Amazon FBA shipping from China to USA: the compliance list comes first
Amazon will refuse a shipment for packaging reasons, and a refused shipment is expensive in a way that has nothing to do with freight: it sits, it accrues storage, it misses the sales window, and it needs to be reworked before it can be re-delivered.
Check these before the container is sealed, not after it lands:
-
Every unit carries an FNSKU that is scannable and not obscured by the original manufacturer barcode.
-
Sellable units that could leak, spill or be damaged are polybagged, with a suffocation warning where required.
-
Cartons are labelled with the shipment ID and carton number in the format Amazon accepts.
-
Carton weight limits are respected, or a team-lift label is applied.
-
Pallets are built to the current height and overhang rules and are stable enough to survive a truck.
FNSKU labelling, polybagging and carton work
This is the part suppliers most often get wrong, because a domestic Chinese label is not an FBA label. The label must be the FNSKU Amazon generated for your listing, not the UPC. If the supplier applies a UPC-based label because that is what their packaging line does, the shipment fails.
Where the supplier cannot print FNSKU labels, the work is done at our consolidation warehouse before loading: relabelling, polybagging, bundling and carton marking. It is cheaper there than in the US, and it keeps the shipment as one bill instead of two.
Pallet specifications for Amazon FBA inbound in the US
Amazon publishes pallet requirements and changes them. Two rules of thumb cover most failures: keep the pallet within the published height limit, and keep the load inside the footprint with no overhang. A 40-inch by 48-inch pallet is standard.
We do not quote a “pallet count” as though it were a fact. Carton dimensions and stacking strength decide how many units fit, and the honest answer is a measurement rather than a rule. Size your load with the chargeable weight calculator and give us the carton dimensions, and the pallet plan becomes an output rather than an assumption.
Amazon FBA shipping cost from China to USA: air versus sea
The two structures for FBA first leg. Costs are quoted per shipment; the comparisons here are structural.
| Structure | Best for | What it includes | Main risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| Air express to FBA | Stock-outs, launches, test orders under a few hundred kg | Door-to-door, integrated customs, delivery to the FC where the carrier accepts appointments | Cost per kg, and the highest price for a rejected shipment |
| Air freight + US 3PL | Planned replenishment, 200 kg upward | Airport-to-airport, entry, transload at a 3PL, outbound appointments | Two coordination points instead of one |
| Sea LCL + US 3PL | Small volumes building inventory | Consolidation, entry, transload, outbound delivery | Longer lead time and shared-container handling |
| Sea FCL + US 3PL | Regular volume, multiple SKUs, several FCs | Full container, entry, devanning, splitting across FCs | Volume commitment and warehouse minimums |
Delivery appointments, and why they drive your transit time
Amazon fulfilment centres receive by appointment, and appointment availability is not something a forwarder can promise. This is the single reason a quoted transit time and an actual in-stock date diverge on FBA shipments.
Practical mitigation: keep a buffer of inventory at a 3PL near the fulfilment centre cluster, and let the 3PL make the appointments. That converts a variable wait at the gate into a planned outbound move you control.
For the underlying ocean and air legs, both columns of the shipping time page apply. Appointment wait is on top of them.
Duty on FBA shipments — the number that changes your price point
FBA shipments pay duty like any other import. On 2026 stacks this is frequently the largest single line in the landed cost, and it is the reason a retail price set on last year’s duty assumption can be underwater.
Two layers to check specifically: the Section 301 list your product falls under, and whether the 12.5% forced-labor tariff applies. The Section 301 exclusions matter too — 178 of them expire on 2026-11-09, and if your SKU is covered, the cost of that SKU changes on a specific date.