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This guide covers the plumbing between an Indian factory and an Amazon fulfilment centre: who is the importer, who preps and labels, how cartons must be packed and which route the goods take. Amazon is never your importer, and in the US prep is now the seller's job, so the factory needs a clear spec.
A Canadian Amazon seller posted a simple question in August 2024. They'd found an Indian supplier for an apparel line, 60 pieces weighing about 20 kilos, and wanted to know how to get it into Amazon's warehouses (r/FulfillmentByAmazon, August 2024 (opens in a new tab)). The replies covered freight, which was eye-watering per piece at that size, and one commenter added the line we'd underline: do QC checks and inspections "irrespective of how small the quantities are". Nobody in the thread mentioned labels, cartons or who would be the importer. That's typical, and it's where FBA orders from India actually go wrong.
This guide is the plumbing between an Indian factory and an Amazon fulfilment centre - who files the customs entry, who sticks the labels, how the cartons must be packed and which route the goods take. It isn't about what to sell. For that, and for the ways to make sourcing from India profitable, read 10 ways to turn a profit sourcing Amazon products from India. One honest caveat - Amazon changes its inbound rules often and by marketplace, so check Seller Central for your marketplace before each first shipment.
Last researched 12 October 2026 · Next review 12 January 2027 · Written by SourcingFrom
This is the rule that surprises first-time sellers most. Amazon, including its fulfilment centres, won't act as importer of record for any FBA shipment, of any size or value, from any origin (Seller Central, import and export inventory (opens in a new tab)). In the US it can be named only as the ultimate consignee, written as "c/o FBA" before the Amazon entity's name, and a shipment that tries to enter with Amazon as importer is refused and returned at the shipper's expense.
So somebody else has to be the importer, and it should be you. The trap here is specific to small orders from India. When a supplier ships on its own courier account, the courier often ends up as importer of record, and US sellers found that duty refunds then went to FedEx and UPS instead of them (FS-SHP-017, r/ecommerce, 2026). Ship DDP on a supplier's account and you've also handed your customs record to somebody else. What an importer of record carries, and how to set yourself up as one, is on importer of record.
The short rule we'd follow - your name on the entry, your customs broker filing it, your bond in the US. Everything else in this guide gets easier once that's settled.
From 1 January 2026 Amazon stopped offering prep and item labelling for FBA shipments in the US marketplace (Amazon SP-API changelog, July 2025 (opens in a new tab)). No more paying Amazon to stick FNSKU labels, bag or bundle on arrival. Sellers and their providers now do it, and a guide quoting the Seller Central notice says shipments created after the cut-off that arrive without proper prep and labelling aren't eligible for reimbursement if items are damaged or lost (Pattern, 2025 (opens in a new tab)). Other marketplaces are following on their own dates, so check yours.
That leaves two choices. A prep centre in your market, which adds a stop, a fee and a few days. Or the factory in India, which is cheaper and catches problems earlier, if you give it a spec it can follow.
Here's the catch. Most Indian makers ship to trade buyers and importers, not into Amazon, and their idea of export packing is whatever the last buyer asked for. Small workshops may pack in handmade boxes with hand-written labels (FS-QMS-021, a buyer on Hacker News). That's fine for a boutique. It won't get through an FBA receiving dock. So assume nobody at the factory has prepped for FBA before, and send a one-page spec with the PO -
Packaging has its own minimums too. Printed cartons and bags often carry their own MOQ, sometimes higher than the product's (FS-QMS-017, an Indian contract manufacturer, 2026). Put the packaging in the same RFQ as the product, or the packaging becomes your real minimum.
Amazon's US rules cap a carton at 50 lb, unless it holds one item that's heavier, which then needs a "Team Lift" label (and "Mechanical Lift" over 100 lb). Cartons of jewellery and watches are capped at 40 lb, and overweight cartons can lead to future shipments being blocked (Seller Central, shipping and routing requirements (opens in a new tab)). There's also a limit on each side of the box. Trade blogs disagree on whether the long side went up in 2025, so check the current figure in Seller Central and write it into your spec.
Why spell this out to an Indian factory? Because export cartons for trade buyers are built for pallets and forklifts, and nobody minds a heavy one. Ask for the carton dimensions and weight on the proforma, before production, so you can create the shipment in time and nobody repacks in a warehouse at your cost.
If your goods are packed on pallets, the pallets need the ISPM 15 treatment mark too, which Indian exporters don't always use by default (see wood packaging).
There are three routes that work, and one that causes most of the horror stories.
The safest first order. Your forwarder collects from the factory, your broker clears it in your name, and a prep centre checks, fixes and books the delivery. Slower, but every mistake is caught on your side of the ocean by someone you pay.
Cheaper and faster, and right once the factory has proved it can prep. Your forwarder needs the Amazon shipment ID and the delivery appointment, and you need the factory's labelling to be perfect, because nobody looks inside before Amazon does.
At 60 pieces sea freight makes little sense and air or courier dominates the landed cost (FS-QMS-022, the Canadian seller's thread). Fine, as long as the courier entry names you as importer, not the courier (section 1).
| Route | Best for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Your forwarder, prep centre, then Amazon | A first order | Slower, with an extra stop |
| Your forwarder, direct to Amazon | A factory that has proved it can prep | Nobody looks inside before Amazon does |
| Courier | Small lots | The courier entry must name you as importer |
The route to avoid is the supplier's forwarder, booked by the supplier, on terms you haven't seen. When a payment dispute arises between the Indian agent and the agent at destination, your goods sit in the middle, and US buyers describe exactly that (FS-SHP-019, r/AmazonSeller and r/FreightBrokers, 2024). Some small Indian suppliers also can't run an export themselves and hand the goods to a logistics firm, leaving you to sort the clearance (FS-SHP-055, UK and US buyers, 2024 and 2025). How to pick your own forwarder is on choosing a freight forwarder.
On Amazon a quality problem doesn't come back as a complaint. It comes back as returns, reviews and a stranded listing. So the inspection matters more than on a wholesale order, and it has to happen in India, before the goods are sealed into labelled cartons.
Indian makers themselves say third-party QC is usually bought only when "the order size is good" (FS-QMS-029, an Indian manufacturer, 2025). That's exactly backwards for an FBA seller testing a product with a small first order. Inspect the first order hardest. Check the FNSKU labels against the SKUs while you're there, because one wrong label on a whole carton is a listing full of wrong items. How inspections work, and what sampling level to ask for, is on AQL sampling.
If you can't send your own person, SourcingSync (opens in a new tab) can inspect at the factory, check the labelling and carton spec, and hand the goods to your forwarder, so the first time anyone opens a box isn't at the Amazon dock.
FBA doesn't change the product rules of your market. It just means a failure turns into a stranded listing instead of a customs hold. Three categories to check before you order -
And on paying for the first order, PayPal is the usual method with Indian suppliers for small first buys, with sellers moving to wires once there's a relationship (FS-SUP-030, FBA sellers on forums). It protects less than people think, which how to pay an overseas supplier safely explains.
Yes, with yourself as importer of record, your broker clearing the goods and the factory prepping and labelling to Amazon's spec. Many sellers use a prep centre for the first order.
A non-resident business can register as an importer in the US, but few Indian exporters do. If the supplier's courier ends up as importer, you lose control of the entry and any refunds.
Not in the US since 1 January 2026. Check your marketplace for its own date.
Some export houses do. Most makers ship to trade buyers and will follow a clear spec, so send one and ask for a photo of the first labelled unit.
For FBA we'd avoid it, because it usually puts someone else's name on your customs entry. Use your own forwarder and broker.
That 2024 thread asked the right first question, how to get the goods there, and the replies answered it with freight rates. The better answers were the ones nobody gave. Who's the importer, who prints the labels, how heavy are the cartons, and who looks inside before Amazon does. Settle those four in the PO, and a first FBA order from India is just a shipment. Hope this helps.
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SABER is the Saudi platform every consumer product needs before customs will clear it. The Saudi importer files, an approved body certifies regulated products, and the Indian exporter supplies the tests and the labels. This guide covers both sides, plus the 2026 SASO rules on charging ports and supplier names.
A shipping bill is the export declaration an Indian exporter files with Indian customs, electronically, before goods leave by sea or air. Customs clears it with a Let Export Order. You never file one, but a copy is worth asking for. It names the exporter, shows the invoice number, the Indian tariff code and the declared value, and since April 2026 its invoice number has to match the one on a preferential certificate of origin. It is also how you find out whether your maker or a trader exported your goods.
From 27 September 2026 EU consumer law bans vague green words without proof of excellent performance, labels that are not certified or set by public authorities, and offset-based neutral claims. The UK CMA can now fine directly, and Australia's courts have fined a household brand $8.25 million. Whoever sells to the consumer carries the claim, so importers need proof from their suppliers before anything is printed.
A quote that says "leather" tells you nothing about the animal, and in India the answer is often goat, sheep or buffalo rather than cowhide. Each behaves differently in a bag: goat is tough and small, sheep is soft and delicate, buffalo is thick, coarse and variable. Ask for the species, the tannage and the tannery in writing, check the grain yourself, and sample buffalo from the actual lot.
A custom rug from India usually arrives off-colour for one of five reasons: the colour was approved on a screen, the bulk yarn went into a different dye lot, the yarn looks different once woven into pile, the post-weaving wash shifted it, or it is being judged in different light or from the other end of the pile. Each has its own approval. Because returning a large rug to India is slow and costly, the approvals and the remedy belong in the order before weaving starts.
No. Urine does not tan leather, and the smell some buyers notice on Indian leather has ordinary causes: tannery residue left by poor washing and finishing, solvent finishes and bag-making glues, and moisture in packing and transit. Each smells different and has its own fix. Odour has no legal limit, so it has to go into the spec, with a closed-box check on bulk before you accept a shipment.
