Domestic, Multi-Country Inventory, Pan-European		European Fulfillment Network
Size tier	Before November 12	After November 12	Before November 12	After November 12
Small envelope to 80g	£3.15	£3.31	£4.59	£4.96
Standard envelope to 210g	£3.30	£3.45	£4.74	£5.12
Large envelope to 960g	£3.39	£3.48	£5.10	£5.51
Standard parcel to 1.4kg	£3.65	£3.91	£7.75	£8.37
Standard parcel to 6.9kg	£4.95	£5.90	£11.73	£13.07
Standard parcel to 11.9kg	£6.38	£7.34	£12.75	£15.41
Standard oversize to 2.7kg	£6.48	£7.13	£13.82	£14.93
Standard oversize to 29.76kg	£9.28	£9.45	£19.53	£21.09
Large oversize to 31.5kg	£13.77	£14.50	£28.66	£30.95

For local shipment, sellers will have to pay an extra £0.09 to £0.96 per unit – depending on the size of the product – after the MCF fee adjustment takes effect on November 12. 

Following our large envelope 960 g size tier example, Amazon increased the MCF rate per unit by 2.69% from £3.39 to  £3.48, or an additional £0.09. If your item falls under the standard parcel to 6.9 kg size tier, expect to fork out an extra £0.95 per unit as the rate jumped by 17.51% from £4.95 to £5.90.

On the other hand, cross-border shipping will incur higher rates – between £0.37 to £2.66 more per unit. From £5.10, the new rate for an item under the large envelope 960 g size tier will be £5.51 – an increase of £0.40 or 8.03%.

If your product is categorized under the standard parcel to 6.9 kg size tier, you’ll see an increase of £1.34 or 11.42% as the old rate of £11.73 rose to £13.07.

These small increases, while seemingly negligible at first, can be significant enough to shrink your profits and test your business’ level of resilience.

Multi-Unit Order Discounts

The good news is Amazon still seems to be listening to sellers when it announced the launch of multi-unit order discounts, as suggested by the sellers themselves.

Sellers who ship multi-unit orders will enjoy lower per-unit costs, resulting in savings averaging to 25.2%. If you want to save more and/or offset the higher MCF fees, you may want to consider taking advantage of this new offer by creating multi-unit or cross-selling offers on your UK marketplace listings. 

Check out the table below to see the difference between the local shipment fees for single-unit orders and multi-unit orders.

Aside from this new discount, Amazon also shared three developments geared towards boosting their sellers’ business growth:  

• Launch of unbranded packaging for UK sellers, available for free
• Reached over 99% on-schedule delivery rate
• Allocated for the expansion of fulfillment center capacity

Read more on these in the updated MCF rates announcement under the section “What am I getting for these higher rates?” (Yes, that really is the name of the section.)

Keep your head up and your margins down.