What is FBA?
FBA stands for fulfilment by Amazon; it's a service by Amazon for their sellers that allows sellers to store their inventory in Amazon's fulfilment centres across the country, which enables sellers to make faster product deliveries to their customers. With this service, Amazon takes care of the storage, packaging, shipping, and customer service for these products.
Benefits of using FBA
- Amazon prime badge: When you get enrolled in the Amazon FBA program, you become eligible for the Amazon Prime badge, which helps you attract more customers.
- More Storage: With Amazon FBA, you get access to Amazon's extensive network of FCs, which offers you more space to store your products.
- Better customer service: When you get enrolled in Amazon FBA, Amazon handles customer inquiries and returns.
- Faster product deliveries: due to the extensive network of Amazon FCs, you can store your products close to your customers, which helps you deliver products faster.
- Cash on delivery option: by enrolling in FBA, you can fulfil orders with the COD option. which increases customer trust, resulting in more sales.
Required things to add Amazon warehouses in seller central
GST Registration
As per the government regulation, you need to get GST registered in the states where you want to store your inventory in the Amazon warehouses. Without this registration, you will not be able to access the Amazon FCs as all additional places of business such as warehouses need to be declared to the state GST.
For example, if you want to access Amazon FCs in Delhi, you need to get GST registered in Delhi first.
Business Address
To get GST registered in states other than your home state, you need to have a business address that acts as your principal place of business where you get GST registered.
To obtain a business address in another state, you will need a virtual office service. Virtual office services provide a business address and help you with GST registration and warehouse access.
APOB Addition
Once you are GST registered in the states where you want to have access to Amazon warehouses, you need to add these Amazon FCs as your additional places of business in the GST registration of these states. For this, you will need certain documents like lease agreement, NOC which Amazon will provide to you.
How to add Amazon warehouses on seller central
Follow this step-by-step process to onboard FBA on Seller Central:
1) Visit Seller Central and go to Settings and Click on Account info option.
2) In the next window, click on the Manage option in the "Your Service" section.
3) If you haven't started the FBA process already, you will see the Register option here, as shown below.
4) If you have already started the process, you will see a screen as shown below. You just need to click on the "Click here to add fulfilment centre to your account" option.
5) In the next window, select the state where you want to access Amazon FC, and then click on the Continue button.
There are a total of 4 steps you need to complete:
Step 1 - Choose FC
At this stage, you have to select Amazon FCs available in the state you have selected. You can select one warehouse or all warehouses, but it is recommended to choose all available FCs.
Step 2 - Business Details
At this stage, you have to enter your GST number, upload the GST certificate, and select your company type from the options. When you upload the GST certificate, your business details will be auto-filled based on the certificate.
Step 3 - Register FC
At this stage, you have to add Amazon FCs as an additional place of business (APOB). This is also called APOB registration. Amazon gives you three options:
- Apply via a certified service provider
- Auto apply via Amazon tool
- Self-registration on the GST portal
You can choose any of these methods. With any of these methods, you will require an Amazon NOC and a Business Solutions Agreement (BSA) to upload on the GST portal for APOB registration. You can download it from the option shown in the picture below.
Step 4 - Upload Documents
At this stage, you have to upload the GST certificate which mentions Amazon FCs as the Additional Place of Business. Once you upload the GST certificate, the Amazon FCs of that state will be active for you.
Conclusion
Using Amazon FBA for your fulfilment allows Amazon sellers to deliver products to their customers faster, resulting in fewer product cancellations and increased sales. Adding Amazon FC requires you to get GST registered in the states where you want to access Amazon FCs and store your inventory. In this article, we have provided you with a step-by-step guide on how to onboard Amazon FBA on Seller Central. By following the detailed steps provided in this guide, you can easily onboard FBA on Seller Central and start enjoying the benefits of Amazon FBA.
Also read:
What is an Additional Place of Business in GST?
