Amazon brings third-party delivery and fulfilment to Australia

Amazon is bringing its fulfilment service to Australia, allowing sellers to hand over their logistics and delivery requirements to the retail giant

Sellers that sign up to Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA) can send their products to Amazon's Melbourne fulfilment centre for packing and shipping. Amazon will also handle returns and customer service.

Sellers are charged for storage space used and for each order Amazon fulfils, with the cost of shipping included in fees. There is no minimum number of units that need to be sent to sign up to FBA.

The attraction for sellers comes from elimintaing the need to individually package and ship their own goods. Customers can get free deliveries on orders above $49 when purchasing through FBA, and can access Amazon's customer service and one or two-day delivery in certain areas.

Aussies will also be able to sign up to Amazon Prime, the company's premium fast-delivery service, when it goes live in mid-2018. Products sold through FBA will be eligible   for Amazon Prime's fast shipping.

Amazon's head of FBA Amit Mahto said the service would "level the playing field" for sellers looking to start their own business.

"We are focused on helping Australian businesses of all sizes succeed by inventing on their behalf and making our technology available to them and FBA is a fantastic example of this," said Mahto.

"Customers shopping on Amazon.com.au will be able to access an ever-growing and more unique range of products accompanied by the convenience of fast delivery and Amazon’s world-class customer service."

Amazon is running a promotion that will give sellers access to free storage if they sign up to FBA until 31 August.

Amazon finally launched in Australia in December after much speculation, and already has more than 1000 employees in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane and Canberra.

The online marketplace opened with 20 product categories, including a large range of IT and electronics from some of the largest vendors in the channel, such as Acer, Asus, HP, Huawei, Intel and Microsoft.