Amazon Seller Fulfilled Prime questions answered

With Zenstores now supporting Amazon’s Merchant Fulfilled platform, we’ve noticed an upswing in questions on Amazon Seller Fulfilled Prime.

Seller Fulfilled Prime (SFP) represents a big opportunity for retailers – the Prime badge has fast become a hallmark for fast delivery, best in class customer service, and free shipping – so earning the right to show the Prime badge next to your products is sure to result in sizeable sales rewards.  

But there are a few factors to consider before heading straight to the application form. So, I’m going to answer five of the most questions we’ve heard in recent weeks:

1. What exactly is Seller Fulfilled Prime?

2. Am I eligible for SFP?

3. How do I ship SFP orders?

4. Is SFP worth the extra effort/time/money etc?

5. How do I apply?

What is Amazon Seller Fulfilled Prime?

Seller Fulfilled Prime is an Amazon fulfilment programme offered through the Merchant Fulfilled platform, this enables sellers to dispatch Prime orders from their own warehouse, keeping control over stock and the shipping process in-house.

This is in direct contrast to Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA) where both of these are handled by Amazon, at a cost.

Although, similarly to FBA, Seller Fulfilled Prime sellers don’t have to handle customer service or deal with a bespoke returns policy as Amazon will take care of these.

Am I eligible for Seller Fulfilled Prime?

There are two absolute necessities in order to be eligible for Seller Fulfilled Prime:

• Have a warehouse in the UK

• Have an Amazon Professional Seller Account

But, alongside these are a few benchmarks that must be achieved to get the lucrative Prime badge next to your products:

• Ship over 99% of your orders on time

• Have an order cancellation rate of less than 1%

• Buy shipping labels through the Buy Delivery Services

• Deliver orders with Amazon supported Seller Fulfilled Prime carriers

• Sellers must agree to the Amazon Returns Policy

• Allow for all customer service enquiries to be dealt with by Amazon.

Information sourced from the Amazon Seller Fulfilled Prime brochure

How do I ship Prime orders?

One of the leading reasons your potential customers subscribe to Amazon Prime and are content to pay the monthly subscription fee is the unlimited and free next-day delivery. So it’s understandable that Amazon expects the best from sellers dispatching Prime orders.

To maximise the chances that sellers are able to meet expectations, Amazon launched Buy Delivery Services. The Buy Services portal enables sellers to access real-time rates from Amazon’s chosen delivery partners and then buy postage. This ensures that Prime orders are exclusively shipped with couriers able to hold up their end of the bargain and get the order to the customer within the promised delivery window.

The majority of the responsibility for ensuring delivery is on-time lies with the business fulfilling the order so you’ve got to be running a tight-operation, especially as Amazon requires businesses to ship 99% of orders on time!

This is where Zenstores comes in.

Zenstores will import Prime orders into your Zenstores order list clearly distinguished from your other online shop and marketplace orders. Then when you’re ready to ship the Prime orders, Zenstores will request your own real-time courier rates from the Amazon Buy Services portal so you can purchase and print the required shipping label instantly.

This, of course, can be completed in bulk at your desired setting (Fastest, Cheapest, etc.).

Now with the order picked and packed, the shipping label on the box, it’s time to get the orders out of the door. But now you must loop in Amazon and the customers to let them know things are running smoothly and the aware their order is on its way. With Zenstores it’s just a case of clicking ‘Dispatch’ and all of this is taken care of, tracking numbers and all. Seamless and scalable.

Is Seller Fulfilled Prime worth it for my business?

The stats are resoundingly in favour of getting the Prime badge next to your products as soon as you can. According to Statista.com the average annual spend for Amazon Prime customers is $1,400, compared with $600 annual spend for non-Prime orders. So you can certainly expect a surge in order volume.

But, there are factors to consider aside from the increase in sales.

Prime members are entitled to free shipping so you will have to factor this into your selling price. As well as this ensuring your business is able to keep up with Amazon’s high-expectations for Prime-eligible sellers is a must, so without a platform like Zenstores, you’re going to run into problems fast.

How do I apply for Seller Fulfilled Prime?

You can apply for Seller Fulfilled Prime by visiting this link. Or by speaking with the Amazon Seller team.

More questions on Amazon Seller Fulfilled Prime? Start a chat with us and we’ll be happy to give answering them our best shot!