Buy with Prime Is No Longer an Exclusive FBA Perk

To buy with Prime is why many shoppers choose Amazon: to get fast service, free shipping, easy checkout, and free returns. It’s one reason Amazon sellers opt for FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon), so they can offer Prime members the same “Buy with Prime” convenience and gain a competitive edge.

Alas for Amazon FBA sellers, that is no longer the case. Amazon recently announced its new “Buy with Prime” program that allows any third-party merchant, not just Amazon FBA sellers, to display an Amazon Prime badge and fulfill orders where they are not selling on Amazon.

Let’s look further at:  

• How does Buy with Prime work?
• How third-party merchants can offer to Buy with Prime
• Why Amazon is offering Buy with Prime 
• Buy with Prime beware: what third-party merchants need to know

How Does Buy with Prime Work?

Buy with Prime extends the same benefits of FBA to third-party merchants that sell on platforms other than Amazon. While there are of course fees paid to Amazon to handle fulfillment, and manage inventory and returns on behalf of merchants, in many cases, the expenses aren’t any more than if the merchants maintained fulfillment themselves. Plus, merchants can reassign the time and effort that goes into managing order delivery and returns to other tasks, such as growing and scaling their businesses.

(Note that Amazon recently announced a 5% fuel and inflation charge on top of existing FBA fees. Actual fees depend on card processor, fulfillment requirements, and other factors that vary among third-party merchants.) 

Best of all perhaps, is how merchants gain an extra competitive edge and enhance brand identity. Third-party merchants that can display an Amazon Prime badge on their sites gain immediate access to Prime members and with that the customer confidence that orders are delivered quickly and on time, with hassle-free returns. As the world’s leading eCommerce platform, Amazon Prime is widely recognized as a familiar and trusted source for fast and convenient shipping. 

Buy with Prime extends brand loyalty associated with Prime membership to more third-party merchants. In addition, the Buy with Prime program promises marketing solutions designed to drive more traffic to merchant sites and improve customer engagement. Amazon is also promising 24/7 support and a partnering program to connect merchants with its community of agencies. There is also the option to use Amazon Pay to offer further convenience as well as attract shoppers that prefer this payment option.

How Third-Party Merchants Can Offer Buy with Prime

Currently, Buy with Prime is available by invitation only to merchants currently enrolled in FBA. They can add Buy with Prime to their (non-Amazon) online store immediately, as their inventory is already stored in Amazon fulfillment centers.

Buy with Prime is expected to roll out gradually throughout 2022, and eventually offered to merchants that don’t sell on Amazon or use FBA.

Prime customers continue to enjoy the same seamless buying experience, using the same payment and shipping details stored on their Amazon accounts, with participating, third-party merchants.

Why Amazon is Offering Buy with Prime

You could make the argument that Amazon’s primary business model isn’t as an eCommerce platform, but as a logistics provider. It has built a worldwide fulfillment and shipping system noted for its ever-improving efficiencies. Amazon actually competes with UPS and FedEx and other shipping services and claims that it is about to become the largest delivery service in the U.S.  

Amazon’s third-party seller services in total brought in $30.3 billion in the first quarter of 2022.

So it really is no surprise that Amazon seeks to further scale its logistics business, not to mention its global brand footprint, by extending its services to third-party merchants using other eCommerce platforms. 

What Buy with Prime Third-Party Merchants Need to Know

There are a great many potential advantages for third-party merchants to participate in Buy with Prime. However, be aware that when Amazon makes mistakes managing your inventory or fulfilling your orders, while you are owed reimbursement for those errors, the reimbursement isn’t automatic. In fact, in most cases, the burden is on the merchant to identify any possible errors and submit claims for reimbursement. 

How many errors can Amazon make? Given the millions of orders it handles daily, even a small percentage can add up. For current FBA sellers, it is estimated reimbursement can add up to between 1% to 3% of an Amazon seller’s annual revenues. The more money you make, the more money you could potentially lose. And the more Amazon extends its fulfillment services to third-party merchants outside of Amazon, the more logistics work it takes on, and with that the greater chances of making mistakes.

A potential drawback to Buy with Prime is that mistakes are going to happen and that the merchants can easily lose money if they aren’t carefully tracking them and aren’t experienced with filing reimbursement claims. Reimbursements are only eligible up to 18 months after the incident, and claims that aren’t filed with the appropriate department are automatically rejected and require refiling. 

Fortunately, there’s an easy way to avoid the hassle of filing reimbursement and recovering money you are entitled to. GETIDA (GET Intelligent Data Analytics) makes the whole process of obtaining reimbursement simple, easy and cost-effective. You can sign up with GETIDA in a matter of minutes. GETIDA software reviews the previous 18 months of transactions to flag instances where Amazon mistakes are eligible for reimbursement. It is free to run the report. 

A team of former Amazon employees experienced in the reimbursement claims process files claims with the appropriate department and follows up until there is a resolution. There is still no charge.

The only charge is a percentage of approved claims. And the first $400 in reimbursement is free of charge. Given the time and effort, GETIDA saves you so third-party merchants can focus on running their Buy with Prime business, it’s a more than worthwhile price.