Amazon's Fulfillment by Amazon Service Under Fire Amid Fees and FTC Lawsuit
Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) is a paid service that allows independent merchants to send their inventory to Amazon's warehouses and outsource storage, picking, packing, delivery, customer service, and returns.
The merchant retains ownership of the goods and sets the price, while Amazon attaches its own delivery promise to the listing, making it eligible for the Prime badge shown to paying members.
Third-party sellers accounted for 60% of paid units sold on Amazon in the first quarter of 2026, according to Marketplace Pulse. A large share of those units pass through FBA, which is a major variable cost and a gate to Amazon's advertising products.
The process starts in Seller Central, where merchants switch a listing's fulfilment channel from merchant-fulfilled to Amazon and build an inbound shipment plan. Each unit needs a scannable barcode, which can be either a manufacturer code or an Amazon-issued FNSKU label.