Here is how to switch from FBA to FBM: in Manage All Inventory, select the SKUs, open the Action on selected menu, and choose “Change to fulfilled by merchant”. That change is per SKU and takes effect on the offer. What it does not do is move your stock. Units still in Amazon’s warehouses must be removed, disposed of or liquidated, or they become stranded. Set up shipping templates and handling time first, so the offer can ship the moment you flip it.
That last point is the one people skip. I wouldn’t. I would treat the switch as three jobs, done in this order: get your own fulfillment ready, flip the channel, then deal with the stock left behind. If you want help planning the cut-over, or running FBM day to day afterward, our Amazon account management service covers FBA and FBM operations.
This guide is the procedure. If you are still deciding whether merchant fulfillment suits you at all, read our explainer on what FBM means and how it compares with FBA first, then come back.
Should you switch every SKU, or only some?
Not everything has to move. My default advice is to switch selectively, and I’d start with the products that cost you most to store. Slow sellers, oversize items and products that rack up storage fees are the usual candidates. Fast movers that sit in FBA for only a few weeks are often better left where they are.
Two facts make a partial switch easier in late 2026. First, Amazon’s Featured Offer page now says fulfillment method is not a selection factor when other things are equal, and as of September 2026 there is no separate seller eligibility gate. An FBM offer competes on price, delivery promise, free shipping, free returns and seller performance, the same as anyone else. Second, you can run both channels on one product. Amazon requires a separate listing (a separate SKU) for each fulfillment type, but nothing stops you holding both.
So the real choice is per product. In practice that makes the decision much smaller than it first looks. I would ask one question of each SKU: can I ship this myself, on time, with a delivery promise close to what FBA shows? If yes, it is a candidate. If no, leave it.
Step 1: get merchant fulfillment ready before you flip
When you flip a SKU with no working shipping setup, the offer may not be shippable to shoppers, and an offer that cannot ship to a customer’s address is never shown to them. So build the plumbing first. When you skip this, the first FBM orders arrive before you can ship them.
- Check your default shipping address. Go to the gear icon, then Settings, then Shipping settings, and confirm the address under General shipping settings.
- Create a shipping template. On the Shipping Templates tab, click Create New Shipping Template. Pick the rate model, enable the regions you will serve, set transit times and rates, and save.
- Assign SKUs to the template once it exists. Default and migrated templates cannot be deleted, so I would create a named template for your FBM range rather than editing the default blindly.
- Set handling time. Since June 29, 2026, Amazon requires accurate handling time on every seller-fulfilled SKU. Automated handling time, switched on at account level, sets it from your shipping history and gives late shipment protection. The default is one day.
- Set up labels and tracking. Buy Shipping lets you print labels inside Seller Central and uploads tracking for you, which protects your Valid Tracking Rate.
- Decide your return settings. FBM returns are now yours to handle. Free returns also help an offer become featured.
Amazon’s guidance on templates says plainly that free shipping can improve your chances of winning the Featured Offer. I’d keep rates simple: free standard shipping built into the price, and a paid expedited option if your carrier rates allow it. Our guide to the Amazon FBM shipping requirements goes deeper on handling time, packaging and carrier choices.
Step 2: change the fulfillment channel per SKU
This is the quick part. My guess is a minute or two per batch. Amazon’s List products for Fulfillment by Amazon help page describes it:
- Open Manage All Inventory.
- Filter by Fulfilled by: Amazon, so you only see FBA SKUs.
- Tick the SKUs you want to move.
- In the Action on selected drop-down, choose Change to fulfilled by merchant.
- After the change, set the quantity you actually hold and check which shipping template the SKU uses.
Two warnings. Amazon notes on the same page that changing a listing from FBA to FBM might strand your inventory, because the units still in its warehouses no longer have an active FBA offer. And if a repricer, inventory app or channel tool syncs your listings, check that it does not push the old channel back. Don’t flip a hundred SKUs at once the first time. Try five, watch them for a few days, then do the rest.
If you want to keep selling the FBA units while you start FBM, don’t convert the existing SKU at all. Create a new merchant-fulfilled SKU on the same ASIN and let the FBA stock sell down. In my view this is the cleanest route for most sellers, because nothing gets stranded and you pay no removal fees.
Step 3: what happens to inventory still in FBA?
Here is where the money sits. Don’t rush it. Once a SKU is merchant fulfilled, its FBA units are stranded unless you act. Stranded stock under a closed or deleted listing can be auto-removed under your stranded auto-removal settings, so check what those settings say before you flip. You have four exits.
| Option | What happens | Cost, as of November 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Removal order (return) | Amazon ships units to you, your warehouse, supplier or distributor | Per-unit removal fee by weight; standard 0 to 0.5 lb is $0.84 |
| Disposal | Amazon disposes of or recycles units at the fulfillment center | Same per-unit rate card as removals |
| FBA Liquidations | A liquidator buys the units; you get the net recovery value | 15% referral fee on gross recovery, plus a per-item processing fee from $0.25 |
| Sell through first | Keep the FBA SKU live alongside a new FBM SKU | Normal FBA and storage fees until it sells out |
Removal order fees
Amazon charges FBA removal order fees per unit, at the moment each unit is removed, based on shipping weight. For standard-size items: $0.84 up to 0.5 lb, $1.53 from 0.5 to 1 lb, $2.27 from 1 to 2 lb, and $2.89 plus $1.06 per pound above 2 lb. Bulky, oversize and special-handling items start at $3.12 for the first pound and reach $14.32 plus $1.06 per pound above 10 lb. Amazon’s own example: a 22 lb set of dumbbells costs $27.04 per unit to remove. Disposal uses the same rate card.
Timing matters as much as price. Honestly, it often matters more. Amazon says removal orders are typically processed within 10 to 14 business days, can take 30 days or more in the holiday season, and need roughly two more weeks for the carrier to deliver. Once a removal order is created, storage fees stop for those units while it processes. I would never create removals in November or December unless storage fees force it.
Removal order rules worth knowing
The address on a removal order cannot be changed after you submit it. Amazon will not ship removals to PO, APO, FPO or DPO boxes, or to another fulfillment center. You cannot use a removal to send units to customers. Large removals may come by freight on pallets, delivered to a dock with a signature, and case packs come back as loose units. If you do not have a dock, consider sending removals to a prep center or warehouse instead; our guide to choosing a 3PL for Amazon sellers explains when that makes sense.
Liquidation: when it beats removal
For cheap, light items, removal can cost more than the stock is worth to you. FBA Liquidations sells the units to a liquidator at a gross recovery value Amazon puts at about 5% to 10% of the product’s value. Amazon then takes a 15% referral fee on that value and a processing fee per item, starting at $0.25 for small standard items. The net can even be negative, and payment lands within 90 days. Dangerous goods, recalled stock, face masks and jewelry are among the ineligible products.
My rule of thumb: if the landed cost to bring a unit home (removal fee plus your time to re-prep it) is more than half of what you could sell it for through FBM, liquidate or sell through instead.
Seller Fulfilled Prime vs plain FBM
Leaving FBA means losing the Prime badge, unless you qualify for Seller Fulfilled Prime. It is demanding. I mean that. To pre-qualify you need a US default shipping address, a Professional account, and over the past 90 days at least 100 seller-fulfilled packages, a cancellation rate under 2.5%, a Valid Tracking Rate above 95% and a Late Shipment Rate under 4%. Then you pass a 4-week trial shipping 100 or more Prime packages, consistently each week.
Once enrolled, the bar stays high. Fast Prime orders received before your cut-off must ship the same day. Cut-off times must be 2:00 p.m. or later on weekdays and 10:30 a.m. or later at weekends. Valid tracking for SFP packages must be 99% or higher. Amazon also takes over post-order customer service for Prime items, including returns and refunds, at its discretion. And you cannot run an SFP offer and a non-Prime FBM offer side by side on the same ASIN.
Is it worth it? I think plain FBM is the right starting point for almost everyone leaving FBA. Prove you can ship on time for a quarter. Then decide whether the Prime badge is worth the zero-day handling it demands.
The FBM metrics you now own
Under FBA, Amazon carried your shipping metrics. Under FBM, they are yours. When you miss them, nobody covers for you. Amazon’s Order Performance program policy sets these targets:
| Metric | Target | Window |
|---|---|---|
| Order Defect Rate | Under 1% | 60 days |
| Cancellation Rate | Under 2.5% | 7 days |
| Late Shipment Rate | Under 4% | 10 or 30 days |
| Valid Tracking Rate | Above 95% | 30 days |
| On-Time Delivery Rate | 90% minimum, 95% recommended | Rolling |
The one that bites quietly is Valid Tracking Rate. Falling below 95% in a category can restrict your ability to sell non-FBA items in that category. On-Time Delivery Rate is measured against the delivery date your own handling and transit settings promise, so padding a template with optimistic transit times hurts you twice: once in the metric, once in customer trust.
Will FBM hurt my Featured Offer share?
It should not, by itself. Amazon states that offers fulfilled by Amazon and by the merchant are equally likely to be featured when everything else is equal, and that Prime eligibility is not a factor on its own. What changes is the delivery promise. If FBA showed a two-day date and your FBM template shows five, you will lose ground to faster offers. That is a speed problem, not a channel problem. I think most sellers who blame FBM for lost buy box share are really looking at a slower delivery date. Tight handling time and realistic transit settings are how you keep share after switching.
How do I stop using FBA entirely?
If you want to sell on Amazon without FBA at all, the sequence is longer but simple:
- Stop new inbound. Cancel or finish any open shipments. Our guide to editing, canceling and deleting an FBA shipping plan covers what can still be changed once a shipment is created.
- Build FBM coverage for every product you keep, using the setup in Step 1.
- Convert or duplicate each SKU as merchant fulfilled.
- Clear the warehouses. Sell through, remove, dispose of or liquidate every remaining unit, including unfulfillable stock.
- Check stranded inventory weekly until FBA shows zero units, and review your automatic removal settings.
- Take over returns. Customer returns and refunds now run through you; our guide to refunds and returns with FBM covers restocking fees and SAFE-T claims.
Before you empty FBA completely, ask whether you need it for other channels. Multi-Channel Fulfillment uses FBA stock to ship Shopify or website orders, so leaving FBA ends that too. When you rely on it, keep a small FBA footprint for MCF and move only Amazon orders to FBM.
Mistakes I would avoid
Flipping the channel before shipping templates exist. Creating removal orders in peak season. Removing low-value stock that costs more to bring home than it is worth. Forgetting third-party tools that resync the old channel. And switching the whole catalog at once, so a handling-time problem hits every order on day one. None of these is fatal. All of them are avoidable. If I had to pick the one that does the most damage, it would be the catalog-wide flip, because one bad week of late shipments can follow your account for a month.
If you would like a hand planning the move, our account management team runs FBA and FBM operations for sellers, or you can book a free call to talk through your catalog.
FAQ
Can I sell on Amazon without FBA?
Yes. Merchant fulfillment (FBM) is a normal way to sell: you store, pack and ship orders yourself or through a 3PL. Your offers compete for the Featured Offer on the same terms as FBA offers, as long as your price and delivery promise hold up.
How do I convert FBA to FBM on one product without losing sales?
Create a second SKU on the same ASIN as merchant fulfilled, keep the FBA SKU live, and let FBA stock sell out. Nothing gets stranded and no removal fees apply.
How much does an Amazon removal order cost?
As of November 2026, removal fees for standard-size items start at $0.84 per unit up to 0.5 lb and rise with weight. Oversize and special-handling items start at $3.12. Fees are charged as each unit is removed.
How long does an Amazon removal order take?
Typically 10 to 14 business days to process, plus about two weeks for delivery. In the holiday season, processing can take 30 days or more.
Does switching to FBM remove the Prime badge?
Yes, unless you qualify for Seller Fulfilled Prime, which needs a 4-week trial and strict delivery, tracking and handling standards.
What happens if I change a SKU to FBM and forget the FBA stock?
The units become stranded. Depending on your automatic removal settings, Amazon can remove them, and you pay the fee. Check the Fix stranded inventory page after every switch.
Last updated: November 8, 2026. Fees and requirements are from Amazon Seller Central help pages (US) checked on this date; confirm current rates in your account before acting.
