What Kind of Seller Are you?

If you’re new to Fulfilled by Amazon, or new to working with a prep center, you might wonder what we mean when we ask you if you are an Online Arbitrage, Wholesale, or Carton Forwarding seller? 

Online Arbitrage:

Online Arbitrage is when you purchase a small amount of units per product. For example, maybe you order from a retailer’s website, and you order many different products, but only a few of each sku. You order what you can, when it’s at a good price, and the type of items that you sell may change often. Your items need to be prepped, labeled with an FNSKU, and packaged for FBA, following all of Amazon’s standards. You may ask us to create bundles of your products, as well. 

Wholesale:

You are ordering from a supplier who sells wholesale (bulk). You may be ordering 50, 100, 150 of each sku. At our facility, we consider 50+ units of a single sku as qualifying as wholesale. Some prep centers consider 100+ units of a single sku as qualifying as wholesale. Make sure you ask prospective prep centers what they count as wholesale, to make sure you are on the same page. Perhaps, you stick to a niche, such as homegoods, outdoor goods, party favors. Your items need to be prepped, labeled, and packaged for FBA, following all of Amazon’s standards. You may ask us to create bundles of your products, as well. 

Carton Forwarding:

Your items are case-packed by your supplier. They already have the required prep and labeling done by your supplier as well. You send us cartons that we do not open. We store them until you are ready to ship, at which point we apply shipping labels and send the cartons straight to FBA. We only ever have to open the cartons in special circumstances, for which fees apply.

When you tell us what kind of seller you are, that helps us determine what kind of account we should assign you, and the billing agreement we need to share with you. If you have any questions, we are always happy to help answer them, and help you determine which category you are working with. We understand that there are some gray areas!