Over the weekend, I happened to see an old post from Frugal Hack about reselling Marketplaces, and I felt like there had to be more options out there. I felt like, we, as mile and point focused resellers could do more. So I did some research into another marketplace, Fulfillment by Sears (FBS).
About Fulfilled by Sears
Sometime in the “past” (articles seem to disagree), Sears, which had provided a marketplace, which according to the Amazon Sellers was untested. The article that I did find notes that Fulfilled by Sears (FBS), was released in the March, 2013 time frame. The program was specifically designed to compete with Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA), and as of March, 2013 had a “pay as you go” approach (you may see in the Amazon Sellers link, that there was a $40 fee just to try it out).
The pricing seems somewhat competitive to FBA, here is their top level summary:
Fulfilled by Sears pricing
Comparing Fulfilled by Sears (FBS) to Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA)
Other than the monthly fee (with Sears requires you to pay $39.99 after $400 in sales, and Amazon gives you the choice), its hard to see the differences.
Since I have a hard time looking at summaries like the above and applying them to products I sell, in general I like to use examples. Sears FBS has a calculator that is, shall we say, not as robust as Amazon’s FBA calculator. For this particular example, I selected two products, one electronic, and one home good, to try to get a good spread.
The first example uses the Asus Nexus Tab 16GB, which BigHabitat has posted a bunch about.
Asus Nexus Tab 16GB FBS to FBA Comparison
| Asus Nexus Tab 16GB | Fulfilled by Sears | Fulfilled by Amazon |
|---|---|---|
| Item Price | $199.00 | $199.00 |
| Shipping | $0 | $0 |
| Revenue Subtotal | $199.00 | $199.00 |
| Marketplace Commission | $16.14 | $11.94 |
| Pick and Pack Fee | $1.00 | $1.02 |
| Shipping | $0 | $0 |
| Order Handling | $0 | $1.00 |
| Weight Handling | $0.70 | $1.34 |
| Storage | $0.00 | $0.02 |
| Inbound Shipping | $0 | $0 |
| Customer Service | $0 | $0 |
| Net Cost | $17.84 | $15.32 |
| Net Revenue | $181.16 | $183.68 |
The second example is a Dyson that was popular over the holidays.
Dyson DC35 FBS to FBA Comparison
| Dyson DC35 | Fulfilled by Sears | Fulfilled by Amazon |
|---|---|---|
| Item Price | $285.00 | $285.00 |
| Shipping | $0 | $0 |
| Revenue Subtotal | $285.00 | $285.00 |
| Marketplace Commission | $42.75 | $42.75 |
| Pick and Pack Fee | $1.00 | $4.03 |
| Shipping | $0 | $0 |
| Order Handling | $0 | $0 |
| Weight Handling | $8.75 | $10.70 |
| Storage | $0.00 | $0.66 |
| Inbound Shipping | $0 | $0 |
| Customer Service | $0 | $0 |
| Net Cost | $52.50 | $58.14 |
| Net Revenue | $232.50 | $226.86 |
So, really, Sears is pretty competitive when you look at the breakdowns, although their marketplace commissions are more for electronics, they are pretty neck and neck at the bottom line price.
Wrapping Up
Fulfilled by Sears is just another marketplace option out there for those that want to try an alternative to Amazon without having to do your own fulfillment. Sears does have a national and somewhat respected name.
I’ll have some more analysis later this week.
What do you think of Fulfilled by Sears?
The post: Introducing Fulfillment by Sears for Resellers was first posted on TaggingMiles
Interesting, I was aware of selling through Sears but never looked into it much detail. Obviously a lot of third parties selling through Sears Marketplace but I was turned off by the monthly $39.99 fee without seeing how many sales it generates, and also since I was already paying $39.99 on Amazon. I didn’t realize they waived the fee for under $400 in monthly sales. Still think Amazon’s pricing is better for sellers with lower volumes of higher priced items like tablets since you really don’t need to be a pro seller you just pay $1 extra order handling per item. But it would be nice if there were more competition.
@Bighabitat – yeah, I thought the under $400 waiver was a nice touch to get a feel for the competitiveness. I think invariably, Amazon is going to be better for most applications. Heck, Sears you can sort “Sears only,” with a single button. That has to impact conversions. But I agree, more competition is the way to go, especially when they are doing the fulfillment. That’s a big deal for me (I don’t have the time to send a bunch of small orders out).
Wait ’til tomorrow, I might have a reason to justify that $39.99!
Othebuyer I have no real qualms about using a FBA seller but for some reason I ignore all the Sears Marketplace sellers… Somehow Sears Marketplace seems sketchy while FBA doesn’t. I wonder how many other buyers feel the same way?
*As a buyer… haha
@Hua – I can tell you, I use that big button on Sears that says “Sears Only” because of concern about the Sears Marketplace.
Over Christmas, I tried to purchase quite a few things from Sears Marketplace because I bought a large amount of GC from Sears. One item was a refurbished GPS. I purchased 2 weeks before Christmas and the item never arrived. I ended up canceling that order and buying from Staples. I had the same thing happen with mattress pad and sheets. If it’s not sold by “Sears,” I won’t buy it.
@Lively – Thanks for your comment! Interesting, do you recall if it was “Fulfilled by Sears” or just in the Sears Marketplace? I’ve heard of issues of Sears’ shipping as well but, it would be an interesting data point.
I’m really interested in hearing more about this. Alternatives to the big A are always nice.
@Jamie – I’m a fan of always having a “plan B.” It comes in handy with MSing, Reselling, and travel. Next post scheduled for tomorrow!
I’ve never looked into FBS very seriously for two reasons.
First, like Hua said, I pretty much only buy items that are sold by Kmart or Sears. FBS sellers sketch me out for whatever reason. Maybe because Sears doesn’t have as good of customer service as Amazon does and subconsciously I don’t trust it? And second, Sears has been (seemingly) on the verge of bankruptcy for a while now, so I didn’t want to risk my merchandise getting caught up in the mess. My 0.02, I suppose.
I am interested to learn more about Jet’s marketplace once it comes out. Hopefully, that will be reseller friendly and have some sort of fulfillment system.
@Josh – you make a *really* good point about Jet’s potential. The only thing that concerns me from a reseller friendly standpoint, other than, you know, not knowing if they will be reseller friendly, is the subscription, that limits the potential market, at least in my opinion.
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