Importing Private Label Products for Amazon FBA

Your products will cross borders, move in and out of warehouses, and ride across the ocean or fly far above continents. After traveling nearly 8,000 miles, they will at last reach their final destination: your warehouse, your home, or an Amazon FBA fulfillment center in the United States.

For any private label seller, shipping products directly from a Chinese supplier can be a game-changer. Done correctly, you will save time and money; however, you will also enter a new world of logistical complexity. While importing your products does require research, it is a worthwhile way to scale up your operations.

In this post, we take a closer look at the overall process to give you a starting point for your research and a clearer idea of what it takes.

Before you actually do import your products, you will need to make a number of key decisions. The more significant ones are discussed below:

Quality Assuring Products in China

Even if you have approved product samples beforehand or received a shipment with an early “pre-inspection” batch of products, you should still have your products inspected before they are imported. Your supplier may say that they have a quality control team; however, you will likely want to hire another third-party company to inspect your products. That is because, your supplier’s quality assurance team might have conflict of interest issues and might not be very well trained.   

While some FBA prep services in the USA offer quality assurance, having your products inspected stateside makes less sense. Why go through the expense of shipping a large quantity of products to the United States, only to realize that they should be returned? By inspecting products in China, you can catch and fix errors that might otherwise wreck your Amazon business.

Incoterms

To import your products, you will need to reach a contractual agreement with your supplier on the incoterms. Incoterms stands for “International Commercial Terms”. These terms establish to what extent your supplier is responsible for shipping your products to their final destination in the United States. The agreement defines the risks, costs, responsibilities, and transportation logistics between you and the supplier.

There are many different varieties of incoterms, with EXW and FOB being the most common. EXW or “Ex Works” provides that the supplier is responsible for manufacturing your goods and making them available for pick-up at their factory or warehouse. In this case, your supplier will charge you for manufacturing the goods while the rest of the risks and responsibilities will be on you the buyer. You are ultimately responsible for hiring a freight forwarder to ship your products to your final destination. Depending on your shipment method, the supplier will also prepare a Bill of Lading, if you are shipping by sea, or an Air Waybill, if shipping via an airplane.

FOB, or “Free On Board”, applies only to sea freight. It provides that the supplier will arrange for shipping your products to the seaport in their country and loading them onto the vessel. In this case, your supplier is responsible for handling all the documentation needed to pass Chinese customs. Your supplier will charge you for manufacturing goods and having them shipped and loaded. You are ultimately responsible for making arrangements to have your goods shipped to the United States, cleared through customs, and sent on to their final destination.

Private label sellers who are just starting out will want to ease into incoterms that require more involvement on their part. For example DDU, or “Delivered Duty Unpaid” is the opposite of EXW. The supplier does all work and bears all responsibility in shipping your products to their final destination. Obviously, this service will cost more than other incoterms.   

Freight Forwarders

Many of the top shipping companies in the United States, like DHL, FedEx, and UPS also operate as freight forwarders. Freight forwarders do not simply ship products from point A to B. A freight forwarder makes arrangements for many of the more rigorous aspects of the import and export process, such as booking cargo space, negotiating freight charges, consolidating freight, insuring your products, filing insurance claims, and hiring any other third-party logistics companies.

If you are importing a very small amount of goods, you might consider foregoing a freight forwarder. However, to be clear, you will likely need to invest a substantial amount of time in managing logistics, shipping documentation, and customs forms. Freight forwarders organize much of this process.