Bigger Isn’t Better: Quickly Determining Oversized Status

Unlike a traditional mom-and-pop store, every single transaction in the eCommerce world must be shipped to the customer. Therefore, it’s important to at least consider an item’s size before making a sourcing decision. This is especially true if you sell via the FBA platform.

In this post, we’ll share a few things to consider when purchasing large items.

How Do You Know if the Item is Oversized?

Amazon.com, Inc. (“Amazon”) has set up product size tiers, and the company has clearly established those tiers on their Product Size Tiers page. Standard-Size items:

• Weigh no more than 20 pounds
• Are no longer than 18 inches on the longest side
• Are no longer than 14 inches on the median side
• Are no longer than 8 inches on the shortest side

Items do not have to exceed all of these metrics to be considered oversized. Units exceeding any of these measurements are oversized.

Problems With Oversized Items

You are issued a number of fees for oversized items. As a seller on the platform, you’re well aware of fees incurred when you use the FBA platform. You pay $39.95 per month to be a Pro Seller. Over and above that, you pay the following fees:

• Pick and Pack fee - $1 for standard size media and non-media products, but it can be up to $8.40 for oversize units ($10.53 for special oversize)
• Weight Handling fee - up to $.92 per pound (which becomes an issue with heavy oversized items)
• Outbound Shipping - this is calculated by dividing the dimensional weight on the item by 166, adding the packing weight charge (standard charge for one pound on oversized items), and the total is rounded up to the nearest pound
• Long-term storage - for items in fulfillment centers 6-12 months, the long-term storage fee is $11.25 per cubic foot. Items in fulfillment centers more than a year incur a long-term storage fee of $22.50 per cubic foot. Obviously, the larger your item, the larger the fee.

Additionally, major shipping carriers tend to have oversized rates for certain dimensions. That means that rather than simply being charged based on the weight of a package, you may be charged a higher amount based on how much space the item takes up inbound to the Amazon FBA warehouse. The dimensions of the box sent via a major shipping carrier can impact the cost of the shipping label, as well.

How to Check Oversized Status (in Bulk)

There’s a quick way to see if any items you’re interested in selling are oversized. Simply upload a CSV (comma-separated values) batch file containing your UPC/EAN/ASIN codes to MarketScout. Include the column headings in the top row of your file and then begin listing the actual import data on the second row. Insert the product code in the first column. If available, include the cost of the item in the second column to calculate margins. (You can also use the downloadable template in MarketScout to format your list.)

As illustrated in the previous image, your MarketScout report includes an oversized column that indicates whether or not an item is oversized, as shown in the image above. The report will contain information about the lowest price and unit weight to help you make an informed sourcing decision. It does not include product dimensions. However, since you know already that oversized items incur up to an $8.40 Pick and Pack fee, it’s worth doing further research on the product to determine what your other FBA fees will be.

Export & Analyze

When MarketScout is finished creating your report, you will get an email. You can then view the report online or via download. The finished report will include detailed information for the products you searched, including the sales rank, how many FBA sellers offer the item, cost of fulfillment, and more.

The report will also contain information about the lowest price, unit weight and product dimensions to help you make an informed sourcing decision.

MarketScout’s weight, shipping and cost data can give you a clear picture of the FBA fees for oversized items. Add a quick lookup from your carrier for oversized inbound fees. Without that data, you won’t know your oversized shipping fees until you create a shipment in Seller Central.  Before you get into that situation, try MarketScout.

Determine Item Status With Ease

Put MarketScout on the job to discover important information about potential products without spending hours searching for product codes online. You can quickly discover the information you need to make informed decisions before determining whether or not to purchase a product.