Key Takeaways
- Amazon Seller Fulfilled Prime allows Merchants to fulfill orders themselves, giving customers free 1 and 2-day shipping with their product listings having the Prime eligible badge.
- Merchants can achieve Seller Fulfilled Prime through successfully completing a 90 day trial period.
- This is EVERYTHING Amazon Sellers need to know to determine if you are qualified for Seller Fulfilled Prime and if Seller Fulfilled Prime is a good fit for your business.
In over 10 years as an eCommerce Fractional CMO, Amazon Consultant, and eCommerce Consultant, not to mention CEO, I’ve seen just about every mistake and the lessons from them. That means you get all the learnings without the scars.
What is Amazon Seller Fulfilled Prime?
Seller Fulfilled Prime is the program for Amazon Seller Central Sellers using Merchant Fulfillment to offer free 1 and 2-day shipping and get the Prime badge on their product listings.
To get Amazon Seller Fulfilled Prime, Amazon Seller Central Sellers simply register with Amazon and then enroll in a 90 day Trial Period. Once the trial period is successfully completed, you are in Seller Fulfilled Prime and the Prime badge appears on your listings.
Selling on Amazon Seller Central with Merchant Fulfilled listings competing against Amazon FBA Prime Eligible listings is certainly an uphill battle
I’m going to break down everything you need to know about Seller Fulfilled Prime (Amazon SFP) so you can decide if Seller Fulfilled Prime is right for you.
What is Seller Fulfilled Prime?
What is Amazon Seller Fulfilled Prime?
Amazon Seller Fulfilled Prime allows Amazon Seller Central Sellers to offer free 1 and 2 Day Shipping to their customers and get the Prime badge on their listings when using Amazon FBM (Fulfilled By Merchant) instead of Amazon FBA via the SFP program.
Amazon FBA (Fulfillment By Amazon) is the Amazon program offered to Seller Central Sellers where sellers send their inventory into fulfillment centers across the country and when they sell products, depending on where the customer is located, it is sent from the fulfillment center closest to them.
This allows Seller Central Sellers to get the Prime badge on their listings and offer Free 1 and 2 day Shipping.
How Amazon FBA Works:
- You create or have product listings on Amazon
- You send the inventory into Amazon Fulfillment Centers
- A customer places an order
- Amazon picks, packs & fulfills the order to the customer
- Amazon also handles the customer service
- Returns are facilitated through Amazon
If you want an in-depth break down of Amazon FBA and Amazon FBA Fees and if it is a great fit for your business, you can check that out here: How Does Amazon FBA Work
How Seller Fulfilled Prime Works:
- Either as a new seller or established Seller Central Seller, you register for Seller Fulfilled Prime
- You complete a 90 day trial period. (more on this later)
- You are eligible for the Prime badge and offering free 1 and 2-day shipping to customers
- Customer places an order
- You fulfill the order from your warehouse
- Amazon handles most of the customer service, you handle some
- Same return process as Amazon FBA
If you’re looking to switch from FBA to FBM, Seller Fulfilled Prime should be a priority.
By now, you may be wondering: “Do I qualify for Amazon SFP?”
What Are The Seller Fulfilled Prime Requirements?
Here’s how to qualify for Amazon Seller Fulfilled Prime:
You simply register for the Amazon SFP Program, meet the qualifications during the 90 day trial period and you’re off to the races.
| Requirement Category | The Metric You Must Hit |
|---|---|
| Trial Period | Register for 90-day trial (no Prime badge yet). |
| Order Volume | Complete 200 orders in 90 days. |
| On-Time Shipment | Maintain 99% on-time shipment rate. |
| Use of Buy Shipping | Use Amazon’s “Buy Shipping Service” for 95% of orders. |
| Cancellation Rate | Less than 1% cancellation rate (seller initiated). |
| Shipping Speed (Standard) | Offer FREE 2-day shipping nationwide (lower 48 states). |
| Weekend Operations | Must use carriers offering Saturday or Sunday pickup. |
What if My Business Doesn’t Meet ALL of the Qualifications & Requirements During The 90 Day Seller Fulfilled Prime Trial?
- You start over again from day 0.
It’s not a 1 and done scenario, you can try again, over and over.
What if My Business Doesn’t Get 200 ORDERS During The 90 Day Seller Fulfilled Prime Trial?
- You start over again from day 0.
- If you’re struggling here, I recommend focusing on Amazon Listing Optimization, adding A+ Content, Amazon Product Listing Video and an Amazon Storefront to help you hit the 200 sales minimum.
That said, what about cutoff times?
What Are The SFP Shipment Cutoff Times?
The cutoff times for Amazon SFP are 2pm local seller time.
That means if a customer orders before 2pm and you have a product at a warehouse that handles that customer’s shipping zone, you need to ship the product to the customer that day.
Order Day and Delivery Day Requirements
| Day Ordered (Before Cutoff) | Delivery Day To Customer |
|---|---|
| Monday | Wednesday |
| Tuesday | Thursday |
| Wednesday | Friday |
| Thursday | Saturday |
| Friday | Monday |
| Saturday | Monday |
| Sunday | Wednesday |
Carriers That Offer Weekend Pickups
| FedEx | UPS | USPS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Saturday | X | X | X |
| Sunday | X | X |
Fair enough? In my experience, one of the biggest questions about Seller Fulfilled Prime is how do returns work?
How Do Seller Fulfilled Prime Returns Work?
Good news! As it turns out, they’re the same as the Amazon FBA program returns.
The Seller Fulfilled Prime Return Process:
- Returns are auto-authorized.
| SELLER Pays For Return When: | BUYER Pays For Return When: |
|---|---|
| Item is damaged but box is not. | Accidental order. |
| Missed delivery date. | Better price available elsewhere. |
| Wrong item sent. | No longer needed/wanted. |
| Item is defective. | Performance/quality not up to expectation (subjective). |
| Description was inaccurate. | Incompatible for intended use. |
CATEGORIES IN WHICH SELLER PAYS SHIPPING NO MATTER WHAT:
- Apparel
- Jewelry
- Loose stones
- Luggage
- Shoes
- Watches
- Baby items
My experience is that some clients have seen more returns when they use FBA. However, they also see more sales when they use FBA.
That being said, you’re probably crunching numbers as you read this and thinking to yourself: “Is Seller Fulfilled Prime worth it?”
Is Seller Fulfilled Prime Worth It?
Short answer: If the numbers make sense, in my experience as an Amazon Seller Consultant, a resounding YES.
Why is Seller Fulfilled Prime Worth It?
These are the top 2 organic listings for the term “survival gear”. Notice the “Prime” badges?
My point?
Amazon Prime gets more clicks & more sales.
Most customers search on Amazon and filter for Prime, meaning they filter OUT any Merchant Fulfilled listings.
When talking about how to reduce your ACoS on Amazon I highly recommend using Amazon FBA for Prime. Your Amazon Sales Rank will thank you for it.
The truth is, it’s nigh impossible to compete with Prime listings / FBA listings / Vendor listings with Merchant Fulfilled listings.
Customers view non-Prime listings almost like EBAY or Facebook Marketplace. 2nd place.
If the numbers make sense for your business and you can meet the requirements, you will see more sales. Period.
The Amazon SFP Program makes even more sense for certain types of products.
For instance, if you have perishable goods that need to ship right away anyways, it makes sense to get the Prime badge and do Seller Fulfilled Prime.
Or, if you have certain products that CANNOT BE STORED IN FBA WAREHOUSES at certain times or at all, like certain vitamins & supplements for example, even if you contact Amazon Seller Support.
If you didn’t know, FBA Warehouses get HOT, over 100 degrees Fahrenheit at times. They are not climate controlled.
If the numbers don’t make sense on your end, but they DO for Amazon FBA. I would give it a strong look.
How Seller Fulfilled Prime Boosts Sales & Clicks:
- Seller Fulfilled Prime or Amazon FBA gives you the Prime badge on your listings.
- The Prime badge gets more clicks and more conversions.
- Prime Eligible listings win the buy box.
- More conversions get you more organic visibility / Amazon SEO
- More organic visibility gets you more sales.
- Rinse & repeat.
On the other hand, you do give up a lot of control to Amazon and 200 orders in 90 days isn’t easy for everyone, especially new sellers. Still, the sales volume and brand exposure can be significant.
That being said, let’s make this a little easier.
Seller Fulfilled Prime Pros & Cons
When we’re looking at Pro’s and Cons it’s about Seller Fulfilled Prime vs. the alternatives. The alternatives being, FBA By Amazon or traditional Merchant Fulfillment.
| Pros (Why You Should) | Cons (Why You Shouldn’t) |
|---|---|
| Prime Badge: Get the badge on your listings. | Expensive: Shipping 2-day nationwide is costly. |
| Increased Clicks: Higher CTR and Conversions. | Price Increases: May need to raise prices to cover shipping. |
| Buy Box: Helps win the Buy Box. | Buy Box Risk: Price increases might lose you the Buy Box. |
| Control: Great for items FBA won’t take (hazmat, temp sensitive). | Strict Rules: Must adhere to strict shipping guidelines or lose eligibility. |
| Flexibility: Can limit which products are SFP. | Returns: Auto-authorized returns favor the customer. |
In my experience, the Prime badge makes all of the difference on listings in terms of getting clicks and getting sales.
There is an inherent trust that comes with having your products on Amazon as the end customer is not familiar with the inner workings of Vendor Central, Seller Central, Amazon FBA, Merchant fulfillment etc.
BUT… A customer can easily distinguish if a listing is eligible for free 2-day shipping with Prime or not and that DOES matter to them. The Prime badge is like a badge of honor as well in that Prime-eligible products are viewed as superior to non-Prime.
There are still some other odds and ends though and the story isn’t complete.
How To Meet The SFP Requirements
As a consultant for Amazon I can tell you that meeting the requirements for Amazon SFP has never been more demanding, especially for small to mid-sized sellers.
However, in my experience offering Amazon Consulting Services, outsourced fulfillment partners like Ware2Go offer Amazon sellers an alternative to FBA without giving up their Prime badge.
Ware2Go’s SFP network can support any product size or transit mode. With a network of 13 nationwide warehouse partners, sellers are able to choose warehouse locations that get their products close to their customers to meet Amazon 1 to 2-day delivery promise requirements without over-reliance on costly next-day air shipments.
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Amazon Seller Fulfilled Prime Infographic
Frequently Asked Questions
How Do I Tell as a Customer If a Seller is Doing Seller Fulfilled Prime (Amazon SFP) or Amazon FBA?
The listing will have the prime badge and in the buy box it will indicate ships from and sold by Seller Name.
Does Seller Fulfilled Prime Work For Amazon FBA Small and Light (Amazon Seller Fulfilled Prime Small and Light)?
Yes! Seller Fulfilled Prime Small and Light allows you to ship FBA small and light products via the program.
Can Brand New Sellers Apply For Seller Fulfilled Prime?
Yes they can.
Is The Amazon Request a Review Button Available For Seller Fulfilled Prime Orders?
Yes, the Amazon Request A Review Button is available for Seller Fulfilled Prime orders.
Was Seller Fulfilled Prime Always Open To All Sellers?
No, it started for select Vendor partners. Then, it became invite only to select Seller Central Sellers. Then it became available to all via a registration and trial basis.
How Many Times Is My Business Allowed To Keep Trying The Seller Fulfilled Prime Trial?
As far as I can tell, indefinitely. This may change. If you struggle to meet the 200 sales minimum during this time period, strongly consider Amazon Listing Optimization to drive those sales.
What Should We Do If We Know We Won’t Be Able To Fulfill Seller Fulfilled Prime Orders On Time?
Turn off Prime in your shipping template.
What If We Ship On Time For Seller Fulfilled Prime But The Carrier Doesn’t Deliver On Time?
Your on-time delivery rate metrics will be affected. However, Amazon does not hold this against you in a decision to kick you out of the Seller Fulfilled Prime program.
What if We Get Kicked Out of the Seller Fulfilled Prime Program For Not Meeting Seller Fulfilled Prime Metrics?
You will need to write a plan of action that Amazon will need to approve to reinstate your privileges. This will involve acknowledging what didn’t work (root cause analysis) and then a specific list of action items that you can prove that you are taking action on to maintain the requirements of Seller Fulfilled Prime.
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