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FBO and FBS

| Article: 3 min read | Catalog and marketplaces

FBO and FBS are two order fulfillment schemes on a marketplace. With FBO (fulfillment by operator), the goods sit in the marketplace's warehouse, and it packs and ships the order itself. With FBS (fulfillment by seller), the goods stay in the seller's warehouse, and the seller picks them and hands them to delivery.

Where the terms come from

The abbreviations FBO/FBS are not a universal standard: individual platforms use them, each with its own terms. The base example of the FBO scheme is Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA): the seller ships goods to Amazon fulfillment centers, and Amazon stores, packs, ships, handles returns and supports customers (Wikipedia, Amazon). Amazon's separate program for sellers who ship themselves is called Fulfilled by Merchant, but its terms are not laid out here.

How it works in Ukraine

Rozetka has a "Fulfillment by ROZETKA" service. The seller help center (the update date is not shown on the page) has sections on preparing goods, packaging and labeling rules, sending a shipment to the Rozetka warehouse, order processing, and, separately, fulfillment for orders from the seller's own sales channels (Rozetka). There are no rates on the page; see the current ones in the seller account. For Prom's terms, see its help center.

The market you work in is notable for its scale: the Rozetka-Evo group (Rozetka and Prom) ended 2025 with a turnover of 112.4 billion UAH, 9% more than a year earlier, and had 776 offline touchpoints (stores, pickup points, parcel lockers) on 31.12.2025 (Forbes Ukraine, 16.03.2026). This confirms that delivery to pickup points and parcel lockers is already routine for marketplaces, but fulfillment is not mentioned in that article.

Comparison


FBO

FBS

Where the goods are

marketplace warehouse

your warehouse

Who packs and ships

marketplace

you

Costs

receiving, storage, handling

your own warehouse and staff

Control

less

more

Risk

long storage costs money, stock is frozen

picking errors, delays are on you

The table is our generalized logic, not a quote from a source; the exact terms are set by each platform.

What to calculate before choosing

  • The cost of storage and handling per unit: Amazon FBA, for example, has separate fees for storage and for long-term storage (as described on the Amazon seller forum, for stock older than 181 days; Amazon changes its rates, check the current ones) (Amazon seller forum, 2026).
  • Speed: the effect on competitive terms and on the buy box, where fast delivery is considered a factor (Amazon).
  • Returns and unclaimed cash on delivery orders: who pays for the trip back. See unit economics.
  • Product restrictions: not all categories (bulky, glass, perishable) are accepted into the warehouse.
  • The risk of storing at someone else's warehouse. The stock sits with the platform, and in a force majeure you depend on its policy.

Common mistakes

  • Sending the entire range to the warehouse, including slow-moving products: money tied up in stock.
  • Not calculating the storage cost for C products (ABC/XYZ analysis helps).
  • Not tracking stock at two warehouses at once (FBO + your own).
  • Choosing a scheme only by the price of the service, ignoring delivery speed.

FAQ

What is FBO in plain words? You ship goods to the marketplace's warehouse, and it packs and ships the order.

What is FBS? The goods are in your warehouse, you assemble the order yourself and hand it to delivery.

Which is better, FBO or FBS? It depends on product turnover, dimensions and the cost of the service. Often FBO pays off for fast-moving products and FBS for slow-moving and bulky ones. This is a guideline, not a rule, and it needs to be checked with a calculation.

Can FBO and FBS be combined? Many sellers do just that: fast-moving products in the platform's warehouse, the rest at home. Check the terms with the specific marketplace.

Sources

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