What is FBM/MFN?
Merchant Fulfilled Network (MFN) is Amazon’s terminology for Fulfilled by Merchant (FBM). It refers to a method of selling where sellers list products in Amazon stores, but manages all storage, shipping, and customer support independently.
There are various factors to consider when choosing how to fulfill customer orders when you sell in Amazon’s store. It can be a challenge to decide how to store inventory, pack and ship products, and handle returns or refunds, all while staying on top of excellent customer service.
- How MFN (FBM) works on your selling account
- Ecommerce fulfillment options with Amazon
- FBA or MFN: Which is right for you?
- 7 steps to selling online with Amazon using Merchant Fulfilled Network (also known as FBM)
- 8 tips: Handle MFN shipping and delivery like a pro
- FAQs
How MFN (FBM) works
Sellers with the Individual plan
These sellers use Amazon’s set shipping rates for all products. Individual sellers ship orders at the set rates even if the shipping credit is less than total shipping costs, so it’s important to price items in a way to make sure you'll earn a profit.
Sellers with the Professional plan
Sellers on the professional selling plan who choose FBM can set their own shipping rates. They can customize shipping templates for specific regions domestically or internationally including handling and transit times. Professional sellers can also customize shipping charges, by order, per item and/or per weight. You can also create a multitude of shipping templates and assign them to your specific offers to match your logistic capabilities for specific product types. Keep in mind the referral fee is calculated from the total sale price, which includes the item price, shipping cost, and any gift-wrapping charges.
Fulfillment options with Amazon
Your fulfillment process can give you a competitive edge. The right option for your business will depend on your logistic capabilities and goals.
As an ecommerce seller, you can choose to handle fulfillment in-house, use Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA), a third-party logistics provider, or a combination of all three to effectively manage your fulfillment capabilities. You can mix and match fulfillment options to find the right solution for your products that are sold on your website or through Amazon --even on the same product detail page or ASIN.
Remember, you can always choose one fulfillment solution and change it later to match your business needs as you scale.
Fulfillment by Amazon
With Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA), you send products to Amazon’s fulfillment centers, and we pick, pack, ship, plus handle customer service and returns for those products. See how Amazon receives your inventory.
Ecommerce businesses and entrepreneurs who use FBA get access to a suite of tools and reports to help them track inventory in Amazon’s warehouses. These inventory management tools are available through the Seller Central dashboard or on-the-go via the Amazon Seller app.
Multi-Channel Fulfillment (MCF)
FBA Multi-Channel Fulfillment allows you to combine your online sales channels with Amazon’s fulfillment network and provide fast delivery, thanks to our fulfillment centers’ high-volume capacity. Sync your ecommerce apps, website, and other sales channels while lowering costs and improving customer service with Prime-like delivery speeds. With MCF, you can operate your business using a single inventory source with full shipment tracking.
FBA or MFN: Which is right for you?
MFN (FBM) may be right for you if you:
- Sell a low volume of products.
- Have large or heavy items to ship.
- Have plenty of space to store products.
- Keep a small amount of inventory.
- Deal with minimal fulfillment requirements.
- Easily provide customer service and returns in-house.
- Already have smooth-running logistics in place.
- Have temperature-sensitive goods.
FBA may be right for you if you:
- Turn over inventory quickly.
- Have a large inventory but little-to-no storage options.
- Are unable to fulfill orders in-house.
- Want premium delivery speeds at average 30% lower cost than shipping on your own.
- Don’t have logistics in place.
- Have limited resources for customer service and processing returns.
- Need a cost-effective, pay-as-you-go fulfillment option.
- Want to take advantage of FBA specialized services like FBA Small and Light, FBA Subscribe & Save, FBA Pan-EU, FBA Export, or Multi-Channel Fulfillment.
How do you know when it might be the right time to outsource to Fulfillment by Amazon? These might be a few signs:
- Strategy: Provide customers with premium delivery speeds to compete with competitive products.
- Growth: Your present infrastructure can’t keep up with a growing customer base.
- Time: Fulfilling orders is consuming your resources and limiting your ability to focus on other aspects of your business.
Did you know?
Sellers who adopted FBA last year saw 20-25% higher sales.
7 steps to use FBM/MFN
Step 1: Create an Amazon seller account
Once you create your seller account and choose a selling plan, you’ll have access to Seller Central, your go-to resource for selling on Amazon.com. Before you sign up, make sure you’re ready with the following:
- Business email address or Amazon customer account
- Chargeable credit card
- Government ID (identity verification protects sellers and customers)
- Tax information
- Phone number
- A bank account where Amazon can send you proceeds from sales
Step 2: List products for sale and create product pages
How you go about listing will depend on if you have existing listings, need to create new listings, and whether you want to create listings one by one or in bulk. Help shoppers find items by adding descriptive titles, clear images, and concise feature bullets on offers.
Seller Tip
Save time with existing product pages.
If you’re selling items that already exist in Amazon stores, you do not need to create a new product page from scratch. You can simply:
- Search the Amazon catalog to find the product.
- List an offer on the product detail page or use Seller Central to add a product offer.
Step 3: Manage your storage space, warehouse, or fulfillment center
The more efficiently you manage inventory, the more profitable your business can become. Try to have enough inventory to cover demand, but not so much you become overstocked.
Continuously manage inventory to get a return on your investment. It’s essential to have enough inventory to meet customer demand, especially during seasonal holidays or peak sales events such as Cyber Monday or Prime Day.
Step 4: Set up your shipping templates to match your logistic capabilities for both handling time and transit time
Through the Seller Central dashboard, you can assign shipping templates from the Manage Inventory dropdown menu. Create large batch shipping templates and assign them to specific offers that match your logistic capabilities for specific products.
Additionally, through the Seller Central dashboard, you can set your Default Handling Time and Order Handling Capacity to ensure that you are protected from a surge in orders.
Step 5: Coordinate picking, packing, and shipping for orders
Once a customer completes a transaction, order processing begins. If you want to handle fulfillment in-house, be sure you have the capacity to efficiently pick, pack, and ship orders to customers. You will also want to make sure that the carriers you will be using are part of our valid tracking rate network of carriers:
A critical part of order processing is choosing the right packaging. This could be:
- Boxes
- Paper or bubble mailers
- Packing material such as bubble wrap or air fillers
Be sure to follow all Amazon requirements for packing and preparation to minimize costs and avoid damaging items in transit.
Did you know?
You can buy Shipping Services
If you don’t already have shipping logistics in place, you can take advantage of discounted rates with Amazon Buy Shipping Services. Through Amazon Buy Shipping Services you can buy labels, handle shipping, confirm orders, and track shipments. As long as you confirm shipment of your products on time, you will receive protections against Negative Customer Feedback, A-to-Z Guarantee claims, and Valid Tracking Rate.
To access this service, click on the “Buy Shipping” button on your merchant fulfilled order.
Step 6: Handle customer service and returns in-house
Providing great customer service is essential for success on Amazon. Research shows that orders, where sellers respond to customers’ messages within 24 hours, receive half as much negative feedback as orders with response times over 24 hours. (source)
Staying on top of customer service can help convert one-time buyers into loyal customers. Monitor customer service metrics in Seller Central to stay on top of customer feedback and responses.
Excellent customer service includes handling returns swiftly and efficiently.
Here are a few simple measures you can take to limit returns and exchanges:
- Provide accurate product listings.
- Include sizing guides.
- Allow customers to ask questions about products before purchasing.
- Use the “Request Review” button to encourage customer feedback.
Learn more about how to handle in-house returns on Amazon.
- Learn how to manage FBM returns on Amazon.
- Follow Amazon’s returns policies and guidelines for charging restocking fees.
- Familiarize yourself with prepaid returns for seller-fulfilled orders.
- Use best practices for reducing claims and returns.
- Learn how to process gift returns.
- See how the returns performance dashboard tool can help you monitor return performance.
Did You Know?
Shipping can make or break a sale.
Order shipping is among the top factors’ customers weigh when deciding whether to buy a product. A study on U.S. shoppers found:
You can learn more about your fulfillment options in this ecommerce fulfillment guide.
Step 7: Consider FBM costs and fees
Costs vary based on many factors, including:
- Your selling plan. Learn about the differences between an Individual or Professional plan.
- Referral fees. For every item sold, sellers pay Amazon a percentage of the total price—including item price, shipping cost, and any gift-wrapping charges—or a minimum amount, whichever is greater.
- How you handle fulfillment.
Did You Know?
The Amazon Partner Network offers software to improve your ecommerce logistics.
The Amazon Partner Network offers Amazon-approved third-party software and services to help you automate, manage, and grow your business. Applications from third-party and Amazon software providers can help you automate pricing, manage inventory, conduct product research, improve customer response time, and more.
8 pro tips for MFN shipping and delivery
Merchant Fulfilled Network (MFN) is Amazon’s terminology for Fulfilled by Merchant (FBM). It refers to a method of selling where sellers list products in Amazon stores, but manages all storage, shipping, and customer support independently.
- Customers appreciate fast delivery. See how to manage delivery times.
- Learn how to manage shipping account settings and holiday settings.
- Aim to meet standard shipping requirements and service-level agreements (SLAs).
- Get acquainted with Premium shipping and learn how to meet requirements in order to offer One-Day and Two-Day Shipping.
- Improve the customer experience by offering free shipping. This also increases your chance of winning the Featured Offer.
- See more about delivery expectations for individual sellers.
- Consider Amazon’s Buy Shipping services, where you can buy labels, handle shipping, confirm orders, and track shipments.
- Set your Default Handling Time and Order Handling Capacity to ensure that you are protected from a surge in orders that might result in poor customer experience and impact your metrics.
As you scale your business, consider third-party fulfillment.
How do you want to handle fulfillment? Your answer can make a big difference to your bottom line, so be sure to look carefully at all your options. As your business transforms, expect your fulfillment needs to also change. Focus on choosing the plan that best suits your business needs while keeping flexibility in mind as you scale.
Did you know?
Over the last several years, Amazon has invested over $30 billion in the fulfillment network and technology.
“These enhancements have included adding 35 million cubic feet of space to fulfillment centers.”
Leonora Fink
Amazon Princinpal Product Manager, FBA
FAQs
What does fulfilled by merchant mean?
Fulfillment by Merchant (FBM) refers to a method of selling where a seller lists products on Amazon, but manages storage, shipping, and customer support in-house or through a third party. Merchant Fulfilled Network (MFN) is Amazon’s terminology for FBM.
What is FBM and FBA?
Fulfilled by Merchant (FBM) refers to a method of selling where a seller lists products on Amazon but manages storage, shipping, fulfillment, and customer support independently. Amazon refers to this as Merchant Fulfilled Network (MFN).
Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) refers to a method of selling where you send products to Amazon’s fulfillment centers, and we pick, pack, ship, and provide customer service for those products.
Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) refers to a method of selling where you send products to Amazon’s fulfillment centers, and we pick, pack, ship, and provide customer service for those products.
Fulfillment by Amazon: How it works
How do I fulfill my FBM order?
There are many factors to consider when deciding how you will fulfill customer orders. Find out how to ship Amazon orders yourself with FBM (also known as Merchant Fulfilled Network or MFN) and check out these 6 steps to selling online with Amazon using MFN.
Learn about the different ways you can fulfill Amazon orders
How do you ship fulfilled by a merchant?
Store and ship products and manage customer support in-house. Keep customers happy by choosing the right packaging and shipping method.
Introduction to Amazon merchant fulfilled orders (FBM) and how to ship products on your own
How do I send products to Amazon FBA?
Create your shipping plan, print Amazon shipment ID labels, and send shipments to Amazon fulfillment centers. Learn more about sending inventory to Amazon.
Once Amazon receives products at the fulfillment center, they are available for customers to buy. Visit Seller Central Help to learn how to manage FBA orders.
Once Amazon receives products at the fulfillment center, they are available for customers to buy. Visit Seller Central Help to learn how to manage FBA orders.
How do I sell online with Amazon using FBA?
Once you create your seller account and choose which selling plan is right for you, you’ll have access to Seller Central, your go-to resource for selling in Amazon stores. Check out the 6 steps to selling online with Amazon using Merchant Fulfilled Network.
For more tips on how to grow your business, check out our ecommerce fulfillment guide.
For more tips on how to grow your business, check out our ecommerce fulfillment guide.
What’s the difference between seller fulfilled and Amazon fulfilled?
Seller fulfilled, or Fulfilled by Merchant (FBM), refers to a method of selling where a seller lists products on Amazon.com, but manages storage, shipping, and customer support independently. Amazon refers to this as Merchant Fulfilled Network (MFN).
Amazon fulfilled, or Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA), refers to a method of selling where you send products to Amazon’s fulfillment centers, and we pick, pack, ship, and provide customer service for those products.
Amazon fulfilled, or Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA), refers to a method of selling where you send products to Amazon’s fulfillment centers, and we pick, pack, ship, and provide customer service for those products.
Amazon FBA basics: How it works, benefits, and more
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