Amazon FBA pallet requirements, box limits and shipping from China

For less than truckload (LTL), full truckload (FTL) and container deliveries to a US fulfilment centre:

• Pallet: 40 × 48 inches, wooden, 4-way access, GMA Standard B grade or better. No plastic, cardboard or particle board pallets.
• Grocery goes on GMA 1A pallets only; health, personal care and beauty on 1A or 1B.
• Weight: no more than 1,500 lb per pallet.
• Height: no more than 72 inches including the pallet, unless a single unit is taller. Amazon prefers stackable pallets about 50 inches high (45 inches of boxes and 5 of pallet).
• Double-stacked pallets: no more than 100 inches together.
• One shipment ID per pallet. Boxes do not overhang the edges.
• Wrap: clear stretch wrap, with a “Do not break stretch wrap” note to the carrier. The load must stay stable without the wrap.

• Four FBA pallet labels on every pallet, one at the top centre of each side, outside the stretch wrap.
• Every box on the pallet keeps its own FBA box ID label, facing outwards so it can be scanned without breaking the pallet down.
• Mark a pallet “Single ASIN pallet” when it holds one product; keep different products physically separate on a mixed pallet.
• Brick-stack the boxes, heaviest at the bottom, flush on all sides. On a single-product pallet, every box is stacked the same way.
• No bags, elastic or extra straps around the boxes.

The box limits apply to every box, on a pallet or not. A box holding more than one item must not exceed 36 × 25 × 25 inches (length up to 36, width and height up to 25). The standard weight limit is 50 lb, and 40 lb for jewellery or watches.

A heavier or larger box is allowed only for a single oversize item. Over 50 lb it needs a “Team Lift” label on the top and sides; over 100 lb, “Mechanical Lift”. Amazon’s page also mentions a 65 lb ceiling in one place, so the safe reading is: keep boxes to 50 lb unless one item is heavier.

Use rigid six-sided boxes with flaps intact, give each box its own FBA box ID label, and cover old barcodes. To see how many cartons of a given size fit each container, try the CBM calculator.

Amazon has two ways in for a shipment that is not a whole truck. Small-parcel delivery (SPD) sends each box with its own label, by carriers such as UPS, FedEx or DHL: up to 500 boxes per shipment with your own carrier, 200 with a partnered one. Less than truckload (LTL) sends the boxes on pallets, by the pallet rules above.

Amazon warns that boxes packed for pallets may not survive parcel handling, and damage from weak packing is yours. A few dozen strong cartons suit SPD; once the boxes fill pallets, LTL is usually simpler and safer for the goods.

Amazon accepts ocean full containers at fulfilment centres, palletised or floor loaded. Pallets get earlier delivery appointments; floor-loaded boxes are unloaded by hand, take longer to receive, and can bring extra carrier charges. The floor loading rules:

• Loose boxes under 50 lb each, stacked in alternating columns, no higher than 72 inches unless the load meets Amazon’s clamp-truck rules.
• At least 3 inches between stacks and the container walls, 6 inches below the roof, and 8 inches before the doors.
• No straps, zip ties or tape bundling boxes together.
• The carrier marks the load as floor loaded when it books the delivery appointment.

A 40 ft container holds 20 US pallets on the floor, by the layout in container dimensions; floor loading fits more cartons in. So sellers shipping from China usually choose between three set-ups:

• Pallets built at the factory to Amazon’s rules: the container goes straight to the fulfilment centre.
• Floor loaded in China, delivered floor loaded: more cartons per container, slower receiving.
• Floor loaded in China, transloaded near the US port onto pallets or trucks: common when one container feeds several fulfilment centres.

Amazon’s page on delivering imports sets the paper rules. Amazon will not be the importer of record for any FBA shipment, so you or your forwarder must be; see importer of record. The goods must arrive with nothing to collect: Amazon requires delivered duty paid terms, and a delivery with duties, taxes or freight to pay is refused.

Amazon can be named as ultimate consignee on the entry only “in care of FBA”, with your legal name first, and the fulfilment centre as the deliver-to address. Your carrier books the delivery appointment through Amazon’s Carrier Central; a truck without one is turned away.

• Boxes over 50 lb, or over 25 inches in width or height, with more than one item inside.
• Pallets over 72 inches, or plastic or damaged pallets.
• Pallet labels inside the stretch wrap, or fewer than four.
• Two shipment IDs on one pallet.
• Duty or freight left to collect on delivery.
• No delivery appointment booked.

An FBA shipment on Ebbrate goes only to carriers approved to deliver into Amazon on that lane. You name the fulfilment centre from your shipment plan, and carriers price delivery duty paid with the duty on its own line. Give the pallet or carton counts and sizes as they will be built; a carrier prices what you describe. See Amazon FBA shipping, Amazon fulfilment centres and the Amazon IDs you need.