To ship from China to Amazon FBA, you create the shipping plan in Seller Central first, send the FNSKU labels and box labels to your supplier, have the factory label and pack to Amazon's carton rules, then book a freight forwarder who clears customs in your name and delivers to the FBA warehouse on a booked appointment. Amazon is not the importer of record and will not clear customs for you — that is the single fact most first-time FBA importers get wrong.
Every step below has a rule attached. Skip one and the shipment gets refused at the dock, or Amazon charges you an unplanned-service fee to fix it.
You need this in place before the goods exist, not after they land.
US: an EIN (foreign sellers can obtain one), a customs bond (single-entry or continuous), and an ISF filing capability through your forwarder. A continuous bond costs roughly $500–$700 a year as of mid-2026 and pays for itself above about four shipments.
UK: a GB EORI number and a UK VAT registration. Amazon does not act as importer.
EU: an EU EORI, and either an EU establishment or an indirect customs representative. Many forwarders will not act as your IOR, so confirm early.
Canada: a Business Number with an import-export account, and CARM registration with your own security posted.
Amazon will refuse shipments where they are named as consignee or importer. Your consignee is your company, care of the Amazon fulfilment centre address.
Get your HS code and destination tariff line confirmed before the purchase order. Duty is not a rounding error, and in 2026 the US picture in particular still involves layered Section 301 rates on many China-origin goods on top of the base HTS duty.
Ask your customs broker for a written classification opinion on your product, with the reasoning. If duty exposure is high, that is the moment to consider a design change, a different material, or a different sourcing country — not after you have 3,000 units in a container.
Do this before production finishes, because the FNSKU and the destination warehouse both come out of it.
Create the shipment in Send to Amazon.
Choose case-packed or individually packed. Case-packed (all units in a carton identical) is cheaper and cleaner.
Set units per case and number of cases.
Choose SPD (small parcel delivery) or LTL/FTL pallet delivery. Sea Freight is almost always LTL or FTL.
Download the FNSKU labels and the box ID labels.
Note the assigned fulfilment centre. Amazon splits shipments across warehouses; Inventory Placement Service consolidates for a fee.
Amazon assigns the destination only when you create the plan, which means your forwarder cannot quote final delivery until this step is done.
Send the label PDFs to your supplier and ask for photos of the first five labeled units and cartons before the full run. Fixing labels in China costs a few cents per unit. Fixing them at a US prep centre costs $0.30–$0.80 per unit plus freight both ways.
Maximum carton weight: 50 lb / 22.7 kg for standard-size units. Heavier cartons need a "Team Lift" mark up to 100 lb.
Maximum carton dimension: 25 inches on any side, unless the unit itself is oversize.
No mixed SKUs in a carton unless the shipment is set up as mixed.
Minimum 2 inches of dunnage; no loose packing peanuts, shredded paper, or crinkle wrap.
Pallets: 40 x 48 inch, four-way access, GMA Grade B or better, stacked no higher than 72 inches including the pallet for single-stacked, and shrink-wrapped with clear film.
Pallet labels on all four sides.
Write these into your purchase order as a packing specification. chinese factories that regularly ship FBA know the rules; ones that do not will pack to domestic-retail standards and you will find out at the warehouse.
A pre-shipment inspection on an FBA order checks two things a normal inspection would not: label placement and carton compliance. Have the inspector verify FNSKU scannability with a real scanner, confirm box ID labels are unique and flat, weigh and measure cartons, and check the polybag warnings. This costs roughly $250–$350 per man-day and prevents the expensive failure mode, which is a container arriving at an FBA dock and being refused.
Figures are indicative for mid-2026 and move with peak season. Build in buffer: Amazon delivery appointments can add 3–10 days after arrival at the destination city, and Q4 appointment availability tightens badly.
For sea freight, ddp quotes from Chinese forwarders are common and convenient, but understand what you are buying. Under a true DDP arrangement someone else is importer of record, which means you may not hold the entry records, may not be able to substantiate the customs value, and may have no visibility into what duty was actually paid. For sustained volumes, importing in your own name with your own broker is the cleaner structure, even if the first shipment takes more effort to set up. Our supply chain notes cover the trade-off in more detail.
Your forwarder or the destination trucker books a delivery appointment through Amazon's carrier portal. This requires the shipment ID, PO numbers, carton count, and pallet count matching exactly what is in Seller Central.
Amazon rejects loads where carton counts do not match, where the appointment is missing, or where pallets are unstable.
Enter tracking or PRO numbers in Seller Central before delivery.
Check-in to receiving can take 1–7 days after physical delivery; check-in to available inventory can take another 2–5 days.
If a shipment goes missing, open a reconciliation case within the window Amazon allows, with the packing list, carton-level detail, and proof of delivery. Reconciliation only works if your packing list shows units per carton per SKU, which is another reason to insist on a proper packing list from the factory.
Forgetting that duty and customs fees are paid on the commercial invoice value, so an undervalued invoice is a compliance risk, not a saving.
Ignoring FBA storage fees on slow movers, plus aged-inventory surcharges after 181 and 271 days.
Not accounting for Amazon's placement fees when a shipment splits across warehouses.
Booking air freight for a launch, then discovering the units need relabeling.
Missing the Q4 sea-freight cutoff and paying 3x for air in November.
For Amazon FBA sellers, the difference between a 30% and a 42% net margin is usually not the product price. It is these operational costs.
How do I ship from China to Amazon FBA?
Create the shipping plan in Seller Central, download FNSKU and box labels and send them to your supplier, have the factory label and pack to Amazon's carton and pallet rules, inspect before shipment, then book a forwarder to move the goods, clear customs in your name, and deliver on an Amazon appointment. You are the importer of record throughout.
Can Amazon be the importer of record for my FBA shipment?
No. Amazon explicitly refuses shipments where it is named as importer or consignee-of-record for customs purposes. You need your own EIN, EORI, or Business Number and your own customs bond or security depending on the destination.
Should I use DDP shipping from China to FBA?
DDP is simple and often cheap, and it works for smaller sellers. The risk is that you may not be the party on the customs entry, which leaves you without records if the entry is later audited. Once you are shipping regularly, moving to your own IOR with a named broker gives better control and cleaner duty accounting.
Who applies the FNSKU labels — the factory or a prep centre?
Have the factory do it. It is the cheapest point in the chain and it lets you inspect the labels before the goods leave China. Use a prep centre only when you already have inventory in the destination country or the factory has proven it cannot follow label specs.
How long before Amazon receives my inventory after delivery?
Plan on 3–12 days from physical delivery to sellable inventory. Physical receiving typically takes 1–7 days, and check-in adds a few more. During Q4 the upper end of that range is the realistic assumption for ecommerce sellers planning launch dates.
Factories · Freight · Customs · Payment — all handled. Need help? Contact Linkyourfactory, your China supply-chain partner.
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