FBA stands for Fulfilled by Amazon. It is Amazon's third-party logistics service — you send your products to Amazon's warehouses and they handle storage, picking, packing, delivery, and customer returns on your behalf.
For Irish sellers, FBA operates through Amazon's EU fulfilment network, serving customers on amazon.ie with the same fast delivery and Prime experience that Amazon offers across Europe.
The full meaning of FBA for Irish sellers
When an Irish seller uses FBA on amazon.ie, it means:
- Your stock sits in an Amazon EU fulfilment centre (not in your home or rented warehouse)
- When a customer in Ireland places an order, Amazon's staff pick the item, pack it, and ship it — you do nothing
- If the customer wants to return it, Amazon handles that too
- Your listing carries the Prime badge, which signals fast, reliable delivery to Irish customers
FBA is sometimes described as "selling on autopilot" — and while building a successful FBA business requires real work on sourcing, research, and advertising, the physical side of the operation is genuinely hands-off once stock is in Amazon's system.
What FBA means vs FBM
Amazon uses two main fulfilment labels you will see on every listing:
"Fulfilled by Amazon" (FBA) — Amazon ships the order from one of their warehouses. Prime eligible. Amazon handles returns.
"Fulfilled by Merchant" (FBM) — the seller ships the order themselves. Not Prime eligible (unless the seller qualifies for Seller-Fulfilled Prime, which has strict requirements). The seller handles returns.
The vast majority of professional Irish sellers use FBA because Prime eligibility on amazon.ie has an outsized impact on conversion rates. Irish Prime members convert at 3–5× the rate of non-Prime buyers.
What does FBA cost in Ireland?
FBA fees on amazon.ie are charged in euros and come from three sources:
FBA fulfilment fee — charged every time Amazon ships a unit. Based on packaged size and weight. Ranges from approximately €2.18 for small lightweight items to €5.80+ for larger products.
Referral fee — Amazon's sales commission on every order, typically 15% of the sale price (8% for Electronics, up to 20% for Jewellery).
Storage fee — monthly charge per cubic metre of warehouse space your inventory occupies. Rises significantly in Q4 (October–December).
All fees have 23% Irish VAT applied. If you are VAT-registered with Revenue, this VAT is reclaimable.
What FBA means for your profit margin
Understanding FBA's meaning as a cost structure is just as important as understanding it as a service. At 15% referral fee + €4.10 fulfilment fee on a standard parcel product, Amazon takes a significant slice of each sale.
Example calculation at €30 sale price:
- Referral fee (15%): −€4.50
- FBA fulfilment fee: −€4.10
- Remaining after Amazon fees: €21.40
- Less your landed cost of goods: −€8.00
- Less advertising spend: −€2.50
- Net profit: €10.90 (36% margin)
This is why product selection and landed cost matter so much — there is a defined range of sale prices and cost structures that make FBA viable. Below €15 sale price, margins are very difficult to achieve. Above €70, FBA fees become a smaller percentage of the selling price and margins improve.
What FBA means for Irish sellers on Pan-EU
FBA in Ireland also opens access to Amazon's Pan-European FBA programme. Irish sellers (as EU residents) can opt into Pan-EU FBA, which allows Amazon to store inventory across EU countries — Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands — to deliver faster across the entire EU.
For Irish sellers with a product that has EU-wide appeal, Pan-EU FBA means one seller account can generate sales across six+ major European Amazon marketplaces, with Amazon handling all the cross-border fulfilment automatically.
FBA meaning in practice — what Irish sellers actually do
The practical workflow for an Irish FBA seller on amazon.ie looks like this:
- Research — identify a product with demand and viable margins on amazon.ie
- Source — order from an Irish/EU wholesaler or a Chinese manufacturer via Alibaba
- Ship to Amazon — send labelled stock to the assigned Amazon EU fulfilment centre
- List and advertise — create an optimised listing, run Sponsored Products ads
- Monitor and restock — track sales velocity, reorder before stockouts, manage reviews
Once stock is at Amazon, the business is genuinely low-touch. Most Irish FBA sellers spend a few hours per week on the operational side once the product is established.
Use an FBA profit calculator to see exactly what FBA means for your specific product's numbers before placing a first order.