Amazon FBA Prep Services and FBA Long Term Warehousing List

Most fulfillment companies do not perform prep services or “storage only” services for the companies that use Amazon FBA. This is simply because Amazon gets all of the revenue for shipping the individual orders to the end customers when Amazon FBA is used. Thus, the fulfillment company can not make much money off of this type of client, as they will only be labeling product according to Amazon specifications and then storing it until Amazon requests replenishment. In short, there is just not enough money in this type of service for a fulfillment company to survive—Fulfillment is a very high volume, low margin business.

Nonetheless, there are a select few companies that offer Amazon fulfillment support services for FBA businesses and users of Amazon Seller Central accounts. Below is a comprehensive list for United States and Internationally based companies.

United States Amazon FBA Prep Companies

Below is a listing of Amazon FBA Prep Services in the USA. All of the companies are listed in alphabetical order, without any preference as to which FBA Prep Center USA is better than the other.

Warehouse Republic: Located in both California and North Carolina, Warehouse Republic offers full-scale solutions for Amazon sellers as well as e-commerce merchants. Their suite of FBA services includes:

• Amazon FBA Storage
• FBA Labeling, Inspection, and Order Fulfillment Services
• FBA Ejections Handling and Removal Processing

AMZ Importers: Located in Huntsville, Alabama, has a wholesale option, and does require state sales tax.

AMZ Transit: Located in Long Island City, New York, has a wholesale option, and does require state sales tax.

Atlantic Fulfillment: Located in Newport, North Carolina, has a wholesale option, and does require state sales tax.

Automated FBA: Located in Perris, California and Berlin, Connecticut, has a wholesale option, and does require state sales tax.

Best Logistics Global: Located in Chino, California and Jamesburg, New Jersey, has a wholesale option, and does require state sales tax.

Big Sky Prep And Ship: Located in Roundup, Montana, has a wholesale option, and does NOT require state sales tax.

Brown Box Ninja: Located in Temple, Texas, has a wholesale option, and does require state sales tax.

Buckeye Prep 2 Prime: Located in Cincinnati, Ohio, has a wholesale option, and does require state sales tax.

Cascadia Seller Solutions: Located in Monroe, Washington, has a wholesale option, and does require state sales tax.

Central Ohio FBA Prep And Ship: Located in Johnstown, Ohio, has a wholesale option, and does require state sales tax.

Central Wisconsin Prep And Ship: Located in Greenwood, Wisconsin, has a wholesale option, and does require state sales tax.

eFulfillmentPro: Located in Austin, Texas, has a wholesale option, and does require state sales tax.

eHub Solutions: Located in Yorba Linda, California, has a wholesale option, and does require state sales tax.

EZ Prep: Located in Cerritos, California, has a wholesale option, and does require state sales tax.

FBA Books Prep: Located in Dayton, Ohio, does NOT have a wholesale option, and does require state sales tax.

FBA Express: Located in Rockland, Massachusetts, has a wholesale option, and does require state sales tax.

FBA Flex Prep: Located in Pearland, Texas, has a wholesale option, and does require state sales tax.

FBA Forward: Located in San Diego, California, has a wholesale option, and does require state sales tax.

FBA Fulfillment Center: Located in Linden, New Jersey and does require state sales tax.

FBA Indiana Prep Service: Located in Portland, Indiana, has a wholesale option, and does require state sales tax.

FBA Inspection: Located in Fort Bragg, California, has a wholesale option, and does require state sales tax.

FBA Made Simple: Located in Las Vegas, Nevada, has a wholesale option, and does require state sales tax.

FBA Prep: Located in Minneapolis, Minnesota and does require state sales tax.

FBAPrep4u: Located in Central Ohio, has standard FBA Prep services in addition to consulting and FBA coaching services to increase your performance on the Amazon platform.

FBA Prep And Ship: Located in Harrisburg, Oregon, has a wholesale option, and does NOT require state sales tax.

FBA Strategies: Located in Pensacola, Florida, has a wholesale option, and does require state sales tax.

FBA Transport: Located in Sarasota, Florida, does NOT have a wholesale option, and does require state sales tax.

FBA Warehousing: Located in Durham, North Carolina, has a wholesale option, and does require state sales tax.

Flat Rate Prep: Located in Madison, Wisconsin, has a wholesale option, and does require state sales tax.

Forest Shipping: Located in Jersey City, New Jersey (also located in China—listed below), has a wholesale option, and does require state sales tax.

Fulfillment Packaging Service: Located in Chicago, Illinois and does require state sales tax.

Fulfillment Rescue: Located in Fulton, Texas, has a wholesale option, and does require state sales tax.

GDW Inc.: Located in Houston, Texas, has a wholesale option, and does require state sales tax.

Illinois Pack And Ship (Formerly Fulfillment Butler): Located in Springfield, Illinois, has a wholesale option, and does require state sales tax.

Imaginari Products: Located in Waynesboro, Virginia and does require state sales tax.

Indy Prep: Located in Noblesville, Indiana, has a wholesale option, and does require state sales tax.

Kitting And Assembly Solutions: Located in Arvada, Colorado, has a wholesale option, and does require state sales tax.

Krooga: Located in Minden, Nevada (also located in several Europe locations—listed below), has a wholesale option, and does require state sales tax.

Marksman RSC: Located in Cincinnati, Ohio, has a wholesale option, and does require state sales tax.

McKenzie Services: Located in Hillsboro, Oregon, has a wholesale option, and does NOT require state sales tax.

Midwest Prime Prep And Ship: Located in Duluth, Minnesota, has a wholesale option, and does require state sales tax.

MT Prep N Ship Pro: Located in Roundup, Montana, does NOT have a wholesale option, and does NOT require state sales tax.

My FBA Partner: Located in Orange County, California and does require state sales tax.

My Fulfillment Team: Located in Dresden, Tennessee, has a wholesale option, and does require state sales tax.

My Prep Center: Located in St. Lapeer, Michigan, has a wholesale option, and does require state sales tax.

Nationwide Fulfillment Services: New Castle, Delaware, has a wholesale option, and does NOT require state sales tax.

One Prep Direct: Located in Cazenovia, New York and Claremont, New Hampshire, has a wholesale option, and does NOT require state sales tax.

Outwest Prep Services: Located in Tillamook, Oregon, does NOT have a wholesale option, and does NOT require state sales tax.

Pacific Prep Services: Located in Hillsboro, Oregon, has a wholesale option, and does NOT require state sales tax.

Pik Pak Pro: Located in Canton, Massachusetts, has a wholesale option, and does require state sales tax.

Prep It! Pack It! Ship It!: Located in Oceanside, California, has a wholesale option, and does require state sales tax.

Prep Label Box: Located in Holly Sota, California, has a wholesale option, and does require state sales tax.

PrepNShip40: Located in Roundup, MT, PresPShip40 does not require state sales tax and provides receiving, preparing and shipping services for Amazon merchants.

Prep And Ship Plus: Located in Phoenix, Arizona and does require state sales tax.

PrepFBA: Located in Oceanside, California, has a wholesale option, and does require state sales tax.

Prepped Express: Located in North Little Rock, Arkansas, has a wholesale option, and does require state sales tax.

Prime Zero Prep: Located in Salem, New Hampshire, has a wholesale option, and does NOT require state sales tax.

Priority Prep: Located in Northeast Texas, Texas, has a wholesale option, and does require state sales tax.

Pro Prep And Fulfillment: Located in Marion, Illinois and does require state sales tax.

Profit Gopher: Located in Marietta, Georgia, has a wholesale option, and does require state sales tax.

Quick Prep & Ship: Located in Houston, Texas, has a wholesale option, and does require state sales tax.

River Source Logistics: Located in Los Angeles, California and does require state sales tax.

Riverbow LLC: Located in Butte, Montana, has a wholesale option, and does require state sales tax.

SelltecPrep: Located in Roundup, Montana, has a wholesale option, and does NOT require state sales tax.

ShipMaestro: Located in Round Rock, Texas, has a wholesale option, and does require state sales tax.

ShipMonk: Located in Deerfield Beach, Florida, has a wholesale option, and does require state sales tax.

Simple Price Prep: Located in St. Mary’s, Georgia, has a wholesale option, and does require state sales tax.

SM Operators: Located in Chicago, Illinois and does require state sales tax.

Southeast Prep And Ship: Located in Seneca, South Carolina, has a wholesale option, and does require state sales tax.

Storage Number One: Located in Dominguez, California, has a wholesale option, and does require state sales tax.

Sunny Prep: Located in Orlando, Florida, has a wholesale option, and does require state sales tax.

Texas Prep Pack And Ship: Located in Grand Prairie, Texas, has a wholesale option, and does require state sales tax.

Thomas Inventory Services: Located in Somerville, New Jersey, has a wholesale option, and does require state sales tax.

UK PRE Fulfillment: Located in Norwich, UK, offers private label and wholesale prep, arbitrage prep, returns processing for Amazon and even company registration and accounting services.

Value Prep And Ship: Located in Sacramento, California, has a wholesale option, and does require state sales tax.

WeFulfillIt: Located in Toledo, Ohio, has a wholesale option, and does require state sales tax.

Worldwide Fulfillment: Located in Deerfield Beach, Florida, has a wholesale option, and does require state sales tax.

Zebrapals, Inc.: Located in San Fernando, California, has a wholesale option, and does require state sales tax.

3Linx Unified Commerce: Located in New York City, New York, has a wholesale option, and does require state sales tax.

3P Shipping Inc.: Located in New York City, New York, has a wholesale option, and does require state sales tax.

International Amazon FBA Prep Companies

Adstral Fulfillment: Located in Wiltshire, United Kingdom and has a wholesale option.

ArbSmart: Located in Bewdley, United Kingdom and has a wholesale option.

FBA Prep Poland, EU: Located in Kutno, Poland and has a wholesale option.

FBA Prep UK: Located in Lancashire, United Kingdom and has a wholesale option.

FBA Ship UK: Located in Birmingham, United Kingdom and has a wholesale option.

Forest Shipping: Located in Shenzhen, China.

FwdTo Amazin: Located in Ontario, Canada and does have a wholesale option.

What Are FBA Prep Services and Should I Outsource Them?

Failing to comply with FBA product preparation requirements may result in the vendor being charged for non-compliance and/or their products being returned, disposed of, or even blocked from future shipments to the fulfillment center.

Amazon does offer its vendors guidelines such as its Quick Reference Guide on how to prepare inventory for FBA. However, the opportunity cost of vendors preparing products for fulfillment takes away from sales and marketing. A lot of fulfillment centers—like ShipMonk, for instance—saw an opportunity and began offering FBA prep services to help vendors prepare their inventory before it’s sent to an FBA warehouse. Everything from opening containers and repackaging thousands of SKUs to simply labeling products correctly with barcodes—prepping products for FBA is essential if you want to be a successful Amazon vendor. And these “prepped” products need to be stored and shipped to Amazon fulfillment centers for FBA distribution. These are the services that Amazon FBA Prep Services offer. 

Here’s a list of various FBA Prep Services:

•      Quality control
•      Repackaging
•      Labeling
•      Fragile item preparation
•      Loose products
•      Sold as a set
•      Boxed units
•      Poly bagged units
•      Case-packed products
•      Expiration dates

Golden Rules for Successful FBA Inbound Shipments

• Grace period for appointment is 30 minutes late if an appointment is classified as a ‘no-show’ and deleted due to a delay. A new appointment must be scheduled.
• The warehouse must be informed of any delays caused by traffic or other non-controllable situations.
• When the appointments have been confirmed, you are responsible for contacting and agreeing with the Instock Manager any modification.
• If there are 2 NO shows on peak, the carrier/seller can be blocked for 5 weeks.
• The appointment confirmation is generated per vehicle. If the delivery of merchandise requires additional vehicles, an appointment for each vehicle must be generated to better manage yard capacity.
• The appointment quantity description must match with the physical units to be delivered.
• The vehicle must be on good conditions, with any oil drops and be secure in dock
• Security Vest Type 2 must be used in Yard.
• Height of each pallet is less than 170 cm and less than 675 kg.
• Sellers need to bring 2 printed copies of the appointment
• If the products require it, the seller/carrier must bring copies of the regulatory forms.
• Master Case must be identified with the FBA in the exterior. This is also required for Amazon Partner Carrier Program Overview (PCP) shipments.
• Each unit inside the box must have a label with ASIN/FNSKU.
• Before sending the units verify it matches the product, image, title, and label.
• If the product has an expiration date, make sure you have it in the system and make it clear and visible in your units. (Units must have at least 3 months of fresh life, in other cases will be destroyed automatically by the system without any compensation.
• Take advantage of FBA Export services as well. At no extra cost, the FBA export program helps you expand your business to more than 100 countries without dealing with the complexities of selling internationally.

How are FBA fees structured?

Fees are charged for order fulfillment and for inventory storage. Storage fees are charged for all units stored in Amazon fulfillment centers per calendar month, based on your daily average volume measured in cubic meters. In addition to the regular inventory storage fee, long-term storage fees are charged monthly to any units that have been in an Amazon fulfillment center for more than 365 days. FBA fees depend on:

• The type of product being sold (media or non-media)
• The size and weight of each item (standard or oversize)
• Which channels the items are sold on (Amazon.de, other Amazon sites, sales channels which are not related to Amazon)

Should You Outsource FBA Services?

Yes – things get complicated quickly when it comes to FBA Prep services. Now that you understand the importance of Amazon preparation, you’re probably wondering if you should do it yourself or look to a fulfillment center for help. The answer isn’t anywhere near cut and dried. Therefore, you’ll need to take into account the following:

Where is your product manufactured?

The best solution would be for your manufacturer to prep the products for FBA for you, but you’d have to calculate how much that affects your shipping rates. If you’re importing from China or another foreign country, you’ll probably want to save as much as you can on shipping to the U.S. To do this you’ll need to put more than 1 SKU on a pallet—which is great for lowering costs but makes the product unfit as an FBA receivable.

How many SKUs do you have?

If you have a lot of different SKUs that require different prep services, it may be too much to keep track of and stay up-to-date. Also, do you have the space and equipment to de-palletize and repack the products on pallets or in boxes for FBA? In these cases, FBA Preparation options will suite your company well. 

What packing materials are needed?

If you need specific packing materials such as poly mailers, fragile item wrapping, or labels, a FBA Prep option may be a great decision. They have various materials in stock and may even give you a discount since they can purchase in bulk.

What’s your profit margin?

How much are you selling your products for and what are you making? If you have room in your profit margin, it probably makes sense to outsource the FBA prep service. Then you can focus your efforts on expanding your product line and/or selling more product. (Unless, of course, you just love working in the warehouse, then absolutely, you should not outsource!)

Is the risk worth the reward?

Can your business afford to have its products returned or be billed a non-compliance fee for failing to meet FBA standards? A reputable FBA 3PL or FBA Prep center will include in their SLA that if something happens due to not following FBA guidelines, the fulfillment center will assume responsibility.

Are there seasonal spikes throughout the year?

You may want to prepare inventory yourself throughout the year except for the holiday season. During that time, you’ll probably want to focus on customer service and marketing. So consider outsourcing FBA prep  to a 3PL fulfillment prep companyduring those busy months and then take it back into your own hands if you want to cut back on outside costs during the off season.

What can I be doing with the resources it takes to manage FBA prep?

This is the million-dollar question that only you can answer. Most business owners can manage the FBA prep process, but—will it take away from growing your business?

For more information on Amazon FBA prep companies and related topics, please contact us. And to learn more about Fulfillment by Amazon and Fulfillment by Merchant, click here.

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