Selling on Amazon is no easy thing. If you are a seller you know that the “unintuitive” Amazon commission system makes the task even more complex. It’s often difficult to interpret Amazon invoices because some item is not quite clear. In this article we will give you an overview of all the sales items and commissions that Amazon charges the seller for the many services it offers. After reading this article, Amazon reports will have no more secrets for you, and you will realize that some of those items you may have previously ignored are among the most important for your business.
Let’s get started right away!
1. Amazon Commissions
In this first section we will take a look at the commissions for all the types of services Amazon offers the seller.
We will look specifically at sales commissions, logistics commissions, and refunds.
1.1 Commissions on sales
Referral Fee | Commission:
This is the commission that Amazon deducts from each sale just for letting you place your ad on the platform.
The amount withheld depends on the category of the product, and usually represents 15% of the purchase price with a minimum of 0,30€.
Click on the seller central link below to discover how much it is for each category:
RefundCommission:
In case of returns Amazon refunds only a percentage of the referral commission previously debited for the same sale, and withholds the RefundCommission.
FixedClosingFee | VariableClosingFee:
This is an additional referral commission on multimedia products such as books, DVD’s, Video Games and Music.
HighVolumeListingFee:
This commission is charged to sellers who have exceeded the allowance for published ads. In Europe the allowance is 2 million SKU’s.
SalesTaxCollectionFee:
This fee is charged for the tax-collection service relatively to the application and remission of the Sale Tax (Only for the US marketplace).
Subscription:
Cost of subscription to Amazon’s Pro seller account at €39/month
ShippingHB:
This is the referral fee applied on the cost of the shipping when handled by the seller through FBM.
GiftWrapCommission:
This is the referral fee applied on the cost of the gift package when handled by the seller in FBM.
RunLightningDealFee:
Commission applied for the creation of a lightning deal.
CouponClipFee | CouponRedemptionFee:
Commission applied for the redemption of a coupon.
Amazon debits this commission for making the coupon visible on the offered product. The commission has a fixed price of 0,60€ per each redeemed coupon, and is due regardless of whether the customer that has redeemed it completes the purchase or not.
We have just concluded the first part of the article on the overview of Amazon sales commissions.
Did you know all these commissions related to your sales?
More importantly, are you also considering logistics commissions (which we will look at in the next section) when calculating your product margins?
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And now let’s continue with a review of Amazon warehousing and logistics-related commissions.
1.2 Logistics commissions
GiftwrapChargeback:
When the product is handled in FBA, the buyer pays the price of the gift package to the seller, but since it’s actually done by Amazon, the cost of the packaging will be charged back to the seller by Amazon.
ShippingChargeback:
When the product is handled in FBA, the buyer pays the shipping costs to the seller, but since the shipping is actually carried out by Amazon, the equivalent cost will be debited back to the seller.
Fulfillment by Amazon Fee | FBA Pick & Pack Fee | FBAPerOrderFulfillmentFee | FBAPerUnitFulfillmentFee | FBAWeightBasedFee:
Commission applied for Amazon Logistics services that include packaging, delivery, handling returns and support.
Visit the following link to get the updates on these fees:
FulfillmentNetworkFee:
Additional commission for international shipment. For example, if a product is purchased by a customer in Germany and gets shipped from an FBA warehouse located in Italy.
FBAStorageFee:
Commission for storing products in Amazon Logistics warehouses. The price is charged by the month according to the average volume occupied by the products in the warehouse during the period.
Click on this link to see the updated prices:
FBALongTermStorageFee:
This commission is applied to products remaining in the Amazon warehouse for more than 365 days.
Visit this link for the updated rates:
FBAOverageFee:
This commission is applied whenever your inventory exceeds the maximum storage volume allowed during an established period of time.
Check out this link to get the updated fees:
FBARemovalFee:
Commission for the removal of inventory which is no longer sellable.
Go to this link to see the updated fees:
FBADisposalFee:
Commission for destroying all the unsellable inventory.
LabelingFee:
Commission applied for labelling the products.
OpaqueBaggingFee:
Commission applied for opaque bag packaging.
PolybaggingFee:
Commission applied for transparent bag packaging.
TapingFee:
Commission applied for taping the package.
BubblewrapFee:
Commission applied in case of packaging with bubblewrap.
FBAInboundTransportationFee | FBA Fees | FBAInboundTransportationProgramFee | FBATransportationFee | TransportationFee:
Fees for transportation of goods to Amazon FBA warehouses.
FBAInboundDefectFee:
Commission for processing inbound goods arriving at Amazon warehouses requiring unexpected preparation.
Let us now explore the last type of charges received by Amazon sellers.
1.3 Refunds
FBAInventoryReimbursement:
This type of refund is issued for goods that are lost, damaged or missing. Amazon has even designated more specific categories for each of these events.
MISSING_FROM_INBOUND: Products missing from inbound stock of goods
LostOrDamagedReimbursement: Lost or damaged products
WAREHOUSE_DAMAGE: Products damaged in warehouse
WAREHOUSE_LOST_MANUAL: Products lost in warehouse
INBOUND_CARRIER_DAMAGE: Products damaged on incoming carrier
REMOVAL_ORDER_DAMAGED: Product damaged during a removal order
ReimbursementClawback | Clawback | COMPENSATED_CLAWBACK:
This amount debited to the buyer refers to a previous refund that is no longer due. For example, if Amazon has previously issued a refund for having lost some products and these products should later be found, Amazon will take back the amount refunded.
CS_ERROR_ITEMS | CS_ERROR_NON_ITEMIZED | CSErrorNonItemized:
This type of refund is issued following a previous debiting error in order to rectify the mistake.
CRETURN_WRONG_ITEM:
Whenever a customer makes a return but sends back the wrong item, Amazon reimburses the seller as if the product has not been returned in the first place.
INCORRECT_FEES_ITEMS | IncorrectFeesNonItemized | INCORRECT_FEES_NON_ITEMIZED | NonSubscriptionFeeAdj | SubscriptionFeeCorrection:
In the event erroneous fees have been previously debited to the seller this type of refund will be issued to rectify the error.
2. Sales-related items
In this second part, we will outline all the items shown in Amazon’s financial reports and, in particular, those related to Orders and Refunds.
2.1 Orders
Principal | litem-price | Product charges: Selling price.
PrincipalTax | Item-tax: VAT on selling price
GiftWrap | gift-wrap-price: Price of the gift package
GiftWrapTax: VAT on price of gift package
ShippingCharge | Shipping | shipping-price: Price of shipping
ShippingChargeTax: Vat on price of shipping
In case the seller uses the VAT calculation service, Amazon effects the extraction and indicates the net and VAT amounts separately. Otherwise the Principal, GiftWrap, ShippingCharge amounts will include VAT.
2.2 Refunds
Refund: Amount refunded
RefundTax: Vat on refunded amount
ShippingRefund: Amount refunded on shipment
ShippingRefundTax: VAT on refunded shipping amount
Goodwill: “Goodwill” refund, a refund granted to a customer that doesn’t really have the right to it. It is usually granted when the customer is unsatisfied.
3. Conclusion
If you have read the entire article, you now know what Amazon is charging you for selling on its platform.
The best action a seller can take after understanding the commissions and costs Amazon charges is to associate each cost with individual items, day by day, so as to be able to calculate the margins and profits of his entire business.
The ZonWizard suite helps the seller to analyse in detail the revenues, costs and profits of the Amazon sale using advanced intelligence tools.
If you are not yet familiar with ZonWizard and want to start making the right data-based decisions, you can start your 14-day free trial for new users by clicking on the button below.
For example, you will be able to find out how the sales commissions, logistics commissions or refunds listed above affect your earnings per product and you will be able to take corrective actions to optimize your margins.
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Thank you for reading this article. We hope it will be useful for your Amazon business.
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Happy sales from ZonWizard!
