Organising your Amazon FBA shipment

So, you’ve found a great item that’s packaged and ready to go. But how do you organise sending it into Amazon? Don’t worry, in this week’s blog we break down the process of organising your Amazon FBA shipment so you can focus on growing your business.

Organising your Amazon FBA Shipment

What do I need to package my own items?

Amazon charge a fee to package your items for you however doing it yourself is much more cost effective. To correctly package your products you will need;

  • A printer
  • Printer paper
  • A label printer – this is beneficial. When starting out you can print out the label and use tape to stick it to your package.
  • Polybags
  • Tape

You have the necessary supplies, now it’s time to begin the process of sending your item into Amazon.

Logging your Amazon FBA shipment.

Firstly, when organising your Amazon FBA shipment you will want to head to your inventory on your Amazon Seller Central Account. Secondly select the condition option as ‘new’ and then the option ‘sell product’.

Inventory within your Amazon Seller Central Account

This will take you to the product information page. Here you can enter your price, the quantity, the country of origin and the item condition.

Product Information page

Country of origin – we would suggest setting the country as China.

The Fulfilment channel. On this page you will be provided with two options for your order: Merchant Fulfilled or Fulfilled by Amazon. For Amazon FBA we suggest choosing the Fulfilled by Amazon option.

Tip. If you click ‘remember this setting for next time’ these options will be saved for the future.

Next you can click save and finish. Now you can choose the barcode type you would like. You can either choose the manufacturer barcode or the Amazon barcode.

Choosing your Barcode type
  • Manufacturer barcode. Using the manufacturer barcode you will be using the barcode already on the product.
  • Amazon barcode. If using this option, you will need to print out the label provided by Amazon and stick it to the product.

We would suggest using Amazon barcodes rather than the manufacturer barcode. This is due to something called co-mingling.

Co-mingling refers to when different sellers’ products are grouped together. Therefore, if you have the Buy Box and have sold a product but another seller’s item is sent out they could not keep their items in the same high condition as you. This can lead to unwanted returns. With Amazon barcodes however co-mingling does not happen as your items are processed by Amazon and it is ensured your specific items are sent to customers.

Once you have decided you can then press ‘save and continue’.

Getting your Amazon FBA shipment ready to send to Amazon.

‘Send to Amazon’ shipment page

Now you can check your Manage Inventory page and create the shipment. To do this you first need to select the Manage FBA Shipments option from the dropdown menu to take you to the Managing FBA Shipments page.

Manage Inventory Page

 Once we are on this page we can organise setting up our shipment.

 Firstly we will need to select our items and their prep requirements. Some items may require prep, for example liquids will need to be placed in a transparent poly bag. Once you have completed all of the prep you can then press save.

An example of a liquid which needs to be prepped.

Next, you will be asked who will prep and label the units, we would suggest doing this yourself to avoid paying Amazon’s prep fees.

You will then be asked to enter the expiry date for any items if necessary and the number of units you are sending in. Having entered this information you can then press ‘ready to pack’ then ‘pack individual units’.

It is important to check for any necessary prep.

Organising the packing group for your Amazon FBA shipment

On the following page is your packing group. This is the number of items which will be in one box.

Organising your shipment

In the packing information section you can choose the option for your shipment, ‘everything will fit into box’ or ‘multiple boxes will be needed’. Having confirmed this you can then enter the box dimensions and weight.

If you’re doing online arbitrage you can use the same box which your item arrived in. If you are doing retail arbitrage we would suggest keeping or buying boxes yourself.

On this page you can also find the option to print your item barcodes. To do this you just need to press ‘view contents’ and then from the pop up choose the option ‘print all SKU labels’.

remember to press ‘print all SKU labels’

Then it is time to confirm the shipping. We would advise using Amazon’s shipping partnered shipping; this is a cost effective method which doesn’t eat into your profits.

Don’t forget to double check the information you have provided here.

Next, press ‘accept charges and confirm shipping’.

Getting the labels for your Amazon FBA shipment.

Labelling your items is integral to this process. That is why it is important you do not forget to print your barcodes and your UPS label!

Print box labels page

In relation to the UPS label most people print labels 4 x 6 labels. This is where a specialist printer can come in handy but you can also use a normal printer. You can get your barcode labels by pressing the dropdown option on this page and pressing ‘view or edit content’. Now press ‘print all SKU labels’ to print your labels.

Arranging your shipment with UPS

You can organise shipping yourself however with UPS you will receive free shipping. To do this you will firstly need your UPS label. Once you have your label you will then go to the UPS schedule collection page.

On the UPS schedule a parcel collection page you can complete the final aspect of organising your Amazon FBA shipment.

The UPS schedule collection page is here. Using the tracking number on your UPS label you will be able to book your collection and ensure it is free.

  • Do you have a pre-printed ups shipping label for your shipment? – Click yes.

Once you done this you can then fill out the remaining information on the form and schedule a collection time and enter any special delivery notes and confirm your collection.

In conclusion

We hope you have found this week’s blog beneficial when organising your Amazon FBA shipment. Don’t forget, you can always keep this blog in mind for the future if you are yet to start your business. Once you have completed a few shipments and have become more confident you will soon be flying through this process!

Would you like to learn more about Amazon FBA and Profitl? Check out our Youtube channel here and our website here.

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