Ask HN: Are there any alternatives to FBA (Fulfilled by Amazon)?

7 points by interfacesketch 7 years ago | 3 comments

For a small business that prefers someone else to handle the logistics of stock, shipping, payments and returns, are there any alternatives to FBA in the US or Europe? As far as I can tell, the answer is a resounding no. Am I wrong?

I'm aware of some of the problems with FBA. However, it also offers opportunities to small business' that have no equivalent.

If you know of alternatives to FBA, please post them here. If you have used FBA, please let us know about your experience and your thoughts. Thank you :-)

ganeshkrishnan 7 years ago |

Our startup aihello handles everything except payments and we integrate with 3pl as well FBA.

The reason there is no competition to FBA is because it's extremely hard to setup the whole infrastructure especially warehouse planning. It took us two years to get where we are now and we still have miles to go before we can support EU.

Also note that most large organizations have their own proprietary fba-like logistics. I used to lead the ibm logistics project back when they were into PC's and used that experience to create my current startup

dhruvkar 7 years ago |

https://www.shipbob.com/

looked into this very briefly. operate similarly.

ganeshkrishnan 7 years ago | |

Shipbob is a 3pl. They don't handle all logistics , planning or fulfillment from platforms