It’s no secret that Amazon’s marketplace is an excellent channel for increasing sales and reaching new customers. It makes perfect sense to use FBA or fulfillment by Amazon — to take advantage of Amazon Prime Memberships, free shipping offers, and other perks of fulfilling orders through Amazon. The downfall of FBA/Amazon prep is that they lack flexibility in requiring your products to be ready to be fulfilled upon arrival at their fulfillment centers. If not, you risk being charged for noncompliance or, even worse, refusal of inventory.
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This guide is essential because it helps you manage your business, set your prices, and manage your profits effectively. Ignoring such useful information can deal a hefty blow of losses to your company, and this is something you cannot afford.
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The guide to Amazon FBA shipping as presented by FR-Logistics:
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Advantages of Amazon FBA Shipping
There are many advantages to using Amazon FBA shipping
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It is Very Convenient
Convenience is one thing that can be achieved by using Amazon FBA shipping. The idea that you do not have to stress how you will ship your products or where you will store them gives you peace. Also, when it comes to delivery, they got you covered.
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It is Fast
Since Amazon makes everything convenient for you by handling most logistics, getting your products from the manufacturer to the customer is much easier and faster. There is a reduced shipping time.
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Reduced Shipping Fees
The cost of using Amazon FBA is cheaper when compared to other services. This is because you would be using carriers who are partners with the company, so you probably will get huge discounts on shipping utilities, like pallets and boxes.
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It is Easier to Sell on Amazon
Amazon is a well-known marketing brand with many customers, people can find your products quickly, and you don’t have to do much marketing. Amazon will probably market your products to customers ready to buy and save you much money you would otherwise have spent on adverts and promotions.
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Disadvantages of Amazon FBA Shipping
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While there are many advantages to using Amazon FBA, there are also many disadvantages.
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It Can Get Expensive
Since Amazon will be helping you manage a lot of the shipping, packing, and delivery, it might involve paying many fees. You must carefully calculate these fees into your budget to avoid losing money or profits.
You are Affected by Amazon’s Rules and Policy
This is one of the issues with Amazon FBA. You are subject to their rules which can change at any time depending on the market and the season, and once this happens, it might take some time to get used to them and adjust your services.
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Not following their rules could lead to a loss of profits. Therefore, most sellers also move on to other channels to increase their options after a while.
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A lot of FBA Fees
There are many fees to pay, which can get overwhelming and complicated sometimes.
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How do you add a product to Amazon Seller?
This is not as complicated as people try to make it seem. You need to follow some simple steps, and you’re ready.
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Create a Product Listing
To begin using Amazon FBA, you must register your product or create a product listing on Amazon Seller Central.
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To begin, you must do a category search to find the area your product fits in. This makes it easier for people or customers to find and order your product in the Amazon market.
Once you have classified your product, you can enter the Product Name, the brand name, the manufacturer, and the ID. Then you can set the product's price and choose the fulfillment channel you’d prefer, “FBA or FBM.”
When you are done, you can then save your product and proceed.
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Manage Inventory
Your product listing will be generated quickly, and you can manage them from the “Manage Inventory” page. You can edit how your product looks on this page by adding pictures and a description. You could also add more details to the product and select the weight of the product and shipping requirements. After this, you can send inventory and choose the units and cases you need.
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You can then choose who will prep your goods, either do this manually, use a third-party company, or leave it to Amazon, and we suggest you go to Amazon as it may be more costly to do it yourself as you could prep your goods wrongfully.
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Labelling Options
Next, you choose the labeling options. You could use Amazon barcode labels. Your supplier could print this, or you could do it yourself, which would be much cheaper.
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To choose this, click “Merchant” under “Who labels?” and select the number of labels you need to be printed and then choose the label template from the list or use the default. When done, click on print labels for the page, and you will be shown the label pages that can be printed, and then you can choose the number of labels. Also, do not forget to cover up any existing barcodes while fixing your labels to your packaging.
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Then go ahead and approve the shipment so that Amazon can know when your goods will come in, and make sure to pick a recognizable name. Once your shipment is in progress, it is not advisable to back out, as it may get your selling rights suspended.
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Delivery Options
You could also pick how you want your products delivered, either as Less Than Truckload (LTL) or Small Parcel Delivery (SPD). Most small-scale sellers use Small Parcel Delivery (SPD) as it is best for small shipments that are not heavy or would not fill up boxes. You could also choose SPD and then Amazon Partnered carrier, which will get you discounts. You can choose to use other carrier services if you’d prefer them.
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If you ship your products to the FBA Fulfilment Center close to your destination port, you can easily avoid huge costs and reduce shipping time. Amazon doesn’t allow warehouse selection choices, but you can beat this by choosing a ‘Ship From’ address close to the fulfillment center. This method doesn’t work every time, but it can help.
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How to Ship to Amazon FBA Effectively
We are sure you have your shipment ready on Amazon Seller Central, but you must be careful, as any little mistake could be costly for you in terms of profits. That is why when preparing your shipment, you must keep these three things in mind:
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Shipping Individual Pallets vs. Full Containers
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Packaging and Labelling Your Products
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Finding an Amazon-Friendly Freight Forwarder
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How to Package Your FBA Products Correctly
Shipping charges can be a problem, especially when it comes to FBA shipping, especially when you do not package your products correctly. It is way easier to sell products that are light and easier to shop online. They are much cheaper to ship too, so if you have products that are too large or heavy, there are things you can do so you don’t pay high shipping fees and storage charges.
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Are you looking to expand your business or offer reliable and cost-effective fulfillment services to your clients? Look no further than FR-Logistics. Our team is equipped to handle all your e-commerce fulfillment needs. Feel free to reach out to us via email at info@fr-logistics.net
