As an Amazon FBA seller, your business is only as good as the product you sell. Broken goods and damaged packaging can quickly result in damage to your reputation as buyers leave negative reviews on your pages.
Around 15% of all orders from Amazon are returned in some territories and, the biggest reason for these returns tends to be due to damaged or faulty goods being received.
To gain a reputation as a respected and trusted Amazon seller, you need to make sure that every order is compliant and packaged securely and correctly in order to ensure it arrives safe and sound.
What are Amazon FBA inspection and fulfillment prep services?
Amazon FBA Inspection and fulfillment prep companies are organizations who provide a number of services to Amazon FBA sellers. These services include:
- Inspection of shipments to ensure that they are Amazon compliant.
- Packaging of shipments.
- Labelling of shipments.
- Product sorting
- Product photography
- Packing of product into poly bags
- Shipment forwarding
Why Do I Need This Service?
There are a number of reasons why FBA sellers employ the services of FBA inspection and prep companies and these include:
Buying from wholesalers – Many sellers buy their products from large wholesalers such as Alibaba in order to get the best possible prices.
Although domestic wholesalers offer great prices, they don’t unfortunately include any product preparation so goods are supplied as they come without any embellishment.
An FBA prep company will package and label goods sent from the wholesaler to make them ready for shipment to the FBA warehouse.
Location – There are many instances where the seller is not in the same geographical location as the source of the products and so will often not even see the product before it is dispatched to the FBA warehouse.
Inspection and prep companies will ensure that the product is correctly packaged and labeled before it is shipped to the warehouse, saving time and hassle for the seller.
Time and money-saving – Amazon has a large number of rules and regulations regarding the packing, labeling and shipping of goods – and these rules are strictly adhered to.
Goods that are incorrectly packaged or labeled or not compliant in any way will often be rejected by Amazon’s FBA warehouses. Often, this can mean that the package is returned to the supplier and the seller then has to repeat the entire process – including the cost.
Using a professional company more or less guarantees that your packages will be compliant and, will therefore be accepted by Amazon without any fuss.
Success – Many Amazon sellers run small operations from home and are happy to do so.
However, for some, the popularity of their product can mean that they are suddenly selling a high volume and are simply unable to complete all of the inspection, packing and shipping work themselves – which is, of course, a good problem to have!
When employing the services of an inspection company, it’s your job to liaise between that company and the supplier of the product to agree timings.
If your inspector arrives before the shipment has completed QC or is simply not ready, it can result in the inspection not being made or extra waiting time charges being added to your invoice.
Who Are These Prep Service Companies?
There are a number of inspection and prep companies out there, all offering a number of different options and services.
As the options can be baffling (just a quick Google search will pull up pages and pages of different organizations in different countries) we’ve put together 11 of the best to help you ensure that your product is secure, on time and compliant.
1. FBAinspection
Fbainspection.com is a quality control and damage inspection center based in Fort Bragg, California. A self-titled proven solution for e-commerce, FBAinspection.com offers a number of fully insured services including full service inspection, fulfillment services, photography, palatalizing and shipping and label management. FBAinspection’s arbitrage pricing is $1.25 per unit which includes processing and handling, price tag removal, bubble wrap, poly bags and FNSKU labels.
2. McKenzieservices
McKenzieservices.com is a full inspection and prep service dedicated to Amazon sellers. Based in Hillsboro, Oregon, the company prides itself on its 21,265 square feet of warehousing space.
Arbitrage prices are $1.10 per unit with a minimum order of $40. Extra charges are added for items such as clothing which incur an additional $0.45 per unit.
For more information, you can contact their professional team for a quote. The good news is, each customer can receive a 10% off by mentioning AMZFinder when using their services for the first time.
3. FBAshipuk
Based in Birmingham, UK, Fbashipuk.com is a prep and ship company specialising in the preparation of products for Amazon sellers.
Fbashipuk.com lists its services in three stages: Receive, Check and Inspect, Label, Prep & Bag and, Pack & Dispatch.
Arbitrage prices are on a monthly basis and start at £1 per product which includes inspection, labeling, poly bags, adding and removal of stickers and bubble / shrink wrap.
4. Primezeroprep
The curiously named Primezeroprep.com is an ‘FBA Library’ based in New Hampshire.
Specializing in storage and prep and ship management, its website boasts that New Hampshire is a no-sales tax State. Pricing is $1.20 unit with an additional $1.20 per unit for oversized and non-regulation product. The pricing includes receipt, inspection, labeling, poly bags, sticker removal, dunnage, bubble wrap, boxes and pallets and 14 days of storage.
5. FBAprep
FBAprep.com is located in China and is a full inspection and logistics provider.
Unfortunately, FBAprep.com is not currently accepting new customers – which suggests that their services are in demand – but keep an eye on the website as this may change in the future.
6. FBAinandout
FBAinandout.com is a Santa Ana-based inspection, fulfillment and shipping company whose prices start at just $0.45 per unit for as little as 10 units per order according to its home page.
If this seems a little too good to be true, that’s because it is – a quick look at the pricing schedule shows that inspection only begins at $0.49 for a minimum of 10 items with all other services charged on top of this.
7. FBA TERMINAL
fbaterminal.com lie in the U.S., New Jersey to be precise. Offering a full prep, inspection, and shipping service.
It offers shipping pre and freight forwarding, helps you ship your items to Amazon warehouse in a quick way.
FBA Terminal offers its pricing on its website and, the standard packaging starts at $1.00.
8. FBAexpress
Operating out of Hanover, FBAexpress.com, as the name suggests, specializes in the fast and reliable prep and inspection of products headed for Amazon’s FBA warehouse.
FBA Express offers three different packages for Amazon FBA sellers – The Silver Package at $125, the Gold Package at $250 and the Platinum Package for $375. Perfect for high volume time-short FBA sellers, the Platinum Package offers excellent value.
9. FBA Ops
China-based FBAops.com specializes in sourcing, procurement and inspection for Amazon sellers as well as prep and shipping services.
The basic service offered which includes buying, prepping, packing and shipping starts from 8% of the product cost or $199 (based on whichever works out to the be lower price).
Receipt of cartons costs 10% of the shipping cost. Shipping estimates can be obtained online from the FBAops website.
10. Swanpackaging
New Jersey-based fulfillment center, Swanpackaging.com operates from a 125,000 square foot facility and offers a comprehensive range of prep and inspection services for Amazon FBA sellers.
Swan Packaging’s Prep Only service is perfect for those who only sell their products via Amazon and prices are available on request.
11. eFulfillment Service
With 250,000 square feet of warehouse space, eFulfillment Service, a family-owned business, has been inspecting and prepping products for clients, since Fulfillment by Amazon started.
The company is known for its service, and its low-cost management and storage rates. With eFulfillment Service (EFS), you don’t have any order minimums, set-up fees, SKU maximums or long-term contracts.
Additionally, EFS can integrate with more than 40 shopping cart platforms, seamlessly fulfilling orders directly to customers in addition to FBA Prep services.
Straightforward pricing quotes for FBA Prep are customized, based on the needs of the client, and can include labeling, kitting or bundling, barcoding and of course picking and packing.
Things to Ask About Before Choosing Your Company
Price – it’s important that you know whether the company will charge monthly or per item and what other charges may be involved.
A reputable company will be happy to provide you with a comprehensive list of charges.
Storage – If the company will be storing your goods for any length of time, ask them about the security of their warehousing facility and their insurance obligations toward your stock.
Location – The physical location of the company can make a huge difference when it comes to shipping costs and sales taxes so make sure you know where they are and check out the implications of that.
Processing time – Your customers are expecting delivery of their goods within a certain time-frame. Make sure you know processing and delivery times before signing on the dotted line as it could be that that great price is counterbalanced by slow service.
For anybody who is serious about selling products via Amazon, choosing a reliable prep and inspection company is essential in order to ensure that you’re delivering the goods in terms of quality and service.
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