Can you ship from China directly to Amazon FBA?
Yes, technically. Amazon accepts inbound shipments that originate overseas, and a factory or forwarder can deliver cartons to a US fulfillment center as long as the freight clears customs first and shows up with the correct labels, appointment and paperwork. Nothing in Amazon's policy forces you to touch the goods in between.
The question worth asking is not whether it is allowed. It is what happens when something is wrong. On a China direct shipment, the first person to open one of your cartons works for Amazon, and by then your options have narrowed to expensive ones.
Why most sellers should not ship direct to FBA
- No inspection before Amazon receives it. A short count, a cracked seal, a missing insert or a print run with the wrong Pantone reaches you as a receiving discrepancy or a run of negative reviews, not as a problem you can still fix.
- No way to correct labeling. If the FNSKU is missing, wrong, unscannable or printed over another barcode, you cannot relabel inventory that is already on a truck. Your remaining choices are Amazon's per unit relabeling fee or a refused shipment.
- Rejected shipments are brutal to recover. Inventory that Amazon refuses is sitting at a dock you have no relationship with, in a city you may not operate in, already in the country and earning nothing. You now have to arrange storage, transport and rework from a standing start.
- Amazon splits your shipment. Inbound placement can send your units to more than one fulfillment center. A single container arriving as one delivery does not fit that model, so someone has to break it down and re-route it. Better that someone is you.
- You cannot consolidate suppliers. Two factories means two shipments, two sets of freight charges and two arrival dates for products that may belong in the same bundle.
- You carry the customs burden alone. The importer of record obligation is yours, and it does not pause because the goods are headed to Amazon rather than your own warehouse.
- Delivery appointments are unforgiving. Fulfillment center appointments are scheduled, and a drayage carrier unfamiliar with Amazon receiving can miss the window. Meanwhile the container clock keeps running.
Direct to FBA vs shipping through a US prep center
| Direct China to FBA | China to US prep center to FBA | |
|---|---|---|
| Who sees the goods first | Amazon receiving | Your prep team, on your behalf |
| Quality and count control | None after the factory | Unit level count and inspection |
| Fixing a labeling error | Amazon relabel fee or refusal | Relabeled before the shipment is created |
| Recovering a rejected shipment | Very costly and slow | Rare, and handled at your own facility |
| Consolidating multiple suppliers | Not practical | Standard, one inbound plan from many POs |
| Split placement across centers | Container has to be broken somewhere | Pallets built per destination |
| Visible cost per unit | Lower on paper | Adds a prep and forwarding leg |
| Total risk-adjusted cost | One bad run erases the savings | Predictable, with fewer write-offs |
| Speed to sellable | Fastest when everything is perfect | Adds days, protects the whole run |
The honest summary: shipping direct is cheaper when nothing goes wrong, and a prep center is a small insurance premium on the run of inventory that funds your next quarter. Sellers usually move to FBA prep after the first shipment that gets stuck, not before.
Who is the importer of record?
The importer of record is the party legally responsible to US Customs for the entry: the declared value, the HTS classification, the duty and any penalties if the paperwork is wrong. Three things sellers get wrong here.
- Your Chinese supplier normally cannot be it. The importer of record needs a US presence, an EIN or customs assigned number and a customs bond. A factory quoting you a door delivered price is usually relying on a forwarder to arrange the entry, and you should ask exactly whose importer number appears on it. See how DDP shipping works before you accept a delivered duty paid quote at face value.
- Amazon is not the importer of record. Amazon states it will not act as importer of record or consignee for seller owned inventory, and shipments that name Amazon in that role can be refused at the door. Related reading: what a consignee actually is.
- You need the basics in place before booking. An EIN, a licensed customs broker, a continuous or single entry bond, and correct HTS codes for every SKU. Get the classification right early, because duty and tariff exposure is decided by that code, not by what the supplier writes on the invoice.
Ocean or air from China
Ocean is the default for planned restocks. Full container load makes sense once you fill a box, and less than container load lets smaller brands ship pallets without paying for space they do not need. Air costs significantly more per kilogram and buys you time, which is why it is used for launches, seasonal cutoffs and stockout rescues. Compare the tradeoffs in air freight vs ocean freight and see the full lane in shipping from China to the USA. Rates and transit times move with the season, the port and the carrier, so treat every published range as illustrative and quote your own lane. Cover the cargo as well: ocean freight insurance is cheap relative to a container of inventory you cannot replace before Q4.
FNSKU labels and Amazon barcode rules
The FNSKU is the barcode Amazon uses to tie a physical unit to your specific listing. If you are not commingling inventory, every unit needs one, and it has to be the only scannable barcode on the outside of the item. The manufacturer barcode, retail UPC or EAN must be covered. Confused about which code is which? Read SKU vs UPC.
- Print on a flat surface, not across a seam, a curve or a corner.
- Cover any other barcode fully, including the one printed on the retail box by the factory.
- Poly bagged units need a suffocation warning once the bag opening passes the size Amazon sets, so check the current threshold in Seller Central before a run.
- Bundles and multipacks need clear sold as set marking so receiving does not split them.
- Products with expiration dates need the date printed in the format Amazon accepts, in a place a receiver can find.
Asking the factory to print FNSKU labels sounds efficient and often is, right up until a run arrives with last season's label file, a smudged thermal print or the barcode applied over the seam of the box. If the factory labels, someone in the US should still verify a sample before the cartons move.
Carton, pallet and box weight requirements
- Carton limits. Amazon publishes a maximum weight and longest side for standard-size cartons, with exceptions for single oversize units, and requires a Team Lift or Mech Lift marking above set weight thresholds. Confirm the current numbers in Seller Central before your first run, because they do change.
- Two labels per carton. The FBA shipment label and the carton content information. Placed flat, not over a seam, and never wrapped around a corner where a scanner cannot read it.
- Right sized boxes and real dunnage. No loose fill peanuts or shredded paper. See shipping box sizes and what dunnage is.
- Pallets. Standard four way pallets, stretch wrapped, built to the height limits Amazon publishes for the pallet type, with the pallet labels on all four sides.
- Export cartons are not FBA cartons. Master cartons built for a 40 foot container are often too heavy or too large for Amazon receiving, which is a large part of why repacking exists.
Inbound placement and split shipments
When you create the shipment plan, Amazon decides how many destinations your inventory goes to. You can accept the split and ship to several fulfillment centers, or pay a placement fee to reduce the number of destinations. Either way the physical work is the same: your units have to be divided into separate labeled shipments. Doing that in a US warehouse with a pallet jack is routine. Doing it with a container that has already arrived at a fulfillment center is not.
What drives the cost from China to FBA
No guide can quote you a real number, and any page that does is quoting a rate that already expired. What you can plan is the shape of the stack:
- Factory price at the agreed Incoterm.
- Origin charges, export documentation and inland trucking in China.
- Ocean or air linehaul for your lane and volume.
- Destination terminal fees, drayage and any demurrage.
- Duty and tariffs on your HTS code, plus MPF and HMF.
- Customs brokerage and bond.
- Prep, inspection and labeling, usually priced per unit.
- The final leg into the fulfillment centers Amazon assigns.
- Amazon placement fees and storage once received.
For a breakdown of the freight side, see what a freight forwarder costs and international freight services.
How to ship from China to Amazon FBA, step by step
- Classify every SKU under an HTS code and confirm duty exposure.
- Get your EIN, customs bond and a broker in place before booking.
- Agree the Incoterm with the supplier in writing, and decide who is importer of record.
- Book ocean or air with a forwarder for your lane and timing.
- Have the factory build export cartons for the ocean leg, not for Amazon receiving.
- Clear customs and drayage the freight to your US prep center.
- Count, inspect, FNSKU label, bag, bundle and repack to Amazon requirements.
- Create the FBA shipment plan and take the placement decision.
- Build pallets or cartons per destination, apply shipment and carton content labels.
- Book the appointment and forward to the assigned centers.
How RitePrep handles the China to FBA route
RitePrep runs its own Austin, Texas warehouse and has done since 2020, with 99.9% pick accuracy and shipping nationwide. On this lane we act as the middle step: your freight lands, we receive it, count it, inspect it, apply or correct FNSKU labels, repack to Amazon requirements and forward cartons or pallets to the fulfillment centers Amazon assigns. The ocean and air legs are arranged through our international freight partner, so the booking, customs coordination and inland move connect to the same team doing the prep. Inventory that is not going to Amazon can stay with us for direct to consumer orders, storage or kitting, which means one container can feed Amazon, your Shopify store and your wholesale accounts without a second landing point. Start with Amazon FBA prep if the FBA leg is the part that keeps going wrong.