Are You Ready for Amazon Global Selling?

Today, I noticed that our bank account was charged with a subscription fee for Amazon MX. The charge didn’t make any sense at all since we are not actively selling on Amazon MX. So I immediately opened a case with Seller Support asking how this could have happened and demanded for a refund. I got a reply less than an hour later —

Hello from Amazon Selling Partner Support, we understand your frustration regarding a subscription fee to your MX account you don’t use. This is due because as we looked into your account inventory you have listings. A friendly reminder that as long as you have any listings in your account, you will keep getting charged. No matter the status of your account or status of your ASINs as long as they are still there, charges will keep getting to your account. In case you want to stop getting charged, please remove all of your listings from the inventory.

Apparently, as a new seller, the Remote Fulfillment with FBA is automatically enabled which means the Build International Listings tool is also automatically activated. There is also no way to un-enroll as you can see in the image below.

Remote Fulfillment with FBA lets you sell to customers in Canada, Mexico and Brazil without sending inventory to those countries. When you enroll in the program and create offers on Amazon.ca, Amazon.com.mx and Amazon.com.br, Fulfillment by Amazon uses your inventory in US fulfillment centers to deliver customer orders across the border.

Not sure when exactly this ‘automatic activation’ was implemented because in the past, you will have to enable Remote Fulfillment and create the connection between marketplaces–it was not automatic. I learned something new today, as always.

What does this mean?

It means your listings in the US will be automatically duplicated in Mexico and Canada without you knowing it. And then you will be charged with subscription fees for both marketplaces–how fun is that? Getting unexpected charges when Amazon is already charging you a lot? Smh.

To avoid this, make sure that the Build International Listings (BIL) tool is deactivated before you list any products on Amazon US. To deactivate, simply ‘remove connection’ between Amazon US and other marketplaces.

On the other hand, if you want to sell in Mexico and Canada via Remote Fulfillment with FBA, then you won’t have to do anything else. You can double check to see if the BIL tool is active and that the Amazon US and other marketplaces are connected.

Would I recommend using Remote Fulfillment via FBA?

Yes but only if you’ve been selling on Amazon US for a year or your account has generated a profit. If you’re a new seller, I would advise you to focus on Amazon US first because expanding into MX or CA requires resources–both time and money.

I’ve managed accounts that used Remote Fulfillment but sales were low because of little to zero advertising and even if we put more money on advertising, conversions will still be low because of high delivery times.

If you really want to grow your sales in Canada or Mexico, it would be best to have inventory stored in Amazon fulfillment centers in both countries because that would significantly cut down delivery times.

With regards to tax implications, I don’t have the authority to advise about taxes. I strongly recommend consulting with an accountant and/or a tax specialist in Mexico and Canada.

Got questions? Drop a comment or send me an email.