Shipping to USA FBA - how many locations?
Hi
We’re looking at using FBA to test the waters in the USA and in spite of all my research I feel I’m still not understanding a key component.
I understand that when we create a shipping plan for say 100 units, Amazon will decide how many different locations across USA they want them shipped to. This seems a far from trivial cost element so I’m frustrated I can’t get any indication of what that number is likely to be. Could it be 1? Is 2 or 3 most likely? Could it be 75 or anything close?
(I know we can pay to choose 1 location)
Related to this - at what point in the product journey are you making this division? Are you able to ship end to end with one shipping partner who gets the pallet through customs and then subdivides? Or do you have to use a separate agent for the final hop(s) once the product is through customs and in the USA?
Thanks for any help.
Stewart
10 replies
Seller_z6B2L9xab6HlP
You’ll only know when you create the shipment. It’s likely to be one or two locations, but could be more.
Create a test shipping plan, then get it to the point it’s allocated FCs - You can always delete the shipment(s) and the shipping plan.
Seller_EJIX7rqDNQJi2
When working on your shipment, as soon as you confirm the quantity of products and barcode type, you will see the Amazon warehouse address. Your items may get split into 2-4 or more warehouses.
Inventory Placement Service usually won’t prevent your inventory from getting split either, but it can help reduce the amount of warehouses to just two.
According to my own experience, the best way how to avoid having your shipment split is to send your items as Case-packed.
Seller_wqciCXuQbNS4p
FWIW, in our experience, shipments that involve less than 30/40 pieces per ASIN always get split into two, three, four or even five shipments. Above this figure all stock generally gets sent to the FC in Texas, from where they spread the stock across the US.
I think that it’s a case of doing a few trial shipments and finding out what works for you. For us, shipments of less than 50 pieces (mixed ASINs) were not cost effective as there were too many shipments being created.
Seller_xDtaDZ1Iek9Fq
even with the same ASIN in UK, it will get directed to different warehouse or sometimes split. There is no telling until you create the shipping plan. Oversize always get separated from normal size… so just have to try it out.
