An Amazon FBA prep center in Chicago for inbound shipments
You found a product that sells. The supplier ships it. And then it lands on your porch in 14 cartons with no FNSKU labels, half the units loose, and a box that looks like it fell off a truck. Now what? That's the moment sellers start looking for an Amazon FBA prep center in Chicago, and it's exactly the job we do.
Treasure World Prep Center sits at 5673 W Howard St in Niles, Illinois, right outside the city. Your supplier ships to us instead of you. We receive the inventory, check it, apply labels, bag or wrap whatever needs protecting, pack the cartons and send the whole thing into Amazon's fulfillment network. You stay on the selling side.
This page is about inventory going into Amazon's warehouses. If you're shipping orders to customers yourself (merchant-fulfilled), that's a different service, and we'll get to the difference in a minute.
What our FBA prep services include
Every unit that goes to Amazon gets touched at least a few times. Here's what that work covers.
Receiving and inspection
Cartons get counted in against what you told us to expect. Basic inspection is part of the per-unit prep rate, so obvious damage and quantity problems get caught at the dock, not at Amazon. If you want something deeper (grading, measurements, photo checklists), that's our inspection and quality control service.
FBA labeling services
You send us the FNSKU labels digitally, and we print and apply them, $0.35 to $0.40 per unit. Additional carton labels are $0.20 each. Retail stickers and price tags come off for $0.25 a unit, which matters a lot more for arbitrage loads than for factory-direct stock. Two labels. Right SKU. Covering the old barcode. That's the whole game.
FBA packaging services
Some products just need a label. Others need a poly bag (small $0.30, medium $0.40, large $0.50 per unit), bubble wrap ($0.60 to $1.25 per unit), or both. Glass, sharp edges, loose sets and anything that could scuff in transit usually ends up wrapped. Need units combined first? That's kitting and bundling, done before the label goes on.
Case packs, cartons and pallets
Master carton builds run $5 a carton plus materials, and complex repacks get quoted. When a shipment goes in on pallets, palletization for FBA is $30 per pallet plus $1 per carton, and strapping is $25 to $30 a pallet when it's required. Oversize or overweight units add $0.75 to $3.00 each, tiered by weight and dimensions.
One thing to be clear on: Amazon sets the prep and packaging rules, and they change. We follow the instructions on your work order and Amazon's current requirements as you share them. You're still responsible for your listings and shipping plans being correct.
FBA prep vs. merchant-fulfilled orders
Quick distinction, because people mix them up all the time. FBA prep gets inventory ready to ship into Amazon's warehouses, and Amazon stores it and ships each order. With Amazon seller fulfillment, the inventory stays with us and we pick, pack and ship each merchant-fulfilled order to the buyer directly.
Lots of sellers use both. FBA for the fast movers, merchant-fulfilled for oversized items or backup stock when FBA inventory runs low.
How a shipment moves through our Amazon prep center
Same process every time, whether it's 30 units or a 40-foot container's worth.
- 01
Send product and quantity details
ASINs or SKUs, units, carton counts, whether it's wholesale or arbitrage, and any bagging or bundling you already know about.
- 02
We confirm the work order
Labels, packaging, carton setup, pallet or small-parcel, and the destination are all agreed before your supplier ships.
- 03
Inventory arrives and gets counted
We receive the boxes or pallets, check counts and condition, and flag anything that doesn't match before we start prepping.
- 04
Prep, pack and send to Amazon
Units get labeled, bagged or wrapped, cartons get built and labeled, and the shipment goes out to the fulfillment center on your plan.
Before any of that, new accounts complete onboarding verification: legal company name, business address, EIN or registration, an authorized U.S.-based signer and a valid photo ID. Please hold your inventory until that's approved and you have our inbound instructions.
If you need help with the shipping plan itself, FBA shipping-plan administration is $5 per shipment (and may be included on qualifying volume).
Pricing tiers by seller type
Not every load takes the same amount of work, so the per-unit rate depends on what kind of inventory you're sending. Here's the breakdown.
Wholesale and private label
Repeat SKUs from one supplier, usually in clean factory cartons. This is the most predictable work, so it's the cheapest per unit. Rates run $0.70 a unit for 20 to 500 units, $0.60 for 501 to 2,500, $0.50 for 2,501 to 5,000, and $0.40 to $0.45 above 5,000 on a custom quote. Receiving and basic inspection are included.
Online arbitrage
Lots of different products, often one or two of each, shipped from a dozen retailers in random packaging. Every unit needs more attention. $1.50 a unit for 1 to 500, $1.15 for 501 to 2,500, and $0.95 to $1.05 above that.
Retail arbitrage and mixed retail
This is the store-shelf stuff. Clearance stickers, security tags, mixed conditions, and a fair amount of SKU sorting. $1.75 per unit, flat.
If you're not sure which bucket you're in, describe the inventory when you ask for a quote and we'll tell you. The full rate table, including add-ons, is on the pricing page.
Who sends inventory to us for Chicago FBA prep
Private-label brands, mostly, sending repeat orders straight from a factory. Consistency is what they care about. The same label in the same spot on every unit, cartons packed the same way, shipment after shipment.
Then there are the arbitrage sellers. Online arbitrage folks who buy from websites and have everything shipped to our dock. Retail arbitrage sellers who drop off carloads after a clearance run (being in the Chicago area helps with that). Their loads are messier, and that's fine. Peeling stickers is part of the job.
And a growing group of wholesale sellers who buy from U.S. distributors and need clean, fast turnaround to keep listings in stock. Those accounts usually care most about the 24-hour option.
What they have in common? Nobody wanted to keep labeling units on a dining room table. Switching to an Amazon FBA prep center in Chicago usually happens right after a seller realizes the prep is eating the hours they should be spending on sourcing.
24-hour FBA prep and other reasons sellers stay
Speed first. 24-hour FBA prep is available for qualifying work orders. "Qualifying" mostly comes down to volume, product type and how complete your instructions are when the inventory lands. A clean wholesale load with labels ready is a very different job from 400 mixed arbitrage units with stickers on every one.
Volume next. The building processes approximately 1,000+ parcels a day, so your shipment isn't the only thing moving, and the floor is set up for that.
Then the practical stuff. Scheduled carrier pickups run Monday through Saturday for GOFO, UPS, USPS and FedEx. We maintain up to $5 million in insurance coverage for qualifying warehouse operations, subject to policy terms, limits and exclusions (coverage isn't automatic, so ask before you ship). And you can reach the team by phone, email or WhatsApp, Monday through Saturday, 10 AM to 4 PM Central.
Need photos of a crushed carton for a supplier claim? Evidence photos are free for the first 3, then $1 each.
Serving Chicago sellers from Niles, IL
We're in Niles, just past Chicago's northwest edge. Local sellers can drop off inventory directly, which is handy when a retail arbitrage run fills the back seat. Everyone else ships in from wherever their supplier is.
Why does location matter for an Amazon FBA prep center in Chicago? Mostly for the inbound. A Chicago-area dock is an easy inbound address for suppliers and distributors pretty much anywhere in the country, so getting cartons to us is rarely the hard part. And if something on a shipment looks off, you can come look at it yourself instead of squinting at a blurry photo. Not many sellers do. It's nice to have the option, though.
More on the local side: FBA prep and 3PL services in Chicago and our page for Niles, IL.
Services that pair with FBA prep
FBA prep is one piece of the marketplace prep group. A few related services that often run alongside it:
- Walmart WFS prep if you sell the same products through Walmart Fulfillment Services. Same rate table.
- FBM and DTC fulfillment for orders you ship yourself, from Amazon or your own store.
- Freight forwarding and cross-docking when cartons already have labels and just need to move on.
- Warehouse storage for overflow stock you don't want sitting in Amazon's warehouse yet.
- Returns and removals for Amazon removal orders that need sorting, grading or relisting.
FBA prep pricing at a glance
- Wholesale / private label, 501-2,500 units
- $0.60/unit
- Online arbitrage, 501-2,500 units
- $1.15/unit
- Poly bag (small / medium / large)
- $0.30 / $0.40 / $0.50 per unit
- Bubble wrap
- $0.60-$1.25/unit
- Sticker / price-tag removal
- $0.25/unit
- Case pack / master carton build
- $5/carton + materials
- Oversize / overweight handling
- +$0.75-$3.00/unit
Amazon is a sales channel we support workflows for. We're not affiliated with Amazon, and the channel name doesn't imply partnership or endorsement.
