One of our clients in the cosmetics and hair care industry was selling on Amazon using its own fulfillment (FBM) and without Prime eligibility. This excluded it from much of the traffic from buyers interested in its highest-margin products and, more importantly, from the Buy Box.
It's an open secret that Amazon's algorithm prioritizes the inventory in its own warehouses and, in addition, the user experience during the sales and after-sales processes.
We realized that, Even though we had a better price, we often failed to win the Buy Box, And this got us thinking and looking for alternatives: Could we leverage our potential for fast shipping and our strong performance metrics (ODR)?
The answer was simple: yes. You don't have to use FBA to get good results, and this case proves it.
What we did: Set up Self-Managed Prime Shipping without switching to FBA
In March, we enrolled the customer in Self-Managed Prime Shipping: they continue to handle shipping themselves, but with the Prime badge. We went through a trial period (not as short as we thought) and finally earned the badge in two categories: lowest price and standard size.
With the "Active" badge, we feature our most strategic products with special offers to the Amazon Prime Days June (23–26) and October (6–7).
Results from the Prime Days in June and October
June Prime Days: Daily sales three times higher than usual and 51% more revenue than in 2025.
October Prime Days: With Prime now well-established and building on the experience from June, sales peaked at 17% higher than during previous Prime Days. This is surprising, given that there were fewer days of deals than in June (though we’ll discuss that in another post).
Tail effect (the most interesting part): With the sales events now over, sales remained well above normal. On June 27, sales were more than double those of a typical day, and October 8 was the best day of the year, even without any active sales events.
- Base sales level up 33% after the first Prime Day.
- July 2026 vs. July 2025: +51% in revenue and +58% in profit. With the same products, revenue increased by 36%.
Is Self-Managed Prime an option for any FBM seller?
If, after reading this article, you're wondering whether the self-managed Prime system is really an option for any FBM seller, here's an important point that's often overlooked: Earning the Prime badge isn't just about offering fast delivery. Behind the scenes, there's a logistics operation that has to run like clockwork, especially during campaigns with spikes in demand, such as Prime Day.
That's why, before taking this step, you need to ask yourself several questions: Do we have the capacity to handle a sudden increase in orders? Can we maintain our lead times and delivery times? Are we properly managing issues and returns? After all, there’s little point in increasing sales if we can’t meet the buyer’s expectations afterward.
So what advantage does it have over FBA?
First and foremost, control. The seller maintains its own inventory, manages shipments directly, and can take advantage of an existing logistics infrastructure, without having to transfer all of its merchandise to Amazon’s warehouses. This is particularly appealing for companies with well-established logistics, a broad product catalog, or products with tight margins.
Of course, that doesn't mean that self-managed Prime is always more profitable than FBA. We need to analyze costs, operational capacity, and performance requirements. The key isn't to choose FBA or FBM by default, but to identify which model allows for growth without sacrificing profitability or service quality.
What conclusions do we draw?
- The Prime badge converts: Deals work much better with him.
- Prime Day doesn't end when the sale ends: Search rankings and reviews continue to drive sales for days.
- You can join (and compete) in Prime without investing in FBA.
Do you sell on Amazon using Fulfillment by Seller (FBM) and don't have the Prime badge? The important thing is to know your strengths, and if logistics is one of them, let's talk. Through our service E-commerce Marketplace Management We'll help you determine whether Self-Managed Prime is a good fit for your business and get the most out of it with Amazon Ads campaigns.
