Mastering Amazon FBA: Sourcing and Importing from China

 

Category: Amazon FBA, Amazon FBA & E-commerce

Amazon FBA or Fulfilled by Amazon is a program offered by Amazon for people with professional Amazon seller accounts. For those sellers with weak customer management capabilities, using Amazon FBA to make money is the easiest option. Amazon FBA business now makes business easy for many people and also provides sellers with the opportunity to make their products eligible for Prime.

 

1. What is Amazon FBA?

2. What are the advantages and disadvantages of Amazon FBA?

3. How does Amazon FBA work?

4. Can FBA still be profitable in 2024?

5. What does Amazon FBA sell?

6. How to start Amazon FBA business?

7. How to find products sold on Amazon FBA?

8. What are the Amazon FBA fees?

9. How to ship from China to Amazon FBA?

10. FAQ

10.1 Where is the Amazon FBA warehouse located?

10.2 How to choose an FBA warehouse?

10.3 How to use the Amazon FBA calculator?

10.4 How much inventory should you send to FBA?

10.5 How to print Amazon FBA labels?

10.6 How to package Amazon FBA?

11. Conclusion

 

What is Amazon FBA?

 

 

Amazon FBA definition:

There are many Amazon account holders who hold professional Amazon seller accounts. These people can send their inventory to Amazon FBA, and they will make the seller’s products eligible for Prime upon receipt.

 

They will then store the product until it is shipped to the customer, and then Amazon will also pick the product from the seller and package it for the buyer, ship the product and provide world-class customer service. Likewise, there is a refund and returns management system for every order.

 

Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA):

The program was launched exclusively for e-commerce giant Amazon in September 2006. Amazon has approximately 185 warehouses around the world.

 

Professional Amazon seller account holders use these warehouse services. They send products to nearby Amazon FBA warehouses and then manage each order through Fulfillment by Amazon.

 

Amazon FBA beginners:

Amazon FBA has approximately 300 million active customers. This is one of the most effective programs for beginners to use. All one needs to do is create a professional Amazon seller account.

 

Under the Amazon brand, beginners can sell products faster than they thought, and they don’t need many of the prerequisites required to start a business. In addition to this, there are monthly fees and sales fees for the program.

 

Amazon FBA VS FBM:

After understanding the costs and methods, one can opt for any fulfillment offer offered by Amazon. In this regard, what products you sell, what your plan is, and how well you execute must be kept in mind.

 

If someone wants to ship large items at a lower cost and sell unique products, if you want to showcase their main badge while having a professional plan, then you can choose the Merchandise Fulfillment plan.

 

However, if someone is loyal to the brand, devotes more time to growing the business rather than managing customers, wants higher sales and wants to sell everyday items, and sells items in relatively small sizes, then Amazon Fulfillment is the best option for them.

 

Drop Shipping vs. Amazon FBA:

One of the biggest challenges that a seller faces while starting an e-commerce business is whether he wants to deliver the product directly to the customer or use any other fulfillment plan to achieve this purpose.

 

The issue is more pressing than ever, now that Amazon is promising the fastest shipping possible. As a result, sellers are reanalyzing their decisions.

 

In third-party dropshipping outside of Amazon, the seller must be responsible for picking up, storing, packaging, and shipping the product. Returns and customer management must be done by the seller themselves.

 

Among them, if the order comes from Amazon Prime, the seller must ship the product to the customer within 1 day. If the order is not placed through Amazon Prime, the seller may be given more time to ship the product. Amazon will notify the seller once the order arrives.

 

However, sellers can also use Amazon’s drop shipping policy. In this case, the seller will have to complete some paperwork and agreements. Amazon will only accept drop shipping of products if the seller is the manufacturer or retailer of the product and the seller name will be listed everywhere.

 

If you just want to sell your products without much work, your best option is to use Amazon FBA. Here, all sellers need to do is use Amazon’s platform. All other work will be done by Amazon.

 

What are the advantages and disadvantages of Amazon FBA?

 

 

Fulfillment by Amazon is an attractive program for many e-commerce sellers. However, it has many advantages and disadvantages. They are listed below.

 

Advantages of Fulfillment by Amazon:

Sellers will have the added benefit of attracting loyal Amazon customers. These are potential buying opportunities that sellers can easily access simply by using the Amazon brand.

All logistics support will come from Amazon.

Sellers can offer global shipping to their customers, so one's business can be conducted anywhere in the world.

Shipping costs will be lower using the Amazon platform.

If a product is damaged during shipping, the refund policy and customer management will be enforced by Amazon.

Disadvantages of FBA:

Amazon FBA’s packaging policy is very strict, and the seller’s brand logo will not appear.

The fees people have to pay each month are more than the commissions they get from Amazon.

There is an additional fee for removal of damaged or defective products, and fees often fluctuate.

Sometimes, for lost products, the refund procedure is quite tricky and a new refund case has to be opened.

Since Amazon FBA products are mainly purchased by high-quality users, the return rate of high-quality users is higher than that of other users, and the process is very simple.

Sellers’ product brands are also restricted.

How does Amazon FBA work?

 

Amazon has many Seller Central stores. Customers order products through these stores. Amazon will then notify the seller about the job. Finally, when the product is ready, Amazon picks it up, packages it, stores it if needed, and finally ships it to the customer. It should be noted here that Amazon Prime products need to be shipped within 2 days.

 

Can FBA still be profitable in 2024?

Amazon’s FBA profits are very high, but if anyone thinks about it, will FBA still be profitable in 2024? To begin with, if we look at Amazon sales, we see that it accounts for 50% of online sales. 50% of Amazon’s sales come from its various fulfillment programs. In this case, if what you are selling has potential, you are good at building an image, and if you are committed to your business and want to grow it, then FBA will bring you profits.

 

A very promising factor to note here is that since most of the online selling websites are facing delivery issues, Amazon is a very reliable option as they have a very strong network that ensures delivery within a certain time frame.

 

Who should use Amazon FBA?

While Amazon FBA may seem like a lucrative business opportunity, it’s not for everyone. People who want to sell at least 40 items per month should choose Amazon FBA. Unless this is the case, investing in an FBA account and giving it time would not be a wise choice. For smaller amounts, you won't be left with much profit after Amazon.

 

What does Amazon FBA sell?

The sales volume of all products is not the same and people are not interested in buying various products online.

 

There are many things that people need to pay attention to before buying. So, by keeping these things in mind, one has to choose the type of product that they will sell. To understand the types you should look at the following.

 

High demand: There are many products on the Amazon page with high sales, but some products have little or no sales per month. So when one chooses a genre, he must see if the product is getting at least 300 sales per month, which is an average of 10 sales per day. By choosing such products, sellers will receive ongoing income from their business and invest more in their business, thereby growing their business.

Fewer competitors: Some products are so common and easy to sell, or so hyped that almost most sellers include them in their product listings. In this case, it is difficult for sellers to provide buyers with a certain quality at the lowest profit because there are too many sellers and buyers will look for the cheapest seller. Therefore, sellers who want to provide the best quality to their customers may not be able to gain a foothold in the market because many times people value price over quality.

Limited Reviews: When there are too many reviews under a certain product, it becomes difficult for a customer to go through the reviews carefully to retrieve the necessary information he is looking for. A survey shows that if a best-selling product has fewer than 200 reviews, consumers are more likely to decide whether to buy the product based on the reviews. Therefore, comments have the power to change people’s mindsets. Therefore, sellers must check the reviews section of a product before deciding to sell it.

Products weighing 5 pounds: One of the disadvantages of buying online is the higher shipping costs due to weight charges.

Sometimes the weight charge is higher than the product cost, especially when importing from China. So, if the product weighs less than 5 pounds, it will be convenient for buyers to purchase it online.

 

How to start an Amazon FBA business?

 

Amazon FBA business is one of the easiest options for beginners who want to focus on growing their business mainly by reducing administration. However, there are several steps to follow when starting an Amazon FBA business. The key points to check carefully before starting a business are as follows:

 

Choose your first product

People mostly buy things online and are hesitant to buy from offline stores. People are once again ordering exclusive items and lightweight products from e-commerce sites. Generally, items and medicines that cannot be stored are mostly not sold online. By basing these facts and analyzing how many people are selling it, people should choose their product.

 

Determine budget

The average capital that people start Amazon FBA with is $3000-4000. If your budget fits this price range, then you can be called a potential investor. If you have a smaller budget, you can also grow your business by investing your initial earnings back into the business. Additionally, if your budget doesn’t lend itself to starting a new business, you can invest in your existing business.

 

Find suppliers

If you are not a manufacturer, then you must find responsible suppliers from whom you can buy products and resell them on Amazon.com. Here, you have to remember that Amazon will mark you as the primary owner of the product, i.e. the seller. Suppliers must deliver products on time. If you are a manufacturer, you must find a good raw material supplier.

 

Ship your products

Depending on your business type, you will choose how to ship your products. You can choose to ship as a third-party shipper. You can also use Amazon as a third-party shipper. Finally, you can also use Amazon FBA to ship products. Additionally, there are other traditional shipping options including air, rail, and sea freight.

 

Create an Amazon seller account

With ID, a valid credit card, and required tax information, you'll be able to create an Amazon ID within 3 days. After that, your projected sales will determine which type of account you want to open. If you plan to sell fewer than 40 items, you can use a personal account and pay $0.99 per item. If you have a Pro account, it costs $39.99 per month. The sales amount here is not a fact about expenses.

 

Optimize your product descriptions

Customers often search for products by type rather than the actual name of the product. Therefore, you need to optimize your product descriptions to include terms that customers are likely to search for. Additionally, the product description should contain necessary details to avoid any doubts from the customers.

 

Build a High-Converting Amazon Listing

Conversion rate is the most critical term for business success. You don’t want your audience to just visit these pages and then leave without purchasing anything. That’s why you need to build a list that can convert your audience into customers. Top-notch graphics and a catchy headline can make this happen.

 

advertising and growth

Doing business without advertising won't bring you much profit. In addition to building your business, you must also know how to spread it to people who need the same goods. That’s why you need to promote your products or FBA business in every way possible. In this way, your business will grow quickly and gain profits in a short time.

 

Collect a large number of product reviews

The success of an online retailer's business largely depends on the number of positive reviews they can accumulate. As a startup, this may seem a bit challenging. However, the sooner you accumulate these product reviews, the sooner you can start making money. An effective way to do this is to offer discounts on your products for the first few weeks. You can also follow any possible method.

 

How to find products for sale on Amazon FBA?

 

Now, when someone wants to sell products on the online giant retailer Amazon, the next question that comes to mind is how to find products for sale on Amazon.

 

Pinterest: Pinterest is one of the most popular websites for finding ideas online. Once you sign up for Pinterest, you'll have a board of your own where you can place content of your choice. The more a product, brand or thing is pinned, the more popular it becomes. Here you can also find out which items are popular and select products as well. If a popular product is not sold on the Amazon platform, this can bring huge benefits to the seller as he can get a good response from buyers without any effort.

View Amazon’s Best Sellers Page: One of the best features of Amazon is that it has a Bestsellers page where you can view and purchase most of the items sold. Before starting the business, the seller can go there, select the category of items for sale that he is interested in, such as technology products, books, stationery products, etc. and specify the exact items he can search in the sub-categories and finally select the products he wants to sell . A seller cannot just see the item on the bestseller page and get hyped, he must check the annual sales of the product instead of seeing the current sales and then decide.

View Amazon's Trend Reports: To see which items are most popular with buyers and what's trending on Amazon pages, such as the Best Sellers page, just click on the Trend Report page. From there, you'll click "Learn More" and view the items in the trending list. You can select the product you want to purchase from this list. Again, you have to remember that this will change over time. Therefore, choose a product after visiting the trending list several times before making a final decision on which product to sell.

 

Use product research tools: There are a lot of software that can keep a database of products based on certain scenarios. Such software is the AMZScout product database. Here you can choose the product range, product size, number of reviews and many other things. By selecting all these criteria, you will eventually find a product that meets your requirements. Suppose, a person wants to sell a product for $200-$400. The weight of the product must be within 5 pounds, the size will be based on the selection, and it has been reviewed by more than 500 people. Enter all of this in the filter options on your website and finally note down the products you want to sell. The best feature of this site is that it updates monthly based on the filters you set.

 

Look at other markets: To capture a market from the beginning, you first need to understand the market. To understand the market, in-depth research is required. Research must be both meaningful and smart.

To find out what products are primarily sold online, the smartest thing to do is to search the websites of all the big e-commerce giants that are selling products, rather than focusing on the website where you decide to sell your products. This way, you will get a collective idea of the entire business. If you're lucky, you might find a popular product on other sites that's not available on Amazon. Then you'll be doing a good job of selling the product you're trying to sell.

 

How much are Amazon FBA fees?

 

FBA has certain advantages. However, you cannot ignore the additional cost of this service. When you start a business, you have to calculate Amazon FBA fees. Additionally, there are many other costs that you must consider. Basic knowledge of Amazon FBA fees Fees include general fulfillment fees. In order to determine these general fulfillment fees, you need to take several steps, such as you need to select the product type, determine the product size, and calculate the shipping weight of the product.

 

Later in this article, we’ll share how to calculate fees. In addition, there are Amazon FBA taxes, Amazon FBA shipping costs, and other fees. Some additional FBA costs you need to consider are:

 

Amazon FBA Labels: Barcode label fees are charged by Amazon on a per-item basis.

Amazon FBA Preparation Service: This is Amazon’s fee per item to prepare inventory for storage.

Amazon FBA Storage Fees: You may also refer to these as inventory fees. This fee is the cost of storing the product in the warehouse.

Amazon FBA order removal fees: For any online purchase, you need to pay some fees when canceling an order. The same is true for Amazon FBA service. When you ask Amazon to process or return your inventory from its fulfillment centers, in some cases you will be required to pay a fee.

Amazon FBA Pick and Pack Fee: This fee applies to pick and pack.

Amazon FBA monthly fee: The monthly fee for the two plans is different. On the Personal plan, it costs $0.99 per copy sold instead of paying monthly. The Professional plan, on the other hand, costs $39.99 regardless of how many units are sold.

Amazon FBA Repackaging: This is the fee Amazon charges to repackage your returned items for resale.

Amazon FBA long-term inventory storage: This fee will be charged when the product is stored in the Amazon warehouse for more than 365 days (i.e. 1 year).

Amazon FBA oversized items: Oversized items require special attention during transportation and delivery. That’s why Amazon charges this fee with every shipment to ensure special handling for oversized items.

 

How to ship to Amazon FBA from China?

 

 

When you are shipping valuable goods from China to Amazon FBA, it is best to do it through a trustworthy and reputable agency. That’s why the best advice in this regard is to seek help from a reputable Amazon FBA freight forwarder whose area of expertise is the same. Additionally, it saves a lot of money compared to final destination-based service providers. With the following few steps, you can easily ship to Amazon FBA from China.

 

1. Choose the right shipping method

Transportation is the final part of supply. However, it plays the most important role when products cross different borders and customs. When you decide to ship your goods to Amazon FBA, you need to choose a shipping method that is not only the safest and fastest, but also meets Amazon FBA shipping requirements. That’s why we recommend that you consider every detail that may bring changes to your shipment. Here are some options:

 

Express Shipping from China to Amazon: Express is one of the fastest shipping methods. Ideal for volumes below 1 cubic meter and gross weight below 200 kg. Express delivery can also be divided into air express or sea express. There is no doubt that air express is the fastest mode of transportation. China to Amazon FBA air freight: When your goods weigh more than 200 kilograms or 2 cubic meters, it is recommended to choose air freight. Since it takes less time than ocean shipping, it may be the recommended method of shipping to Amazon FBA.

 

Sea Shipping from China to Amazon: In terms of cost, sea shipping is the best option as it is the lowest cost. It is the best choice for products over 2 cubic meters or 400kg. Ocean shipping or ocean shipping can be of two types: FCL shipping from China to Amazon FBA and LCL shipping from China to Amazon FBA. FCL stands for full container load and LCL stands for less than container load. Depending on the volume of the cargo, the type of transportation will vary. There are some other shipping options you can consider:

 

FBA direct sales

FBA DDP Shipping

Alibaba Amazon FBA

AliExpress Amazon FBA

2. Contact China Freight Forwarder

Some businesses fail simply because they rely on suppliers for the shipping process. However, you need to understand that the supplier only produces the item and helps you export from China. Often, they don't know the Amazon FBA terms of service for shipping from China to your destination. That’s why you should contact a reputable freight forwarder in China to get your products shipped on time in a perfect manner.

 

3. Conduct quality inspection on goods

After the goods are shipped from China, you cannot check their quality before they arrive at the Amazon FBA warehouse.

 

Therefore, it is best to check the quality while the product is still in the warehouse.

 

There are several companies that offer this service. You can contact a reliable inspection company and get it done.

 

frequently asked questions

 

 

Where is the Amazon FBA warehouse located?

As the largest online retail company today, Amazon has a global presence. Therefore, Amazon FBA warehouses are spread all over the world. Currently, Amazon has 110 active fulfillment centers in the United States alone. In terms of global locations, there are 185 active Amazon fulfillment centers around the world.

 

Such a vast network has made Amazon the e-commerce giant it is today. However, Amazon has never released the address of its fulfillment centers. Therefore, this cannot be included in this article. However, inventory movement information can help you a lot in this regard.

 

How to choose an FBA warehouse?

Well, basically you have no chance to choose an FBA warehouse. When you create a shipping plan, it is divided into multiple shipments and directed to different fulfillment centers. These centers are selected based on product type and source location. With your products spread across multiple Amazon fulfillment centers across the country, your customers can receive their products faster from the nearest FBA warehouse.

 

How to use the Amazon FBA calculator?

Well, there are actually two terms here. The first is knowing how to calculate your FBA fees, and the second is knowing how to use the Amazon FBA calculator. For the first one, there are three simple steps. First, you need to choose your product type - whether it's apparel or non-apparel. Next, you need to determine the size class of your product - whether it's standard or extra-large. Finally, you need to calculate the shipping weight of your product.

 

Now you can easily determine the shipping charges for your products based on the shipping charges from the size chart. As far as Amazon FBA calculators go, there is the Amazon Revenue Calculator. It helps you easily calculate Amazon FBA revenue. There are also some Amazon FBA calculator apps.

 

How much inventory should you send to FBA?

Since your products are stored in Amazon FBA warehouses, storing products in large quantities is not a good option. Additionally, you must consider additional costs, including storage fees. So how much inventory should you send to FBA? Well, the perfect amount is twice sales.

 

How to print Amazon FBA labels?

Labeling is an important part, especially if the shipment contains multiple cartons and the item cannot be identified from the outside. In addition, incorrect labeling may cause Amazon FBA to delay or reject the shipment. Amazon FBA labels require individual cartons to have their own unique FBA shipping label. You must ensure that the Amazon FBA barcode is not covered by the label or is clear enough. That’s why it’s important to maintain the correct Amazon FBA label dimensions.

How to package Amazon FBA?

Packaging is an important part of all types of business. You never want your shipment to be damaged simply because of poor packaging. This is why you must take Amazon FBA packaging seriously. First, you need to learn more about Amazon FBA packaging requirements. You must understand the different standards for product packaging and outer packaging. Hopefully the items will be packaged well in the end.

 

in conclusion

If you have enough knowledge, a great idea, and a good product line, starting or growing a business through Amazon FBA can be effective.

 

So, after analyzing the market well, a person should start doing Amazon FBA business and turn it into the best decision of his life.

 

When you want to start an Amazon FBA business, it is best to seek help from experts in the field. As mentioned before, you will need to seek expert help with shipping, inspections, and more.

 

Rising Bath will help you handle all Amazon FBA business from China to your side.