Amazon FBA vs Easy Ship vs Self-Ship in India 2026: Fees and When to Use Each

Every Amazon.in seller picks a fulfilment channel for each listing, and the choice changes the fees, the Prime badge, the working capital and the daily work. Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA) means Amazon stores, packs and delivers. Easy Ship means you store and pack, Amazon picks up and delivers. Self Ship means you do all of it with your own courier. Amazon publishes the fee tables for all three, which makes this one of the few marketplace decisions you can model to the rupee before you commit. As of September 2026 this guide compares the three on fees, reach, returns, onboarding and operations, works a Rs 999 product through each, and gives a verdict by seller type. The tables come from Amazon's fee page as set out in our Amazon seller fees guide, checked in September 2026, with the closing fee rise of 7 September 2026 included.

FBA vs Easy Ship vs Self Ship at a glance

18% GST applies to every Amazon fee on all three channels and is claimable as input credit by a registered seller. The referral fee does not change with the channel, so the whole comparison sits in the closing fee, the shipping line and the FBA extras.

Which is cheapest on fees?

Amazon's worked example in our fee guide, reproduced in the fee calculator, runs a Rs 999 pet food product at 6.5% referral, 800 g packed weight, FBA regional, through all three channels. Self Ship courier assumed at Rs 60.

Three things to read from it. FBA and Self Ship come out almost level on this SKU, and FBA carries the Prime badge, which usually converts better and which the table cannot show. Easy Ship is the most expensive of the three here, because its flat Rs 75 weight handling is higher than FBA's regional Rs 54 and its Rs 48 closing fee is higher than FBA's Rs 30; Easy Ship only wins on fees against FBA national (Rs 85 weight handling) or when the FBA storage line is large. Self Ship's advantage is entirely the courier rate: at Rs 60 it ties FBA, at Rs 40 it wins by Rs 20 a unit, at Rs 90 it loses.

The band edges matter too. The closing fee on Self Ship jumps from Rs 26 to Rs 51 at Rs 501 and to Rs 101 above Rs 1,000; on FBA the steps are Rs 23, Rs 30 and Rs 55. A Rs 1,050 product on Self Ship pays Rs 50 more in closing fee than a Rs 999 one, which is one reason Rs 999 is such a common price on Amazon.in. Run your own numbers in the Amazon fee calculator; the FBA and Easy Ship glossary entries define the channels.

Which reaches more shoppers?

FBA. The Prime badge is the reach difference, and it is only available on FBA by default; Easy Ship gets it by invitation and Self Ship not at all. Prime shoppers filter for the badge and buy on faster delivery promises, and FBA listings ship from Amazon's fulfilment centres with delivery dates the customer sees at checkout. Amazon publishes 99.3% pincode reach for delivery, which applies to FBA and Easy Ship through Amazon's network; on Self Ship your reach is your courier's serviceable pincodes, and your delivery promise is whatever you can keep. For a new brand the Prime badge is often the difference between a listing that converts at 8% and one that converts at 4%, which in our Amazon Ads guide is the difference between a 23.5% ACoS and a 47% one on the same spend.

How do returns and account health differ?

On FBA, Amazon handles the customer return, inspects the item and puts sellable stock back in the fulfilment centre; unsellable stock is your loss, and a refund fee applies (Amazon's STEP page offers waivers of Rs 10 to Rs 30, and the full rate is not on the public page). On Easy Ship, Amazon collects the return and sends it back to you. On Self Ship, you arrange the reverse pickup and carry the courier cost both ways. Account health runs the other way: on FBA, late shipment and most delivery defects are Amazon's, so your order defect rate and late shipment rate are protected; on Easy Ship you own the dispatch-by date; on Self Ship you own dispatch, delivery and tracking updates, and a courier that misses scans hurts your metrics. Our Amazon account health guide covers the thresholds.

What does each need from your operations?

FBA needs inbound shipments to a fulfilment centre with Amazon's labels and prep, a forecast so you neither stock out nor age stock, and reconciliation of inbound receipts against what you sent. Amazon offers new sellers FBA "at no additional cost for 1st 3 months / 100 units", which is a cheap way to test it. Easy Ship needs a pickup address, packing to Amazon's standards and someone to hand over parcels in the pickup slot every working day. Self Ship needs a courier contract, a process for printing invoices and labels, tracking updates within Amazon's windows, and a reverse-logistics arrangement. The more channels you run on other marketplaces from the same warehouse, the more Easy Ship and Self Ship make sense; the more you want to be hands-off, the more FBA does. Heavy and bulky items (over 22.5 kg or any side over 183 cm) use a separate FBA card from Rs 110 local for the first 12 kg, where Self Ship with a freight partner is often cheaper.

Verdict by seller type

Most brands we manage run a mix, set per ASIN and reviewed quarterly: FBA for the SKUs that earn the Prime badge, Easy Ship for the rest, and Self Ship only where a courier contract beats Amazon's tables on real parcels. The mix changes when Amazon revises fees, which it did twice in 2026, in March for weight handling and in September for closing fees.

FAQ

Is FBA cheaper than Easy Ship on Amazon India? On most standard-size SKUs delivered regionally, yes: FBA's closing fee and weight handling are lower than Easy Ship's, and in the Rs 999 example FBA costs Rs 195.81 against Rs 221.77. Easy Ship wins when FBA storage on a slow SKU is large or delivery is national.

Does Self Ship pay any shipping fee to Amazon? No weight handling, but a higher closing fee: Rs 20, 26, 51 and 101 across the four price bands against Rs 27, 23, 30 and 55 on FBA. You pay your own courier.

Can Easy Ship listings get the Prime badge? Only by invitation. FBA listings get it by default; Self Ship listings do not.

What does FBA storage cost? Rs 50 per cubic foot per month at Standard STEP level, plus a long-term storage fee on aged stock and Rs 10 to Rs 30 a unit for removals.

Can I use different channels for different products? Yes. Fulfilment is set per listing, and most established sellers run FBA on their best sellers and Easy Ship or Self Ship on the rest.

Did the fees change in 2026? Yes. Weight handling rates dated 16 March 2026 and closing fees rose from 7 September 2026 by Rs 1 up to Rs 500 and Rs 3 above, across FBA, Easy Ship and Seller Flex.

Getting the fulfilment mix right

Amazon's fulfilment tables are public, which means the wrong channel on the wrong SKU is an avoidable cost, not a surprise. If you want every ASIN modelled through the real tables, the FBA, Easy Ship and Self Ship mix set per product, inbound and storage reconciled, and the mix revisited every time Amazon changes a rate, see our Amazon account management service. As an Amazon SPN verified partner we also chase fee overcharges and size-tier errors on your behalf; the audit on the Amazon service page starts with your top 20 ASINs.