Fulfillment By Amazon, known as FBA.

It is a storage and distribution service Amazon provides for its sellers.

How does amazon fba work ? Well, here is a simple explanation :

1 Sellers on Amazon send products to Amazon warehouse.
2 Those warehouses are close to their main customer base where products are stored.
3 After that Amazon picks, packs, ships and tracks the order for sellers.

So here comes to shipping to amazon fba from China, the practice of ship the products from China to Amazon warehouses.

You might be wondering how ?

Common strategies include shipping method choose, labelling, palleting, warehouse choose, final delivery, etc

That’s what I going to cover in the rest of this guide.

Keep reading…

1. Head to the “Manage Inventory” page on top menu.

2. Edit and select Send/Replenish Inventory from the drop-down menu.

3. Create a new shipping plan

#1. Enter ship from address.

According to Amazon’s original regulation,

the ship-from address is the location where your shipment will be picked up for final delivery to an Amazon fulfillment center. It may be your home or business. If you work with suppliers, it may be from their warehouse.

So what exactly amazon fba ship from address should you input ?

Here I will introduce a technique :“Twins warehouse”.

For example,

if your inventory is coming from China, and the closest delivery location in Amazon is in Los Angeles.

Then, the next step is to coordinate the delivery of your goods to the forwarder’s warehouse in Los Angeles.

So the ” ship from ” address is this forwarder’s warehouse in Los Angeles which close to Amazon’s warehouse like # ONT8.

Just input this address, later you can update it based on the Amazon preassigned warehouse location.

#2. Confirm the packing type of the products

Individual products are single products of varying quantities and conditions.

Case-packed products are multiples of the same product packaged by the manufacturer, each case containing the same quantity in the same condition.

Easy to understand.

3. Set quantity for shipment to Amazon

Ask your supplier the data of units per case and the number of cases, normally you can find it on the Packing List.

Tips : How to ship multiple items to amazon fba ? The quantities must be correct here.

4. Prepare your products for FBA shipping

Select “Merchant,” which means having your supplier do the packing prepare work ( bubble wrapping, bagging, etc). It can be more cost-effective.

Otherwise choose Amazon, you can find its costs here.

5. Label Products

Once again, instead of using Amazon’s service , we recommend get your supplier to do this for you so to save costs.

6. Review shipments to Amazon

At this step, Amazon will automatically designate the fulfillment centers they want your product shipped to.

#Bonus Tip1 :

It can be one fulfillment center, or multiple fulfillment centers.

So it is very important for you to update the ” ship from ” address.

How to change shipping address on amazon ?

For example, if you are assigned 3 warehouses in US west coast, then the best discharge port can be Los Angeles, and you will need a warehouse at LA port.

#Bonus Tip2:

Once the plan approved, the page will change from Review Shipments to View Shipments.

So remember to review the details of your shipment plan carefully since very can be change afterwards.

What’s more, you need to follow through.

If not to do so,  your rights to deliver goods to Amazon and Amazon selling may be suspended.

#Bonus Tip3:

Pay attention to the amazon reference id.

It can be found in the Amazon seller central once shipment plan created.

More importantly, it must be noted on the B/L.

So now you have created the shipping plan,

the next is to send the goods to “ship from ” address, which brings us to next chapter.

Let’s dive right in.

You may heard of FOB or EXW before ?

That’s right, Incoterm is the first topic knowledge highly recommended for every importers that come to the international trade and shipping.

What it is:

It is the standard contract term used in sales contracts with importing and exporting to define responsibility and liability for shipment of the goods.

Why it works:

The main reason is Incoterms will impact your shipping costs, as it will determine the shipping distance and relative responsibilities.

In short, what cost you need to pay or not is depended on the Incoterms. And you need to look before you leap.

What is included:

It’s time to dig a bit deeper and actually explain what these strange Incoterms actually means.

Here is a description for you to know the risks, costs , responsibilities under each Incoterm.

Still confused ? I believe so.

Don‘t despair.

Fortunately, when you break down the shipping distance, everything will be quite simple.

• Door to Door
• Door to Port
• Port to Door

You see ?

When comes to send goods to Amazon warehouse, either you want door to door shipping , or just port to door.

In other words, choose EXW or FOB.

The difference between EXW and FOB lies in who take care of local export operation and costs like Customs clearance, insurance, doc processing, picking up, port fee, etc

When the trade term is EXW, you pay all.

And when FOB, the local charges will be on supplier’s account.

Everyone has a general concept that shipping method includes sea freight, air freight, railway, road, etc.

When comes to international shipping, more specifically, to send goods from China to Amazon FBA, the exclusive terminologies would be: FCL, LCL, Air and Courier .

Each method has its applicable conditions, pros and cons.

You have to decide if you have to prioritize shipping cost or delivery time.

And here I will show you how to select the best way to ship to amazon fba.

Qualification

Shipping safety is always the first priority.

You don’t want to deal with a fake company, right ?

In order to check if a freight forwarder is “real”  , you can check and confirm whether the forwarder have the necessary license.

As for China forwarders, the license including :

• Business certificate

• Class-A forwarder license

• Whether NVOCC

• Whether member of WCA or CGLN

• Whether SGS audited

Pricing

It’s reasonable for you to search the quote from 3-5 forwarders, and choose a price within market.

Really the amazon fba shipping cost doesn’t have to be the cheapest, as it would normally means poor service.

Don’t inquiry everywhere and try to get a so called best price. The result could be just the opposite, you will pay more.

What’s more, quotes given by the forwarder should be transparent with no hidden cost.

You don’t want to be shocked by the amazing cost on invoice, do you ?

Experience

The experience that a freight forwarder determines the quality of the services they will provide.

Specifically, you will need a forwarder with rich experience regarding to fba shipping.  When using a traditional forwarder without Amazon shipping knowledge and practical experience, it could be disaster.

You can recognize the extent of a company’s experience when you talk to them:

• inquire about their steps for an import shipment,

• ask for the solutions they would give to different scenarios,

• talk to both sales and customer service people.

With that, you will get an idea of how well their people are experienced.

Flexibility

Instead of finding very big forwarder company, you may need use a small medium size forwarder.

First, a giant forwarder normally don’t do Amazon shipping business. They are specialized in project shipment like quantity container shipments and ton weight air shipments.

Second, a small medium size forwarder are more flexible to offer tailor made shipping proposal.

Third, the service can be real one-to-one, with fast response and friend care.

So what’s the amazon fba shipping requirements for palleting ?

Here are 5 basic tips :

• Size : 40 inch x 48 inch ( 1 M x 1.2 M ) . Four way access
• Material : Wooden. Amazon doesn’t accept plastic, cardboard or particle board Pallets.
• Height: Any single pallet must not be taller than 72″ ( 1.8 M )
• Standard: GMA Standard B Grade or higher
• Condition：Don’t use broken and damaged pallets.

Besides the pallet requirement, another question you need to concern is palleting at origin or destination.

If palleting in China, the total volume will be increased 1-2 CBM. So shipping costs will be increased if you use LCL service.

If you choose palletize your cargo at destination, your shipment will be palletized at destination warehouse before final delivery to Amazon. Consequently, more costs can be incurred especially for FCL container shipment.

But my suggestion is, getting as much done in China as possible. Same as labelling, ask your supplier do the pallets too.

If they don’t familiar with the requirements or can’t do the palleting, get your forwarder to do this in China warehouse so to save shipping to amazon fba cost.

Ok. Now your goods have been delivered to ” ship from ” address with right label and palleting.

So it’s time to login your Amazon seller central again and prepare the last delivery to Amazon FBA.

You will now have a different FBA shipment ID for each fulfillment center you are assigned. The next is to select the shipping method and shipping carrier.

Amazon provide two choices of shipping methods:

SPD : Small parcel delivery

• Shipping small boxes, it can be suitable for most shipments when you choose courier service. Courier will send the goods to Amazon di

• LTL : Less than truck load

• LTL would means pallet shipments bulk order , shipping method by FCL, LCL or Air cargo.
Also, 3 kinds of carrier service are for delivery :

• UPS / TNT
• Amazon LTL
• The third party LTL ( Like FreightPaul LTL service with agent partner )

How to choose ?

Remember courier service is door to door by UPS/FedEx/DHL/TNT , and suitable for small parcel delivery ?

So if you just send couple of small boxes, select SPD for shipping method and choose UPS/FedEx or DHL as the carrier.

For other palleting shipments, you will want LTL and third party LTL carrier service.

Why not use Amazon LTL and UPS / FedEx to send the goods ?

It is depend on time and costs.

Overall, courier UPS/FedEx is the fastest way, but with most expensive price.

And the third party trucking more fast and cheaper than Amazon LTL.

Bonus Tips :

Here is the checklist before sending the goods to Amazon

• Correct Label
• Pallet in good condition
• Providing the bill of lading (BOL)
• Scheduling a delivery

Ok. Now your goods have been delivered to ” ship from ” address with right label and palleting.

So it’s time to login your Amazon seller central again and prepare the last delivery to Amazon FBA.

You will now have a different FBA shipment ID for each fulfillment center you are assigned. The next is to select the shipping method and shipping carrier.

Amazon provide two choices of shipping methods:

SPD : Small parcel delivery

• Shipping small boxes, it can be suitable for most shipments when you choose courier service. Courier will send the goods to Amazon di

• LTL : Less than truck load

• LTL would means pallet shipments bulk order , shipping method by FCL, LCL or Air cargo.
Also, 3 kinds of carrier service are for delivery :

• UPS / TNT
• Amazon LTL
• The third party LTL ( Like FreightPaul LTL service with agent partner )

How to choose ?

1. What if I don’t want all of my goods shipped to Amazon ?

Use the third-party warehouses, specifically,the warehouse at the port close to the Amazon warehouse, it can be used as “ship from” address, and functionally for labelling, palleting as well as storage.

If you have such question, congratulations, you are more cautious than most FBA importers.
In fact, people underestimate about amazon fba storage fees.

Many sellers make the mistake of believing that Amazon can store their products with little cost.

However, if your item isn’t selling , Amazon will think your goods is just taking up space, and will charge you handsomely for its storage.

Below is current fee by Amazon :
So you can find that Amazon’s warehouse fees may end up being burdensome and costly for sellers.

Remember the ” Twins Warehouse” technique ? ( Talked in chapter 1 : step 3 )

Again, it can be used well.

Besides it can acted as the ship-from address when creating your shipment on Amazon, it an still serve with a cheap storage fee.

So if you don’t want all of your shipment to be immediately delivered to an Amazon fulfillment center,

just store at the “Twins warehouse”.

2. How to book a shipment to multiple Amazon warehouses?

There are two options : ship the goods together to the warehouse close to Amazon FBA and then schedule the trucking delivery separately; Or you can ship separately to ship-from address directly and then truck delivery to Amazon individually

For most FBA business importers, every shipment are shipped to one Amazon warehouse.

However, Amazon may assign multiple amazon warehouses for the products in some situation.

So how to do that ?

Here are another 2 techniques to go about handling split shipments:

1. Ship Together and Delivery Separately.
This method can be considered when the multiple warehouses consigned are close enough.

Suppose Amazon assign #ONT6, #ONT8, #ONT9 3 warehouses for your products.

Firstly, we ship all the goods in one shipment to Los Angeles port warehouse , the ” ship address “,

Secondly, you use Amazon LTL or third-party truck, even your own truck, to pick goods from from LA port warehouse, and send to the 3 destination warehouse separately.

Amazon will assign a different FBA ID for each fulfillment center, so your shipment may have multiple FBA IDs.

Make sure labelling with FBA ID are correct when delivery goods from ” ship to ” address to Amazon warehouse.

2. Ship Separately and Delivery individually.
For example, when Amazon designated warehouses are # ONT8 ( in California ) , #CLT2 ( in North Carolina ), #FTW2( in Texas ),

Then this could be worthwhile to ship shipments separately since the warehouses are in different states.

i.e book shipments to Los Angeles, Charlotte, and Houston.

3. How long will it take for shipment from amazon shipping address to Amazon warehouse?

The time frame is depend on the shipping service and carrier you use. It differs from 1-3 days to 2-3 weeks

Amazon requires that all FBA shipments be delivered to their warehouses at very specific times.

If you have shipped to Amazon fba before, you may ask why does amazon take so long to ship.

This is because pickup can only be scheduled when the Customs cleared and goods arrive at the destination country port ( airport ) warehouses.

This may result in delivery delays.

Reservation is also required for shipping inventory to amazon warehouse.

Below is the illustration of detail among the shipping methods and carriers you choose for last-mile delivery.

4.How can I pack my cargo when use FCL shipping to Amazon FBA ?

You need to pay attention to 2 things : Right packed with pallets and schedule a delivery appointment.

How to pack for amazon fba when using FCL service ? 3 options can be given to comply with FBA palleting requirements.

1. Floor loaded firstly, then palletized.

You can have your China supplier just load the container with boxes.

Then, unload the boxes from the container by your forwarder when goods arrived at destination port, palletized it at ship from warehouse.

2. Directly palletized.

Ask your China supplier to load your container with right palleting as well as correct labelling, then container can be sent straight to the Amazon warehouse.

Note: This only works if Amazon assign just one warehouse.

3. Only floor loaded.

In fact, containers that stacked with boxes can be also accepted by Amazon.

But we don’t recommend. Why ?

Because palleting shipments are often prioritized over floor loaded containers..

It will take much nore longer for you to schedule a delivery appointment when you send container with floor loaded.

Consequently, a huge storage charges can be incurred.

What’s more, Amazon will also charge you the processing fee to handle floor loaded containers.