After you’ve found the products you want to sell on Amazon, you will have to ship them to the Amazon fulfillment center. The quickest way of doing this is to ship from the manufacturer to Amazon. The best way to do this is through air shipment or sea shipment.
Shipping costs from the manufacturer to Amazon will vary, depending on these three factors:
- FBA Fees
- Supplier and Freight Costs
- Size and Weight of the Product(s)
Luckily, though, this method cuts out one stage of the process since you won’t’ have to have the products shipped to you and then shipped to Amazon; instead, everything goes from the manufacturer right to the fulfillment center. It’s important to remember, however, that the cost of air shipment is more expensive than sea shipment.
To further lower your costs, you should ship all of the items to a single location. Amazon will charge you an additional $0.30 per unit, but it will offer you more savings in the long run.
Setting Up Air Shipments to Amazon Fulfillment Center
Shipping air express directly to the fulfillment center is incredibly simple.
Step 1: Set up Inventory Placement
You will need to set up inventory placement because sending two or more boxes separately to different fulfillment centers will be more expensive than the fee amazon charges for sending everything to one warehouse.
To do this, you’ll log in to your Seller Central account and go into the Settings. From there, you’ll click “Fulfillment by Amazon” and “Inbound Settings.” Your default setting will say “Distributed Inventory.” This can be edited and should be changed to “Inventory Placement,” which means that Amazon will accept all of the products going to one warehouse.
Step 2: Create the Shipment in Amazon
Next, you’ll need to create the shipment in Amazon by selecting how your products will get to the fulfillment center. Small parcel delivery or sending products from your house means using your own shipping services like FedEx or UPS.
However, if a third party is sending your shipments, it’s important to know who they’re using so that you have all of the correct information to share with Amazon. Most manufacturers will have a DHL account, and because of how much they ship products, they can typically offer you a great deal. However, it’s recommended that you get your own quote, too, to compare the two.
In Seller Central, make sure that all of your shipping information is correct and get information from your third party freight forwarder for how much the box weighs and what the dimensions are.
Step 3: Print Shipping Labels
Since you’re not the one sending your products to Amazon, you will need to send the labels to the manufacturer doing the shipping. Once Amazon receives these products, you’ll receive a tracking number from the shipping company. These numbers should then be added to your dashboard in Amazon.
Sea shipment is typically more cost-effective than air shipment, but air shipment is quicker, which can be the difference between selling your products fast or having them sit on shelves long after the demand has passed. Make sure to do your research and work with manufacturers who have experience sending products to Amazon!
