What Airlift Does for Amazon Sellers
Delivered to Amazon
Freight from your supplier to each fulfillment center Amazon assigns, with the delivery appointment booked.
Through US customs
ISF and the customs entry, with our licensed broker partner as importer of record if you don’t have your own.
Stored and sent in batches
Stock Amazon can’t take yet waits at a partner warehouse and goes in as your capacity limit allows.
On this page
Content reviewed October 2026. FMC OTI license 016162. Customs entries through licensed customs brokers; trucking as a non-asset, FMCSA-licensed property broker (USDOT 2355713, MC-798584) through contracted motor carriers; storage at partner warehouses.
How shipping to Amazon FBA works with Airlift
One shipment file, from your supplier’s door to the fulfillment center’s dock. The ocean leg can be a full container or LCL, and small or urgent stock can go by air.
- Create the inbound shipment. You create the shipment in Seller Central (Send to Amazon) and send us the fulfillment center addresses Amazon assigns, the shipment IDs and the box and pallet labels.
- Ship from origin. We book the freight from your supplier, file the ISF for ocean cargo before the 24-hour deadline, and send you the bill of lading.
- Clear US customs. The entry is filed through our licensed customs broker partner, either under your own importer of record number and bond or with the broker serving as importer of record. Amazon will not act as the importer of record, so this is settled before the cargo arrives.
- Deliver to the fulfillment center. We book the delivery appointment through Amazon’s Carrier Central and truck the freight to each fulfillment center, by container drayage, LTL or full truckload depending on the load.
- Or hold and send in batches. If Amazon’s capacity limits or the placement plan don’t take the whole shipment at once, the balance goes into a partner warehouse and we send it on as Amazon makes room.
Who does what on an FBA shipment
Airlift moves, clears, delivers and stores FBA inventory. It does not prep it: cartons must leave your supplier already labeled and packed to Amazon’s requirements, because a fulfillment center can refuse freight that isn’t.
Swipe sideways to see all columns →
| Task | Seller | Airlift |
|---|---|---|
| Create the shipment in Send to Amazon | You | We tell you what the freight booking needs from it |
| FNSKU labels, poly-bagging, bundling | You or your supplier, at origin | Not offered |
| Amazon box and pallet labels | You print them; your supplier applies them | We check they’re on before the freight leaves the warehouse |
| Ocean or air freight to the US | — | Booked by Airlift |
| ISF (ocean) | Supply the data | Filed by Airlift |
| Importer of record | You, if you have your own number and bond | Otherwise our licensed customs broker partner serves as importer of record |
| Customs entry and duties | Pays the duties | Entry filed through our licensed customs broker partner |
| Fulfillment center appointment | — | Booked through Amazon’s Carrier Central |
| Delivery to the fulfillment center | — | Arranged through contracted motor carriers |
| Overflow storage and later deliveries | Tell us when Amazon has room | Partner warehouse; sent on in batches |
Importer of record for Amazon sellers
Every commercial import into the US needs an importer of record: the party responsible for the entry and for paying the duties. Amazon will not take that role for FBA inventory, so someone else has to.
If you don’t have your own, our licensed customs broker partner serves as importer of record for your shipments, including for sellers based outside the US. US law allows a licensed customs broker to be the importer of record (19 U.S.C. 1484), so you don’t need your own CBP registration or customs bond to start shipping.
If you’d rather be the importer of record yourself, you register with CBP on Form 5106 and carry a customs bond; a seller outside the US also needs a US resident agent and a bond with a resident surety (19 CFR 141.18). Either way the entry is filed by the licensed broker. Airlift USA does not itself hold a customs broker license.
- Glossary: importer of record (IOR)
- Glossary: customs bond
- Glossary: Delivered Duty Paid (DDP)
- US import duty calculator
Storage and split shipments
Amazon caps how many units a seller can send in through capacity limits, and its placement plan can split one shipment across several fulfillment centers in different regions. A full container rarely goes to one dock in one piece.
Airlift handles both. The container is unloaded at a partner warehouse near the port, the cartons are sorted by the fulfillment center Amazon assigned, and each part leaves on its own truck with its own appointment. Stock Amazon can’t take yet stays in the warehouse and goes out in later batches, or to your own customers and other channels.
What to send for an FBA shipping quote
The more of this we have, the closer the first quote is to the final invoice.
- Origin. The supplier’s city or the port or airport of loading, and when the goods are ready.
- Cargo. What the products are, the number of cartons, carton dimensions and weights, and whether they are palletized.
- Destinations. The fulfillment centers Amazon assigned, or the region, if you haven’t created the shipment yet.
- Importer of record. Whether you are a US or non-US seller, and whether you have your own importer number and customs bond or want our broker partner to serve as importer of record.
- Storage. Whether part of the stock should be held and sent to Amazon later.
Get an Amazon FBA shipping quote
Tell us where the goods ship from, the cartons and weights, and the fulfillment centers Amazon assigned. We reply with the freight, customs and delivery plan and what the rate includes.
FAQ
Yes. We ship your inventory to the US by ocean or air, get it through customs through our licensed customs brokers, book the delivery appointment through Amazon’s Carrier Central and deliver to each fulfillment center Amazon assigned, by drayage, LTL or full truckload. Trucking is arranged as a non-asset, FMCSA-licensed property broker through contracted motor carriers.
No. We do not apply FNSKU labels, poly-bag, bundle or relabel products. Your supplier should label and pack the cartons to Amazon’s requirements before they leave origin, with the Amazon box and pallet labels you print from Send to Amazon. We check the labels are on before the freight ships.
Not Amazon: Amazon does not act as the importer of record for FBA inventory. If you have your own importer number and customs bond, you can be the importer of record. If you don’t, our licensed customs broker partner serves as importer of record for your shipments, including for sellers outside the US, as US law allows a licensed broker to do (19 U.S.C. 1484). Airlift USA does not itself hold a customs broker license.
Yes. Most of our freight comes from India and Asia, and we have our own offices in India, Bangladesh, Vietnam and Cambodia. We book the freight from your supplier, our licensed customs broker partner serves as importer of record if you don’t have your own, we clear customs and deliver to the fulfillment centers. Have the cartons labeled for Amazon at origin, because we do not do FBA prep.
The balance goes into a partner warehouse near the port and we send it on in batches as your capacity limit allows, each with its own fulfillment center appointment. The same warehouse can also ship stock to your own customers or other sales channels.
Yes. When Amazon’s placement plan splits a shipment across fulfillment centers, the container is unloaded at a partner warehouse near the port, the cartons are sorted by destination and each part goes out on its own truck with its own appointment.
Yes. FBA inventory is a commercial import, and the importer of record pays the duties, taxes and fees on the entry, at the rates for the product’s HTS number and country of origin. Use our import duty calculator for an estimate before you ship.