What Is FBA Prep?
FBA sellers are not just expected to place everything into a box and then hand it over to couriers. In order to be accepted by the Fulfillment Center, your stock must meet a set of specific requirements. Some of these regulations apply to all inventory and others are specific to categories. FBA preparation refers to the process of getting your inventory prepared to be placed on Amazon. It is mainly about packaging and labeling of goods, some sellers, particularly those that import items, include inspections of their inventory. It is essential to complete your FBA preparation correctly. If you do it incorrectly, Amazon won't accept your inventory and you'll need to pay to have it all returned. It's worse: if your inventory arrives damaged at Amazon the buyer will complain and want to return the item. If these complaints start to stack up they will affect your performance and result in your listing suppressed, or even your account being suspended.
Why Outsource FBA Prep?
FBA preparation can be performed by either you, Amazon, or a third-party. FBA preparation can be a bit complicated and complex, making it difficult to do correctly. In theory, outsourcing it is essentially handing your task to experts. Your FBA prep service should be familiar with the process and make sure that any stock you send to FBA complies with Amazon's rules, lowering the risk of your stock being rejected. This is especially important if this is your first time submitting stock to FBA. This is because you don't really know how difficult it is until you attempt it and make a few mistakes. Amazon has a number of rules that can cause time-consuming preparation of inventory for FBA. The process of analyzing stock, creating boxes and printing labels is lengthy. Your time can be better spent on sourcing new products.
Price
The primary concern for most sellers when choosing an FBA preparation service is likely to be price. Although it shouldn't be the sole factor you consider, it is natural that you want to get the best deal. Costs don't need to go up just because they begin with a price that is high. You need to find out whether the service is charged per item or on a monthly basis. Sellers with a high volume of inventory will be able to benefit from a monthly cost and sellers who have lower volume sales will benefit from the per-item cost. Sellers with low volume may prefer the per item charge as they are likely to send inventory less often. It is also important to be aware of the costs associated with the packaging process as some prep services will charge extra for packaging such as bubble wrap and poly bags. It's also helpful to know what the storage costs are and how many units you need to send to the prep center at any given moment. The most important thing when choosing an FBA prep service is price. Although you shouldn't pay too much for a service, it is crucial that the costs of your preparation are easily manageable. Remember that just because you have expensive costs in the beginning, it doesn't suggest that they will remain so. You can reduce the cost of your services as you become more familiar with the process of preparation, such by splitting specific tasks among your manufacturer (or your prep service). See the most popular Door to Door Delivery blog for info.
Location
When you're considering the location of your prep facility it is important to think strategically. If you ship large quantities from China private label will likely be the major source of business. It's best to research the ports your shipments arrive at, and then select a prep center close to. Danny McMillan's experiences suggest that using prep centers near the ports you ship to can be helpful, not just to cut down on time and transport costs, but also to ensure the smooth operation of your company. In the event that something goes wrong, your prep centre could send someone at the port to assist. If the distance between your prep center and the port was greater than 300 miles, this would not be possible. The other consideration for sellers of retail arbitrage is having a prep center within their reach in order to allow stock to be procured locally. Do not choose a facility that is too close to Amazon Fulfillment Centers. Every Amazon warehouse is different. You could even be able to accomplish this if you sign up for Amazon's Inventory Placement Service. The program lets you ship all of your stock of a single product to the same Fulfillment Center. Amazon can modify the location of shipping.