Amazon Partnered Carrier options

This page provides information on the Amazon Partnered Carrier options available to FBA sellers for both small parcel and LTL/FTL shipments.

Small parcel deliveries (SPDs) consist of units packed in individual boxes and individually labeled for delivery.
Less Than Truckload/Full Truckload* (LTL/FTL) shipment combines individual boxes on pallets for delivery.

Amazon-Partnered Carrier (SPD)

Amazon-partnered carriers offer deeply discounted rates, and the cost is billed to your account as an "Inbound Transportation Charge." There is a 1 lb. minimum charge for partnered carrier shipments. For shipments that weigh less than 1 lb., the minimum charge applies.

We will provide a shipping label you can print that you use with our carrier. The rates apply to deliveries within the 48 contiguous United States. You can cancel up to 24 hours after approving the charges.

After you complete your shipment, give your box to your scheduled pick-up driver or take the package to the local carrier of your choice.

Note: UPS has regularly scheduled web server maintenance every Sunday between 10 a.m. and 12 p.m. ET. During this maintenance period, UPS labels may not be available for FBA merchants using Amazon Partner Carrier shipments to fulfillment centers. If you encounter problems creating a UPS shipment with the Amazon Partner Carrier label during this time, try again after the maintenance period.

For more information regarding loss and damage claims, please see the FBA lost and damaged reimbursement policy.

Amazon Partnered LTL/FTL (Partial Truckload/Full Truckload) Carrier

Amazon partnered carriers offer discounted rates to eligible sellers, and the cost is billed to your account as an "Inbound Transportation Charge." If your total shipment weight is more than 150 lb., you should consider using a partnered Less Than Truckload (LTL)/Full Truckload (FTL) carrier for cost savings. Sellers enabled for Amazon Partnered LTL/FTL will have the option to choose it as their shipping method when creating an inbound shipment.

Eligibility

To be eligible to use an Amazon-Partnered LTL/FTL carrier, you must:

Have a dock or forklift to enable placing pallets on a truck
Be able to support a truck coming to your pickup address or use the Lift Gate Service described below
Continually meet the shipment requirements below

Shipment requirements

For each shipment, you must:

Provide a freight-ready date for that shipment
Provide an accurate pallet count for that shipment at the time of estimate acceptance (26 pallets is the limit for any single partnered shipment)
Provide an accurate weight for each pallet in that shipment
Provide the correct product freight class for that shipment
Have your pallets ready for pick-up by the morning of the freight-ready date

Note: If you are unsure of your shipment's freight class, choose the default Estimate my freight class option. If we determine that you are providing incorrect freight classes for your shipments, we may disable your ability to enter freight class and, instead, estimate your freight class for you.

Freight class definition and impact

Freight class is a standardized classification system used to determine the billable weight and risk of a shipment. Freight class is ranked from 50 to 500.

Sellers are expected to provide accurate packaging inputs when creating a shipment. This packaging information triggers a freight class estimate. If Amazon suspects the freight class of your shipment is too low, a warning will be displayed showing an Amazon estimated freight class. If you are unsure of your shipment's freight class, choose the Estimate my freight class option during the Shipping charges step of the Prepare Shipment workflow.

You will be asked to accept Amazon's estimated freight class. Be aware that shipments with rejected freight class estimates are subject to further investigation. Recurring issues with packaging inputs may lead to Amazon disabling your ability to reject freight class estimates.

For more information on freight class estimates, see Amazon Partner Carrier freight class.

LTL Lift Gate service

If you don’t have a dock door or a forklift, you can still take advantage of the partnered LTL service by requesting lift gate service from the carrier. Although all partnered LTL carriers support lift gates, they do lift-gate pickups only a few days a week, which could delay the pick-up time. To be eligible for LTL Lift Gate Service, your shipment must be under 12 pallets and less than 20,000 lbs. To participate in this service:

YOU create a shipment in Seller Central and select Less than Truckload (LTL) under Shipping method and Amazon-Partnered Carrier under Shipping carrier
WE assign a carrier and create a Bill of Lading, which you will receive via email and can access in Seller Central
YOU contact the carrier and request they send a truck with a lift gate
YOU schedule a pick-up time with the carrier that is convenient for you
YOU palletize the shipment and be able to move the pallets to the truck when it arrives (carrier will not have the manpower to move your pallets to the truck)

Scheduling pickup

More than 20 different carriers participate in the Partnered LTL/FTL program. When you create a shipment and choose to use the Partnered LTL/FTL program, we provide an estimated shipping charge and estimated pick-up date based on the characteristics of your shipments (number of pallets, weight, freight class, etc.) and the freight-ready date you provide.

Note: Your actual shipping charges may be higher than the amount we estimate when you create a shipment for the Partnered LTL/FTL program if the carrier determines that your pallets weigh more than you indicated or that the freight class you provided is incorrect.

Your pickup date will be on either the freight-ready date, or two days from when the estimate is accepted, whichever is greater. Give the carrier the Amazon generated Bill of Lading (BOL), which will be available in the shipment creation workflow on the day of your pickup. It also will be emailed to the address you listed as the Contact Person for the shipment. If you discuss your pickup appointment with the carrier, you should refer to your shipment by the Amazon Reference Number (ARN), which can be found on your Bill of Lading. ARN is different from your FBA shipment ID. When PCP carriers come for pickup, they will not have access to the FBA shipment ID.

Tip: Shipments with more than 12 pallets can be rolled into a FTL shipment, which may be more cost effective and have better transit times than a LTL shipment. FTL shipments may require more lead time because carriers will need to arrange a delivery appointment at the fulfillment center before they can pick up your shipment.

Canceling an Amazon Partnered Carrier

You can cancel up to one hour after approving estimated charges by going to your Shipping Queue and following these steps:

Locate the shipment and click the Work on Shipment button.
Click the Provide Details tab.
Click the Void Charges button.

Important: Canceling the shipment does not cancel the charges. You must follow the Canceling an Amazon Partnered Carrier instructions above to ensure no pickup is made and charges will not apply. If one hour has passed since approving charges, you will not be able to cancel those charges or receive a refund for them.

Amazon Marketplace Web Service

Amazon Partnered Carrier options are also available through Amazon Marketplace Web Service (Amazon MWS). For more information about Amazon MWS, see Amazon Marketplace Web Service Overview.

Partnered carrier options

Amazon Partnered Carrier Service FAQ

*Non-Amazon Partnered LTL/FTL shipments require a delivery appointment.

To schedule a delivery appointment, follow these steps:

Download and complete the FBA Booking Form. Most of the shipment information is found in the Summary page of the shipping workflow.
E-mail the form to your carrier along with a link to the User Manual for Carriers.
Have your carrier create an account (if they don't already have one) and log into Carrier Central to request an appointment.

Amazon will respond to your carrier's request within 24 hours, at which time they will schedule a delivery appointment date and time based on availability.

Important: When scheduling appointments, carriers need to explicitly mention the shipments are for Fulfillment by Amazon and provide the FBA Shipment ID (found in the Summary page of the shipping workflow); this will help expedite appointment scheduling and help ensure accurate receipt of your inventory.