The launch of the Amazon FBA service has been impacting the whole online-business world. More and more e-commerce business owners are choosing Amazon FBA as their fulfillment choice, thanks to the great convenience brought to the buyers.
As a leading sourcing agent, we’ve helped Amazon sellers in the USA and Europe. And we are receiving many inquiries about shipping from China to Amazon FBA from our customers every day. Here, we collected several FAQs and shared our insight on these typical issues.
- What is Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA)?
- Three Solutions to Ship from China to Amazon FBA
- Shipping Methods to Ship from China to Amazon FBA
- Ways to Find Freight Forwarders for Shipment to Amazon FBA
- Packaging and Labeling of Goods for Shipment to Amazon FBA
- Tips for Direct Shipping from Alibaba to Amazon FBA
- Means to Track the Shipment to Amazon FBA from China
- Steps to Deal with Lost Goods at Amazon (Real Case Analyzed)
- Amazon Requirements for Product Compliance Documentation
What is Amazon FBA?
Amazon FBA (Fulfilment By Amazon) is the fulfillment service offered by Amazon. It aims to facilitate sellers’ sales. With FBA service, you can store your products in Amazon’s fulfillment centers, and Amazon staff will be responsible for picking, packing, shipping, and handling all customer inquiries and returns for these products. Of course, there fees for different FBA services charged by Amazon.
3 Solutions to Ship from China to Amazon FBA (Direct and Indirect)
When it comes to importing from China to Amazon FBA, the first thing to consider is how to send products to Amazon FBA according to your budget and requirements.
Basically, there are 3 solutions. I will elaborate pros and cons of each way. Then, you can choose the most suitable way as per your specific situation.
Solution 1: Direct Shipping from China to Amazon FBA
Direct shipping refers to shipping directly from the supplier to Amazon FBA. It is the easiest and most convenient way for an overseas importer to use it. If you compare with below another two methods, you’ll also find it the cheapest method.
In this case, you can ask the supplier to arrange the shipment or hire your FBA freight forwarder. If both of you cannot find an FBA forwarder, you can consider shipping via the Amazon prep service company.
It’s best to ship from China to Amazon FBA directly, especially when you use express like UPS or FedEx. That’s because express rates all over the US are the same and no extra domestic express fee will occur, compared with transferring from your home or a 3rd-party company.
Solution 2: Ship to Your Home First, then to Amazon Warehouse
If sending products to Amazon FBA directly, you’ll have no chance to check your products. That is the most obvious advantage of shipping to your home first, allowing you to touch and check your products.
Then, if finding any quality problems, you can fix them first hand before your customers purchase them. It will eliminate the risks of bad customer reviews. Sounds great, right?
However, this solution also comes with an additional transportation cost from your home to the Amazon warehouse. So before shipping your products, be sure to search for the nearest Amazon warehouse from your home, and calculate the transportation cost. If the cost is acceptable or it won’t affect the product profit too much, you can definitely choose this solution.
Solution 3: Ship Via Prep Service Company, then to Amazon Warehouse
A prep service company is a 3rd-party company. It can help you handle import customs clearance, transport goods, conduct product inspection, package, and label your goods as per Amazon-specific requirements.
Amazon has specific packaging and labeling requirements. It is a bit complicated and not all suppliers can do that well.
Hence, if your supplier has no experience in labeling FNSKU, or you don’t want to do it on your own, then shipping to a prep service company is a good choice. Moreover, you can choose to cooperate with a prep service company in your country or China.
American Prep Service Company
There are many such companies on the west coast of the US, such as California. These companies help Amazon sellers ship their goods from China to Los Angeles.
One of the advantages to use an American Amazon Prep service company is that these companies can help you do the arrival inspection. Hence, you can find our the damaged goods during sea transportation after a long time. Eliminating those problem products can help to reduce the bad reviews under your amazon listing.
Another advantage is that if your Amazon warehouse is close to the prep service company, then the total shipping cost can be lower than direct shipping from China to Amazon FBA. So if you decide to ship via the 3rd party company, you’d better choose one near the Amazon warehouse.
Assuming you choose a pre-shipping company in California, and your Amazon warehouse is in New Jersey, the company will ship from China to Los Angeles first, and then transfer them from LA to New Jersey by train or truck.
You can imagine how much the local transportation cost will be. In this case, if you can’t find such a third company near New Jersey, then shipping directly from China to New Jersey Amazon warehouse would be cheaper.
However, the American companies find quality issues after the products arrive in the USA so they will only handle goods locally. They can’t return the defective products to the Chinese factory due to the high logistics cost and complicated import procedures.
Chinese Prep Service Company
The Chinese prep service company can also directly ship from China to Amazon FBA. However, there are not as many prep service companies in China as in the USA. Usually, Chinese sourcing agents play the role of a prep service company.
The price of using a Chinese prep service company is also very reasonable. The only thing is that you may need to bear the transportation cost from the supplier to the warehouse of the sourcing agent. But no worry, the cost is cheap as it’s in China. You can check it case by case, then see if it is acceptable.
Another great benefit of using a Chinese prep service company is that you can return your goods to the factory if any quality problems are found.
Comparison of 3 Solutions
To show you a clearer picture of the pros and cons of the above 3 methods, we also make a summary below for your easier understanding.
| Methods | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|
| Direct to Amazon | Cheapest, fastest, most convenient | Cannot control product quality |
| To Your Home | Can inspect quality and label products by yourself | Additional transportation fee and time |
| Via 3rd Party | Can inspect product quality, label products, and transport to Amazon | High labor cost for 3rd party in US and extra shipping cost |
4 Shipping Methods to Ship from China to Amazon FBA
You’ll need to choose the shipping method to transport your goods once deciding on the shipping solution from China to Amazon FBA. Here I’ll take shipping to the USA as an example to give you a detailed analysis. Usually, there are 4 choices available, they are:
- Express Shipping
- Sea Freight
- Air Freight
- Air Freight UPS Combined or Sea Freight UPS Combined
In the following, I’ll introduce each method in terms of its features, shipping time, and shipping cost to help you choose the best way to ship to Amazon FBA.
1. Express Shipping to Amazon FBA
It is the most convenient and easiest way for the recipient. All the recipient needs to do is to sign for the goods upon arrival, and there is no need to worry about the import customs clearance. The express service company will handle all the import procedures, including random checks by customs.
There are many express companies globally such as UPS, FedEx, DHL, etc. We’ll suggest using UPS and FedEx as they have a strong network in the USA and delivery delays seldom happen.
When to use express shipping?
It is most suitable for goods between 1-1000 lbs (less than 500kgs). For example, if you want to import 100 kgs of goods to sell on Amazon for trial, express shipping is the best shipping method.
Both air freight and sea freight are more suitable for a larger volume of goods because lots of fixed fees are involved, leading to higher total cost than express.
How much does it cost to ship to Amazon FBA?
It’s easy to calculate the express price. Take FedEx as an example, their cost is $6-$7 per kg throughout the year. You can easily get the total cost for one delivery by multiplying the weight by price per kg.
Besides, please be sure to choose the shipper to pay the customs duty, as the Amazon staff will not pay it for you, they are only responsible for receiving the goods upon arrival.
Note: when using air freight or express shipping, for those lightweight products, such as foam, the express service company will calculate the express fee based on dimensional weight, instead of the real weight.
For example, either the express company or the air freight company will not charge the same fee for 1kg of iron, and 1kg of foam, as the volume of 1kg of foam is way too large.
How long does it take to ship to Amazon FBA?
It usually takes 4-7 days to ship from China to the USA.
2. Sea Freight to Amazon FBA
Sea Freight is one of the most complicated shipping methods for import and export.
When to use sea freight?
Should it be a very large volume, like a whole container when it comes to sea frieght? Actually, once the volume of your merchandise reaches over 2 CBM, you can choose to use sea freight with LCL or FCL for cost-saving.
Besides, sea freight is a better choice for some products. For example, some products have low value but large volumes, such as plastic lunch boxes, wine decanter bottles, wine glasses, etc. If you ship these products by express or air freight, the cost will be too high to make profits.
How much does it cost to ship to Amazon FBA?
As there are 2 phases of transportation during shipping from China to Amazon FBA, the total shipping cost under this method is dependent on sea freight cost and land transportation costs.
Sea freight cost varies between months and there are peak seasons, especially during high seasons. You need to check the cost with the freight forwarder at a specific time. The good thing is that, overall, the cost of sea freight is usually 80% lower than that of international express or air freight.
In terms of the land costs, please note that if your Amazon warehouse is in the Western United States, the costs will be much lower; if the warehouses are in the East, the cost is higher.
In summary, regarding the price, according to our experience, here we’d like to give you a reference price ($200-300/CBM) for all the included shipping costs from a China port to an Amazon warehouse in the USA. This reference price should be able to help you estimate the FBA shipping costs of any product into the U.S.
How long does it take to ship to Amazon FBA?
It usually takes a long time like 25-40 days to get to the US port from China, but sea shipping is still one of the most popular methods, largely thanks to its low cost for a large volume of goods.
3. Air Freight to Amazon FBA
Like sea freight shipping, you will need to hire a professional Amazon freight forwarder to handle all the shipping and import procedures.
When to use air freight?
Considering the 10%-20% lower cost of air freight, you may think it is a great way to ship your products. However, it is only suitable to ship goods over 1,000 lbs (above 500kgs).
As for each air shipment, no matter how small, it will incur import processing fees, leading to a higher cost than express shipping. So if your goods are less than 500kgs, then express shipping and sea freight are your best choices.
How much does it cost to ship to Amazon FBA?
Like express shipping, the air freight is calculated based on dimensional weight. And the total FBA shipping cost will be 10%-20% lower than express.
How long does it take to ship to Amazon FBA?
If you use air freight, the delivery time from China to the Amazon warehouse takes a few days longer than express shipping.
4. Sea Freight UPS Combined or Air Freight UPS Combined
Both Sea Freight UPS Combined and Air Freight UPS Combined are not widely used, nor are they considered as the traditional shipping methods for international trade. Also, the abbreviation of SFUC and AFUC are coined by us for ease of use.
Currently, you’ll find most companies providing the two methods are Chinese freight forwarders, as not all shipping service companies can provide this service. Moreover, only when the goods are shipped to American Amazon warehouses can you ask for this service from those Chinese forwarders.
Comparison between SFUC and AFUC
Under traditional sea freight or air freight, the forwarder will find a truck to transport the goods to the Amazon warehouse after the goods arrive at an American seaport or airport.
In contrast, under SFUC or AFUC, UPS will be responsible for the local logistics and transports of the goods from the port of landing to the Amazon warehouse.
For those two methods, we’ll share a reference price below so that you can do an initial calculation for your shipment to decide on the best method.
Sea Freight UPS Combined (SFUC)
If you choose to use Sea Freight UPS Combined to ship your goods, it will be much faster than using traditional sea freight but more expensive. If you think traditional sea shipping is too slow, and air freight or express shipping costs too much, then SFUC will be a good alternative.
As for the shipping cost, the price for above 100kgs of goods going to the Western US is $1.5, going to the central US is $1.6, going to Eastern US is $1.8.
Air Freight UPS Combined (AFUC)
Like SFUC, for AFUC, it takes a few days longer than express shipping, but the price is 10-20% lower than express. Also, you do not have to wait for your goods to reach over 500kgs to use AFUC.
The chart below shows the rate for AFUC for rough reference. You can check the real-time quotation accordingly.
| USA | Below 100kgs | Above 100kgs |
|---|---|---|
| Western US | 4-5 USD | 3.8-4 USD |
| Central US | 4-5.2 USD | 3.9-4.1 USD |
| Eastern US | 4.5-5.3 USD | 4.3-4.5 USD |
Note: Products containing lithium batteries, liquid, powder, and some other hazardous products are not allowed to be shipped via express or air transportation. And they must go by sea freight.
However, some Chinese express agents can help you transport these products, but it is very hard to reach out to them, and the prices are usually 50%-100% higher than normal shipments.
If you need to import these products and sell them on Amazon, you can contact us for help.
How can you find a freight forwarder to ship from China to Amazon FBA?
Basically, there are two ways. You can either find one yourself or ask your supplier to handle it for you. Besides, there are freight forwarders specializing in Amazon FBA. What’s the gap between a specialized one and a normal one?
The biggest difference is the total shipping cost.
For an FBA forwarder, the shipping cost can be much lower as many merchandises are shipped to the Amazon warehouse every day.
Another difference is that the FBA freight forwarder needs to book a delivery time with the Amazon warehouse before shipping to Amazon fulfillment centers. A professional FBA forwarder knows much more about all of those special operations than a normal one.
How to choose a suitable freight forwarder?
Take an example of using sea shipment to the USA. You can find freight forwarders both in China and the US but I recommend you to use the one based in the US as there’s no time zone difference.
Besides, if you decide to use your freight forwarder, it means you choose to use FOB or EXW shipping terms. You need to ask your supplier to quote you the FOB price or EXW price. This quote depends on whether your freight forwarder arranges to ship from a port in China or the supplier’s warehouse.
If it is difficult for you to find a good FBA freight forwarder, no worry, you can turn to your Chinese supplier for help. If your Chinese supplier has sold to many Amazon sellers or shipped to Amazon FBA ever before, they probably have a good resource of Amazon freight forwarders. Then, they can recommend you several ones.
In this case, just make sure the shipping cost they quote you is all included cost-covering sea shipping cost and land transportation cost, instead of only shipping to the seaport of the US (CIF term).
If you want to know more details about the differences between CIF and FOB shipping terms. you can read our previous blog CIF vs. FOB.
How Do I Package and Label the Goods for Shipping to Amazon FBA?
After settling down the shipping issue, you may start to turn your eyes to your goods. As all Amazon goods need to be packed based on Amazon packaging requirements, you may wonder how to ensure your supplier understands those requirements and make sure your goods arrive undamaged. No worry, keep reading, we’ll tell you.
1. Know Amazon packaging requirements:
Ⅰ.Outer Packing
In general, you should use a rigid, six-sided box with flaps intact, such as B flute regular slotted cartons, which can be commonly used for shipping products overseas.
Size:
- Boxes with dimensions at least 6 x 4 x 1 inch (no more than 25 inches on any side)
- Boxes weighing at least 1 lb (under 50 lb total)
Boxes that are excessively large relative to the oversized units may be subject to the restriction of shipping privileges, additional fees, or refusal at a fulfillment center.
Weight:
- Boxes must not exceed the standard weight limit of 50 lb unless they contain one single oversized item that exceeds 50 lb.
- For a single oversized item that exceeds 50 lb, attach a label that clearly indicates Team Lift on the top and sides of the box.
- For a single oversized item that exceeds 100 lb, attach a label that clearly indicates Mechanical Lift on the top and sides of the box.
- Boxes containing jewelry or watches must not exceed 40 lb.
Carton weight policies are strictly enforced. Sending overweight cartons to the fulfillment center may lead to the blocking of future shipments.
Product packaging
Material: Boxes, polybags, air bubble films, are commonly used as product packaging.
Wrapping: Wrap all items separately. Each unit, including multiple-volume book sets, must be contained within a single, secure FBA package.
Protecting: Use 2 inches of cushioning between each of your items and the inside of the box. After you pack your box, shake it gently. The contents should not move when shaken.
Note
- Polybags with a 5-inch opening or larger (measured when flat) must have a suffocation warning, either printed on the bag or attached as a label.
- Polybags must be transparent and completely sealed.
2. Know Amazon FBA label requirements：
Right labeling will allow Amazon to move your inventory rapidly to their network and become available to sell faster and reach your customers sooner.
FBA shipping label:
Each box you include in the shipment must have its own unique FBA shipping label printed from your Shipping Queue.
FNSKU:
All products require a scannable barcode( FNSKU). Any FNSKU you use on a unit must be unique and must correspond to one unique product. For example, each assortment type, such as size or color, must have a different FNSKU.
Unit Sets:
Unit sets must be marked “Sold As Sets” on their packaging. Add a label to the unit that clearly states that the products are to be received and sold as a single unit. For example, “Sold As Sets“, “Ready to ship,” or “This is a set. Do not separate.”
Warning sticker:
for poly bags, you can print the warning label directly with FNSKU, then no need to worry the worker may miss labeling the warning stickers.
Note:
- When shipping multiple case packs in a master carton, apply the unique shipping label on the master carton.
- If you are reusing boxes, remove all old shipping labels or markings.
- The labeling should be easily accessible without unwrapping the product. Avoid corners, edges, curves.
How to Put Amazon Label on My Products?
After being aware of the packaging and labeling requirements, next, you’ll think about which is the best way to put the label on the products. Typically there are 3 ways available. You can choose one based on your situation.
Method 1: Label it by your Chinese supplier
You may find reliable suppliers for Amazon FBA then you can ask them to label the goods. If you do so, be sure to advise them of the packaging requirements as specific as possible. As Amazon packaging requirements are a bit complicated, make sure your supplier fully understands them and does it correctly.
Ask them to take pictures to double confirm with you if they are doing it in the right way. If not right, you can ask them to redo it. Usually, labeling by your Chinese will not cost extra money.
Method 2: Label it by yourself
If you want to label it by yourself. Then you’ll have to choose to ship the goods from China to your home first.
If it is the first small trial order for Amazon, you may consider labeling it by yourself. For larger orders, before you choose to do so, you need to consider if you can spend the additional time to label the goods one by one.
Method 3: Label it by a 3rd party Prep service company
If you want to label it by a 3rd party company, then you’ll have to choose to ship the goods to your 3rd company. Usually, these 3rd party companies have a professional FBA team who are rigorously trained and practiced in FNSKU labeling, bundling, poly bagging, and all other requirements.
The only thing is that the labor cost in the USA is rather high, 5-6 times higher than in China. For example, if labeling one product in China costs $0.02, it costs around over $0.1 in the USA.
As mentioned earlier, there are not as many Chinese prep service companies as in the USA. Usually, it is the sourcing companies that play such a role as prep service companies in China.
How to Send Directly from Alibaba to Amazon FBA?
How to send directly from Alibaba to Amazon FBA? This is a question encountered by most new Amazon sellers who want to source best-selling products from Chinese suppliers through Alibaba. Essentially, it all comes down to finding an Amazon freight forwarder by yourself or through the supplier.
As a B2B international trade platform, Alibaba also offers logistics services. After your buy from Alibaba, you can enter Alibaba.com Freight to estimate the Amazon FBA shipping cost, according to the weight or volume of your cargo.
It’s good for you to make a simple comparison and estimation of FBA shipping costs by yourself on Alibaba. But in general, most buyers will let the supplier arrange the shipping because their suppliers always have long-term cooperative freight forwarders and they can get more competitive prices than you see on Alibaba.
If you choose to find your freight forwarder to ship from China to Amazon FBA, you need to ask your supplier to quote you FOB or EXW price. Then, ask your freight forwarder to ship your goods from a port of loading closest to your supplier or from the warehouse of your Chinese supplier.
Tips for Direct Shipping from Alibaba to Amazon FBA
Many Amazon sellers say direct shipping from Alibaba to Amazon FBA has high risks, especially without QC before FBA shipping. In addition, the suppliers may not package or label your products in the right way, or they will send out defective products. All of these can cause damage to your amazon ranking.
Hence, it is ok to ship directly from Alibaba if you’ve been ordering many times from a reliable supplier. However, if it is the first order from a new supplier, you have to hire a QC or an agent to help you inspect the quality, FBA package, label, etc.
Below, we summarize the pros and cons of direct shipping from Alibaba.
Pros
- Save the shipping time for several days or a week.
- Some suppliers can help with packaging and labeling based on Amazon for very low cost or even free.
Cons
- Nobody helps you inspect the product quality.
- If your customer receives defective products, they’ll leave bad reviews, causing your Amazon ranking to drop down, even worse, your listing will be closed.
Note
Sometimes suppliers will promise to arrange shipment well, but many of them have no or little experience with Amazon business and don’t have many resources for Amazon preparation work.
Therefore, if you insist on dealing with suppliers on Alibaba directly, be careful to choose reliable, experienced suppliers who can make products and ship according to Amazon’s requirements.
In addition, you may also meet the language barrier when you try to communicate with suppliers on Alibaba. Because in present, many staff in Chinese manufacturers still cannot speak good English, which will lead to misunderstanding, making products or packaging or labeling with wrong requirements.
In this case, you will need a sourcing company to help you source reliable Chinese suppliers, communicate, negotiate prices and arrange shipment for your Amazon business.
How to Track the Shipment to Amazon FBA from China?
After arranging shipment, you may wonder if you can track your cargo during transportation. The answer is yes! You’ll easily find how after reading, let’s go ahead.
Track express cargos
You only need to open the express company official website and input your express tracking ID number. Then, you can easily get your cargo tracking records.
Track air or sea cargos
When you have international air or sea cargos, especially those that need transit shipment or shipped in batches, we all hope to know the real-time shipping information.
But the thing is for both traditional sea and air freight, goods are handled by small Amazon freight forwarders. Unlike big global companies like FedEx, those small forwarders do not have their tracking system. It’ll be more difficult for you to track the real-time shipping information for your goods. Below we’ll share how to track your cargo using air or sea shipping.
Method 1: Inquire freight forwarder
As mentioned, the small freight forwarders do not have their tracking system, so if you want to know the shipping status of your cargo, you need to reach out to the salesman or customer representative of your forwarder, they’ll tell you where your cargo is now.
If you get freight forwarders through your supplier, you can directly ask the supplier about the status of your goods, rather than reach out to the forwarder yourself, as those freight forwarders might not communicate with you in English.
During either sea or air transportation, you just need to check about the estimated date at the below critical stages:
- Date when goods leaving China seaport or airport
- Date when goods arriving American seaport or airport
- Date when goods pass through US customs clearance
- Date when goods get to Amazon FBA warehouse
Method 2: Track via the airline or sea shipping company
The freight forwarder does not provide a specific tracking website but you can track the status of goods through sea shipping companies (such as Maersk, COSCO) and airline companies (such as Air China).
However, tracking via those websites, you can only get information like the time when the goods leave from China port of loading, the estimated date arriving in the USA, or the estimated date to unload goods from vessels or planes.
If you need to know when your goods will pass through customs clearance or ship to the Amazon warehouse, you can only ask the Amazon freight forwarder who help you arrange the shipping.
a.Track via an airline company
You just need to enter the tracking number of your air waybill on the website of the airline company. For example, as shown below.
You can find the tracking number of your airway bill at its right top (shown below).
b.Track via a sea shipping company
You just need to input your Shipping Company Name, Container Number, B/L( Bill of Lading) Number, or Vessel Booking Number according to your shipping company request. Below is an example of the Maersk line.
Just with a click on “track”, you can get detailed information, such as the port of departure, the port of transit, the port of destination, estimated time of arrival, etc.
What Can I Do if Goods are Lost after Arriving at Amazon Warehouse? (Real Case Analyzed)
Although goods are not lost often by Amazon, we still need to know how to solve the problem when we lost our goods. Here I’d like to share one real case about how one of our customers solved his problem step by step when Amazon lost his cargos.
Case Description
Our agent helped our customer ship about 110 boxes by express to his Amazon warehouse. Amazon signed the delivery receipt of 110 boxes upon goods’ arrival. But after two weeks, our customer found 40 boxes of goods are missing.
Issue Analysis
- What happened?
- What caused the loss of goods in the Amazon warehouse?
Our customer looked into the issues above and got his compensation from Amazon with the help of Amazon customer service and our agent.
Below are the solution steps our customer used. You can also try to follow these steps if similar problems happen.
Step1: Contact Amazon Customer Service
Maybe Amazon still has your goods but only batches are shown on the seller system, or Amazon does lose your goods. To find out the real situation, you need to contact Amazon customer service to tell them that you’ve lost your products and ask them to check what happened.
Here are 3 ways to contact Amazon Customer Service Contact:
Amazon “Call Me” service: recommended for speedy assistance.
General Help contact:
- Toll free: 1 (888) 280-4331
- Español número gratuito: 1-866-749-7538
- International: 1 (206) 922-0880 — charges may apply
Get to chat with Amazon customer service
After our customer contacted Amazon customer service,the support told him that they couldn’t find his 40 boxes. So what should we do to prove that it is Amazon that lost our goods? See the next steps.
Step2: Prepare Your Delivery Receipt
In case of goods lost after arriving at the warehouse, you need to show Amazon your delivery receipt as important evidence.
Your delivery receipt will show that Amazon has received your goods with the right quantity after they check your goods’ quantity and other details.
Step 3: Prepare Product Invoice
If it finds out that Amazon does lose your goods, you can get your product Invoice ready for compensation. You can get it from your supplier/agent to show Amazon the value of your goods.
In the flowchart below, I share the whole process of finding out your items are lost and reporting to Amazon to solve this problem.
What are the Requirements for Product Compliance Documentation on Amazon?
According to the Amazon site, when you list products on Amazon, you must comply with all federal, state, and local laws and the policies applicable to those products.
Also, there is various product compliance documentation. Some products on Amazon without required certifications are not allowed to sell.
Thus, when you choose the product to sell on Amazon, you‘d better check if the products need compliance certifications beforehand, otherwise, they might be impounded by the national customs or pulled from Amazon’s digital shelves.
Moreover, the required compliance documentation of products varies from Amazon sites in different countries. You can check the categories and products required for approvals through the list published by Amazon.
How do know what kind of compliance documentation is needed?
If you don’t know what kind of certifications are required for your products, you can get a hand from your supplier or an agent. You can also send emails to the Amazon selling partner support directly.
For instance, one of our clients wanted to purchase jigsaw puzzles to sell on Amazon but told us that he had to give up because selling puzzles on Amazon require certifications.
Thus, our agent sent an email to Amazon selling partner support and got a reply that this kind of puzzle didn’t need any documents to sell on Amazon. The product says “fun for all ages” so it is not defined as a children’s product in the United States. Due to this factor, it didn’t need CPC approval.
Moreover, the support also showed us what kind of products can be defined as children’s products and required compliance documentation. If you are still confused, you can also call them to resolve your query.
Required certifications on Amazon and their related products
FDA: Any products like drugs, food, or needing touch with the human body should have this certification.
Product categories example: Food and medicine, biological agents, medical equipment, and radiation products.
CPC: A Children’s Product Certificate (CPC) is issued by the importer or (domestic) US manufacturer, certifying that the product is compliant with all CPSIA requirements.
Product categories example: certain toys, pacifiers, buggies, cribs, fences, braces, safety seat helmets, etc.
FCC: Many electrical goods or electronics to sell on the American market are required FCC certification.
Product categories example: Personal computers and their peripherals, household appliances, power tools, audio and video lamps, wireless toys, security machinery, etc.
UL: It is a non-mandatory product certificate in the United States. And it mainly applies to test of product safety.
Product categories example: Lamps, household appliances, wires, cables, etc.
The End
Thanks for reading this article and welcome to leave your precious comments below. Please inquire us if you have any more questions, we will answer your questions.
We’re Jingsourcing, a leading sourcing company in China. We’ve helped various Amazon sellers deal in different scales of business. If you want to purchase and ship goods from China to sell on Amazon, please feel free to CONTACT US.
Hi, I want to bay things from China delibver to US into Amazon FBA. Please email me provide details step by step.
Google
The details mentioned in the write-up are some of the top out there.
good
For shipping by ups express.. are you sure the total cost for shipping is 6$/kg?
Hi Jing,
I am gearing up to try to do Amazon FBA; however, I am hearing of long delays for shipping out of China to the US. Do you have any insight about that?
Hi, Lisa, We know that sending goods to FBA fulfillment center on time is very important for your product listing. The dealy of air shipping is serious, it’s normal, there is no solution to that problem. Not only the time spend on air shipping is very long, but also the cost is high. It’s not wise to wait until the air shipping returns to normal, if you can use the sea shipping, you should use it as early as possible. Because it’s very likely that you will wait for the same time whichever shipping method you choose. And what’s more,… Read more »
Hello Jing,
I am Non German Resident and I want to Import Items into Amazon FBA Germany through your company.
Will you take care of all the custom clearance and documentations in Germany or I will need some local agent in Germany for that? Can you take care of everything without me being in Germany?
Thank You
Hi Pronoy, thanks for your inquiry. We can help you arrange all the process of importing products from China to your Amazon FBA Germany. We can also help with customs clearance. Details our customer service will email you to know more.
Thank you!!!
Thank you for your comment, Marina!
thank you so much for this article. it was really a great help for publishing such a detailed article.
I am a new seller on amazon USA I would like to you if you are a manufacturer or you just do shipping? thanks in advance
Hi Ned, thank you for your comment. We are a sourcing agent company that could help you find manufacturers and also do shipping. If you need help, you can submit a ticket at https://jingsourcing.com/submit-ticket/.
Thank you for the article, great info!
my question is regarding the type of the products, I live overseas and I’m planning to ship electronics-like IP cameras, monitors and so on..- from China to Amazon U.S, all of these products comes with at least 1 year guarantee and a lot of customer support.
A- how to deal with the guarantee issue and the customer support?
B- how to deal with the U.S customs specifications and certifications requirements?
Thank you!
Hi Target, thank you for your reading. The Chinese suppliers usually offer one-year guarantee support. If your product has any problems, you need to deliver them back to China first and then the supplier will send a new one to you. It is quite costly to deliver several products. So I recommend you gather them and send them back together. This kind of customer support is established on the basis of reliable suppliers. For the custom affairs, a freight forwarder will help you. You need certifications in customs clearance. Contact your freight forwarder, and he will tell you what you… Read more »
really excellent comprehensive article! very useful thanks! Specific question, if shipping directly to Amazon using chinese supplier’s freight forwarder: 1) what address do you put down as the ‘ship from’ address in at the beginning of the shipping plan creation? It doesnt seem to let me put a chinese address in 2) since their freight forwarder is doing all the customs clearance and importing am I correct in saying that I do not need to register as a non-resident importer? since their FF is going to be the Importer of Record? (im a non resident of USA) Would really love… Read more »
Hello Stephen, thank you for your comment. As for your questions, my idea is:
1) Actually Amazon doesn’t care where the goods “ship from”. So if you wrote the Chiese address in Chinese, try to write it in English. If it still doesn’t work, write an address of other countries.
2) The freighter forwarder will ship the goods using their title. So you are right you don’t need to do that.
Question— if I source from China (Alibaba), then what do I write as the “Manufacturer” when listing it as a product on Amazon?
Hi Anastasia, sorry to tell you we are not expert in this, you can turn to https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/contact-us for this question. By the way, if you need to import from China, we are here to help you. Best wishes!
So do i email the Labels to the Suppliers in order for them to ship to Amazon FBA Warehouse?
Hi Javier, the answer is yes since Amazon FBA Warehouse has explicit and strict requirements for goods’ labels. You can check more details for labels on Amazon and can also submit your request at https://jingsourcing.com/submit-ticket/ if you need to let us help you export products.
Hi, I will be placing my first order. I will shipping via air express through my supplier. Should I ask my supplier to ship air express door to door? Or is all air express shipping door to door? Is there a difference in air express shipping DDP, DAP, etc? I keep hearing about the DDP scam with Alibaba suppliers, but not sure if that applies to air express shipping as well.
Thank you for this article.
Hi star, the express will deliver your parcel to the exact address you required, so you just have to make your address specific. If you worry about the DDP scams, you can entrust your goods to us, we can offer you our basic service including warehousing, quality inspection, and arranging shipment. You can submit your request on this page https://jingsourcing.com/pricing/
Hi, I am a student from India wishing sourcing product from china to UK in FBA, to cutomers in uk.
Hi, Abhishek, congratulations you are starting your business. Our support will contact you by email and get an experienced agent to help with your sourcing, please check your email inbox.
Thanks for this article. Newbie here…. I have been reading conflicting advice re. the address to input in sellercentral when converting a product to FBA – if using DHL Air Express to import from China to US is it wise to use the manufacturers address or the DHL US address? (Cannot use my own address as I live in a different country). Thanks!
It is just good to use the manufactures address. There are many sellers like you selling Chinese products on USA Amazon.
Excellent – thanks so much for your speedy reply!
Great article. Thanks for sharing. Keep it up!!!!
Thanks for your appreciation.
Thanks for a very helpful article.
If I ship from third contry to Amazon USA via a freight forwarder incl. customs service, will I still have to apply a ROI ?
Thank you so much!
Very good article learned alot from it.
Just have few questions as i am living in Australia and want to start using FBA in USA how is the scenario for me living in a third country and doing business in USA. Also do i need to hire two forwarders one from each country i.e. in china and USA. And if i ask the supplier to take care of everything in the shipping process is it worth it or hiring my own forwarder is better option.
Thanks again for the article
Situations like yours is common，living in a third country , importing from China and doing business in USA Amazon. Your problem is easy to solve. Here are three suggestions I can offer: first of all, you can find a logistics company that can take the cargo from China to the Amazon warehouse in USA. Besides, if you can’t find such a logistics company by yourself, you can ask your suppliers to find one for you, you don’t need to worry about anything, all you have to do is to pay for the freight. Actually, our company can also help you… Read more »
@Zhu great article, thanks for posting. I have forwarded this on to my friends.
I didn’t know about Tarif charges for air express for goods from China to the UK. My shipment was worth 2.5k at 17kg.
My supplier has forwarded me an customs invoice from TNT China for 1.6k, which seems crazy high for this express shipment. Do you have any advice or insights around this high cost and how it could be avoided?
Many thanks,
Tim
Thanks for your comment. You know that it’s tariff-free for air express if you declare the price less than $700. If the goods are of high value like branded watches, smart phones and jewels, you should declare truthfully as the goods worth. Generally speaking, it’s totally OK to declare your price less than $700 for the ordinary goods weighting 20-50kg. Even in the cases that you need to delivers goods of hundreds of kilograms, you can separate them into several shipments and declare every shipment less than $700. Now that your goods is 17kg, asking your suppliers to declare $300-$400… Read more »
Hi,
Does that mean the two shipments would be made on different days? Excuse my ignorance. So splitting the goods will then require two separate Fed Ex/ UPS shipments; whilst there are no tariffs am I right in assuming its twice the price on shipping?
Hi, glad to have your comment. As to shipment date, all of the freight forwarders would arrange the shipment date for you, so you don’t have to worry about that. And you can relax at the cost of shipment because of the price set according to the weigh of the goods, not according to the pieces of the good. So the cost would be the same in one piece and several pieces.
Thanks Jing for all the head-ups. I am trying to read more useful articles my insights before signing up an Amazon FBA Prof Seller Account by knowing that (a) research for FBA most sellable products needs time and cost for analysis apps; (b) shipping all the way to USA the regulations, FNSKU, bar code printing AND, find a right shipping forwarder in China and/or in USA… (c) finally launch my products – but pray for all are sellable; (d) Amazon Pro Seller Accounts $39.90/mth and (e) FBA Inventory Storage Fee… It’s really a long and sound tedious learning for not… Read more »
Hey Jing I’m a clothing seller on Amazon. I asked my factory (In Guangzhou) to help me deliver the goods to my home firstly when I started my Amazon business. I really worried that there were inferior products, so that my customers would leave me bad reviews. That time, I asked my parents and friends for help，and also hired a part-time worker. Afterwards, as the sales increased, our workload also increased (Cargo Inspection). The labor cost also increased but wasting time. What’s worse, in the peak season, there was no timely replenishment to Amazon FBA because of failure to complete… Read more »
I always hear the stories like yours.
Thanks for your kind words, William! You’re so right.
Also thank you for letting others know about your practical experience.
Wow, this blog covers everything aspiring affiliate Amazon sellers would love to know about Amazon FBA.
Thankyou for all your information.I am a new Amazon seller I needed it so much.What if the products I order are for white Label or Private Label when and how am I able to take a product picture for my new listings and for launching,If I ship products directly to Amazon FBA?Also,when would be the right time to buy An UPC Code and from where do I buy?Any Tips?
1.Decide what products you want to sell on Amazon.(Open your Amazon account).
2.Sourcing your products from China.
3.Then buy UPC code.At this time, you should take products picture for your listings.
4.Let your Chinese suppliers help you with shipments(30-40days to USA by sea).
Very good article learned alot from it.
Just have few questions as i am living in Australia and want to start using FBA in USA how is the scenario for me living in a third country and doing business in USA. Also do i need to hire two forwarders one from each country i.e. in china and USA. And if i ask the supplier to take care of everything in the shipping process is it worth it or hiring my own forwarder is better option.
Thanks again for the article
Great article for people who desire to venture into affiliate marketing.
Been searching for such content. Glad I found it and it is well detailed.
Well written and articulated article. Thank you for this Jing
You’re welcome Mary.
I know many of my friends who will benefit from this. Thank you for the article
Quite an informative and well detailed article.
Jing, thanks for your informative guide, really cool.
You’re welcome, Tim.
I like this guide. It is so informative, and has answered a lot of my quesitons about shipping to Amazon. I just started to learn the process for selling on Amazon last month, and I will defintely get back to use your service for sourcing products.