Guide
What makes FBA freight different from ordinary importing
Updated
The ocean leg of an FBA shipment is the same commodity service everybody buys. What is different, and what actually goes wrong, happens after the container is unloaded.
Receiving is not delivery
A fulfilment centre receives on a booked appointment against a shipment it is expecting, with cartons labelled the way it requires. A truck that turns up without those things has not delivered; it has been refused.
Ask explicitly whether the forwarder books the appointment and what happens if a delivery is refused, because the answer decides who pays for the storage while it is sorted out.
Carton level requirements
Weight and dimension limits, labelling and box content accuracy are all checked at receiving, and requirements change. A forwarder who checks these before dispatch is doing something valuable; one who simply carries is not.
Confirm the current requirements with the marketplace directly rather than relying on a forwarder's or an article's summary, including this one.
Timing and stock
Sea freight from China runs on a multi-week cycle, so replenishment has to be planned around it rather than reacting to a sales spike. Air exists for the exception, priced accordingly, and on the greater of actual or volumetric weight.
Sellers who treat air as a habit rather than an exception usually have a forecasting problem rather than a freight problem.
Do not let the supplier arrange it
A delivered price from the factory is convenient and it removes your visibility of who is carrying, what was declared and under what code, while leaving you as importer of record.
If a shipment is held, your leverage sits with a forwarder chosen by your supplier. That is the wrong side of the table.