We have a lot of people contact us to ask if we can ship their order to Amazon for Amazon FBA.  Almost all of these inquiries are from brand new Amazon sellers that don't really understand what specifically they need, so today I am going to explain what specifically you need if you want to buy wholesale and have Amazon fill your orders at their warehouse(s). 

First, you can't just buy anything via wholesale and have it shipped to a random Amazon warehouse because the merchandise has to be "prepped" to meet Amazons pretty strict requirements.  For example, lets say you buy this listing from our site:

We can ship this to Amazon but when it arrives they won't know what to do with it and the best case scenario is that they refuse the parcel and we eventually get it back.  The worst case scenario is that it never comes back to us and you lose out on your investment.  Either way, both of these options are a waste of everyones time and energy.  Additionally, you have to purchase merchandise that meets Amazons FBA requirements, so a "mixed lot" would not work.  With that in mind, you have to purchase the correct merchandise and follow Amazons prep rules so the process is smooth and efficient.    

Amazon FBA "prepping" refers to putting the individual item into a bag or box, printing a label with the item details, affixing the label to the packaging and more.

When it comes to prep there are three options:

1. you can do it yourself - this will require an investment in some supplies as well as time to prep
2. hire a company to do it for you - you will not need to invest in supplies.  Instead you will buy the inventory and pay the company to prep it for you then ship it to an Amazon warehouse 
3. or you can completely avoid FBA and instead use a dropshipper (a wholesaler who offers UPC spreadsheets). Most of the dropshippers ALSO ship to FBA so technically you could buy through the dropshipper and have it sent to FBA if you really want to go this route.  

SUPER IMPORTANT THING TO CONSIDER:

LOCATION IS IMPORTANT

Ideally you want your prep service, wholesaler and Amazon Warehouse to be close-ish together because you would get raked over the coals on shipping costs if your wholesaler is in California, then the FBA Prep Service is in New York then the Amazon Warehouse you have chosen is in Washington:

In addition to driving up your cost, shipping stuff all over the USA can lead to problems; lost packages, damage, etc.  

Instead, it would make the most sense to select locations that are reasonably close:

You will find a links to Amazon FBA Warehouse (Called “Fulfillment Centers”) locations on our downloadable list called 80+ Amazon FBA Prep Services. Yeah, it does take a little legwork to figure out which wholesaler and prep service makes the most sense for you, but it is absolutely worth it! As far as choosing an Amazon Fulfillment Center, there are warehouses in almost every state. In fact, most states have 5+ FBA warehouses, so this should be the last task on your list. Instead spend your time focusing on the wholesaler and FBA prep locations. Truly, your first task should be to locate a wholesaler that offers the products you want to sell at the pricepoint you like. Again, check out our list of wholesalers who offer UPC database spreadsheets. You MUST make sure the UPC and product info is provided because the FBA prep agency will need this info.

Once you have located the wholesaler and prep service you like, now you can find an Amazon Fulfillment Center to have your merchandise shipped to by the FBA Prep company.

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