Amazon Long Term Storage Fees are something I try to avoid whenever possible. That said, the past few times, they have come with a rather interesting caveat that has made me rethink as to whether I should really remove or not. 

Amazon Long Term Storage Fees – assessed 15 February

Amazon sent a fairly long e-mail that highlighted a number of things:

• Long Term Storage Fees will be assessed on 15 February
  • Units at an Amazon Fulfillment Center for 6-12 Months will be assessed at $11.25 per cubic foot
  • Units at an Amazon Fulfillment Center for longer than 12 months will be assessed $22.50 per cubic foot
  • Units at an Amazon Fulfillment Center for longer than 24 months will be test units for Amazon Prime UAV Delivery. (Kidding!) 
• As mentioned earlier, single units of an ASIN will no longer be exempt from storage fees.
• Units will be subject to long term storage fees unless they are removed before 15 February
• If you do remove, you will not be able to send in additional units until July 1, 2017 – Which is Likely to late to stock up for (unannounced) Amazon Prime Day 2017.
• Unlike past long term storage periods, there will be no free removal promotion

What should you do?

Everyone is different here. I for one used Q4 as an opportunity to clear most of my long term inventory out. That which I haven’t cleared out is seasonal inventory that I have to sit on because, otherwise, I’ll miss that particular season. Now that said, for me, I will remove all but a few units of seasonal inventory and store it at my warehouse until I’m closer to that season. You can only imagine how much my warehouse cleared out for Q4 for example.

Conclusion

The fact is here, that Long Term Storage Fees are a very real cost for Amazon Sellers. I know that folks in the various groups that I participate in are getting better. Others are cutting them even more ruthlessly. The fact is, they are little value add. In this case, you have to assess if not being able to send in that ASIN until 1 July 2017 is worth paying the fee or not. Its a long time to be blocked on an ASIN, and a lot of things can change. So definitely consider that.