This article was first published on Yiwuagt.com. The site has a lot of knowledge about Chinese imports.
It should be the goal of most Amazon sellers to find the best-selling products and smoothly ship them from China to Amazon FBA warehouses and maximize product profits. But some customers report that there are many difficulties in this complex process, especially in terms of transportation and procurement.
As a professional Chinese sourcing agent, this article will show you how to safely and efficiently ship goods from China to Amazon FBA, making it easier for you to achieve your goals. You can also head over to read other related articles: The Complete Guide to Sourcing Amazon Products from China.
1. What is Amazon FBA Service?
The full name of Amazon FBA is Fulfillment can be Amazon.
Through the Amazon FBA service, Amazon sellers can store their goods in Amazon warehouses. Whenever someone places an order, Amazon employees make, pack, ship the product and handle returns exchanges for them.
This service can really reduce the pressure of Amazon sellers' inventory and package delivery. In addition, many FBA orders can be delivered free of charge, which can better attract consumers. Sellers can also use this part of the time to optimize their stores to further boost sales.
2. How to Send Products from China to Amazon FBA
1) Direct shipping from China to Amazon FBA
Negotiate with your supplier, once the goods have finished production, packaged and sent directly from the supplier to Amazon FBA.
Advantages: Cheap, the most convenient, takes the least time.
Disadvantage: You can't understand the quality of the product
Please choose your suppliers carefully. You can read related guide: How to Find Reliable Chinese Suppliers.
If you have a reliable sourcing agent in China, then the product quality can be further guaranteed. They will collect the goods for you from different suppliers, check the product quality, take pictures for you to feedback, and can also repackage the goods for you.
If they find unqualified products, they will negotiate with Chinese suppliers in a timely manner, such as replacing a batch of goods or replacing a different style, so as to avoid harming your interests.
2) Ship from China to your home, then send to the Amazon FBA when you confirm it's correct
Advantages: You can personally check product quality, packaging and labels, avoid selling substandard products.
Disadvantages: cargo transit time increases, and freight costs also increase. And inspecting the product in person is also very hard work.
3) Ship to Amazon FBA via prep service company
The prep service company can check the goods quality for you, ensure that everything meets the requirements, and reduce the probability of the goods being rejected by Amazon FBA.
There are prep service company in China and other countries. If you choose a company close to Amazon's warehouse, the shipping cost will be relatively saved.
However, once the product quality problem is found, it's difficult to replace it, needs to be dealt with directly in the local area, which will increase a lot of costs. In this case, choosing a prep service company in China would be more appropriate.
Note: Amazon Shipping may distribute the goods to three different warehouses, which will lead to increased logistics costs. Therefore, when considering the logistics cost, keep a floating space as much as possible, ensure that it doesn't affect the profits of other aspects.
You can try setting up bulk shipments, such as 7 SKUs of 25 units each, to increase the likelihood of shipping to the same warehouse.
3. 4 Shipping Methods for Shipping from China to Amazon FBA
1) Express shipping to Amazon FBA
Whether it's from the delivery process or the calculation of shipping costs, express shipping can be said to be the easiest one, and the shipping speed is also fast. We recommend express shipping for shipments less than 500kg. If it's more than 500kg, it may be more economical to ship by sea and air.
Fee: charge per kilogram*total kilograms (when the goods are bulky and lightweight products, the courier fee is calculated according to the volume)
Recommended courier company: DHL, FedEx or UPS.
Note: Goods containing lithium batteries, powders and liquids will be classified as dangerous goods, and express and air freight aren't allowed.
2) By sea to Amazon warehouse
Sea shipping is a complicated shipping method, which is usually handled by Amazon shipping agents.
When transporting bulky cargo, it is very suitable to choose sea freight. For example, if the volume of goods reaches more than 2 cubic meters, more cost can be saved by sea freight, which is one of the reasons why sea freight is popular.
In addition, you can flexibly choose LCL or FCL. Generally, the price per cubic meter of LCL cargo is 3 times that of the whole box.
Shipping fee structure from China to Amazon FBA: sea freight + ground freight
Time required for shipping to Amazon FBA: 25~40 days
Note: Due to the long shipping time, you need to plan the Amazon product supply chain plan, reserve sufficient time. Moreover, the frequency of changes in sea freight rates in the past two years is relatively large, and you need to pay attention to them frequently.
3) Air freight
Air freight is also a relatively complex mode of transportation, and many of them will be handed over to freight forwarders.
Suitable for transporting cargo weighing > 500 kg. It isn't recommended to transport goods with large volume but low product value, which is easy to cause losses.
Cost: Calculated according to volume and weight. The cost is about 10%~20% lower than using express.
Time required for shipping to Amazon FBA: Generally, it takes 9-12 days, which is 5-6 days faster than using express. Great for Amazon sellers who are in desperate need of restocking.
4) Air UPS combination or Ocean UPS combination
This is a new shipping mode used by China freight forwarders to better adapt to Amazon's FBA policy.
-- Air UPS Combined (AFUC)
The delivery time is a few days slower than the express, but compared to traditional air delivery, the price of UPS combined by air will be 10%~20% lower than that of express delivery of the same volume and weight. And goods less than 500 kg are also suitable for use.
-- Sea Freight UPS Combined (SFUC)
Different from traditional shipping, the price of this shipping UPS combination will be higher and the speed will be much faster.
If you don't want to bear the high shipping costs, choosing the ocean UPS combined method is your best choice.
When Amazon sellers choose products, they need to pay attention to factors such as whether the product is suitable for transportation, product size and so on. Otherwise, it may be unprofitable due to excessive shipping costs or damaged goods.
4. How to Find a Amazon FBA Freight Forwarder in China
1) Find it yourself
Google search "China FBA freight forwarder", you can find some freight forwarder websites, you can compare a few more, and choose the most satisfactory Amazon FBA agent.
2) Entrust your supplier or purchasing agent to search
If you are satisfied with your suppliers or purchasing agents, then you can hand over the job of finding freight forwarders to them. They have been exposed to more forwarder.
At the same time, experienced Chinese sourcing agents can also help you find reliable Chinese suppliers, help you source suitable Amazon products. Compared with the cooperation with a single freight forwarder, the purchasing agent can have greater operability, can provide a series of services from purchasing products to shipping.
5. Preconditions for Sellers to use Amazon FBA
If Amazon sellers want to use FBA, they need to understand all the rules of Amazon FBA in advance, such as Amazon FBA requirements for product labeling and product packaging. In addition to meeting Amazon's rules, sellers are also required to provide Amazon with compliance documentation.
1) Amazon FBA label requirements
If your product isn't properly labeled or not labeled, it will cause your product to not enter the Amazon warehouse. Because they need to scan the correct labels to put the product in the correct location. In order not to affect product sales, it is necessary to ensure that the labeling is correct. Below are the basic labeling requirements.
1. Each box in the shipment must have its own separate FBA shipping label. This label can be generated when you confirm the shipping plan in your seller account.
2. All products must be affixed with FNSCU that can be scanned, and must correspond to the only product. You can generate barcodes when you create product listings in your seller account.
3. Set items must indicate on the packaging that the item is being sold as a set, such as "Sold As set" or "This is a set".
4. For plastic bags, you can directly use FNSKU to print warning labels, no need to worry that Amazon employees may miss warning stickers.
5. If you are reusing the box, remove any old shipping labels or markings.
6.The label should be easily accessible without opening the product package. Avoid corners, edges, curves.
2) How to properly label your products
1. Label the product by your partnered Chinese supplier
What you need to do is to be as specific as possible about the contents of the package and make sure they do exactly what you say. You can double-check that they're doing it right by taking videos and pictures. Although doing this is really exhausting, but it's better than being rejected by an Amazon warehouse.
Compared with others, Amazon sellers will face more problems, such as product packaging and labeling, access standards, and quality will be more stringent, but many suppliers only focus on products, don't have rich import and export knowledge, easy to encounter many questions.
Therefore, even if many Amazon sellers have import experience, they will tend to hand over import matters to local experts in China, who can better grasp the details. You only need to tell them your requirements, and they will help you communicate with multiple factories, arrange labeling, product packaging, etc., ensure that it meets your expected goals, while saving time and costs.
2. Label yourself
Sellers who choose to label their products themselves will need to ship the goods to their home. You can indeed do this if you are only importing small quantities of goods from China.
But we don't recommend Amazon sellers with large orders to do this, unless your home is big enough to stock up on everything without stress.
3. Ask a third-party company to label
Generally, third-party companies have extensive experience in labeling. You just need to send the goods to a third party, they can do it for you. There are many prep service companies in the USA, but very few in China, generally replaced by Chinese purchasing agents.
3) Amazon FBA packaging requirements
-- Product packaging:
1. Each product is individually packaged
2. Preference is given to packaging materials such as boxes, bubble wrap and plastic bags
3. The product inside the box should be compact and shake without any movement
4. For protection, use a 2" cushion between each item in the box.
5. Plastic bags are transparent and have suffocation warning labels attached
-- Outer packing:
1. Use rigid six-sided outer packaging materials, such as cartons.
2. The dimensions of the outer package should be 6 X 4 X 1 inches.
3. In addition, the case used should weigh more than 1 lb and not more than 50 lbs.
4. For boxes over 50 lbs and 100 lbs, you should provide a label identifying the team lift and mechanical lift respectively.
4) Compliance documents that sellers need to provide to Amazon FBA
1. Bill of lading
A key document in deciding whether a port will release your cargo. Mainly providing detailed information about your cargo.
2. Commercial invoice
Important documents. It will contain various detailed information about the product such as the country of origin, importer, supplier, product unit price, etc., which is mainly used for customs clearance.
3. Telex release
Documents used for bills of lading.
4. Other documents
Depending on the import policy of different places, you may also need to provide other certificates.
- Certificate of Origin
- Packing list
- Phytosanitary Certificate
- Hazard Certificate
- Import license
If you're worried about running into an unsolvable problem, we can help you. As best Yiwu sourcing agent with 25 years of experience, we can serve Amazon sellers well. Whether it's China product sourcing, product packaging and labeling, quality control or shipping, you can trust us. Some Amazon sellers may want to get product images for promotion before the goods arrive. Don't worry, we have a professional photography and design team that can meet all your needs.
6. How to Track Shipments from China to Amazon FBA
1) Track courier shipments
Tracking your express shipments is the easiest. Just open the official website of the courier company you use, and then enter your waybill number, you can easily know the latest logistics situation of your goods.
2) Track Sea/Air Cargo
If your goods are shipped by sea or air, then you can ask the freight company that helps you deliver the goods, they will help you check.
It is recommended that you check the scheduled time of the next stage when the goods leave the transit point in China, when the goods arrive at the US port, and when the goods are cleared through customs, which can help you quickly grasp the dynamic information of the goods.
Or you can inquire through the official website of the shipping company/airline where your cargo is located. Inquiring about ocean orders requires your shipping company name, container number, bill of lading (bill of lading) number or order number.
The tracking number of your air waybill is required to inquire about your air waybill.
END
This is the complete guide for Amazon FBA sellers on how to ship from China. As a professional Chinese purchasing agent, we have helped many Amazon sellers. If you are still unclear about some questions after reading this guide, you can contact us.
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