A freight forwarder for Amazon FBA: what it must do, and what Amazon will refuse

A freight forwarder arranges international shipping on your behalf. For an Amazon FBA seller importing from a factory abroad, that usually means collecting the goods at origin, handling export paperwork, booking ocean or air freight, arranging customs clearance at the destination, and delivering the cartons to an Amazon fulfillment center or a warehouse in between.

What makes a forwarder right for Amazon FBA is not the freight itself but the last step. Amazon has strict rules for what arrives at its docks: labels, box sizes and weights, pallets and appointments. A forwarder that ships well but does not know those rules can get a whole container refused at the fulfillment center, at your expense.

Amazon also runs its own door-to-door freight program, Amazon Global Logistics, which covers pickup at origin, export, freight, customs clearance and delivery into Amazon's network from China, Hong Kong and Vietnam. Many sellers compare it with independent forwarders before each shipment.

The shipping process starts in Seller Central, not at the port. You create the shipment in the Send to Amazon workflow, which assigns the fulfillment center destinations and generates the FBA Box ID labels. Those labels and destinations go to the factory or forwarder, which is why the forwarder needs either the label files or limited access to your account.

From there the forwarder runs the cross border part: pickup, export, freight and customs, then a delivery appointment at the fulfillment center. Your part is to keep the shipment in Seller Central matching what is physically in the boxes, since Amazon's rules say the shipment details in your plan must match what arrives.

Amazon's shipping and routing requirements page tells sellers to share its rules with their carrier, because failing them can mean refusal at the fulfillment center, blocked future shipments, and inbound defect fees. These are the rules that decide whether a forwarder's delivery is received.

Amazon's customs page for Amazon Global Logistics is clear on one point that applies to any forwarder: Amazon will not act as importer of record, consignee or partner government agency agent for any shipment. You, or an entity you appoint, must be the importer of record for inventory entering the US. Amazon is the ultimate consignee for FBA shipments to US fulfillment centers.

The importer of record ensures the goods comply with US law, files the customs entry through a broker, and pays duties and taxes. A US customs bond guarantees those payments; a continuous bond, which Amazon Global Logistics requires, must equal 10% of the estimated duties, taxes and fees.

Before you choose a forwarder, agree the shipping terms with your supplier, because they decide where the supplier's responsibility ends and the forwarder's begins. International trade uses standard terms, known as Incoterms, published by the International Chamber of Commerce. Three come up most often when sellers import goods for FBA.

Whatever the terms, one Amazon requirement does not move: someone must be the importer of record, and it is never Amazon. With delivered duty paid offers, ask who that is and get it in writing, since it is the party answerable to US Customs for the goods you will be selling.

Amazon Global Logistics is Amazon's door-to-door ocean and air freight program, part of Amazon Supply Chain Services. Its pricing covers pickup at origin, export declaration, freight, destination customs clearance and delivery to Amazon, and you book, pay and track in Seller Central. Amazon offers new FBA sellers an 8% discount on base ocean rates for 60 days after onboarding.

Amazon charges an FBA inbound placement service fee for distributing your inventory across fulfillment centers near customers, and the amount depends on the placement option you choose. Amazon Global Logistics offers options that remove it, and Amazon's own examples show how much the choice matters.

Freight forwarding costs vary with volume, mode, route, season and the product, so the useful number is the landed cost per unit: everything you pay to get one unit from the factory to a sellable shelf at Amazon, divided by the units in the shipment.

Ocean freight takes weeks, so the freight plan and the restock plan are one plan. Amazon's FBA capacity limits cap how much inventory you can have in its network, and Amazon's AGL page says that since May 8, 2025, AGL shipments count toward capacity only when the vessel reaches the destination port, which lets you create purchase orders earlier.

Amazon recommends keeping about two months of inventory in FBA. For imported stock, that means ordering when the stock at Amazon plus the stock at sea covers the lead time from the factory: production, freight, customs and receiving.