Amazon’s Seller Fulfilled Prime (SFP) program, relaunched in October 2023, offers a huge opportunity for the right sellers to tap into the ecommerce giant’s loyal customer base.
With over 60% of Amazon’s sales coming from independent sellers and US-based sellers averaging more than $250,000 in annual sales in 2023, there’s a lot of sales potential on Amazon. Sellers with the Amazon Prime badge can make the most of these sales, and leveraging Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) is often the most direct route to Prime status.
However, fulfillment by Amazon (FBA)’s complicated fee structure and strict requirements around inventory levels and inventory turnover rates can damage Amazon’s margins and limit your control of your brand.
Thankfully, SFP enables you to have the best of both worlds: Prime badge and control of your brand and customer data.
This begs the question: So is SFP the key to unlocking your brand’s growth on Amazon?
This guide covers all the key information you need to make an informed decision about joining this program.
What Is Amazon Seller Fulfilled Prime (SFP)?
Amazon SFP (Seller Fulfilled Prime) is an Amazon fulfillment option that allows Prime sellers to fulfill their own orders — either through their own internal fulfillment operations or with a 3PL partner or other outsourced fulfillment solution.
Merchants enrolled in Amazon SFP store inventory in their own (or partner) warehouses, handle all fulfillment and manage customer feedback. Sellers are required to maintain Prime service levels (most notably free 2-day delivery), which Amazon monitors closely.
The program was launched in 2015 to help clear space in Amazon’s warehouses to make room for their newly launched Private Label brands. While the program was closed to new applicants for several years, Amazon reopened enrollment for the updated SFP program back in October 2023.
Seller Fulfilled Prime differs from Amazon’s other two fulfillment options: Fulfilled by Amazon (FBA) and Fulfilled by Merchant (FBM) in 2 ways:
SFP Vs FBA
FBA is a service where sellers send their inventory to Amazon’s fulfillment centers. Amazon then stores the products. Then, when an order is placed, Amazon picks, packs, and ships the item to the customer. FBA products are automatically eligible for Prime 2-day shipping.
The main differences between FBA and Seller Fulfilled Prime (SFP) are that with FBA, Amazon handles the entire fulfillment process and sellers don’t need to meet any special performance requirements. SFP allows sellers to ship from their own warehouse while still displaying the Prime badge, but they must meet strict criteria.
SFP Vs FBM
FBM, also known as Merchant Fulfilled Network (MFN), is when the seller handles all storage, packing, shipping, customer service, and returns themselves, rather than using Amazon’s fulfillment services. With FBM, products aren’t generally eligible for Prime shipping unless the seller qualifies for Seller Fulfilled Prime.
The key differences between FBM and SFP are that the former provides more control over inventory and packaging, but doesn’t include the Prime badge by default. SFP enables FBM sellers to offer Prime shipping from their own warehouse but has strict performance requirements they must continuously meet.
Amazon SFP was a boon to both Amazon and its third-party sellers. It enabled sellers to take advantage of the boost in sales associated with the Prime badge without giving up visibility into their inventory levels and distribution. Plus, it often saved them money on the high fulfillment costs of FBA. Amazon benefited from reduced fulfillment costs and additional warehouse space but was able to maintain a diverse SKU profile in the Prime catalog.
The Pros and Cons of Seller Fulfilled Prime
It’s important to note that Seller Fulfilled Prime isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution, and many businesses may not be well-suited for the program. Companies selling low-margin products, those with unreliable demand, and international sellers aren’t a good fit for the program, and others should carefully evaluate whether SFP makes sense for their business model before enrolling.
The Pros of Amazon SFP
The Prime badge undoubtedly draws in loyal shoppers and drives conversions. Prime members get faster delivery, better pricing, personalized offers, and an easier product search experience than non-members.
Amazon SFP gives sellers the benefit of added exposure and increased sales that ultimately come with the Prime badge without fulfilling their orders through Amazon’s notoriously proprietary fulfillment network. According to a 2023 report, products with the Prime badge receive an average of 17% more traffic and are 25–30% more likely to be purchased compared to non-Prime listings.
In addition to the obvious plus of the Prime badge, sellers who configure their own fulfillment solution with SFP benefit in other ways.
1. Inventory Visibility and Control
Amazon’s distribution centers are highly efficient but sacrifice merchant visibility and control to achieve that efficiency. Once inventory is inbounded to their facilities, Amazon doesn’t give merchants insights into the geographic distribution of that inventory. The reduced visibility is problematic, considering FBA inventory storage fees range from $0.56 to $2.66 per cubic foot depending on the size of the product and storage duration. Low inventory fees are also a pressing issue for FBA vendors.
Multichannel merchants likely want more visibility to gain insights into their demand distribution and new market opportunities.
2. Brand Recognition
When orders are fulfilled by Amazon FBA, they arrive on the customers’ doorstep in Prime-branded packaging. This can be a confusing experience for some consumers who feel more as if they’ve made a purchase from Amazon itself rather than the individual seller. When merchants are fulfilling their own Amazon orders, they can use custom packaging and create a branded unboxing experience for their customers.
3. Multichannel Inventory Management
Flexibility is key for multichannel sellers. Being able to move inventory between different sales channels to prioritize the most lucrative avenues critical to success. Unfortunately, FBA’s inventory requirements mean tying up products in Amazon warehousing to avoid fees — even if you’re having success on another platform like ecommerce or social sales.
In other words: it’s difficult to have multichannel success via FBA.
Selling through SFP means sellers and their partners have full control over their inventory levels and storage locations. This reduces the risk of overstocking slow-moving products or running out of stock on popular items, both of which can be costly. Sellers can optimize their inventory based on real-time sales data and demand forecasts.
4. Streamlined Multichannel Fulfillment
Amazon Multichannel Fulfillment is an option for some non-Amazon channels, but some of the larger marketplaces like Walmart won’t allow fulfillment by Amazon, so a merchant with a diverse multichannel strategy will likely have to choose one of two options:
- Segmenting fulfillment between FBA and an outside provider
- Moving to Seller Fulfilled Prime
In some cases, earning SFP status can actually push multichannel vendors to improve their fulfillment process. For example, Palouse Brand leverages SFP through its partnership with Ware2Go, a UPS company. They can manage fulfillment across all of their channels through a single network and provide the same Prime-like delivery experience to all customers regardless of what channel they’re shopping on.
The Cons of Amazon SFP
Despite all the benefits of getting the Prime Badge and maintaining control over fulfillment, it’s crucial to remember that Amazon SFP is not right for all vendors.
Here are a few main reasons why this is the case:
1. High Touch
One of the largest downsides of Amazon SFP, by far, is the work associated with maintaining their 1- and 2-day delivery requirements for a much larger consumer base — particularly if you fulfill orders yourself. These tight delivery deadlines mean vendors need to invest in more fulfillment capacity, whether it’s building out an owned network or finding another partner to fill gaps in coverage. Both options increase the amount of oversight work you need to do.
For some sellers, particularly in less competitive categories, the work associated with building a high-touch, cross-country fulfillment network to meet the steep delivery requirements and increased sales demand outweighs the benefits of the Prime Badge. Oversized is actually a great fit for SFP. At a certain size, it becomes more cost-effective than FBA.
If you’re all-in on SFP, it’s crucial that you find a fulfillment partner that can help you with the intensive management process that comes along with enrollment.
2. Changing Requirements
FBA participants are likely well aware of this, but Amazon is prone to changing its arrangement with vendors. From new inbound placement fees for Amazon fulfillment to the revamped requirements they announced for the SFP program in 2023, the commerce giant constantly adjusts offerings.
For SFP vendors, this means staying highly vigilant and closely monitoring program changes. Amazon will likely never drop its pursuit of the highest standards of customer service and fulfillment speed. Vendors should prioritize flexibility and scalability in their supply chain in order to respond and succeed in the face of this and any future changes in the Amazon marketplace.
How to Join (and Maintain) Seller Fulfilled Prime Status
Joining and maintaining Seller Fulfilled Prime status means meeting strict performance requirements and receiving a consistently excellent customer experience. Here’s a step-by-step overview of the process:
1. Meet Amazon SFP Requirements
Before applying for Seller Fulfilled Prime, it’s critical that vendors thoroughly understand the program requirements and have the systems and capabilities in place to meet them consistently. Falling short of these standards can lead to suspension of Prime listing privileges and even removal from the program.
Here’s a list of Amazon’s updated SFP requirements:
- On-time Delivery Rate – Over 93% of orders must be delivered by the promised date.
- Minimal Cancelation Rate – Sellers must maintain a pre-fulfillment cancelation rate below 0.5%.
- Weekend Pickups and Deliveries – SFP orders must be shipped and delivered on weekends (Saturday and/or Sunday) to meet Prime’s 1-2 day delivery promise.
- Nationwide Delivery Coverage – Sellers must offer nationwide delivery coverage for all standard-size products with a minimum delivery speed of 3 to 5 days.
- Free Returns – SFP sellers must offer free returns on items weighing less than 50 lbs, matching Amazon’s customer centric policies.
- Valid Tracking Rate – At least 99% of orders must have a valid tracking number, which gives customers and Amazon visibility into delivery status.
These requirements make it difficult for any vendor without highly efficient order processing, inventory management, and reliable carrier partnerships to maintain status. In the video below, Ware2Go’s Head of Supply Chain Strategy, Kelton Kosik, explains how to meet SFP requirements with a distributed warehouse network and an optimized shipping region automation template and shares tips on meeting page view requirements.
The most notable Prime requirement is fast and free shipping for Prime members. Based on their browsing location and inventory availability in the seller’s warehouses, Amazon requires that SFP merchants display a free 1–2-day delivery promise to a certain percentage of shoppers. These are known as the page view requirements.
Page View Metrics Explained
Measuring compliance based on page views rather than actual delivery performance makes building an Amazon SFP network incredibly complicated. The greatest complicating factor is compliance with page view requirements depends greatly on order cut-off time and the time of day shoppers are looking at the product detail page.
For example, if a seller’s order cut-off time for same-day fulfillment is 2:00 pm, any shoppers viewing their products after 2:00 pm will see a 2-day delivery promise. The percentage of page views that display a 1- or 2-day delivery promise will be highly contingent on what time shoppers are most active — not to mention the location and time zone, which impacts whether you need to ship same-day or next-day. This is why SFP sellers need a network-based fulfillment partnership to monitor the shopper activity and optimize for page view compliance.
Amazon lumps products into 3 size categories and has different 1- to 2-day delivery requirements for each category. The categories are Standard-size, Oversized, and Extra Large. The delivery requirements for each category are as follows:
2. Pass the SFP Trial Period
Third-party sellers with an Amazon Professional selling account, valid Amazon Standard Identification Number (ASIN), and default shipping address in the US can register for the SFP trial to qualify for full status. Sellers must also meet the following pre-qualification requirements for deliveries during the 90 days prior:
- Self-fulfill at least 100 packages
- Less than 2.5% cancellation rate
- Greater than 95% valid tracking rate
- Less than 4% late shipment rate
After prequalifying, sellers move into the SFP trial period. This lasts for 30 days, during which time sellers must meet the following requirements:
- Ship at least 100 orders
- Maintain an on-time delivery rate of at least 93.5%
- Have valid tracking for at least 99% of deliveries
- Maintain seller-initiated cancellation rate of less than 0.5%
- Maintain a late shipment rate of less than 4%
- Meet 1- and 2-day page view requirements
It’s important to note that sellers don’t have access to the Prime badge during the trial period but must still fulfill orders according to Prime standards. Amazon provides a Seller Fulfilled Prime Trial Performance Dashboard where sellers can track their metrics throughout the 30 days.
After completing the trial, qualifying ASINs will automatically be enrolled in SFP, and the Prime badge will be displayed on their listings. Sellers then enter an ongoing performance management phase.
3. Maintain SFP Status
Maintaining Seller Fulfilled Prime status requires ongoing adherence to the program’s performance targets. Consistently achieving these high-performance standards and adapting to changes, requires additional strategies, such as the following:
- Optimizing fulfillment networks – Many sellers work with a 3PL or fulfillment partner to strategically position inventory closer to customers, enable weekend fulfillment, and streamline processes. A partner like Ware2Go provides the country-wide infrastructure, ground support, and expertise to maintain SFP standards cost-effectively.
- Monitoring and adapting to program changes – Amazon occasionally adjusts SFP requirements, and sellers must stay informed to avoid penalties. According to Seller Central, they provide at least 45 days’ notice for significant changes. However, sellers should proactively monitor their Performance Notifications and Seller Fulfilled Prime Performance Dashboard to identify and resolve any issues quickly.
- Leveraging Amazon’s tools and support – Amazon provides resources like the Seller Fulfilled Prime Shipping Template to help configure shipping settings, including the best warehousing locations based on location. Sellers should take advantage of these tools and contact Seller Support for guidance.
- Prioritizing continuous improvement – Top SFP performers always seek ways to enhance the customer experience and streamline operations. Regularly evaluating carrier partnerships, packaging methods, and returns processes can uncover opportunities for advancement.
By understanding the requirements, implementing the right fulfillment strategy, and committing to ongoing performance management, sellers can achieve and maintain Seller Fulfilled Prime status, unlocking this powerful program’s sales and growth potential.
Looking for an SFP solution? Reach out to one of our Amazon fulfillment experts.
The Big Question: Is Amazon SFP Right for Me?
Choosing the right Amazon fulfillment option is complicated. While SFP offers greater visibility and control over Amazon sales, it may not be the right option for all third-party sellers, and it most likely won’t be the best option for every SKU within their catalog. Typically, SFP is a best fit for the following products and circumstances.
Here are the product types that Amazon lists as good candidates for their SFP program:
- High-value items
- Products with seasonal or unpredictable demand
- Items with variations
- Inventory that requires special handling or preparation
In our experience of working with vendors across the US, this is an accurate assessment. That said, a few product types are especially well-suited for SFP.
1. Oversized or Extra Large Products
FBA is optimized for small, lightweight products and is priced most competitively for those profiles. It is typically more cost-effective to fulfill via SFP for any product in the Oversized or Extra-large category. Here are the 3 size tiers as defined by Amazon:
| Standard-Size | Oversize | Extra Large |
| Package dimensions are no greater than 18” x 14” x 8” Weight does not exceed 20 lbs | Package dimensions and weight are greater than standard-size but less than extra-large | Longest side is over 96”Combined length + girth is over 130”Weight is over 50 lbs |
2. High-Velocity Products
Amazon FBA inventory limits and dock-to-stock time SLAs can cause stockouts that hinder growth. Vendors selling seasonal, trending, or other high-velocity SKUs on Amazon should at least have SFP as a backup to FBA to keep listings active in the likely event of a stockout.
3. Customized Boxing or Kitting
FBA doesn’t support custom packaging or kitting for personalized or fragile products. If those elements are important to your customers’ interactions with your brand, SFP is the best option.
Again, there’s ultimately no one-size-fits-all Amazon fulfillment solution, and most successful third-party sellers will leverage FBA, FBM, and SFP as part of a multi-threaded solution to preserve margins and prevent single points of failure.
How to Find an Amazon SFP Solution
Very few third-party Amazon sellers can meet SFP standards on their own. If you’re looking for an outsourced fulfillment partner to manage your Amazon fulfillment, look for the following capabilities and service level agreements (SLAs) to ensure they meet Amazon’s requirements.
1. Saturday Fulfillment
Amazon requires Saturday fulfillment for both oversized and standard-sized products for SFP. When vetting potential partners, ensure they have enough warehouses within their fulfillment network that offer Saturday fulfillment.
2. Network Coverage
Most SFP sellers must optimize for 1-day ground delivery to meet requirements. Find a partner that has premium warehouse placement for the best possible coverage. You should also find a partner with the expertise to stock the minimum number of warehouses needed to meet requirements and keep inventory carry costs low.
3. SLA Commitments
When vetting potential partners, ask for data on their history of meeting the following SLAs for SFP:
- Zero-day handling time (same-day fulfillment)
- Over 93.5% on-time delivery
- Order cancellation rate under 0.5%
Once you find a vendor that checks these boxes, you can start setting up a fulfillment network that meets the high threshold for SFP membership.
Ware2Go: Your Partner for Amazon SFP Success
Ware2Go is the ideal fulfillment partner for SFP vendors. They offer a nationwide network of 20+ warehouses with Saturday fulfillment, 99% on-time fulfillment, and a dedicated SFP support team. Their premium warehouse locations enable 1-2 day delivery to meet Amazon’s strict requirements, while their integrated technology simplifies multichannel fulfillment.
Click here to learn more about how Ware2Go is solving logistics problems for merchants of all sizes or reach out to one of our logistics experts to learn which Amazon fulfillment option is best for your business.
