Amazon's requirements for carriers
Created on 2025.03.22
Carrier requirements for shipping shipments
Contents of this page
On this page, you will learn about the shipping requirements for your carrier's shipments to Amazon fulfillment centers. We recommend that you and your carrier familiarize yourself with these requirements.
Note: For the most up-to-date list of prepaid carriers that deliver to Amazon fulfillment centers, download the Prepaid Carrier List.
This list provides the following key metrics for each carrier:
- Scheduling accuracy, which means the percentage of scheduled shipments that are delivered without a change of carrier, also known as first-time pass rate
- On-time delivery, meaning the percentage of scheduled shipments that were delivered within 30 minutes of the estimated scheduled time
- Late delivery, which means the percentage of scheduled shipments that were delivered more than 30 minutes after the estimated time.
- No-show rate, which means the percentage of scheduled shipments that were deleted after 60 minutes of their estimated arrival time.
The carrier does not appear in the Prepaid Carriers list for the following reasons:
- The carrier has never delivered to an Amazon fulfillment center or has not been used as a carrier for delivery to an Amazon fulfillment center;
- The carrier has not delivered a median of at least 10 shipments per week for eight consecutive weeks;
- The carrier's account does not have a valid U.S. Department of Transportation number or has been in service for less than two years; or
- The carrier is not authorized to deliver products to an Amazon fulfillment center.
Our list of prepaid carriers is not an exhaustive list of carriers permitted to deliver to Amazon fulfillment centers. You can select a carrier from this list or select a carrier of your choice. The carriers on this list are ranked based on a combination of the volume of shipments they have delivered, the number of objective criteria they have met, and the length of service with the U.S. Department of Transportation (from longest to shortest). We recommend that you continually evaluate any carrier you select.
Related Guides:
- For additional requirements for LTL and FTL shipments, as well as LCL and FCL shipments, see
- For weight, size, and packaging requirements, please refer to
- For individually labeled small package shipments, see
When selecting a carrier, you are responsible for ensuring that they adhere to the requirements below. Failure of the carrier to adhere to these terms may result in the delivery being refused.
- When shipping by container load or truckload carrier, a complete list of shipment tracking numbers (Amazon order list), shipment numbers, and tracking or PRO numbers must be included or attached to the delivery note or bill of lading. Amazon requires this information when scheduling a pickup appointment. Shipment tracking numbers and shipment numbers can be found on the Overview page of the shipping workflow. Tracking and PRO numbers need to be obtained from your carrier.
- The carrier must provide the box and pallet counts in order to schedule an appointment. The fulfillment center may request the unit count if that information is provided to the carrier. If a floor-loaded trailer is used, this should be listed on the carrier's freight manifest and noted when requesting an appointment.
- When the shipment arrives at the fulfillment center, the carrier must provide a delivery manifest or paper bill of lading that complies with Amazon's requirements. Alternatively, an electronic bill of lading may be used if the carrier provides an electronic bill of lading to the fulfillment center before the scheduled arrival date of the shipment. For more information, see
If passedAmazon Partnered Carrier ProgramTo ship products, you must provide the carrier with an Amazon bill of lading. The Amazon-generated bill of lading will appear on the Tracking Events tab of the shipment summary page at 8 a.m. on the day of your scheduled pickup. The carrier requires this bill of lading to schedule a delivery appointment for your shipment. You can also downloadBlank Bill of Lading (PDF), then complete it for Partnered Carrier shipments.
Schedule a delivery appointment
The carrier you selected to deliver your shipment will need to schedule a delivery appointment in advance. Please ensure that you and your carrier have completed all required steps before requesting a delivery appointment.
Important: All items in a small parcel shipment must be delivered within seven days of the date the first item in the shipment is received. Any delivery requests submitted after seven days will be rejected.
- Amazon does not allow deliveries via general public transportation. Only professional and authorized USDOT carriers with NMFTA-registered standard carrier letter codes can make delivery appointments at our fulfillment centers.
- All carriers must be registered with Amazon in order for their reservations to be approved.
- Amazon fulfillment centers do not accept unscheduled LTL, FTL, or small package express shipments. If the carrier delivers the shipment more than 30 minutes after the scheduled appointment time, Amazon will refuse the shipment and will not be responsible for any associated costs. The carrier will need to submit a new appointment request and be approved before it can deliver again.
- Carriers must comply with our shipping requirements and safety standards.
- The carrier is required to schedule a delivery appointment at least 24 hours prior to delivery.
- The carrier shall schedule an appointment for each delivery after determining the final estimated number of shipments on the trailer.
- If a shipment is delayed due to weather, the carrier must notify Amazon and Amazon will reschedule it appropriately based on the circumstances.
- Shipments that have been delivered, cancelled, deleted, or shipped and received will no longer be considered and no arrival reservations will be made.
- Each FBA shipment ID may only be shipped using a single full trailer.
Note: You can request an advance appointment only after the carrier has confirmed all shipments for delivery. Your carrier will receive up to three appointment requests to secure a single shipment or trailer. This includes deleted, no-show, or successfully delivered shipments. Exceeding this limit may result in the denial of appointment requests and the refusal of shipments.
Important: If you schedule multiple deliveries or provide incorrect shipment information, your schedule may be deleted, your shipment may be delayed, and Amazon may suspend your shipping privileges. For more information, seeCarrier Platform User Manual。
To schedule a delivery appointment, follow these steps:
- Make sure your carrier has the correct bill of lading number for your shipment. For more information, see
- Provide your carrier with
- Ask your carrier to create an account (if they don't already have one) and log in to
Carrier PlatformRequest an appointment.
Amazon will respond to the carrier's request within 24 hours, at which time they will schedule a delivery appointment date and time based on availability. The time Amazon schedules may be different from the time the carrier originally requested. This appointment may change based on the capacity and availability of the fulfillment center.
Important: When scheduling an appointment, the carrier needs to clearly indicate that it is an FBA shipment and provide the FBA shipment ID (which can be found on the Overview page of the shipping workflow). This will help expedite the scheduling of the appointment and ensure that your inventory is received accurately.
Floor loading
Note: If you are shipping LTL and FTL shipments using the Amazon Partnered Carrier Program, you should load your shipment on pallets. Our partnered carriers do not accept floor-loaded (not palletized) shipments.
We prefer to ship all LTL and FTL shipments to Amazon fulfillment centers on pallets. If for any reason you are unable to load your shipment on a pallet, your carrier must select Floor Loading as the load type when booking an appointment with the fulfillment center. We have limited appointment times for floor load shipments. For more information on floor loads, seeFloor Loading Policy。
Transport vehicle status
Vehicles delivering products to Amazon fulfillment centers must meet the following standards:
- The transport vehicle floor must be able to support the weight of a fully loaded pallet truck.
- The transport vehicle floor must be in good condition, safe and free of any obstructions or damage such as holes.
- Transport vehicles must be waterproof, clean and free from strong odors, especially those transporting food and healthcare goods.
- Unless they are actually used to secure the load, the straps must be securely fastened to the transport vehicle to avoid danger to fulfilment centre staff and ensure that the load can be unloaded easily.
- For safety reasons, trailers with an uneven or undulating floor (such as refrigerated trailers) are prohibited.
- If the fulfillment center employees are unable to safely unload the products, the fulfillment center may refuse any trailer, truck, full or partial shipment at no additional cost to Amazon. If this happens, we will send a notification to the email address associated with your seller account.
Important: Any trailer, truck, or all or part of a shipment may be rejected by the fulfillment center if the Amazon fulfillment center employees are unable to safely unload the products. Your carrier will be notified of the rejection and will be required to resolve the issue or move the shipment to a new trailer. This may result in additional charges from the carrier.
Contact
Leave your information and we will contact you.