FBA Prep Provider Guide: Receiving, Inspection, Labeling, and Per-Unit Billing

How an FBA prep provider receives and inspects goods, labels and cartons, ships per Amazon’s shipment plan, and bills each seller per unit.

This guide is for FBA prep providers serving Amazon sellers. The typical flow: factory goods arrive at your warehouse → receive and inspect → label and carton per Amazon requirements → ship to Amazon warehouses per the shipment plan → bill each seller per unit. Every seller is a separate merchant profile in the system, so inventory and billing stay isolated.

Receiving and inspection#

1. Receive against a WMS inbound receipt: receive per purchase order or arrival notice. Over- and under-receiving are allowed, but every variance must be confirmed line by line before receiving is completed.
2. Inspect: spot-check appearance, quantity, and packaging. Batches that fail inspection go through variance handling (return / exchange / price adjustment) — never straight into stock.
3. Zoned putaway: put away accepted goods by seller (merchant) zone. Physically separate each seller’s goods to prevent cross-mixing.

Labeling and packing (value-added services)#

This is where Amazon’s FNSKU labels, carton marks, and pallet requirements get applied. Each operation is logged in the system and its cost accrues automatically to the seller’s account. Value-added is one of the 8 billing item categories: labeling is priced per unit, cartoning per carton, and packing materials are billed separately.

Shipping to Amazon#

1. Create the outbound order from Amazon’s shipment plan: get the carton count and destination fulfillment center (FC) right before anything leaves.
2. Stage the outbound with a WMS Outbound Load: Load ID is auto-generated by the system, while Load No is the business number you must enter manually (e.g., the carrier’s bill of lading) — don’t mix them up.
3. After dispatch, write the carrier tracking number back onto the outbound order so the seller can see delivery status.

Per-unit billing and reconciliation#

Rate cards are configured per merchant: each seller can have their own labeling and cartoning unit prices. At month end, generate the invoice (number format MINV-000001, draft status), reconcile it internally, then send it to the seller for confirmation. Returns go through the RMA flow; returned goods are inspected before deciding between re-stocking and disposal.