If you’ve gotten here, we can assume you know what the acronym “FBA” stands for. Whether a storefront operation, working out of your home, or with a warehouse of your own that simply has too many orders to process on a daily basis, FBA can be a viable source of increased revenue.
But it should not be your only outlet for several reasons.
Cost, for one, is a significant factor for any business. With FBA those costs can be high. Most sellers that we speak with have multiple lines of distribution. Several have storefronts but most have warehouses, or work from their homes, and have found that they have the lowest profit margin when selling on any of the big fulfillment-centric online services. The upside of this service is the amount of time saved by not having to pack and ship items as orders come in.
Sales volume is another factor to be considered. If you are currently FBA only, having a second channel fulfilled and shipped by a fulfillment partner can increase the possibility of sales in a crowded marketplace. While it isn’t possible to be in two places at once, it is possible to be several vendors at the same time.
Search rankings also increase when you have multiple sales venues such as Amazon, eBay and your own web site(s). Cross posting of your listings to valid sites, having them show up on Facebook, blogs, etc., is a great help here, too.
Given the above, how do you take care of these fulfillment duties? One option is to do it yourself and many of you have likely found that process to be incredibly time and space consuming. As you might expect, we at Priority Pak suggest that you hire a professional fulfillment company to warehouse, pack and ship your items.
Priority Pak can accept and confirm your incoming shipments from any manufacturer, national or global. Upon receipt we will run QC and inform you via email with photos and commentary as to the goods received. Those items can then be packaged and stored or kept in their original packaging and stored for per-item shipping as orders come in.
Incoming orders can be run through an your online ordering site or one that we set up for you. We have the provision to accept orders directly from most major sites and can work with information provided by sftp, ftp and email as well. Most orders will ship same day.
Upon shipping both the seller and the buyer will receive confirmation emails with shipping information including tracking data if the chosen shipping service provides it.
Returns can be handled in a number of ways. In today’s world, the customer is typically always right so returns are simply a matter of them sending it back and the seller accepting that. Again, photo and commentary will be provided to you via email.
How much does this cost? Not as much as you might think. For a precise quote, call us and speak with a client representative today to discuss the particulars of your needs. Priority Pak, one of the leading Southern California Fulfillment centers, is an expert to consider for your bundling, packing and shipping needs.