Do you limit your product orders to distributors within a specific (geometric) radius of your location?

Fulfilment By Amazon Shipping Inventory to Amazon
1

If you run an East Coast-based business, would you purchase from a West Coast distributor?

I placed an order with a distributor on the West Coast, but I am on the East Coast. The product comes in nine 32-pound boxes, so shipping it to my place of business would cost me more than $800. Due to this, I am forced to pay an additional $120 to have the distributor label each of the 400 individual items with my FNSKU and arrange for everything to be shipped straight to an Amazon fulfillment center. At this point, I am hoping to break even because my profit margin just vanished.

Any useful pointers, counsel, or procedures would be greatly valued for future use.

2

If u didn’t have more than $120 profit on 400 units. Shipping isn’t your issue. . . Its your sourcing and buying decisions

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3

If you are selling Kitty Litter you would be better off dropshipping directly from Chewy. What you are doing is a recipe for failure because your costs are too high and uncontrollable. Until you get to the point where you can get priority Fed Ex service and pretty sure a steep discount you will have tremendous headwinds.

FYI, when our chewy shipment arrives the truck is loaded with chewy boxes so they are getting extremely good pricing due to volume.

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4

Consider exploring local East Coast distributors to reduce shipping costs and streamline logistics for better profit margins. Additionally, negotiate bulk shipping discounts and explore fulfillment center options closer to your location.

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5

The profit is still not completely vanished…but it’s not where I’d like it to be.

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6

That is the most important part, glad you have it working.

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7

Still sounds like you need to improve your sourcing and the standard of your criteria

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8

Some vendors offer free shipping over a certain amount spent. So we try to spend that amount and get the free shipping directly to our prep center. If they offer free shipping it doesnt matter where they are in the country.

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9

I do not limit it by location. If you can make a purchase and it is still profitable then I consider it. Most you can talk to about discounts depending on order size. Either discount product price or free shipping. Keep building relationships with them and the more you can negotiate a discount the harder it will be for others to undercut your price on Amazon

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