Recently, Amazon has slashed sellers' storage capacity, causing some sellers to be unable to restock in a timely manner. However, according to the seller's news, Amazon's storage limit policy will be greatly adjusted. Cancel the previous quantity replenishment limit, and change the replenishment limit and storage capacity limit to storage capacity limit (by volume). In addition, the assessment of IPI performance will be monthly, and the corresponding quotas will be renewed monthly, with each quota valid for one month.

In the past, the replenishment restriction was mainly to limit the seller's replenishment quantity, and the storage restriction was mainly to limit the storage volume, and the constraints were different. Sellers need to make multiple measurements in these two aspects. According to the new warehousing policy revealed by the seller, the replenishment limit and storage capacity limit are combined into the warehousing limit, which simplifies the process and improves the seller's operational efficiency.

However, the increase or increase of items such as overage inventory surcharges, storage utilization surcharges, and monthly inventory storage fees may bring higher cost pressures to Amazon sellers.

01 Remove additional replenishment restrictions.

According to previous rules, Amazon sellers will have replenishment restrictions and storage restrictions. Restock limits are determined based on a seller's historical and forecasted sales. It determines the quantity of inventory items that sellers can send to the fulfillment center, and is set for different storage types (such as bulky items, clothing shoes, etc.). ). Refill limits change weekly. If the limit is exceeded, shipment creation will stop.

The storage limit is measured in cubic meters and represents the total inventory that the seller can store in the Amazon fulfillment center, which is related to the IPI inventory performance index score. If the limit is exceeded, shipment creation will stop and an excess storage fee will be charged.

The seller's new policy shows that the replenishment limit will be canceled, and only the volume-based storage limit will be updated every month. Additionally, Amazon will also provide projected storage limits for the next two months in addition to the identified storage limits for the next month. When the storage limit is not enough, the seller can apply for additional storage capacity through the storage limit manager, up to 5 times per month.

The main factors to consider when calculating storage limits are historical estimated sales, storage capacity, and IPI scores. Reviews of IPI's performance, which used to be quarterly, are now monthly. Sellers can then improve their IPI scores by making timely adjustments to their inventory management performance.

It is worth noting that the original storage capacity limit was limited to warehouse inventory, but is now calculated together with in-transit inventory. If the estimated volume of the completed goods exceeds the standard, the completed goods will also be restricted and excess storage fees will be charged.

Judging from the information revealed, the new storage policy will be implemented after March 1. Hugo consulted an Amazon investment manager across borders, and said that there will indeed be relevant adjustments, but the specific adjustments need to wait for official notification. It is estimated that the official document will be issued in a few days.

Some sellers also pointed out that the news they received from investment managers was that a new policy notice would be issued in the background soon. The new policy is more friendly to new accounts, and old accounts have to rely on their own abilities, depending on sales, account health, and IPI scores.

As for the position limit, some senior sellers believe that the position limit is a general trend, and even if the epidemic situation stabilizes in the later period, it will be a normalized policy. Because FBA limits the storage capacity, sellers need to find ways to stock up and transfer goods in overseas warehouses, which means that the platform transfers part of the cost to sellers. If the platform keeps opening new positions and receiving goods, it will be a huge cost. To limit the storage capacity, sellers who need to expand can only place the goods in a third-party warehouse or apply for additional payment, which is equivalent to letting the seller share this part of the investment and risk.

02 New storage utilization surcharge

In addition to inventory limit policy changes, multiple Amazon sites have experienced additional, new, or improved changes when it comes to storage costs.

It is understood that from April 1, 2023, the Amazon US station will impose a storage utilization surcharge on sellers who store in the Amazon logistics operation center and whose inventory is higher than their sales in the most recent week. Affected sellers are mainly professional sellers with storage utilization rates higher than 26 weeks.

In addition, starting from April 15, 2023, Meizhan will also charge a surcharge for overage inventory. For inventory ages between 271 and 365 days, a surcharge will be added. An overage inventory surcharge will apply for products between 180-270 days old, excluding clothing, footwear, bags, jewelry and watches.

At the same time, on February 1, 2023, the monthly inventory storage fee of the Amazon US station will also increase! Non-peak season storage fees (January to September), add $0.04 per cubic foot for standard-sized items; $0.03 per cubic foot for oversized items. During peak season (October-December), the cost of sortable items will remain the same, and non-sortable oversized items will increase by $0.20 per cubic foot.

Amazon has made it clear that the biggest “culprit” that can cause additional storage costs is excess inventory. Compared with the monthly storage fee, the excess inventory surcharge is higher, especially for excess inventory exceeding 365 days. In the peak season of the fourth quarter, the overage inventory surcharge can be as high as 13 times the usual monthly storage fee!

According to Hugo's cross-border understanding, the storage cost of the Japanese station has also changed. From April 1, 2023, the monthly storage rate for clothing and footwear products, and large and oversized products will remain the same, and the rate for other small and standard-sized products will increase by 10%. From April 15th, if the storage period is between 271-365 days, an overage inventory surcharge will be levied at 6.096 yen per cubic decimeter per month.

Regarding the above statement, many sellers said that the increase in Amazon's storage costs will bring new cost pressures to sellers, and the real test in 2023 will be the control of sellers' inventory turnover rate!