If you have recently created your Amazon Seller Account and listed a product on Amazon. Then, now the next thing you need to do is choose a shipping method. Amazon offers mainly three options for shipping. Self Ship, Easy Ship and FBA. I will cover each shipping method first and then will provide a fare comparison of Amazon FBA vs Easy Ship. So, that you can decide for your e-commerce business which is better.
Self Ship
Self Ship as the name suggests you need to ship the product when an order comes and you need to provide the tracking details. For shipping you can choose any courier service as per their shipping rates. But while calculating the shipping charge of your product, make sure you calculate volumetric weight properly. So, you can calculate the Real Profit of an E-commerce Product.
See, if you have a unique product to sell, which no one else is selling on Amazon. And, you already have some audience for your products. Then, you can go by self ship. Else, don’t at all select the self-ship method. Because, if due to any reason, if you are not able to deliver products timely. Then, your amazon account health will get affected.
Amazon Easy Ship
If you have just started on amazon as a new seller, then you can blindly go with Easyship initially. This will help you understand how the Amazon ecosystem works. In a few words, amazon picks up a packed order from your location and delivers it to the buyer.
How Amazon Easy Ship Works?
If you have selected Amazon Easy Ship, then you get an Order. You have to create a pickup for the order. To create pickup amazon will ask you to enter product weight and dimension. And, based on product weight and volumetric weight (calculated using product dimension), amazon will show you a shipping fee. Once you accept it a shipping label with a tax invoice gets generated.
Now, you need to place that shipping label on your product packaging. And, on the selected pickup date, amazon courier partner will pick up the order from your address. And, that’s it, you can now track the customer order in Amazon Seller Central. Since, Amazon Transport Service is being used for Amazon Easy Ship.
Easy Ship Prime
Easy ship prime exactly works the same as Easy Ship. The only advantage you get is you get a prime badge on your Amazon listings. After fulfilling certain numbers of easy ship orders, Amazon lets you enable this option. Basically, with a prime badge, customers trust more on your listing. And, amazon does increase visibility a little bit for your products.
Amazon FBA
If you want to offer same day or next day delivery to your customer and want to scale up your E-commerce business faster. Then, Amazon FBA is the right choice. Let’s first understand the Amazon FBA Model.
How Amazon FBA Works?.
In Amazon FBA, you send your products to the Amazon warehouse. And, when you get an order amazon ships the order to the buyer from the warehouse.
But for it, you need to do some preparation. Like, first you have to pack all your products into transparent polybags. After that, you need to place MRP Labels on each unit. Now, you need to place FNSKU labels on each unit. Amazon provides FNSKU labels, which are barcodes that you need to place on each unit which you are going to send to the warehouse.
IMPORTANT: To print MRP labels and FNSKU labels, you need to buy a printer. Here is the link from which you can purchase a printer.
Now, pack all units safely into a 5-ply box. After that, you need to create a shipping label by providing units, box information. Amazon does provide a shipping label and delivery challan. You need to put a delivery challan inside the main shipping box. And, place a shipping label on the 5-ply box.
No worries, for amazon FBA, amazon seller support does calls to new sellers. And, provide 3 month free service. Means, for 3 months or 100 units amazon doesn’t charge storage fee. Also, they will explain how you need to prepare amazon fba shipment. So, they will help you step by step.
But, before you even go for Amazon FBA, make sure you check out amazon fba calculator. Here, you can calculate the total amazon fba fee which you need to pay per unit. So, if your margin allows then only choose Amazon FBA, else continue with Easy Ship.
Yes, you don’t need to send all products to amazon fba. You can send the first few products which are selling well on an easy ship. And, find out if orders get improved. Amazon gives flexibility to switch between easy ship and fba.
Will my order get delivered faster all over the country after choosing Amazon FBA?
No, it’s not work like that. And, this is something I learned quite a bit after doing Amazon FBA for months. See, there is no single warehouse of Amazon. Amazon has multiple warehouses in each state. So initially, you will be able to send products to the warehouse of your state. So the delivery will get faster only in your state.
So, what is the solution? You need to register your business in a new state. And, after that, you can send products to that state warehouse. No worries, even if you don’t have an office in a new state. Amazon has certified CA they will help you in GST registration for new states with the help of rent agreements.
However, you don’t need to register your business in all states first. Do some data analysis and find out where your customers are. Means, from which state you can get the most amount of buyers. Or, you can simply start from your state first. And, once sales reach good numbers, you can then try different states. Because, for GST and business registration you have to pay an annual fee.
Self Ship vs Easy Ship
See, self ship is good only when in your area amazon transport service doesn’t pick orders. Else, don’t at all go with self ship. Since, easy ships have so many benefits. By using an easy ship for a few months and dispatching orders on time. You get a prime badge, which is not available with a self ship. In Easy Ship, you just need to create pickup and pack the order, and tracking and everything gets done at amazon ends.
Amazon FBA vs Easy Ship
When is FBA better?.
If you are selling from while on Amazon through Easy Ship. But, you are seeing a very low amount of orders. Then, you can try out Amazon FBA.
Faster Delivery to Customers.
If you want to grow and build a good business. Then undoubtedly, Amazon FBA is much better. Because, if your competitor is offering same day or next day delivery. And, you are offering 5-7 days delivery through easy ship. Then, most of the customers will choose your competitor’s products. Because, in the era of quickcommerce, no one has time to wait for 5-7 days. Yes, if your product is so unique then your customer can wait. But, if you are selling the product which has so many other sellers, then you cannot survive with an easy ship.
No daily stress of packing orders.
The main advantage of FBA is, you don’t need to worry everyday about packing orders and waiting for a courier guy to pick. You just need to pack all the products at once, and you can send a 1 month supply to the Amazon warehouse. Yes, there is an Amazon storage fees, so don’t forget to check that out as well. If you are doing easy ships, you cannot take vacation.
Yes, amazon does offer vacation mode for easy ship sellers. Where all your products get “currently unavailable”. But, this will harm your listing rankings.
When Is “Easy Ship” Better?.
If you have just started then don’t jump directly to FBA. First, run ads and understand the amazon seller central layout and do market analysis. And, easy shipping is also better if you are selling products with very low margins. But, the truth is in the long run, small sellers cannot survive with very thin margins.
Hope, you got the answer, about which shipping method is better for you. If you are still confused feel free to comment.