Amazon Easy Ship vs Self Ship vs FBA: which shipping option should Indian sellers pick?

On Amazon India, Easy Ship means you store and pack each order and an Amazon Logistics associate collects it from you for delivery. Self Ship means you store, pack and deliver through your own courier or staff, and handle returns yourself. FBA means your stock sits in Amazon's fulfilment centres, and Amazon packs, ships and manages returns and customer service.

What is the difference between Easy Ship, Self Ship and FBA?

The three options differ on who holds the stock, who moves the parcel, and who the customer calls when something goes wrong. Amazon lets you pick one option per product and different options for different products, and its own seller pages note that most sellers use a mix.

How does Easy Ship work?

You keep the inventory, pack each order to Amazon's guidelines (Amazon packaging is optional), and schedule a pickup. An Amazon Logistics associate collects the parcel and Amazon delivers it, with tracking and an assured delivery date shown to the customer. Amazon's comparison lists returns and customer service as something Amazon manages optionally under Easy Ship.

• Pay on Delivery is available, so COD buyers can still order. Funds are settled to your bank account.
• Fees are referral fee + closing fee + a shipping fee. Amazon calculates the shipping fee from item weight and distance (local, regional or national). Standard-size items are charged in 500 g slabs with a 500 g minimum.
• Prime is by invite only under Easy Ship, according to Amazon's comparison table.
• Your job is being ready for the pickup. An order that isn't packed when the associate arrives misses that day's pickup and reaches the customer late.

How does Self Ship work?

With Self Ship you do everything after the order lands: store, pack, book a courier (or use your own delivery staff), confirm the shipment in Seller Central with the carrier and tracking ID, and handle returns and customer service. Amazon charges a referral fee and a closing fee but no shipping fee, so freight is whatever your courier charges you. You can also set your own shipping price for the customer.

• Upload tracking promptly. Amazon's seller blog says sellers must upload tracking details within 24 hours of dispatch to meet performance standards.
• Pay on Delivery is marked unavailable for Self Ship in Amazon's comparison table. If much of your Amazon demand is COD, that alone can decide it.
• Prime is limited to nearby pincodes, and only if you join Local Shops on Amazon.
• There is a hybrid. An Amazon moderator post in the Seller Forums describes Selected Self Ship: you self-ship to regions where your delivery is strong and Easy Ship covers the rest. It needs active enrolment in both programmes and good account health.

Self Ship works when your courier rates and delivery speed for your weight and zone mix beat what Amazon charges, and when your team can dispatch and upload tracking on time, every day. Our guide on how to choose a courier partner covers how to test that before committing.

How does FBA work, and when is it worth it?

You send stock to an Amazon fulfilment centre, and Amazon stores, picks, packs and delivers it, and manages returns and customer queries. Every FBA product gets the Prime badge, and Amazon's comparison shows FBA as the only option that improves your chance of winning the featured offer (the Buy Box) when several sellers list the same product. The fee is referral + closing + fulfilment fees, where fulfilment covers pick and pack, storage (charged by volume per month) and weight handling.

FBA pays off on SKUs that sell steadily, where Prime visibility lifts conversion enough to cover storage. It hurts on slow movers and bulky items, where monthly storage adds up, and you still own the work of getting stock to the fulfilment centre and keeping it replenished.

What about Seller Flex?

Amazon has described Seller Flex as a way for sellers who keep inventory at their own premises to get the advantages of FBA, with Amazon handling delivery. Multi-Seller Flex lets several sellers share one facility run by a local partner. Neither appears among the three options on Amazon's current Sell, Pack, Ship page, so ask your Amazon account manager whether it is open to you.

Which Amazon shipping option should you choose?

Decide per SKU, not for the whole account. Work through these in order.

1. 1Work out landed margin per SKU under each option: referral and closing fees, plus Amazon's shipping fee (Easy Ship), fulfilment fees (FBA) or your own courier cost (Self Ship), with GST on Amazon's fees. Run the numbers in the profit margin calculator.
2. 2Check how much of your Amazon demand is COD. Amazon's comparison shows no Pay on Delivery under Self Ship, which rules it out for COD-heavy products.
3. 3Check whether you share listings with other sellers. Where several sellers compete on the same product, FBA's featured-offer advantage and Prime badge usually matter more than fee differences.
4. 4Sort SKUs by sales velocity and size. Fast, compact sellers suit FBA. Slow or bulky SKUs usually sit better in your own warehouse on Easy Ship or Self Ship.
5. 5Compare your courier rates with Amazon's shipping fee for your real weight and zone mix. If your rates and delivery times are better, Self Ship or Selected Self Ship can widen margin.
6. 6Be honest about operations. Self Ship needs daily dispatch, tracking uploaded within 24 hours of dispatch, and a returns process. If that isn't in place, start on Easy Ship.
7. 7Review every month using account health metrics, returns and margin by SKU, and move products between options as the numbers change.

One naming trap: Easy Ship is not the same as Amazon Shipping, Amazon's courier service that also delivers parcels from other channels, including your own website.

Where does a multi-courier platform fit for Amazon sellers?

For FBA and Easy Ship, Amazon moves the parcel, so courier choice isn't yours to make. A shipping platform earns its place in two other spots. First, Self Ship orders need a courier booking, an AWB, a label and tracking uploaded on time. Second, many brands selling on Amazon also ship orders from their own website, Flipkart or Meesho, and running those from separate dashboards is where dispatch mistakes creep in. If your own store runs on Shopify, see our guide to setting up Shopify shipping in India.