Amazon Announces Massive MCF Fee Increases in January 2023

Amazon announced that on January 19, 2023, it will be raising fees for online merchants that use its Multi-Channel Fulfillment (MCF) program.

What you need to know: MCF is Amazon’s third-party logistics (3PL) program that enables online merchants on platforms such as BigCommerce, Wix, and Adobe Commerce (Magento), to integrate Amazon’s massive network of fulfillment centers to deliver orders in unbranded boxes to their customers.

The company justified the fee adjustment by saying it will improve its standard delivery speed from 7 days to 5 days and continue to invest in its 3PL service to be more efficient and with more features.

Next year, Amazon MCF will continue to have three speed tiers: 5-day delivery, 3-day delivery, and 2-day delivery. But still no next-day delivery option.

Going away in 2023 is the super lightweight pricing for items weighing under 2oz that will now be merged into the same group of items weighing 6oz or less.

In addition, 5+ unit order pricing is also going away, with the new pricing starting at 4+ unit orders for larger shipments.

Select Amazon MCF Fee Comparisons

Let’s take a quick look at how the changes will affect prices at the standard MCF delivery speed next year:

• 2oz, single unit order now is $4.75; in 2023, it will be $7.15, up $2.40 (50.5%)
• 6oz, single unit order now is $5.35; in 2023, it will be $7.15, up $1.80 (33.6%)
• 1-2 lbs, single unit order now is $7.65; in 2023, it will be $9.50, up $1.85 (24.2%)
• 1-2 lbs, 5 unit order now is $3.10/unit; in 2023, it will be $4.75/unit, up $8.25 for all 5 units (53.2%)

These are massive increases Amazon is forcing on merchants next year, well above the shipping rate adjustments of 5.5% by USPS and 6.9% by UPS and FedEx that will go into effect over the coming weeks.

What they said: Some MCF users voiced their displeasure about these price increases on Amazon’s forum: “37%! I thought Amazon wanted [to] expand their 3PL, but clearly not,” said one user.

Another quipped, “This is extremely steep, also lumping all small categories, prevents any item under $20 to be not sold outside Amazon.”

While an argument can be made this is “rightsizing” the pricing structure for similarly shipped items with traditional carriers, it’s a big nut to absorb for small businesses, one that many will have to pass on to customers through higher prices.

As another user noted: “Wow, at some point the shipping cost increases for a products (sp) will be so high that people will actually start going back to buying from stores as online will be too expensive.”

Where to get more information: How this new price adjustment for Amazon MCF will impact your business, check out this link (Amazon MCF/Seller account required). The Amazon page has both current and 2023 pricing for your comparison.

Richard Meldner

Richard is co-founder of eSeller365. He has over 17 years of experience on eBay which includes tens of thousands of sales to buyers in over 100 countries and even has experience with eBay’s VeRO program enforcing intellectual property rights for a former employer. And for about two years Richard sold products on Amazon using Amazon FBA in the US.

To “relax” from the daily business grind, for a few weekends a year, he also works for IMSA as a professional race official.