Amazon's 2021 Changes to FBA Small and Light

In brief: Amazon Small and Light fees changed repeatedly in 2021; the programme was Amazon's cheaper fulfilment option for small, low-priced items until 2023. In 2021 it changed repeatedly. From 8 June 2021 its sizes were aligned with standard FBA envelopes, a large envelope tier was added and fees were reset — from £0.60 per unit in the UK. From 1 June, UK and German Small and Light stock needed an Amazon barcode on each unit, and the FBA Label Service, free in the UK at first, cost £0.08 per unit from 1 November 2021. From 29 October 2021, the minimum sales velocity and minimum units per shipment were dropped.

Small and Light UK fees from 8 June 2021

Size tier (max weight, dimensions)	UK fee per unit
Small envelope (80 g, 20 × 15 × 1 cm)	£0.60
Standard envelope (60 g, 33 × 23 × 2.5 cm)	£0.80
Standard envelope (210 g, 33 × 23 × 2.5 cm)	£0.85
Large envelope (225 g, 33 × 23 × 5 cm)	£1.42

German fees ran from €1.00 to €1.95, with an extra €0.25 per unit for sellers not in the Central Europe programme.

The rest of the year

Date	Change
11 February	Label and prep services launched for Small and Light (UK labels free; €0.09 in France, Italy and Spain)
1 June	Bundled units no longer accepted; each unit needs a barcode in the UK and Germany
29 October	No minimum sales velocity or units per shipment
1 November	Label Service: £0.08 per unit (UK), €0.09 (Germany)

A worked example

A seller sends 10,000 Small and Light units a quarter and lets Amazon label them. Before November 2021 UK labelling was free; afterwards it cost £800 a quarter (10,000 × £0.08). Printing and applying manufacturer or Amazon barcodes themselves avoided the fee.

What happened next

Small and Light closed on 26 September 2023, replaced by automatic Low-price FBA rates — see Low-price FBA replaces Small and Light.

What it means for your bookkeeping

• Label and prep fees are separate charges. They're costs of getting stock ready to sell; keep them apart from fulfilment fees so you can see what prep really costs.
• Several rate changes in one year. Comparing fulfilment fees across June 2021 needs per-unit figures, not totals.
• VAT: fees billed in 2021 used the reverse charge for UK VAT-registered sellers — see VAT on Amazon fees.

How TrueBooks helps

TrueBooks posts each fee type from your Amazon settlements to its own account in Xero with the right VAT for its date, so prep and label charges don't hide inside fulfilment fees. See the Amazon Xero integration.