Running an online business entails a lot of extra responsibility compared to running a physical business. Not only do you need to conceptualize and create products, but you also need to handle packaging and shipping. That can often be too much for newcomers.
Considering a lot of these businesses also have storefronts on Amazon, there’s an easy way to simplify your work schedule. By using Amazon’s Fulfillment-by-Amazon feature, you can delegate a big chunk of your work to Amazon Fulfillment Centers. And to get your business running, here’s a guide on how you can ship your products to Amazon FBA.
Set up your products
In case you haven’t already, create an Amazon selling account, as you can’t do anything without it. Then you can start setting up your FBA.
On your seller page, you’ll find an inventory tab. That’s where you manage the products that are displayed on Amazon. From updating their descriptions and inserting images to managing prices. This is where you’ll spend most of your time managing products, checking their availability, and updating the inventory with new products.
Add products as an FBA listing
After you’ve created your products, you’ll need to go to the “Send/Replenish Inventory”. If it’s your first time setting up products you’ll need to enter the address you’re shipping off from. Otherwise, you can just choose the address you have pre-selected.
Then you need to choose if the products are packed as a single product or as a case package. That will allow Amazon to determine if your products need to be packed separately in case of larger orders. Selecting the proper product packing type is important for sellers that focus on smaller products, as otherwise, they’ll have to prepare each of their products separately before shipping them to the fulfillment center.
Prepare it for shipping
Now that you have your address and package type set up, you can use the newest Amazon feature. It’s called “Send to Amazon” and it creates a new workflow that massively streamlines the process of shipping to Amazon FBA. After you’ve pressed “Continue to Send to Amazon” you’ll be shown your product listings. In the packing details tab next to your product listings, you’ll be able to create a new template for your packages.
That’s where you need to specify how many units of your product go into the box, who labels it, and what are the box details. From there on, you need to add how many boxes you’re sending and confirm your shipping details.
Send it to an Amazon Fulfillment center
When you have all of your information filled up, all that’s left to do is print your labels and ship your products to Amazon. It’s incredibly important to mention that the barcodes need to be clearly visible on your packages. Otherwise, Amazon won’t receive them, and you’ll be losing both your products and profits.
Conclusion
Setting up Amazon FBA may seem daunting, but after you’ve set up the basics, it will massively improve your efficiency and workflow. Instead of worrying about shipping rates and order fulfillment, you can rest easy as Amazon takes over that hard work.
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