How to make an appointment for inbound storage at the Amazon warehouse via international air freight?
seller and the freight forwarder should confirm the reservation responsibility division, clearly defining which party is responsible for the reservation to avoid no one handling the reservation after the goods arrive at the destination country, resulting in the goods being stranded in the overseas warehouse and incurring high storage fees
International air freight FBA first leg. After the goods arrive at the destination country and complete customs clearance, they cannot be directly delivered to the Amazon warehouse. They must first complete the warehousing reservation and obtain a valid reservation time window before the warehouse will accept the goods. Without reservation and direct delivery, the warehouse will refuse to receive the goods. The truck can only return to the original location and incur high secondary delivery fees, delaying the inventory shelving. This is a common pitfall that many novice sellers often fall into.
The complete process starts with the seller creating an FBA shipment plan in the Amazon backend. Enter the seller's backend inventory module, select delivery to Amazon, fill in the SKU, shipment quantity, and the system will automatically allocate the corresponding FBA warehouse, generating the FBA Shipment number, which is the core voucher for reservation of warehousing. The shipment plan must be accurate, including the number of boxes, weight, and size. If the data later differs significantly from the actual goods, the reservation will be rejected. During peak seasons, the warehouse capacity is tight, so it is recommended to create the shipment at least 10-14 days in advance to avoid the warehouse closing its capacity and being unable to generate a reservation.
The second step is to confirm the logistics carrier's qualifications. There are two modes. The first is to use the Amazon partner carrier SEND, directly select the partner logistics in the backend, and the system will automatically complete the reservation, and the seller does not need to operate the reservation process separately. The second is to use a third-party freight forwarding channel. The freight forwarder needs to have an SCAC carrier code recognized by Amazon to be eligible to submit the reservation in the Carrier Central carrier center. Ordinary logistics providers do not have the qualification and cannot submit the reservation, and can only be entrusted to overseas truck agents to operate the reservation.
The third step is to complete the standardization processing of the goods. Strictly follow the Amazon FBA packaging and labeling specifications. Each outer box should be labeled with an FBA box label, and labels should be pasted on all four sides of the pallet goods. If the weight of a single box exceeds 23 kilograms, an overweight label must be pasted; for FBA pallets on the US line, a standard 48*40-inch tray should be used, and the total height of the tray should not exceed 1.8 meters. Unqualified packaging and labels will result in rejection by the warehouse, or additional handling fees. The fourth step is to submit the reservation and wait for confirmation. The freight forwarder / overseas truck agent logs into the Amazon Carrier Central system, enters the FBA shipment number, warehouse code, box number, and pallet number, and submits the expected delivery date. After the Amazon warehouse reviews, a confirmed reservation time window will be given. Note that the reservation may not pass on the first attempt. During peak seasons, the warehouse is fully booked, and a time window of one week later may be given. After obtaining the reservation number, arrange for the truck to pick up the goods and go to the warehouse. Do not deliver in advance.
The fifth step is to deliver to the warehouse at the reservation time. Try to arrive at the warehouse within the reservation time window. Arriving too early will be rejected for entry. Delays beyond the reservation time will result in the reservation being invalidated and a new reservation being required. After the goods are delivered to the warehouse, the seller's backend continuously tracks the progress of receiving and shelving.
Common pitfalls in practice: Modifying the quantity of the shipment plan randomly after creation leads to the failure of the reservation; During peak seasons, only focusing on the air freight time and ignoring the reservation queue time, thinking that the plane landing means immediate entry into the warehouse; The tray size does not meet Amazon standards. The total duration of the air freight headway cannot only be calculated by the flight time, but also needs to reserve time for customs clearance, pick-up, and reservation queue. Before shipping, the seller and the freight forwarder should confirm the reservation responsibility division, clearly defining which party is responsible for the reservation to avoid no one handling the reservation after the goods arrive at the destination country, resulting in the goods being stranded in the overseas warehouse and incurring high storage fees.
