Under FBA your stock sits in Amazon fulfilment centres and Amazon ships to the customer, while you deliver inventory in bulk against booked slots. Under FBM the stock sits with you or in a rented warehouse and you ship every parcel yourself, returns included. Transport and customs are needed in both models, just at different points in the chain.
What Brexit changed regardless of model
Selling from Poland to the United Kingdom is now an export, and goods entering the UK are an import. Amazon does not act as importer of your goods, so somebody has to take that role: either you as the seller or an entity in the United Kingdom. The consequences are simple: a British EORI number on the importer side, a correct commodity code, an established customs value and a decision on how import VAT is settled. The mechanics are covered in our texts on GB import clearance and on UK VAT registration.
FBA logistics: inventory moves in batches
Under FBA transport is wholesale in character. Stock travels from Poland on pallets in groupage or on a full vehicle, clears customs and reaches the designated centre in a booked window. The weight shifts to preparation: the pallet must meet programme requirements, labels must be readable, and the package count must match the shipment created. The booking is fixed and being late can cost several days. We break it down in our texts on deliveries to Amazon FBA, on Amazon pallet requirements and on what to do after a missed delivery window.
FBM logistics: parcel by parcel, or a UK warehouse
FBM in its simplest form means shipping parcels directly from Poland to customers in the United Kingdom. That works at low volume and with products where customers accept longer delivery, but it soon hits two walls: the cost of a single cross-border parcel and market expectations on delivery time. So mature FBM usually means stock held locally and domestic courier despatch. Our warehouse in Milton Keynes serves in that setup as the point where bulk deliveries from Poland are received and goods are released. FBM returns are covered in our texts on returns for FBM sellers and on a UK returns address.
Where the cost difference actually sits
- FBA: per-unit fulfilment fees and storage fees, but bulk transport, so inbound cost per unit is low.
- FBM: no Amazon fulfilment fees, but your own warehouse, picking, despatch and returns handling, that is fixed costs and labour.
- Shared: the border costs the same in both models. Customs cannot be skipped, only run efficiently.
- Returns: under FBA Amazon handles them on its own terms, under FBM entirely the seller, and this is usually where the calculations diverge.
What decides for a particular range
FBA works for fast-moving products with predictable demand and standard dimensions. With heavy, bulky or slow-moving goods, storage fees can eat the margin faster than a spreadsheet suggests. FBM gives control over stock, lets you sell outside Amazon from the same warehouse and copes better with unusual ranges, but it needs operational capability. The practical conclusion: the model is chosen per product, not per company.
The mixed model as the normal state
In practice many sellers keep bestsellers in FBA and the rest of the range plus seasonal surplus in their own warehouse. A local buffer then does three jobs at once: it feeds FBA in small batches instead of shipping everything from Poland, it serves non-Amazon sales, and it rescues emergencies such as a rejected delivery to a fulfilment centre. That last case is covered in our text on a rejected FBA delivery, and the fate of goods that did not sell in the article on unsold stock in the UK.
How to plan transport for either model
With FBA you plan in batches: sales forecast, delivery size, booking date and the Polish loading date counted backwards. With FBM you plan stock: a minimum level in the UK warehouse, replenishment frequency and time for customs. In both cases it pays to separate transport from the border: carriage can be groupage or a full vehicle, but customs must be closed before boarding the crossing either way. Regular departures are on the groupage LTL page, and channel work on the Amazon UK deliveries page. Market entry costs are collected in our text on the cost of entering the UK market.
Sources
- Amazon: selling in the United Kingdom, programme rules
- GOV.UK: importing goods into the United Kingdom
Working out how to set up your UK sales logistics? Describe the range and volumes through the quote form and we will propose an inbound and handling model. The route is described on the transport to the United Kingdom page.
