In January, Amazon opened up its Super Saver Shipping program to seller-fulfilled items, and now it’s opening up its Prime shipping program to seller-fulfilled items, but on a very restricted scale.
As EcommerceBytes reported in January, all seller-fulfilled items with free shipping are now eligible to contribute to Amazon’s minimum order of $35 to qualify for free shipping through the Amazon Super Saver Shipping program. (The program allows non-Prime shoppers to get free shipping on an order if they spend a minimum of $35.)
According to a report in Friday’s Wall Street Journal, Amazon is now including items that ship directly from independent merchants’ warehouses in its Prime program. As it notes, “Until now, merchants have had to ship merchandise to an Amazon warehouse for it to be eligible for Prime,” referring to Fulfillment By Amazon (FBA).
However, a seller who told the Journal he’s part of the program said there are fewer than 10 merchants participating and said it could become a location-based program – in other words, eligible merchants would only receive orders from Prime customers who are located close to the merchant’s warehouse.
Naturally sellers in both programs must offer free shipping to participate.
