CHIna FBM

Fulfillment By Merchant (FBM) From China

Access Amazon’s Broad Customer Base With Quikful, the Best in China Fulfillment

  • Access Expert DTC China Fulfillment Services, Officially Support by Amazon FBM
  • Combined Amazon FBA and FBM Services for Maximum Impact and Flexibility
  • Easily-Established Amazon Presence for DTC Brands
FBM Explained

What is FBM (Fulfilled by Merchant)?

FBM (Fulfilled by Merchant) describes a service where a business is able to sell products on Amazon’s platform by using their own, 3rd party warehouses instead of Amazon’s warehouses.
An FBM service allows a business direct control over warehouse services, inventory management, and general fulfillment options while still being allowed to sell their products through Amazon.

Flexibility with FBM

Why FBM Offers More Flexibility than FBA

FBM services can offer businesses more flexibility than FBA for multiple reasons:

  • FBM has less fees associated with it than FBA, reducing the investment threshold to sell on Amazon.
  • FBM has less requirements than FBA, making it easier for new businesses or businesses with inconsistent sales volume to sell on Amazon.
  • FBM allows for more inventory control without hefty fees for slow moving inventory, which helps increase profit margins.
  • FBM generally allows for better, more direct control of your business, as well as the overall customer experience.
  • FBM allows you to do fulfillment for stores on multiple platforms outside of Amazon.

Businesses also get direct branding control, since orders fulfilled via FBM don’t have to be in Amazon branded boxes. Amazon FBM also allows for more control over customer support messaging, giving you more power to resolve customer complaints.

FBM Strategy

FBM and China Fulfillment

If you sell products on Amazon that are sourced from China, leveraging China fulfillment as part of an overall FBM fulfillment strategy is common sense. Using China fulfillment to get products to customers opens the doors to:

  • International expansion : China fulfillment allows sellers to launch FBM in international markets without having to invest in FBA stock.
  • Reliable shipping : Products fulfilled directly from China have reliable shipping times to any major market in the world, as fast as 5-8 days.
  • Responsive to varying demand : Using China fulfillment with FBM means you reduce the inventory commitment needed to use FBA, avoiding the waste of unsold inventory and long-term FBA storage costs.
  • Easier inventory management : Combining FBM and China fulfillment with traditional FBA services allows you to have a reliable inventory backup if the FBA warehouse sells out. Without the FBM backup, your listing gets deprioritized on Amazon when you sell out, losing SEO ranking and momentum.
  • Test new products : By testing new variants or colors you can check what sells well without committing to large stock at the start.
Amazon-Approved Shipping

What is FBM (Fulfilled by Merchant)?

As of 2023, Amazon officially supports shipping lines from China (like YunExpress), so businesses can formally use DTC China fulfillment with FBM without risk of account closure. Quikful can help you choose the best shipping lines for your products, and explain Amazon’s listing requirements for businesses that use DTC China fulfillment.

Hybrid Fulfillment Advantage

Hybrid FBA and FBM Services

Many businesses use FBA and FBM services to create a stable, resilient supply chain. Here are a few ways Quikful can help combine FBA and FBM services:

  • We can help you access and test international markets where it may not yet make sense to invest in FBA stock.
  • We can help create a hybrid fulfillment strategy for the same product, where fulfillment is primarily FBA, but shifts to FBM when the Amazon warehouse runs out of stock and is waiting for new inventory.

Combining both strategies allows businesses to take advantage of unexpected high demand without hurting the customer experience with unexpectedly long shipping times. When you partner with Quikful, our team can create a hybrid strategy catered to your specific needs while avoiding the complications that can arise with complex fulfillment logistics.

Amazon DTC Advantages

The Benefits of Listing on Amazon for DTC Brands

DTC brands that aren’t selling on Amazon could be missing out on enormous sales opportunities. Amazon is a great option for businesses who have established private sales channels but still want to take advantage of the volume of customer traffic Amazon attracts. Other benefits include:

Social proof : An established, well-rated presence on Amazon can help customers trust your brand in general, Amazon offers an easy, convenient way to build up positive feedback.
Easy SEO: Amazon has an authoritative presence on Google, and when customers search for your brand or product type, an Amazon listing is often one of the first search results.
Protect your brand: Listing on Amazon makes sure that customers find your branded listing instead of a competitor’s listing selling a similar product.
Validate pricing: Pricing your Amazon listing the same as your private, DTC store validates the price point when customers compare your products to the competition. Boost blended
ROAS: Quikful clients regularly see a high, overall, blended ROAS when compared to having a single direct paid channel.

FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions

Still not sure? Find answers to your questions here

While combining both FBA and FBM fulfillment strategies offers excellent benefits to businesses, it is not without its challenges. Here are a few problems that businesses need to be prepared to resolve when they consider pursuing a hybrid fulfillment strategy:

  • Complicated integration: Integrating both strategies can be technologically challenging, since you need to make sure what orders get fulfilled from where and what the threshold is to switch.
  • Time intensive: It takes a lot of time to monitor FBA stock levels, pursuing restocking, monitoring FBM stock levels, and making sure your supplier is manufacturing and shipping inventory to the appropriate warehouses.
  • Costly mistakes: If you don’t manage using both FBM and FBA appropriately, you could end up paying far more than you need to in fees, or you could lose out on the benefits that using both systems are supposed to provide.

Combining and maintaining FBM and FBA services can be challenging, which is why so many businesses have turned to Quikful for help. We’re experts at hybrid fulfillment, whether it’s combining FBA and FBM, or even combining general China fulfillment with a local warehouse of your choice.

There are a few potential downsides to using FBM instead of FBA. However, many of those downsides can be easily navigated by partnering with a high-quality 3PL, like Quikful:

  • No Prime badge: If you don’t use FBA, then you won’t have access to the Prime badge to advertise your products. Conversion rates tend to be lower for products without the Prime badge, though businesses can still find success on Amazon without it. You may eventually qualify for the Amazon Seller Fulfilled Prime badge, though this isn’t usually open to new stores on Amazon.
  • Responsible for warehousing and fulfillment services: The most notable downside is that businesses using FBM are entirely responsible for warehousing and fulfillment services. However, if you partner with a knowledgeable fulfillment provider (like Quikful), you can actually end up saving money over FBA.

Yes, businesses that sell on FBM will still have to pay a referral fee when selling on Amazon.

There’s a couple of unique costs to FBM to consider:

  • Monthly subscription fee: If you want FBM Pro services, you’ll need to sign up for a monthly subscription (which is $39.99 at the time of this writing). This ends up being a better deal for larger volume sellers, since without this subscription, there is a per-item selling fee.
  • Per-item selling fee: If you aren’t on the pro plan, you’ll pay a $.99 per-item selling fee. If you have low sales volumes (like if you sell very expensive products), then this fee might not be an issue. If you have decent sales volume, you’ll likely want to consider the pro plan.
  • Referral fee: Regardless of what plan you’re on, businesses still pay a referral fee for items sold on Amazon. The referral fee varies from product to product, so be sure you know the exact costs before you invest in selling on Amazon.

Amazon can’t guarantee the 2-day shipping for products that aren’t sold through their warehouses, which is why businesses that use FBM aren’t eligible for the Prime badge on products they sell.

In addition to the monthly subscription fee, per-item selling fee, and referral fee, businesses should also consider:

  • Warehousing fees: Businesses need to consider the costs of storing and managing inventory. They may run their own warehouses, or they may partner with a warehousing partner. 
  • Fulfillment fees: Businesses also need to consider the cost of fulfilling products from their warehouses, including what they charge for shipping, if anything, and if they will offer different shipping speeds.

Both warehousing and fulfillment fees are included in FBA, so it’s important to keep these fees in mind when creating an FBM strategy. Most 3PLs (including Quikful), will offer warehousing and order fulfillment services to make this process seamless for businesses.

Ideally, businesses use FBA and FBM, since that gives the most flexibility and benefit. Using FBA allows you to easily take advantage of the Prime badge and offer fast shipping, while FBM supports your store when your FBA inventory sells out. This prevents Amazon for lowering your listing and helps to keep your SEO presence strong.

Amazon Seller Fulfilled Prime is a program that offers the opportunity for businesses using FBM to have the Prime badge next to their products. In order to qualify, businesses have to prove that they can offer 1-2 day shipping to customers, just like they would expect with a typical Prime product. This program isn’t usually available for businesses new to Amazon, and we’ve seen reports that the waitlist for Amazon Seller Fulfilled Prime is extensive. While it’s a nice perk to have (and one that Quikful can help businesses obtain), it’s not something that you should count on any time soon when you start on Amazon.

Since China fulfillment is formally supported by Amazon, there’s no general risk to your account if you choose to use China fulfillment. Our clients have not experienced issues, though it’s possible for businesses to run into problems if they don’t implement and utilize China fulfillment and FBM correctly.

The following brands have shipping lines that are officially supported by Amazon FBM:

  • YunExpress
  • DHL eCommerce
  • WANB Express
  • Yanwen
  • 4PX
  • SFC
  • CNE
  • JCEX
  • Amazon Z-Parcel
  • SF Express
  • YDH
  • China Post

Not all shipping lines within these brands are compatible with Amazon FBM, but all of these brands will at least offer something businesses can use. Be sure to take your time researching the options to determine which shipping line is most ideal for your business.

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