Shipping inventory to Amazon’s fulfillment centers requires creating a shipment plan in Seller Central, preparing your products with proper labels and packaging, and choosing a carrier to deliver everything. The process is straightforward once you understand Amazon’s requirements, but skipping a step can lead to rejected shipments, unexpected fees, or delays in getting your products listed for sale.
Create a Shipment in Seller Central
All inbound shipments start with Amazon’s “Send to Amazon” workflow inside Seller Central. This is where you tell Amazon what you’re sending, how it’s packed, and how it’s getting there. The workflow has four main steps, plus a final tracking step:
- Step 1: Choose inventory to send. Select the products and quantities you want to ship. You’ll also indicate how individual units are packed.
- Step 2: Confirm shipping. Amazon assigns your inventory to one or more fulfillment centers. You’ll choose your shipping method and carrier here.
- Step 3: Print box labels. Each box in your shipment gets a unique label that Amazon’s warehouses use to receive and sort your inventory.
- Step 4: Confirm carrier and pallet information. This step only applies if you’re sending palletized freight. For small parcel shipments, you skip straight to providing tracking details.
Don’t start packing boxes before you’ve completed at least Step 2. Amazon decides which fulfillment centers will receive your inventory, and that determines how many separate shipments you need to create and label.
Label and Prep Every Product Before Shipping
As of January 1, 2026, Amazon no longer offers prep or labeling services for FBA shipments in the U.S. That means your products must arrive at the warehouse fully labeled, packaged, and ready to be shipped directly to customers. This applies to all inbound inventory, whether you send it yourself or route it through Amazon Warehousing and Distribution, Amazon Global Logistics, or any other Amazon supply chain service.
You’re responsible for applying FNSKU labels (the barcode Amazon uses to link a product to your specific seller account), bundling multiple items if they’re sold as a set, bagging products that need protective packaging, and any other compliance steps your product category requires. If a shipment created after January 1, 2026 arrives without proper prep or labeling, Amazon won’t reimburse you if those items are lost or damaged.
For most sellers, this means either handling prep in-house or hiring a third-party prep service before shipping to Amazon. Budget time for this, especially if you’re sending hundreds or thousands of units.
Follow Amazon’s Box Requirements
Amazon is strict about box sizes and weights. Shipments that don’t meet these requirements can be refused at the warehouse or delayed during receiving.
Each box must stay within 36 inches long, 25 inches wide, and 25 inches tall. The standard weight limit is 50 pounds per box. If a box contains a single item that weighs more than 50 pounds, you need to attach “Team Lift” labels on the top and all four sides (five labels total). For a single item over 100 pounds, use “Mechanical Lift” labels instead. Boxes containing jewelry or watches have a lower limit of 40 pounds.
Boxes can weigh up to 65 pounds if they still fit within the maximum dimensions, but anything over 50 pounds requires those “Team Lift” or “Heavy Package” safety labels. On the small end, Amazon recommends boxes that measure at least 6 by 4 by 1 inches and weigh at least 1 pound, since undersized or very light packages tend to cause receiving delays.
The only exception to the size limits is when a single oversized unit is longer than 36 inches. In that case, the box can exceed the standard dimensions, but it can only contain that one item and shouldn’t be significantly larger than the product itself.
Choose Between Small Parcel and Freight Shipping
Amazon offers two main shipping methods through its Partnered Carrier program, which gives you discounted rates billed directly to your Seller Central account.
Small Parcel Delivery (SPD) is the option most sellers use, especially for smaller or moderate-sized shipments. Each box is individually labeled and shipped, typically through UPS. Individual packages can’t exceed 150 pounds or 108 inches in length (with length plus girth combined staying under 165 inches). The shipping cost appears as a service fee in your Payments report about 24 hours after you accept the charges. If you change your mind, you can cancel without being billed within 24 hours of accepting.
Less Than Truckload (LTL) makes sense when your total shipment weighs more than 150 pounds. With LTL, you stack your boxes on pallets and a freight carrier picks them up. Pallets must be standard 40-by-48-inch wooden pallets, four-way access, GMA Standard B Grade or higher. You’ll generally need a loading dock and a forklift, plus enough space for a 53-foot trailer. If you don’t have dock access, Amazon’s partnered LTL service offers a lift-gate option for shipments under 12 pallets that weigh less than 20,000 pounds. Shipments with more than 12 pallets automatically become full truckload (FTL) shipments. You can cancel an LTL or FTL shipment within one hour of accepting charges without being billed.
You’re not required to use Amazon’s partnered carriers. You can ship with any carrier you prefer, but you’ll lose the discounted rates and need to handle billing separately.
Understand Inbound Placement Fees
When you create a shipment, Amazon decides how to distribute your inventory across its fulfillment network. You get to choose how many locations you’re willing to ship to, and that choice directly affects your costs.
Minimal shipment splits let you send everything to a single location (or as few locations as possible). This is the most convenient option, but Amazon charges an inbound placement fee for the service. For standard-size products, that fee ranges from $0.14 to $1.90 per unit depending on size and weight. Bulky items cost more, from $1.10 up to $6.50 per unit.
Amazon-optimized shipment splits require you to send inventory to five or more locations yourself, but there’s no inbound placement fee at all. The catch is that each shipment must include at least five identical cartons or pallets per item, with each carton containing the same quantity and item mix. This option works best for sellers shipping large volumes of the same product.
Partial shipment splits are a middle ground available only for bulky-size products. You ship to two or three locations instead of five-plus, and pay a reduced fee. For example, a small bulky item under 5 pounds costs $0.55 to $1.10 per unit with partial splits, compared to $1.10 to $1.60 with minimal splits.
For many small and mid-size sellers, the inbound placement fee for minimal splits is worth paying because the logistics of shipping to five or more warehouses adds its own costs in time, shipping charges, and complexity. Run the math for your specific products before deciding.
Ship and Track Your Inventory
After you’ve printed your box labels and chosen your carrier, the final step in the Send to Amazon workflow is entering tracking details. For small parcel shipments, this means providing tracking numbers for each box. For LTL and FTL shipments, you’ll enter your carrier’s PRO number or bill of lading information.
Once your shipment is in transit, you can monitor its status in Seller Central under the Shipping Queue. Amazon typically takes a few days to receive and process inbound inventory after it arrives at the fulfillment center, though during peak seasons this can stretch to a week or more. Your products won’t appear as available for sale until Amazon finishes checking them in, so plan your shipments with enough lead time to avoid stockouts.