SHIPPING PRODUCT TO AN AMAZON FULFILLMENT CENTER CAN BE NIGHTMARISH.
Everyone wants their product on Amazon Prime but what does it take to get a product to an Amazon fulfillment center. First you need to create a listing on Amazon.com through Seller Central. Depending on what you are selling it can take some time to get your product listed. It took me several weeks to get approval to sell beef jerky on Amazon. They have a strict guideline on everything they do and if it’s not followed exactly they charge you a fee.
After you get your product listed it’s time to send it to an FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon) warehouse. Have your product in FBA allows for you to offer Prime to your customers. When shipping things to amazon you will need to follow their instructions precisely. They have certain criteria for packaging, labeling, and shipping. Miss a step and pay a fee. Now that you have followed all the steps, its time to send it off and hope that Amazon accepts everything. I sent a box of beef jerky to FBA and they told me that half the packs of jerky were unable to be inventoried because they were damaged. I’ve shipped a lot of beef jerky while starting JerkyXP and I know that it’s nearly impossible to break open a sealed bag of jerky just from shipping. They either discard the damaged goods or send them back to you. Needless to say jerky is not an ideal FBA product.
In conclusion, if your product has good margins and you follow the instructions from Amazon you should be fine. At Ships-a-Lot we fulfill orders for FBA as well. If you sell your product on your own website and use our fulfillment center we can also fulfill orders for FBA. Just one more thing we are doing to make your life easier!