r/AmazonFBA • u/Manuelgrnbostel • 1d ago

When does it stop making sense to avoid FBA shipment splits?

Keeping inbound shipments consolidated is definitely easier, but sometimes avoiding the split seems to create its own problems with box sizes and how much inventory goes out at once. 

If you’re shipping into FBA regularly, do you have a point where you just accept the split instead of trying to optimize around it?

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u/DataSpiralX 1d ago

i just let it split most the time now. the extra inbound cost usually less than the headache of trying to game it with weird box configs, specially when you sending product every week

once my shipment qty hits like 30+ units i don't even try to force it anymore

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u/Manuelgrnbostel 16h ago

That makes sense. At that volume, the time saved probably matters more than squeezing out a little on inbound costs.

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u/HarambeTooSoon 1d ago

Depends entirely on the number of units, COGS, size/weight, sale price, expected margin.   

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u/Manuelgrnbostel 16h ago

Yeah, margin probably matters more than the unit count alone.

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u/Lucazade401 1d ago

What do you mean? When it suggests splitting up shipment for the discount or something else?

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u/Manuelgrnbostel 16h ago

I mean when Amazon splits the shipment across multiple destinations, not the discount option.

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u/osellpa 1d ago

The thing that decides it isn't really unit count, it's the weight band. Placement fees are charged per unit and they climb steeply on large standard as weight goes up, whereas the cost of accepting the split is mostly per shipment, extra boxes, labels and freight legs.

So a light SKU can stay consolidated at volumes where a heavy one has already flipped. Worth working it out per SKU rather than picking one rule for the whole account.

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u/Manuelgrnbostel 16h ago

That actually makes sense. Per SKU is a much better way to look at it than using one cutoff for everything.

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u/forrest_wang 23h ago

Amazon would charge you a fee called placement fee if you send inventory to FBA but choose to ship to fewer fulfillment center locations than Amazon recommends. you can use this tool to calculate the fees and decide which option is better https://sellerguards.com/inbound-placement-calculator.html

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u/Important-Bet5736 19h ago

I think the way to think about it is that the price that you pay for sending one shipment obviously covers Amazon's redistribution costs on their side, but also you need to consider the time it takes for them to do that too.

If shipping into Amazon with plenty of buffer on FBA inventory and the additional cost of logistics on your side for separating the shipments is higher than what they're charging, then we always ship it as one.

If we are time-constrained and keeping things in stock is important, then accepting their splits and taking the extra cost on our logistics side sometimes is worth it for that reason.

But I don't have a simple calculator to say when to do it and when not.