Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) is really an amazing service, but it often also requires having an amazing freight forwarder. With Amazon FBA, things are rather simple. You know you have that one service and you know that there are great advantages of using it, so you will use it and enjoy its benefits. It’s not like you have multiple choices to think of and that one is more than enough.
Things are a bit more complicated when freight forwarders are in question, simply because there are multiple companies to choose from. As you can see here, these companies handle all the logistics regarding your international shipments and everybody already knows how helpful they are. Still, there’s not only one company out there that can handle these things. If it were like that, things would definitely be pretty simple.
On the contrary, there are a lot of freight forwarding companies out there, meaning that it is your responsibility to choose the perfect one and that can be a bit tricky, especially if you are a first-time user of these services. Still, just because this can be tricky, it doesn’t mean that you should just give up and use the services of the first company you come across. Finding that one perfect freight forwarder is definitely possible, although it does require you to put in a certain amount of effort.
You will have to do a fair amount of research in order to start working with a perfect company that will be able to handle all your international shipment requirements and needs without any troubles whatsoever. That research consists first of creating a larger list of potential candidates and then slowly narrowing that list down in accordance with some of the most important criteria until you are left with the one amazing company that you want to work with. Sounds simple? That’s because it is, as long as you go through all those steps the right way.
As I have already mentioned, if you are a first-time user of these services, you can be slightly confused about how everything should work and what it is that you should do in order to end up with the right Amazon FBA freight forwarder. In other words, you might not know which steps you should take during the process. Don’t worry; everybody’s been there at some point, meaning that you are neither the first nor the last confused person.
That being said, I am going to try and make the whole process a bit less confusing and a bit simpler. This means that I will tell you a little something about the steps that you have to take, as well as the criteria you should take into consideration so as to make sure you are choosing the right company for the job. So, read on to find out how to find the perfect Amazon FBA freight forwarder for you.
Do Online Research
It all starts with doing your research online. Thanks to all the technological developments, all the info you need will be right there and all you have to do is understand how to do the searches and how to assess the results. Let me give you a few tips on that. Hopefully, this will turn you into a real Sherlock Holmes when online research is in question.
Naturally, the first thing you will have to do is type in the relevant keywords in your browser. In this case, your search will look something like “Amazon FBA freight forwarders”. Now, that’s only the first step and you should remember that you can change those keywords a few times so that you get as many great solutions as possible. Still, the keywords that I have mentioned are the most important ones. You can change the order of the words, or add a few other words to the ones I have mentioned, but the truth is that the main ones will always remain unchanged.
That was your tip on how to do the searches and now you will need to learn how to assess the results. For starters, don’t ever bother going to the second page of Google. People who invest in their businesses will find a way to reach the first page, so it’s not up to you to dig the entire Internet in order to find them. And, of course, people who invest in their businesses usually make sure to do a great job, so that the investment pays off.
So, now that you know what not to do (i.e. not to go anywhere further than the first page of Google), it’s time to learn what you should do. Open up the websites of a few freight forwarders from that first page and thoroughly check those out. Don’t forget to add all of those that seem great to your list, because you will be doing some more in-depth research about those. For now, checking out the websites and understanding the exact services that they offer should be enough.
Here’s how freight forwarding works and which services you should expect: https://www.thebalancesmb.com/freight-forwarding-2221040
Look For Experience
The above step should be enough for you to create an extensive list of potential candidates. As I have already mentioned, after creating the list, you will have to narrow it down. In order to do that, you will have to scratch off the list all the candidates that don’t meet certain criteria. The first criterion that you need to take into consideration is experience.
It should go without saying that you need to hire experienced Amazon FBA freight forwarders. To put things differently, you don’t only need experienced companies. Instead, you need companies that are experienced in Amazon FBA precisely. Make sure to remove anyone that doesn’t meet the experience criterion from your list, so that you are left with only those candidates that are experienced enough to do a perfect job.
Check Reputation
Here’s the second significant thing to take into account. Reputation always matters in every business and this one is definitely not an exception. That’s why you need to do your best to check how reputable specific companies are, so that you don’t end up working with those people that aren’t really loved by the general public. Being loved by previous customers means that the job was always well done and that’s the kind of reassurance you need.
How can you check reputation, though? Once again, thanks to technology, this is rather easily done. Instead of looking for people around you who might have used the services of particular freight forwarders, you can find all the necessary information online, by reading reviews left by previous clients. The reputation criterion will definitely help you narrow the list significantly down.
Compare Fees
After having narrowed down your list to the point where there are only a couple of great candidates left, it’s time to take the last important criterion into consideration. I am, of course, talking about prices. It’s clear that this shouldn’t be the number one requirement on your list, but it’s also clear that you shouldn’t take the fees for granted. When you find a few reputable Amazon FBA freight forwarders that offer high-quality services, check their fees so that you get those services at a reasonable cost.