Announcement reposted from Amazon Japan:
Effective October 1, 2024, we are replacing quarterly storage volume limits with monthly capacity limits to give you more control over your inventory. These new limits will apply to all sellers, not just those below the Inventory Performance Index (IPI) threshold. Capacity limits help us manage unexpected surges in demand and supply chain disruptions so that we can run our fulfillment network efficiently and get your products to customers faster. These changes shouldn’t affect the majority of sellers who manage their inventory efficiently.
Highlights of the new monthly capacity limits:
- More up-to-date and accurate limits based on your business performance. The new monthly FBA capacity limits will be set based on your IPI score, historical sales, sales forecasts, and the revenue potential of your ASINs, ensuring that your limits grow with your business. Limits are updated monthly to reflect your latest performance. This approach provides you with more up-to-date and accurate limits, allowing for better inventory planning and management each month.
- Improved planning with three months of capacity limits. Similar to the previous storage volume limits, we will provide limits for the upcoming three months to help you plan more effectively. This includes confirmed limits for the upcoming month and estimated limits for the following two months. Capacity limits will be announced in the fourth week of each month via the Capacity Monitor in Seller Central and an email notification. Estimates may vary up or down based on how efficiently you are using capacity, as measured by your IPI score, and the available space and labor we have to support you. To learn more, visit FBA capacity limits.
- Opportunity to request a higher limit. Through our new Capacity Manager, you can request additional capacity based on a reservation fee that you specify. Requests are granted objectively, starting with the highest reservation fee per cubic meter until all capacity available under this program has been allocated. When your request is granted, the reservation fee is offset by performance credits that you earn from the sales you generate using the extra capacity during the requested period. Performance credits are designed to offset up to 100% of your reservation fee, so you don’t pay for the additional capacity as long as your products sell through. This feature gives you more control over your capacity needs and supports high-growth opportunities. We have launched this feature in other stores, and we are excited to expand it to Japan so all sellers can request limit increases for high-growth opportunities. To learn more, go to Capacity Manager.
- Elimination of overage fees. To make this transition smoother, we are eliminating the FBA inventory storage overage fees starting October 1, 2024, meaning any overage incurred in October and moving forward will not be charged. This change will reduce your cognitive load and help you manage your inventory more efficiently, especially during the peak season.
You can view your capacity limit that will take effect on October 1, 2024, as well as your estimated limits, in the FBA dashboard.