Why do my fulfilment costs seem higher than expected in MerchantSpring?

If your fulfilment costs appear higher than expected in MerchantSpring, it is often due to multiple types of fulfilment fees being grouped together, particularly FBA and Multi-Channel Fulfilment (MCF) fees.

What’s Included in Fulfilment Costs?

MerchantSpring captures fulfilment-related costs based on Amazon’s financial data, which may include:

• FBA fulfilment fees (standard Amazon order fulfilment)
• MCF fulfilment fees (orders fulfilled for external channels like Shopify or DTC)

These are both treated as fulfilment expenses.

Why Costs May Appear Higher

1. MCF Fees Are Included

• MCF orders use FBA inventory but fulfil non-Amazon orders
• These fees are still charged by Amazon and included in reporting
• However, the associated revenue is not included in MerchantSpring

This can make costs appear inflated relative to sales

2. Fees Are Grouped Together

• MCF and FBA fees are currently:
  • Combined into a single fulfilment cost category
  • Not separated in standard reporting

This makes it difficult to distinguish where costs are coming from

3. No Matching Revenue for Some Costs

• MCF orders do not appear in sales reports
• But their fees do appear in P&L and Channel Profit

This can create the impression of higher cost ratios or lower profitability

How to Interpret This

• Fulfilment costs reflect total operational spend, not just Amazon sales
• If you are using MCF heavily:
  • Expect higher fulfilment costs relative to reported revenue
• This does not necessarily indicate an error — it reflects how Amazon provides the data

What You Can Do

• Be aware of your MCF usage outside Amazon
• Factor MCF activity into your broader profitability analysis
• Use external data (e.g. Shopify or DTC sales) to contextualise these costs