Overview

Amazon's Multi-Channel Fulfillment (MCF) service allows sellers to use Amazon's fulfillment network to ship orders from non-Amazon sales channels. Understanding how MCF billing works is essential for sellers who rely on this service, as payment failures can directly disrupt your ability to fulfill orders across all your sales channels.

Key Points / What Sellers Need to Know

• MCF fees are deducted from your seller account balance - If your account balance is positive from Amazon sales and reimbursements, MCF fees are simply subtracted from that balance rather than charged to your credit card.
• Negative balances trigger credit card charges - When refunds and fees exceed your sales revenue, Amazon may charge your credit card up to once per day until the balance is settled.
• Payment failures can suspend MCF order creation - If a payment fails, your ability to create new MCF orders may be suspended until the outstanding balance is resolved.
• Suspensions are region-wide - A payment failure in any single store within a region will suspend MCF order creation across all stores in that entire region.
• You cannot change your billing schedule - Amazon controls the billing schedule, and sellers are unable to modify it independently.

How MCF Billing Works

MCF billing operates through your standard Amazon seller account settlement process. During each settlement period, Amazon calculates your account balance by factoring in sales revenue, reimbursements, customer refunds, and all service fees including MCF charges. When your balance is positive, MCF costs are automatically deducted before your disbursement, and you receive the remaining amount on your regular payment schedule. When your balance turns negative, Amazon charges your credit card on file, potentially once per day, until the deficit is cleared. This means sellers with high MCF volume relative to their Amazon sales should pay close attention to their account balance to avoid unexpected credit card charges.

Regional Suspension Rules

One of the most important details for multi-marketplace sellers is how payment failures affect MCF access across regions. Amazon groups its marketplaces into three regions for MCF billing purposes. The North America region includes the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The European region covers the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain. The Far East region encompasses Japan, Australia, and Singapore. If a payment fails in any single store within one of these regions, your MCF order creation capability is suspended across every store in that region. However, existing orders that were created before the payment failure will still be shipped normally, so in-transit fulfillment is not affected.