Selling on Amazon often appears to be the ideal way to reach a global customer base with minimal effort. The promise of Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA), a service where Amazon handles storage, packing, and shipping for sellers, seems especially enticing. However, as countless sellers have discovered, the reality is not as straightforward. While FBA offers some conveniences, the excessive fees, poor customer support, and lack of control over products have left many disillusioned. In this post, we dive into the experiences of real sellers to highlight the growing frustrations of selling on Amazon.
1. Exorbitant Fulfillment and Storage Fees: Is FBA Worth It?
For many sellers, FBA initially seems like a time-saver, offering a seamless way to offload the complexities of order fulfillment. But, as sellers begin to scale, the costs associated with FBA can quickly spiral out of control. One seller explained why they shifted from FBA to Fulfilled by Merchant (FBM):
“I have reduced my oversize FBA lines and retained the respective FBM offers. The main reasons are excessively high fulfillment costs and storage fees. Sales may be a bit less, but it’s not a problem as I am now in control of my costs.”
In particular, sellers with bulk orders feel the pinch when FBA doesn’t offer economies of scale. Another seller emphasized this frustration:
“I recently had an FBM £12 item that a customer ordered 10 of, so I made considerably more margin on this order than if it had been in Amazon’s warehouse. The way I see it, if I am going to do some sales FBM and pick/pack/ship myself, I may as well do them all.”
For many, the difference in profit between FBA and FBM is staggering. As another seller shared:
“We had a product where we make £1.30 profit per sale. If the FBA order was for a quantity of 10, we made £13. But with FBM, for the same quantity, the profit was £49.”
This drastic difference in margins has led many sellers to reconsider the value of FBA, especially when the storage fees and fulfillment costs continue to rise.
2. The Frustration of Returns and Lost Items
Returns are a necessary part of any retail business, but when you’re selling through FBA, returns can quickly become a nightmare. Many sellers have reported issues with returned items going missing or not being restocked properly. One seller described their experience with Amazon’s warehouse:
“On the few items I have sent to Amazon’s warehouse, I have had things go missing. I have also had items stay in the warehouse too long (my mistake on not doing enough research on that particular product), and then had to pay excess storage. Ultimately, I had to pay for them to be sent back.”
Another seller voiced frustration over the unpredictability of returns:
“With FBA, I constantly get return emails with no reason for the return. The return doesn’t get seen again in most cases, and keeping up with all this for a small company is impossible.”
These challenges are compounded by Amazon’s often confusing or unhelpful customer service, leaving sellers with little recourse when issues arise.
3. Customer Support: A Source of Aggravation
One of the most frequent complaints from Amazon sellers is the lack of adequate customer support. As one seller put it, getting help from Amazon’s FBA team can feel like an impossible task:
“We gave up contacting them, as Amazon FBA support was almost impossible to contact, and we just ended up losing money in the end.”
Another seller echoed this sentiment, pointing out how difficult it is to get any kind of resolution when something goes wrong:
“Rarely, Amazon would send the wrong item. When I say wrong, I mean something I don’t sell. I had a customer kick off because they received a mousepad instead of a badge. I don’t sell mousepads, and there’s no way I inadvertently packed one. Yet, as far as Amazon was concerned, I was in the wrong.”
This lack of support creates a constant source of stress, particularly for small sellers who rely on Amazon to manage a significant portion of their business operations. With little accountability and slow responses, sellers are left to handle the fallout on their own.
4. FBA vs. FBM: A Tough Choice
The choice between FBA and FBM isn’t always easy. For some sellers, the convenience of FBA is worth the higher fees and potential risks, especially for those moving high volumes of inventory. However, for smaller sellers, FBM often provides better control over costs and profits. One seller explained their shift away from FBA:
“Over the last 15 months, I have gone from 95% FBA sales to 95% FBM sales. Profit and sales are still good, and I am probably selling more than I was when I was mostly FBA. I feel more in control, returns are lower, and I have more stock to sell on other marketplaces.”
While FBM allows for more control over margins and stock management, it also requires more work. Sellers are responsible for picking, packing, and shipping their products, which can be time-consuming. One seller highlighted the trade-off:
“The only downside is that it takes a lot longer to dispatch orders each day than it would to pack up the same number of items for FBA.”
Still, for many sellers, the benefits of FBM far outweigh the drawbacks, particularly when they consider how much more they can earn per order compared to FBA.
5. Amazon’s Stranglehold on Small Businesses
The sense that Amazon takes advantage of its sellers is pervasive among the seller community. With strict policies, penalties for minor mistakes, and frequent changes to the seller terms of service, many sellers feel that Amazon wields too much power. One seller candidly expressed their frustration:
“Let’s be honest about it—Amazon are the biggest crooks in the world, and the way that they abuse their sellers is shameful.”
Other sellers have noted the increasing difficulty of maintaining profitability on the platform:
“At the moment, after selling on Amazon since 2010, I am really seeing it’s not what it was and really not something I would be getting into if I was starting now. The good sellers that got Amazon where they are today are just treated like muck.”
As Amazon tightens its grip on sellers with ever-increasing fees and changing policies, many sellers are reevaluating whether it’s worth staying on the platform at all.
6. The Hidden Stress of Selling on Amazon
For many, selling on Amazon has become synonymous with stress. From constantly changing rules to the platform’s convoluted interface, sellers often find themselves spending an inordinate amount of time just keeping up with Amazon’s requirements. One seller summed up the issue well:
“In comparison to my other platforms, Amazon probably takes up 95% of my time with how unnecessarily convoluted it is. Too many metrics and policies compared to other platforms, and the impossibility to get even minor revisions changed.”
Another seller echoed this sentiment, sharing their experience of trying to deal with Amazon’s complex and rigid policies:
“Constant targets. Threats and penalties for not selling things quickly enough… the stress is too much for a small business.”
For small businesses, selling on Amazon often means juggling multiple challenges, with little support or transparency from the platform itself.
7. Is It Time to Move On from Amazon?
Given the mounting frustrations with FBA and Amazon’s treatment of sellers, many are beginning to wonder if it’s time to move away from the platform entirely. One seller, after a decade of selling on Amazon, made the difficult decision to pull out:
“After 10 years on Amazon, I realized I was actually getting more orders comparatively from other marketplaces once I re-tweaked all my listings. I have pulled out all my FBA stock and decided to do FBM in limited quantities for this Christmas season. I will eventually pull out from Amazon altogether in January.”
Another seller is considering the same move:
“I am actually considering pulling out of selling on Amazon altogether… I think the sellers need to get together and take group action against Amazon to recover all the money collectively lost to these corporate gangsters.”
Conclusion: Is Selling on Amazon Worth It?
While Amazon offers sellers access to a vast customer base and the convenience of FBA, the growing costs, lack of support, and constant changes in policies have pushed many sellers to the brink. The appeal of easy fulfillment is often overshadowed by poor profit margins, missing items, and complex return processes. For some, Fulfilled by Merchant (FBM) offers a more profitable and controllable alternative, but it requires more hands-on effort.
Ultimately, selling on Amazon is no longer the golden opportunity it once was for many small businesses. As sellers share their frustrations and more begin to leave the platform, it’s clear that Amazon’s relationship with its sellers is increasingly strained. For new sellers considering the marketplace, it’s worth carefully weighing the risks against the rewards.
