如何启动 Amazon 业务：FBA 发货要求、采购订单、Incoterms、关税与包装

Amazon FBA shipping requirements cover everything from placing your order to receiving it in the fulfillment center. 

This is part two of a three-part checklist built from our experience leading product launches. Part one covered product research, restricted categories, GS1 barcodes, and finding and vetting suppliers on Alibaba.

This article covers what comes next: locking your commercial terms, building the purchase order, and getting packaging and labeling right before anything ships.

Related article: 

• How to Start on Amazon FBA: Product Research, Restricted Categories, Barcodes & Finding Suppliers on Alibaba

Commercial Terms: What to Settle Before You Order

A purchase order is an important pillar of your business. Before you write it, confirm you’re agreeing on terms that you feel comfortable with and fit all your objectives. Pay special attention to:

• Unit cost at your order quantity.
• MOQ (Minimum Order Quantity).
• Tooling costs for any customized or molded design.
• Sample costs.
• Packaging costs.
• Production lead time.
• Payment terms. A common structure is a 30% deposit with the 70% balance paid before shipment.
• Incoterms, which set who handles freight, export, customs, and duties. The breakdown comes next.

When you source through Alibaba, run the transaction through Trade Assurance. It ties your payment to the order and gives you payment and order protection.

Purchase Order: All You Need to Add

Include price, quantity, lead time, Incoterms, and packaging and labeling details so nothing you negotiated gets lost between the deposit and shipment.

Pricing and Incoterms

Incoterms decide the reach of the supplier’s responsibilities. There are three main models when working with international providers from countries like China or Vietnam:

1. EXW (Ex Works): You take responsibility from the supplier’s factory. You manage factory pickup, export arrangements, international freight, customs clearance, and final delivery.
2. FOB (Free on Board): The supplier handles the goods through export clearance and loading at the agreed origin port. After that, you manage the main international freight and the destination logistics.
3. DDP (Delivered Duty Paid): The supplier or logistics provider manages transport through to the agreed destination, including customs and duties under the agreed terms.

DDP is more expensive. FOB is pretty common. EXW is recommended if you have experience with this.

• Critical insight: With whatever model you chose, you have to make sure the freight forwarder or logistics provider you work with has experience working with Amazon. They have to be familiar with Amazon’s shipment guidelines and labeling requirements. This is crucial. A mistake at this point can leave you with an unfulfillable order on your hands.

How much should you order for your first shipment?

We recommend using the first order to test market demand. It is one thing to know the current market from firsthand experience than from product research alone. 

This first batch will give you a solid impression of what you will face on Amazon.

Guess how many units you’ll sell per month, and guess low to be safe. Multiply that by four or five months. That’s a sensible size for a first order. But if even that amount feels like too much stock to store, order less.

Of course, you will have to negotiate with you supplier if this order falls below their MOQ. 

In Amazon FBA, overstocking is a world of issues all on its own. Especially because they charge extra fees that add up to large amounts in just a couple of months.

Related article:

• How to Send Your First Amazon FBA Shipment and Pallet Like a Pro

Amazon will always give you clear limits on how much inventory you can send. The Capacity Monitor in Seller Central shows your current usage against that limit in cubic feet, along with the outlook for the months ahead. You’ll be able to check it out whenever you like.

Expiration dates and shelf life

If your product expires, shelf life is a real limit of how much you should produce and ship. 

Related article:

• Amazon Pet Products Compliance Guide for Sellers (2026)

Amazon sets a remaining shelf-life requirement that varies by product category, so confirm yours before shipment. 

The minimum time a product needs before it expires, measured at the moment it arrives, depends on the category.

Amazon typically disposes of units 50 days before their expiration date. Factor that cutoff into the maximum quantity you produce and ship, so you don’t pay to manufacture units Amazon will have to destroy or remove.

There are more details below:

Pallet optimization

If you ship on pallets, the freight math can push you to order more. 

Ask the supplier for:

• Units per case.
• Cases per pallet.
• Pallet dimensions.
• Pallet weight. 

Check that the pallet type and dimensions meet Amazon’s guidelines.

Completing a full pallet can improve your freight economics. Add units to fill one only when the freight savings are worth it. 

If those extra units bring excess storage costs, aged-inventory risk, or expiration risk, the pallet savings are usually not worth it.

Related article:

• How to Buy and Resell Amazon Return Pallets for Profit

How do you calculate landed cost for Amazon FBA?

Knowing how to calculate landed cost for Amazon FBA is what separates profitable products from unnecessary risks.

1. Start with the HTS/HS classification. Confirm it before you commit to the supplier, because that classification sets your customs duty exposure. 
2. Then review the charges that apply to your product and its country of origin: country-of-origin tariffs, anti-dumping duties, Section 301 duties, and any other applicable import charges. Do this before you approve the purchase order.
3. Your Amazon FBA landed is a combination of: factory cost, freight, cargo insurance, duties, and tariffs. Take that number when you calculate profitability.

Tariff rates change often. Check the current rate for your classification and country of origin.

The Office of the United States Trade Representative publishes the active Section 301 actions and exclusions, which is where you confirm what applies to goods from China. 

Packaging and Labeling

Packaging and labeling errors become very expensive if they reach the fulfillment center unnoticed. Always avoid them.

General requirements

Display the required country-of-origin marking on the product or its packaging, and confirm every mandatory regulatory and consumer-facing labeling requirement for the destination market.

On the durability side, the packaging has to withstand international transportation, FBA handling, warehouse storage, and last-mile fulfillment.

Official Amazon Product Packaging Requirements

Sets and bundles

If you want to sell a set of products as a single unit, you HAVE TO LABEL IT. Warehouse workers do not know this important detail. Add a visible SOLD AS SET or DO NOT SEPARATE sticker to the outer packaging.

Expiration dates on packaging

Display the expiration date clearly on the outer packaging of each sellable unit when required. A PAO symbol on its own does not satisfy Amazon’s expiration-date requirements.

For multipacks and sets, the required expiration information must be visible on the sellable set, and the individual units inside must carry the required expiration date or PAO symbol.

For master cases, here are Amazon’s expiration-date requirements:

• Date format: MM-DD-YYYY or MM-YYYY, where a month-and-year date reads as the first day of that month.
• Font: bold.
• Font size: 36.

FBA shipment labels

Every master case needs the correct FBA box and shipment label. Every pallet needs the required Amazon pallet labels, generally four, one on each side. 

• Critical insight: Make sure the carrier receives the Bill of Lading. 

Then follow the exact labeling and prepping instructions in your FBA shipment plan, since those are generated for that specific shipment.

Conclusion

Launching on Amazon requires learning a cascade of new information and adapting to a platform that plays by its own rules most of the time. 

It can be very overwhelming. But don’t worry. As long as you keep informing yourself on what’s best for your brand and breaking all this process down into small, manageable steps, you’ll be fine. 

Frequently Asked Questions About Amazon FBA Shipping Requirements (FAQs)

How to ship to Amazon FBA from China?

Agree on an Incoterm with your supplier that defines who handles freight, export, customs, and duties, then move the goods under a purchase order that includes your quantity, packaging, and labeling requirements. 

Which Incoterm should I use for Amazon FBA?

EXW, FOB, and DDP are the common choices, and each shifts more of the freight, customs, and duty responsibility onto one side. 

How do you calculate landed cost for Amazon FBA?

Add: factory cost, freight, cargo insurance, duties, and tariffs. Confirm your HTS/HS classification first, since it sets your duty exposure, and use the Amazon FBA landed cost when you calculate profitability.

What expiration date format does Amazon FBA require?

For master cases with expiration-dated inventory, use MM-DD-YYYY or MM-YYYY, in bold, at font size 36. 

Do you need Trade Assurance when ordering on Alibaba?

When you source through Alibaba, running the order through Trade Assurance ties your payment to the order and gives you payment and order protection. Common payment terms are a 30% deposit with the 70% balance paid before shipment.

Ready to Place Your First Order Without the Expensive Mistakes?

The terms, the quantity, and the labeling above are where a launch quietly wins or loses money. Applying them to your product, your category, and your target marketplace is where you make the real decisions.

Fill out the form below and one of our eCommerce specialists will review your purchase order and sourcing plan, flag the risks we see, and show you what your landed cost really looks like before you pay a deposit. 

No pressure, just a direct conversation about what you are building.