What are prep centers, and why are they crucial for Amazon sellers?
Prep centers are third-party services that handle the preparation and shipping of products to Amazon fulfillment centers. For many sellers, the time and effort required for these tasks can be overwhelming. Mistakes in labeling or packaging can also lead to delays and lost sales.
How do prep centers solve these problems?
Top prep centers offer a range of services to streamline the preparation and shipping process. They handle labeling, packaging, and inspection, saving sellers valuable time and reducing the risk of errors. Additionally, they can provide expert advice to help sellers optimize their operations and increase their profits.
Which prep centers are the best choice for Amazon sellers?
This decision will depend on the needs of your business, but looking at what the prep center offers can help in making the right choice.
The top prep centers not only offer efficient preparation and shipping services but also provide valuable insights and advice. By partnering with a reputable prep center, sellers can improve their efficiency, reduce costs, and ultimately, grow their business on Amazon.
What to look for in prep centers?
When selecting a prep service, Amazon sellers should consider several key factors to ensure they choose the right partner:
1. FBA Expertise & Compliance: This ain’t rocket science, but staying on top of Amazon’s ever-evolving FBA guidelines is no walk in the park. Look for a center with a proven track record of compliance, ensuring your products sail through Amazon’s inspection process without delays.
2. Transparency & Visibility: You deserve to know what’s happening with your inventory. Choose a prep center offering real-time inventory tracking, order status updates, and clear communication throughout the process.
3. Competitive Pricing & Scalability: Cost matters, but don’t be seduced by rock-bottom prices. Look for a center that offers fair, competitive pricing structures that scale with your business growth. You don’t want to be stuck with a center that can’t handle your booming sales.
4. Technology & Automation: Efficiency is key. Opt for a prep center that leverages technology for faster processing, streamlined workflows, and potentially even lower costs. Automation can be your friend, freeing up prep time for other tasks.
5. Customer Service & Reputation: Stellar customer service is a non-negotiable. Look for a prep center that prioritizes clear communication, responsiveness to your questions, and a willingness to go the extra mile to ensure your satisfaction.
Bonus Tip: Don’t be afraid to ask for references and reviews. A reputable prep center will be happy to connect you with satisfied clients whose experiences can provide valuable insights.
By prioritizing these key factors, you’ll be well on your way to finding a top-notch Amazon prep center that empowers your FBA business to thrive.
Now go forth and conquer the market. Our Amazon agency offers a range of services to help make this happen
Top Prep Centers: PrepFBA
PrepFBA caters to Amazon, TikTok, Walmart, and Instagram sellers. Here are some of the services they offer:
- FNSKU Labelling: They can label your products with FNSKU labels, which are required for selling on Amazon.
- Receive, Unpack, and Inspect: PrepFBA can receive your bulk orders, unpack them, and perform a general inspection to ensure quality.
- Poly Bagging and Suffocation Label: They can poly bag your products and apply suffocation labels if needed for packaging requirements.
- Multipack/Bundling: PrepFBA can assist with multipackaging or bundling products together as required.
- Pick & Pack Fulfillment: They can fulfill orders from your preferred online shop by receiving, sorting, picking, packing, and shipping products directly to your customers.
- Freight Forwarding: PrepFBA can handle freight forwarding services, including shipping directly from China to their facilities, sea and air transportation, customs clearance, and more.
- Pallet Forwarding: They can also handle pallet forwarding services, including shipping pallets as is, LTL (Less Than Truckload) shipment to Amazon, and customs clearance.
Top Prep Centers: Prep Ninjas
Prep Ninjas accepts orders from online stores, wholesale distributors, and manufacturers.Its offered services include:
- Secure Packing and Shipping: They carefully and securely pack your inventory and ship it to Amazon using the most cost-efficient method.
- Secure Dashboard Login: Access a secure dashboard for easy management of your inventory and orders.
- Inspection: Their team inspects your inventory to ensure quality and compliance with FBA standards.
- FNSKU Labeling: They label your products with FNSKU labels, necessary for selling on Amazon.
- Price Removal: They can remove price tags or stickers from your products.
- Tape and Standard Polybag: They provide tape and standard polybags for packaging.
- Shipment Creation: Prep Ninjas can create shipments to Amazon on your behalf.
- Packing Boxes: They pack your items into boxes for shipment to Amazon.
- Attaching Shipping Labels: They attach shipping labels to your boxes.
- Carrier Pickup: They can arrange for carriers to pick up your shipments.
Top Prep Centers: Little Owl Prep
Little Owl Prep positions itself as a comprehensive logistics partner for Amazon sellers, offering a variety of services to streamline operations:
- Storage Solutions: They provide affordable storage options, charging a low monthly rate based on the space your items occupy.
- Case Forwarding: Little Owl Prep assists in forwarding cases of your products to Amazon and other fulfillment channels when your inventory is running low.
- Amazon FBA/Walmart/Deliverr Item Prep: Their team is skilled in preparing items for shipping, including poly bagging, bubble wrapping, assembly, and re-packaging into larger boxes as needed.
- Ecommerce Fulfillment Services: They store items in their warehouse and fulfill orders from all your sales channels, ensuring timely and accurate deliveries.
- Book Prep: Little Owl Prep specializes in grading books and can also identify and manage counterfeit textbooks.
- Return Services: They handle returns from various platforms, including Amazon, Walmart, and Shopify. They inspect incoming items to determine if they can be resold or if they are damaged.
Top Prep Centers: California FBA Prep Service
California FBA Prep Service is a company specializing in FBA prep for Amazon sellers. They have been selling on Amazon since 2006, primarily in the media category. Their services include:
- Wholesale and Arbitrage Pricing: They offer pricing for standard and oversize units, including labels, sticker removal, additional boxes, and storage for a specified period.
- Storage Solutions: They provide storage options at different rates for the first three quarters of the year and the fourth quarter.
- Additional Services: They offer various services such as shipping prep, poly bagging, bubble wrap, shipment creation, bundling, box forwarding, removal and re-ship, palletizing, and unloading containers, each with its pricing.
- A Seller’s Shipping Department: California FBA Prep Service aims to become your “shipping department,” handling all boxing, labeling, and taping tasks, allowing sellers more time to source new products and increase sales.
- Responsive Customer Service: Being a small company, they promise prompt and personalized responses to seller needs, with the likelihood of reaching a live person when calling.
Top Prep Centers: AMZ Prep
AMZ Prep is a global eCommerce and Amazon FBA partner known for its trusted services, serving thousands of brands and sellers worldwide. They offer a range of services tailored to Amazon sellers, including:
Amazon FBA Standard FNSKU Labelling & Handling
Receiving, inspection, inventory wrapping, labeling, invoicing
Prep turnaround time of 72 hours
Shipping plan creation
Polgbagging and wrapping included in cost
Access to online platform
eCommerce fulfillment activation for store
Amazon Shipment Plan Creations
Access to all warehouse facilities
Dedicated Account Manager
Live quarterly events with founder & executive team
Waived Outbound package fee
Top Prep Centers: ZonPrep
ZonPrep is an FBA prep service provider that aims to save Amazon sellers time and reduce overhead by handling complex and tiresome FBA prep needs. They offer a wide range of services tailored to sellers specializing in private label, wholesale, and online and retail arbitrage. Some of the services they offer include:
- FBA Removals: Managing the removal of items from FBA warehouses.
- Online Arbitrage: Assisting with the prep needs specific to online arbitrage sellers.
- Full Compliance: Ensuring compliance with Amazon’s FBA guidelines.
- FNSKU Labeling: Labeling products with FNSKU labels required for selling on Amazon.
- Poly Bag & Shrink Wrap: Providing poly bagging and shrink wrapping services for products.
- Receiving & Inspection: Receiving and inspecting inventory to ensure quality and accuracy.
- Bundling & Multi-Sets: Assisting with bundling products and creating multi-sets as needed.
- Forwarding & Drip-Feeding: Managing the forwarding of inventory and drip-feeding products into Amazon’s warehouses.
- Private Label & Wholesale: Catering to the specific needs of private label and wholesale sellers.
- Fragile Items & Climate Control: Providing specialized handling for fragile items and climate-controlled storage if needed.
Top Prep Centers: YYZ Prep
YYZ Prep is an FBA prep service that caters to all types of Amazon sellers, including those involved in online arbitrage, wholesale, and private label. What to expect from YYZ Prep:
- Labeling: Providing FNSKU/ASIN labels, safety labels (fragile, battery, heavy, etc.), and bundle labels (sold as set, do not separate).
- Receiving and Shelving: Handling the receipt and shelving of inventory.
- Inspection: Inspecting items during prep and notifying sellers of any issues.
- Packaging: Providing all dunnage (air pillows, paper, foam, etc.) and basic additional boxes (new/used within reason).
- Software and Integration: Offering full software access and integration with Amazon inventory and shipping plans.
- Shipping: Providing discounted LTL shipping rates in Canada and the USA.
- FBA full prep service for Amazon.ca and Amazon.com, food shipments to Amazon.com with FDA clearance, LTL shipment handling for Amazon.ca, eCommerce fulfillment services for FBM, carton forwarding, removal order consolidation (case-by-case basis), refund inspection and reshipment, drip feeding into Amazon (.ca/.com), and efficient online arbitrage order handling.
Top Prep Centers: My Prep Center
My Prep Center is an e-commerce packaging service provider with expertise in handling inventory processing for Amazon sellers. They offer a range of services to help sellers scale their businesses efficiently. Some of the services they provide include:
- Receive & Inspect: They receive and inspect inventory to ensure quality and accuracy.
- Inventory Storage: They offer 14 days of inventory storage, allowing sellers flexibility in managing their stock.
- Communication: They provide email updates with inventory counts and photos of any damages.
- Labeling: They offer FNSKU labeling, sticker covering/removal, and expiration labels as needed.
- Packaging Materials: They provide dunnage (protective packaging) and shipping boxes for safe transit.
- Quick Turnaround: Orders are processed and shipped within 24-48 hours, ensuring fast delivery to customers.
Top Prep Centers: WestFBA
WestFBA is an Amazon FBA service provider based in the USA, offering services for users who need to import products to Amazon FBA worldwide. They aim to provide economical and efficient solutions to speed up business needs, focusing on increasing sales, saving time, and saving money. Their services are particularly useful for small business owners due to their lower costs and efficiency.
- Fulfillment Warehouse: They have their fulfillment warehouse, which is fully equipped to handle Amazon FBA shipments.
- Shipping Expertise: With years of experience in shipping to Amazon warehouses, WestFBA is familiar with the requirements and processes involved.
- Order Processing: When a customer buys a product, WestFBA receives a notification of the order via email, Seller Central, and SMS.
- Pickup and Packing: WestFBA schedules the pickup and keeps the product packaged and ready. They also offer Amazon FBA Packaging Service for added convenience.
- Delivery: A delivery associate picks up the package from the seller’s doorstep and delivers it to the customer. For Pay on Delivery (POD) orders, the funds are deposited directly into the seller’s account.
Top Prep Centers: Atlantic Fulfillment
Atlantic Fulfillment offers fulfillment services for e-commerce sellers, including Amazon sellers.
- Direct Shipping: They can ship directly to e-commerce customers or to an Amazon fulfillment center. They support various e-commerce sales channels such as Amazon.com, eBay.com, Walmart.com, Jet.com, and more.
- Easy Registration: It’s free to register with Atlantic Fulfillment, and their system will walk you through the registration process.
- Professional Fulfillment: Their service is ideal for professional Amazon or e-commerce sellers who need an experienced fulfillment company to handle prepping, packing, and shipping.
- Fulfillment Process:
- Product is unboxed, received, inspected for damage, measured, labeled, assigned to MCF, and placed into storage for $0.95 per item.
- If a product needs additional prep, charges are applied for that prep.
- Once the item sells, it is picked, inspected again, packed with dunnage if needed, weighed, measured, shipping method selected, label printed, and shipped for $3.75 + $0.75 per additional item per order.
Top Prep Centers: Pacific Prep Services
Pacific Prep Services is a full-service prep and ship company based in Tax-Free Oregon, the only tax-free state on the West Coast. They aim to streamline the fulfillment side of the business for their clients, allowing them to focus on sourcing more products to grow their business.
Their services include:
- Receiving
- Inspection
- Labeling
- Poly Bagging
- Suffocation Warning Labels
- Sticker Removal
- Dunnage
- Expiration Labels
- Bubble Wrap
- Outbound Boxes
- Bundling
Using a prep center can offer several benefits to Amazon sellers, making the process of preparing and shipping products more efficient and cost-effective. Here are some key advantages:
- Time-Saving: Prep centers handle the labor-intensive tasks of labeling, packaging, and shipping, saving sellers valuable time that can be used to focus on other aspects of their business.
- Cost-Effectiveness: By outsourcing prep services, sellers can reduce labor costs associated with packaging and shipping, as well as potentially benefit from bulk discounts offered by prep centers.
- Expertise and Compliance: Prep centers are familiar with Amazon’s strict guidelines for packaging and labeling, ensuring that products are prepared correctly and comply with all requirements.
- Scalability: As sellers’ businesses grow, prep centers can scale their services to accommodate larger volumes of inventory, providing flexibility and efficiency.
- Storage Solutions: Many prep centers offer storage services, allowing sellers to store inventory in a secure facility until it is ready to be shipped.
Despite these benefits, some sellers may still prefer to prep their products themselves for various reasons, such as maintaining control over the process, ensuring quality, or simply enjoying the hands-on aspect of the work.
Imagine Sarah, an Amazon seller who has been running her online business for a few years. She’s built a successful brand selling organic skincare products. Sarah takes great pride in her work and pays attention to every detail of her products, from sourcing the best ingredients to designing eye-catching packaging.
Recently, Sarah has been considering using a prep center to handle the packaging and shipping of her products. However, after careful consideration, she decides to continue prepping her products herself for several reasons:
- Quality Control: Sarah is passionate about her products and wants to ensure that every item meets her high standards. By prepping the products herself, she can personally oversee the process and ensure that everything is done correctly.
- Brand Consistency: Sarah’s brand is built on a commitment to quality and sustainability. She believes that by personally prepping her products, she can maintain consistency in packaging and presentation, which is important for brand image and customer satisfaction.
- Cost Considerations: While using a prep center may save time, Sarah realizes that it may also increase her costs, especially as her business grows. By prepping the products herself, she can control these costs and reinvest the savings into other areas of her business.
- Flexibility and Control: Sarah values the flexibility and control that comes with prepping her products. She can easily make changes to packaging or labeling, respond quickly to customer feedback, and adapt to changing market conditions without relying on a third party.
If you still want to prep your products, here is a list of companies that offer packaging products:
Mondi Group
Mondi Group is a global leader in packaging and paper, offering innovative and sustainable solutions. For Amazon sellers, Mondi Group can provide a range of products including containerboard, corrugated solutions, flexible packaging, industrial paper bags, specialty kraft paper, and uncoated printing paper. These products are designed to meet the diverse needs of Amazon sellers, providing packaging solutions that are both effective and environmentally friendly.
Chemy
Chemy, also known as Qiyuan Packaging specializes in providing various packaging products with custom printing, including plastic packaging such as water bags, stand-up pouches, spout pouches, snack packaging bags, and packaging roll film.
Box It Now
Box It Now offers over 150 industry-standard box styles, including everything from Regular Slotted Containers to 6 Pack Bottle Carriers, with more styles continuously added. They provide folding carton and corrugated packaging styles, allowing for quick customization to fit any need.
Box It Now’s innovative technology makes it easy for anyone to design and create packaging content in minutes. Accessible from the web on any computer or mobile device, their tool simplifies the package design process, saving time and allowing designs to be ready for the market in just minutes.
Packlane
Packlane offers a unique approach to custom packaging with its custom design lab, live preview, and instant quote features. They provide the freedom for users to unleash their creativity and develop their own designs efficiently. Packlane also offers assistance with design and technical support if needed.
The process is straightforward: users select a packaging style, quantity, and choose from custom or stock sizes. Then, they can start designing their custom boxes, adding customization options like images, text, and brand colors. Throughout the design process, users can see an instant quote, allowing them to know the final cost of their order.
Globe Packaging
Globe Packaging is a leading online packaging distributor in the UK, offering a diverse range of packaging materials with next working day delivery for orders placed by 4 PM. They pride themselves on their service levels, value, and quality. Their products include over 65 sizes of cardboard boxes & cartons, packing tapes, protective, and postal supplies.
VJ7 Printing
VJ7 Printing and Packaging Inc., established in 1997, offers a range of printing services to meet various needs. Their services include Offset Printing, Digital Printing, Large Format Printing, Labels Printing, Folding Cartons, Post-Press and Finishing Services. They have a skilled creative team that can help with design and printing needs, making them a comprehensive solution for Amazon sellers looking for printing services.
PackHit
PackHit offers a range of packaging solutions for Amazon sellers, including cardboard boxes, corrugated boxes, kraft boxes, retail packaging boxes, product boxes, mailer boxes, reverse tuck end boxes, pillow boxes, auto lock bottom boxes, gable boxes, five panel hanger boxes, and custom display boxes. Their process involves providing a free quote, free digital proofing, and free delivery, making it convenient for sellers to get their packaging needs met efficiently.
Rusken Packaging
Rusken Packaging offers a range of packaging solutions for Amazon sellers, including custom boxes, printing and branding services, design capabilities, custom kits for multiple products, finishing services, inventory management, and delivery on-demand. With 19 facilities across 10 states in the United States, Rusken provides a comprehensive and convenient packaging solution for sellers looking to make a strong first impression with their products.
In Conclusion
Utilizing the services of prep centers can significantly benefit sellers by saving time, streamlining operations, and ensuring compliance with Amazon’s stringent packaging standards.
However, for those who opt to prep their products themselves, selecting suppliers of packaging products that align with their branding needs and meet Amazon’s packaging guidelines is crucial.
By carefully choosing the right packaging suppliers, sellers can effectively showcase their products, enhance customer experience, and ultimately, boost sales on the Amazon platform.
