Guides, updates and practical tips on FBA prep, fulfillment and e-commerce logistics.
Amazon & E-commerceDelaware is one of just five US states with no sales tax, and for e-commerce sellers that one fact can outweigh any per-unit discount a warehouse offers. Ship your inventory to a Delaware prep center instead of one in a taxed state and, if you do online arbitrage, you keep 6–10% of every purchase. That's the headline. The rest of the case for Delaware is quieter but adds up.
Amazon & E-commerceA prep center prepares your inventory for Amazon FBA: inspection, labeling, packing, forwarding to Amazon's warehouses. A 3PL (third-party logistics provider) does all that and more — it also stores inventory long-term and ships individual orders to your customers on whatever channel you sell. Many facilities, ours included, run both under one roof, which muddies the terminology but works out nicely in practice.
Amazon & E-commerceFBA prep runs between $0.50 and $1.50 per unit in 2026, depending on your monthly volume, your sourcing model and how much handling each product needs. That range hides a lot, though. Some fees are standard, some should make you walk away, and the headline per-unit rate is rarely the number you actually pay. We'll use our own published Delaware rates as the reference, since they're public anyway.
Amazon & E-commerceA 3PL warehouse (third-party logistics warehouse) is a building run by an outside company that holds your inventory and does the physical work for you: receiving goods from suppliers, storing them, picking and packing orders, shipping to customers or marketplaces, handling returns. You don't rent space and you don't hire warehouse staff. You pay the 3PL per item or per operation, and your evenings go back to sourcing and sales.
MOQ is an acronym that stands for "minimum order quantity." It represents the lowest amount a prep center requires per shipment or per timeframe, which is typically monthly. For example, if a facility sets 50 pieces as the threshold, a customer cannot submit an order of 49 units.
Welcome to Part 3 of the Smart Prep Center Amazon glossary. Below are more essential terms every Amazon seller should know.
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Let's separate fact from fiction with five more common statements about selling on Amazon.
Smart Prep Center has been in the e-commerce prep and fulfillment business since 2015. The company initially served FBM sellers before expanding to include FBA services in 2020, bringing years of combined industry experience.
The FBM sales model requires a lower initial investment, but it presents operational challenges, particularly regarding responsibility for order fulfillment. Here are three mistakes to avoid.
How do you get good reviews on Amazon? Create the best possible customer experience for the users who review the product:
There are many myths around the Online Arbitrage model on Amazon that stop beginners from getting started. Let's take five of the most common ones and figure out where the truth is and where it isn't.
Back in 1994, founder Jeff Bezos started Cadabra in his garage. He gave his company the name Cadabra, which sounded like part of a spell. However, because of the similarity to "cadaver" the name was abandoned. In the end, Bezos chose the name Amazon — in honor of the largest full-flowing river in the world. It was that river that appeared on the first logo.
A well-written title can help increase sales because it increases the likelihood that customers will click on a link to your product page.
We continue to familiarize you with Amazon terms. Test yourself — do you know what "A10", "API" or "UPC" mean?
Pallet storage is a modern approach to the organization of warehouse space, which allows you to optimize work processes, minimize risks and ensure the safety of your goods. Below are its key advantages.
Smart Prep Center is a service provider that prepares your items for Amazon Fulfillment and ships them to Amazon Fulfillment Centers. Our services include bubble wrapping, bagging, labeling, packing, and shipping. Here are six reasons to work with a prep center.
Amazon uses dimensional weight (DIM weight) as a method to determine shipping costs based on an item's dimensions and its actual weight, taking into account the space the goods occupy during transport. Amazon calculates the shipping fee based on whichever is greater — the actual weight or the dimensional weight.
Welcome to Part 1 of the Smart Prep Center Amazon glossary. Below are essential terms every Amazon seller should know.
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